How to deal with printed products of Orthodox content - not only postcards, but also newspapers and brochures? And also - with draft texts with quotes from the Gospel, envelopes with images of icons, and even chocolate packaging with views of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra...

We addressed similar questions to the vicar on duty of the Kyiv Metropolis, who on that day turned out to be the abbot of the Kyiv Trinity Ionian Monastery, Bishop Jonah of Obukhov.

Better congratulate in person

- Vladyka, after all, you also receive a lot for the holidays. greeting cards, which depict angels and saints, envelopes with icons of the Virgin Mary. What is the right thing to do with such products, since it is not always possible to fold and store it all?

– Firstly, it is much better, in my opinion, to congratulate relatives, friends and acquaintances personally on the holiday. If possible, come to visit, if they are far away, then call or contact on Skype. Still, a postcard is a kind of superficial attitude towards congratulations, but the point is to talk to the person in person. After all, nothing can replace a real, living, warm word.

If you decide to congratulate with a postcard or other written form, then, of course, it would be good to write on a beautiful letterhead or choose a postcard that does not have any iconographic or iconographic images, so that later the person does not have to worry about where to put it.

What to do with Orthodox printing?

By church rules, sacred images that have become unusable or can no longer be used for prayer are disposed of by burning. It is better not to recycle them; moreover, they should not be thrown into regular household garbage. It is better to store them somewhere for some time and burn them once a year - in the country or in nature.

Still, an icon is a testimony to the Incarnation of God, it is the image, looking at which, we ascend in our minds to the prototype - the one who is depicted. When icons began to be produced by printing, they high value a few have been lost. This is no longer that sacred object that is located at home in a special place, before which one stands in reverent prayer. The icon has become a kind of fetish and souvenir item. This is not good or correct, and therefore, in particular, it is better to avoid using iconographic images on postcards.

Don’t “collect” prosphora

– Is it possible to bring printed products to churches for burning?

“It’s better not to burden parish churches with your problems.”

In our monastery, for example, some irresponsible people leave moldy prosphora. Prosphora is needed in order to eat it after finishing Divine Liturgy. It is permissible to take it home only if you cut it and store it in a container where it will not spoil. But keep it not indefinitely, but for a certain period of time, drinking it every morning on an empty stomach with holy water.

Moreover, collecting prosphora from various holy places is unacceptable. As we know, many Orthodox Christians, especially neophytes, have entire exhibitions at home: “these are prosphora from Pochaev, this is from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, but this was brought to me from Diveevo.”

I repeat: prosphora is sacred bread, which is intended for eating, and not for collecting or long-term storage.

The same applies to numerous other “shrines”: pebbles, twigs, sand, butter, etc. It seems to me that it is better to avoid bringing things from a pilgrimage that will be trash, clutter up the apartment, and ultimately add nothing to the human soul.

The Lord said in the Gospel: “Son, give me your heart.” First of all, God needs a broken spirit, a contrite heart... We need our prayers, our good deeds. This is truly what the Lord accepts and kisses with love.

But we must try to eradicate Orthodox fetishism from our lives.

Sacred texts cannot be disposed of. As for the rest - look at the situation

– What to do with old Orthodox newspapers and printouts of religious texts from the Internet? Can they be recycled or burned too?

– This is already the beginning of a kind of “straining out a mosquito,” Judaism of the Orthodox rite...

Nowadays, almost any newspaper can contain quotations from the Holy Scriptures. You won’t start looking out for exactly where the sacred text is...

You need to understand what is Scripture, as the focus of texts intended for a person to be edified and to approach God through knowledge of the Law of God, through the desire to fulfill it. The printed Gospel text, which has become unusable, cannot, of course, be disposed of in the usual way.

But rummaging through papers in search of possible quotes is also not entirely correct. Everything should be reasonable.

– Waste paper is a kind of conservation element environment. What's wrong with donating Orthodox newspapers and drafts there?

– Preservation of the environment, concern for the environment - this is on the one hand. But why do we avoid throwing church things in the trash? Because this is how they end up in polluted, unclean places, lie there, and are trampled underfoot.

Paper products recycled, including those with Orthodox content, are subsequently used in the most various forms- up to toilet paper. If you don’t mind that what you take to be recycled will end up in the form of rolls in the restrooms, then feel free to bring it.

I repeat once again, the main thing is a reverent attitude towards the shrine, towards sacred images and icons. You need to pray in front of the icons, the texts need to be read with attention. This is what you need to care about and worry about first of all.

Dear readers, on this page of our website you can ask any question related to the life of the Zakamsky deanery and Orthodoxy. The clergy of the Holy Ascension Cathedral in Naberezhnye Chelny answer your questions. Please note that it is better, of course, to resolve issues of a personal spiritual nature in live communication with a priest or with your confessor.

As soon as the answer is prepared, your question and answer will be published on the website. Questions may take up to seven days to process. Please remember the date of submission of your letter for ease of subsequent retrieval. If your question is urgent, please mark it as “URGENT” and we will try to answer it as quickly as possible.

Date: 02/04/2015 13:00:10

What to do with worn icons, broken crosses, etc.?

Protodeacon Dmitry Polovnikov answers

Hello. Please tell me what is the right way to deal with old people Orthodox calendars, worn icons, broken crosses, rancid consecrated oil, bottles after holy water, including glass, video films, etc. Thank you.

An icon on which the image cannot be seen can be removed from your home iconostasis and replace with a new one. Moreover, this is now relatively easy to do. But an icon that has ceased to be used for prayer cannot be disposed of with regular garbage. The icon is consecrated with a special rite and sprinkled with holy water. If the icon was in your prayer corner, then you turned to the Lord through it. old icon, crosses, bottles of holy water can be brought to the temple and left in a specially designated place, which you can ask the temple workers about. The icon can also be burned or buried in an untrampled place. An untrodden place is a well or pit that is closed from walking on top of it. Usually a special well is installed in the temple, into which the remains of unused consecrated water or water used in worship are drained. Notes from the service, and other church items that can be burned, are burned on the territory of the temple in a special stove and the ashes are buried so that people do not walk on top of them, trampling them underfoot. But it is not necessary to take everything to the temple, oil, holy water can be poured into a clean river, and an icon that has become unusable can be burned and the ashes buried, but so that this place is away from roads and paths.

‹ Icons

Icons

Date: 04/29/2010 at 12:53

Good afternoon, Father Andrey! Christ is Risen!
Father, I would like to ask you a few questions about icons.
1) I have not seen an icon of my patron saint for sale; usually only St. Great Martyr Irene (Irene of Macedonia). Is it possible to print out a photograph of your saint, found on the Internet, taken in an icon-painting workshop, consecrate it and use it at home as an ordinary icon? This icon is exhibited there as a sample of the products of this workshop, but the prices are sky-high, so there is no way to order it.
2) What to do with old faded icons made from photographs? I have a photo of an icon from the monastery, bought there back in Soviet times. The faces of the Virgin Mary and Christ can still be seen, but they have faded greatly. And on one more icon (my saint) it’s already difficult to make out anything at all. The letters are not visible at all.
3) Is it even possible to use photographs found on the Internet? miraculous icons how are the icons? If you consecrate them, of course?
4) How to treat pocket calendars and large calendars with images of icons printed on them? Sometimes they meet good quality small calendars, they look even better than the little cardboard icons sold in churches, but back side calendar printed. Is it possible to use such a calendar as a small icon? By gluing it to cardboard? But if you just use such a calendar, isn’t it a sin?
Thank you very much, Father Andrey! I read your answers to questions with great pleasure and interest. Great benefit I find something for myself in them. Thank you!

Truly Risen!
1. Yes, of course, you can do this.
2. You need to burn them, and the ashes - in a pond or bury them in a place where they will not trample underfoot.
3. Yes, you can.
4. Yes, of course. If you use it reverently, then it is not a sin. And thank you very much, God bless you!

Dear readers, on this page of our website you can ask any question related to the life of the Zakamsky deanery and Orthodoxy. The clergy of the Holy Ascension Cathedral in Naberezhnye Chelny answer your questions. Please note that it is better, of course, to resolve issues of a personal spiritual nature in live communication with a priest or with your confessor.

As soon as the answer is prepared, your question and answer will be published on the website. Questions may take up to seven days to process. Please remember the date of submission of your letter for ease of subsequent retrieval. If your question is urgent, please mark it as “URGENT” and we will try to answer it as quickly as possible.

Date: 02/04/2015 13:00:10

What to do with worn icons, broken crosses, etc.?

Protodeacon Dmitry Polovnikov answers

Hello. Please tell me what is the correct way to deal with old Orthodox calendars, worn-out icons, broken crosses, rancid consecrated oil, bottles of holy water, including glass bottles, video films, etc. Thank you.

An icon on which the image cannot be seen can be removed from your home iconostasis and replaced with a new one. Moreover, this is now relatively easy to do. But an icon that has ceased to be used for prayer cannot be disposed of with regular garbage. The icon is consecrated with a special rite and sprinkled with holy water. If the icon was in your prayer corner, then you turned to the Lord through it. An old icon, crosses, bottles of holy water can be brought to the temple and left in a specially designated place, which you can ask the temple workers about. The icon can also be burned or buried in an untrampled place. An untrodden place is a well or pit that is closed from walking on top of it. Usually a special well is installed in the temple, into which the remains of unused consecrated water or water used in worship are drained. Notes from the service, and other church items that can be burned, are burned on the territory of the temple in a special stove and the ashes are buried so that people do not walk on top of them, trampling them underfoot. But it is not necessary to take everything to the temple, oil, holy water can be poured into a clean river, and an icon that has become unusable can be burned and the ashes buried, but so that this place is away from roads and paths.