You have said, O Lord: “Without me there’s nothing you can do”, so help us and finish Thyself this work started by us, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen!
These were the words that repeatedly sounded in the hearts of the youth of the Macedonian Orthodox Community in Australia, while preparing the fifth jubilee youth seminar, which again this year traditionally was held on monastic grounds, in the monastery of St. Prohor Pcinski in Donnybrook on Saturday 10th September.
The Lord is merciful and He loves mankind, He does not want the sinner to perish, but to repent and be saved. Therefore, by His providence, this year the theme of the seminar was titled “The Temptation in the modern world and the Orthodox Psychotherapy of the soul”. The activities began after the morning spiritual therapy of the Holy Eucharist at which the faithful received the actual Body and Blood of Christ, when the present ones could hear the lectures of the Reverend Bishop Peter, the venerable abbot of the Monastery of St. Prohor Pcinski – Father Gavril Galev, father Gligor Kiselinov, priest at the church dedicated to St. Zlata of Meglen and Genady Beksheev, Dr. in psychology and sub-deacon in the church of the Protection of the Holy Mother at the Russian Orthodox Church.
Bishop Peter spoke about healing the soul in the Orthodox Church, giving an explanation about the soul. As the soul is inseparable from the community with its Creator, the Bishop gave clear examples of who and what God is. Citing the case of the Apostle Paul, he also stressed out that to be healed in spiritual sense, we should get rid of our high opinion of ourselves and lean towards deep repentance. The Apostles Peter, James and John were present at the Holy Transfiguration at Mount Tabor and managed to feel and experience the two lights – the uncreated God’s light and the created one that comes from the sun, from the creation. Apostle Peter, who experienced the foretaste of deification, only forty days later denied Christ and made a sin. But there was no waiting for his deep repentance, but immediately came to his mind that he made a great sin and began deeply to repent. It was enough to hear the cock crow sing, as Christ has told him: “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice”, he leaned against the wall and wept bitterly. But that was not the only time when he cried for that sin. He cried his entire life for his sin. Every morning when he would hear the cock crow, he cried for his sin. That deep repentance and confession further incited him to deification.
In his homily, Fr Gligor Kiselinov, a priest at the church dedicated to St. Zlata of Meglen in Melbourne, in conjunction with orthodox psychotherapy emphasized that the treatment of the soul consists firstly of the purification of the mind and heart from the sins and passions, as well as restoration and illumination of the darkened image of God in us. Our mind should be transformed; our mind should change the way of thinking and reasoning, which now is based on the logic of the sin. Specifically, the mind should be directed, turned in the opposite direction – from sin should turn to God. And when the man is cleansed from sin, his original beauty, as he was created, will be given back to him, and even more than that – he enters into communion with God, he unites with God and receives the deification. Even when, according to the words of St. Apostle Paul: ‘the human body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit “(1 Cor. 6, 19), we can say that the Church therapy is successful.
Father Gabriel turned the attention to the modern temptations in the world that even the Orthodox Christians are not immune to. Making a historical overview of the apparent situation of degradation of society, through the secession of the western church from the Orthodoxy and the appearance of the Protestantism as a result of dissatisfaction of the errors of the already broken away western community, until the advent of revolutions as the industrial revolution, the French and the sexual revolution; the modern humanism, which places the man in the center instead God; the globalization with the “New Age” religion, which is a modern return to the old pagan beliefs and practices; Father Gabriel said that the biggest reason for today’s departure from the truth could be found in the destroying of the most important cell of society, which is the family.
And instead of receiving home education and care from the mother, the children are left in the care of some strangers or the street. When you take out the main pillar of a building, it loses its stability and later will fall. Therefore, it later reflected on the family drastically to be reduced especially with the so-called family planning. Nowadays, when a woman is emancipated and has the same rights as men, rather than worry about her family, giving birth, loving and upbringing children, she is fighting for acquisition of capital and glory (career). On that way the society degrades to its root.
Preparing his ground, first with the ousting of women from home, the antichrist attacked the marriage and family now. With the sexual revolution, especially with the homosexual behaviour, a decisive blow is given to the little remaining healthy tissue of society, marriage and giving birth of children in the marriage. This is the destruction of the family tree in the actual root.
Reasons for leaving the real life are the devil’s fraud alluring offers, which the unspiritual that have not spiritual father and who are not governed by him, but are governed by their passions for which they are unaware of, they accept the passions. And that is leaving the narrow path and eternal goods and walking along the wide path, satisfying the passions and covets, which essentially is going the way of the devil and as a consequence inheriting of the eternal death.
The last speaker, sub-deacon Dr. Genady Baksheev, who spoke with the blessing of his spiritual father, give his expert opinion on Orthodox and secular (worldly) psychology. He paid special attention to modern psychiatric disorders, especially depression. Dr. Genady Baksheev put great emphasis on the knowledge and discovering the source of psychological diseases and the correct diagnoses and practicing proper therapy, as man is made of flesh and spirit, and so follows physical (medical) and spiritual (Orthodox ) treatment. On the medical side he listed and cited numerous examples of medical treatments for psychological (mental) illness, and as a major Orthodox psychotherapeutic treatment he referred to the prayer.
“We feed our bodies at least three times a day, but how often we feed our souls? If we don’t pray, our souls may look like an apple, if we leave it outside, exposed to sun, rain, cold, what will become of it? It will lose its juice and will fall apart. That would happen with our soul as well.”
Although the lectures and discussions were planned to end by 4:00pm, but due to the great interest of the present youth the scheduled time was extended another hour and a half, followed by a feast of love, and then an evening worship.
The participants of the seminar, besides the offered spiritual words of the speakers, they could visually delight in the icons of the iconographic school of the monastery, led by Abbot Gavril. Also, part of the Macedonian culture – folk costumes of various designs in parts of our homeland, handmade from clay and brass were displayed. Through drawings and photographs the entire history of the Macedonian Orthodox Youth Organisation in Australia was captured and showed. From its beginnings with father Tone Gulev, who started MOYA with the blessing of the Metropolitan Peter, until this day, when MOYA has left behind many organised events that will forever remain in memory. Father Gavril, in his own name and the name of MOYA presented His Excellency Peter with “The Good Shepherd” icon painted at the monastery’s iconographic school as appreciation of his concern for the youth of this Diocese.
Argireta Ateva
Silvana Gorgiev
