"Further, one must go to church not inattentively. For, it is always
possible that one may go to church not in a way worthy of praise but
rather of condemnation, i.e., by going and not receiving any spiritual
benefit. Approaching the church, you must leave every care and worry
about your affairs at the threshold in order to enter with a serene
mind.
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(Photo©Michael Seagriff)
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Entering the church, you must put on reverence like a garment,
remembering to Whom we are coming and to Whom we intend to address our
prayers. Having taken your place in the church (best of all, the same
place each time), you should gather your thoughts and mentally stand
before the face of the omnipresent God, offering Him reverent worship in
body and spirit, with a contrite heart and in humble reverence.
After
this, you must follow, without wandering thoughts, everything that is
going on — what is being sung and read in the church — all the way to
the end of the service. That is all!
In this way, we won’t be bored in
church, looking here and there and starting conversations, and we won’t
be wishing that the service be over soon. Instead, passing from one
prayerful feeling to another and from one reverent thought to the next,
we will be like those in a fragrant garden, moving from one group of
flowers to another."
St.Theophan the Recluse
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