Christian Life Begins Close to Home
St Alexis Mechev died in Moscow on 22 June 1923—9 June according to the Old Calendar. During his lifetime, many prominent figures in Moscow gathered around the rector of the Church of St Nicholas in Klenniki, among them the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev, Fr Pavel Florensky, sculptor Anna Golubkina and artist Mikhail Nesterov.
Yet his influence reached far beyond the city’s intellectual and cultural circles. He became a spiritual father to hundreds of people who needed encouragement, understanding and the assurance that they had not been abandoned.
His counsel was simple without being superficial. He seldom asked people to begin with extraordinary spiritual achievements. Instead, he directed their attention towards what lay immediately before them: their families, daily prayers, hidden judgements and ordinary responsibilities. More than a century later, his words have lost none of their directness.
1. Begin with Those Closest to You
“With tears I ask and implore you: be like the sun to those around you. If you cannot bring warmth to everyone, begin with the family in which the Lord has placed you.
“Be warmth and light to those around you. Labour first to warm your own family. In time, this work will so engage you that the family circle will become too narrow. Your rays of warmth will gradually reach more and more people, and the circle illuminated by you will continue to grow.
“See to it, then, that your lamp burns brightly.”
2. Keep a Small Rule Faithfully
“If you wish to live a spiritual life, watch over yourself. Each evening, review what you have done well and what you have done badly. Give thanks to God for the good, and repent of the wrong.
“Do not undertake spiritual labours beyond your strength. But if you have resolved to do something, fulfil it without fail. Otherwise, you will neglect it once, then a second and a third time, until eventually you begin to wonder why you ever undertook it at all.”
3. Be Strict with Yourself and Gentle with Others
“We must seek our own salvation and help others towards theirs. For this, we need to understand both ourselves and other people.
“Watch yourself more strictly, but be more indulgent towards others. Learn to understand them, so that you may treat them according to their circumstances, character and state of mind.
“One person may be nervous; another may lack education. To demand perfect calm from the first, or great delicacy from the second, would be unreasonable.”
4. Do Not Turn Fasting into Judgement
Orthodox fasting commonly involves abstaining from certain foods, but St Alexis warned that keeping the fast must never become an excuse for condemning others or embarrassing a host.
“Do not judge other people. If you are a guest and non-fasting food is served on a fast day, do not show contempt or refuse it disdainfully.
“At home, you may observe the bodily fast more strictly. Above all, however, keep the spiritual fast: do not become irritated, do not condemn others, and so forth.”
5. Honour Elderly Parents with Patience
“You must bring peace to your mother. Do not burden her with anything that might cause her needless distress. Showing her respect is your first duty.
“And each evening, be sure to examine yourself. If you fail her or something goes wrong, make three bows before the Mother of God and ask Her forgiveness.”
The bows Fr Alexis mentions are bodily acts of prayer and repentance. His advice joins reverence for the Mother of God to a very practical examination of conscience: how have I spoken to my own mother, and have I brought her peace or distress?
6. Desire Good for Everyone
“Wish happiness to everyone, and you yourself will be happy.”
7. Bring Christ into Everyday Life
“We should remember more often what the Lord has done for us and what He continues to do.
“All our everyday affairs should be sanctified through Christ. For this, we have the Jesus Prayer.”
The Jesus Prayer is the repeated invocation: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” It is not intended to remove a person from ordinary life, but to bring the remembrance of Christ into it.
“How good and joyful it is when the sun is shining. In the same way, the soul will become bright and joyful when the Lord dwells within the heart and illumines everything.”
These counsels do not demand a dramatic reinvention of one’s life. They return Christian discipleship to the places where self-deception is hardest to avoid: the home, the prayer rule, our response to another person’s weakness, and the duties we might prefer to exchange for something more impressive.
For St Alexis, holiness began with the next faithful act of love.
Translated by the Catalogue of Good Deeds
Source: https://foma.ru/7-poleznyh-sovetov-ot-otcza-aleksiya-mecheva.html
