Have
you ever looked at the map of the world? I am sure you have because all of us
went to school. Did you notice that each country of the world has its own map
which is different from ours? Take a look, for example, at maps prepared in
Australia or Japan and you will notice that for the Australians or Japanese our
country is an “outlying region”. Thus, each country which was allowed to
prepare its own world map puts itself at the center of the world. But formerly
the city of Jerusalem was the earth’s center on every map and nobody disputed
its privilege.
Today,
Christians comprise only two percent of Israel’s population, while Orthodox
Christians live as a very small minority. Adherents of Judaism make up three
quarters of its population, and all the rest are Muslims and non-believers. If
you make an attempt to preach Christ in Israel, you will see how difficult it
is in this state.
However,
contrary to all obstacles Jews and Muslims convert to Christ in our times. Many
prefer to get baptized in the nighttime without their nearest and dearest’s
knowledge, fearing any public demonstration of their new faith. Below we offer
our readers a contemporary conversion story.
In
2013, one elderly rabbi was looking for a nanny for his small grandchild. The
rabbi came from a family of Jews who lived in the Baltics. He moved to Israel
with his family as soon as a favorable set of circumstances arose. It so
happened that Natalia, an Orthodox Christian from Russia, was asked to become
his grandchild’s nanny.
Natalia
happily accepted this invitation: it gave her an opportunity to go to Jerusalem
where she had never been before, visit its holy places and earn some money for
pilgrimage trips. So she went there without any missionary ideas in her mind.
The last thing she wanted was to convert somebody else to her faith, all the
more so because Israel is a state with quite strict laws and traditions.
Natalia herself wanted to get closer to God in the Holy Land.
Before
her departure Natalia asked for the blessing of her spiritual father, an
archimandrite of the Pochaev Lavra. He gave her his blessing, but added that
the woman should stock up with holy water, take as many prosphora as possible,
along with supplies of holy oil, including oil from the reliquary of St.
Nektarios of Aegina, a wonderworker and healer of cancer. This unexpected
advice caused her confusion as she had to fill her baggage with holy objects.
People usually bring holy things from Jerusalem back to their native countries
and not vice versa. In the simplicity of her heart Natalia did what the
archimandrite told her to do and left for the Holy Land fully “spiritually
equipped”.
A
flight over two seas, a four-hour journey—and the Promised Land opens up before
your eyes. The Biblical sites, the shrines that are dear to the hearts of all
Christians, with the first Christian church being the Church of the
Resurrection, the sacred site where Christ died on the cross, was buried, and
rose from the dead on the third day. You really feel at home here even if you
have never been to the Holy Land before.
But
for Natalia being in Israel was not a pilgrimage in the strict sense. She came
there to work in the rabbi’s family. We can imagine how many people would have
condemned her for making this decision. As for the rabbi, he was very fortunate
in having an extremely caring nanny: Natalia was happy to care for the child
and didn’t spare herself. Whenever she had free time, she would visit the holy
places.
Time
passed. Eventually the day came when they didn’t need a nanny anymore. They
thanked Natalia and paid her for her work. But the woman who had gotten very
attached to the Holy Land didn’t want to leave it. She stayed in one convent as
a laborer, performed obediences, attended services, literally spending days and
nights in holy places. Her soul soared with joy. It seemed she had finally
found the main thing that she had come to Israel for. But the Lord often works
through the most unexpected events in our lives.
And
one day the same rabbi called Natalia with a new request. It turned out that
his wife Tabitha had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. There was no hope for
recovery. In any family such news comes like a bolt from the blue. Tabitha bore
untold suffering and desperately needed help and care. The rabbi went through
all his acquaintances in his mind and quickly realized that he wouldn’t find a
more uncomplaining and patient nurse than Natalia. And Natalia, a humble
Christian, agreed to be his wife’s nurse. We cannot imagine how many times the
Christian faith triumphed thanks to patience, humility and magnanimity towards
one’s neighbors.
Tabitha’s
condition deteriorated day to day. Natalia entered upon her duties without
delay like a sentry stationed to keep guard. Now instead of praying by the Holy
Sepulcher and on the Mount of Olives Natalia spent all her time in the room of
the suffering Jewish woman, Tabitha. But it should be said that she continued
to pray very fervently as if she were by the Holy Sepulcher or on the Mount of
Olives.
Meanwhile
the rabbi searched for any human way to cure this disease. So he took his wife
to the best clinic of Tel Aviv, accompanied by her faithful nurse.
True,
the Israeli health care system is lauded all over the world and people from
various countries bring their loved ones there, hoping to change their hopeless
situation through human effort. I will reveal a secret: even Israeli doctors
are not all-powerful. The life and health of every human being are in the hands
of God. Tabitha’s illness was so advanced that the doctors politely refused her
any surgery or therapy and sent her back home. When she was discharged from the
hospital, the rabbi, worried about his wife, didn’t know what to do and took
her to a hospital in Jerusalem near the old city walls. The windows of the wall
looked comfortingly onto the domes of Orthodox churches.
Great
things are often hidden under the veil of the simple and unsophisticated. Many
important events happen in our lives amid everyday routine, so we often don’t
notice when crucial changes happen inside us. Tabitha’s suffering continued.
Natalia, trying to console and support her, ventured on a very bold step: she
decided to read the Gospel to the Jewish woman. This desire appeared as if by
itself. Natalia had no idea what the Jewish woman’s reaction would be, nor did
she know what else she could offer to relieve Tabitha’s sufferings. With her
simple heart and sincere faith, Natalia wanted to share the thing she held
dearest with Tabitha and used the Gospel as the source of her personal
spiritual consolation.
Natalia
naturally began with the Gospel of Matthew with its account of the genealogy of
Christ from Abraham, which since time immemorial has been the confirmation of
the messianic ministry of Christ for the Jews. The Birth of the Savior by the
Virgin, the Baptism of John, the three temptations in the desert, the
Beatitudes… The Gospel came into the aged Jewish woman’s life so easily.
Tabitha listened with the ever-increasing interest. She was silent for a long
time. But at last she said that she had already listened to this text many
years before. It turned out that somebody had read the Gospel to Tabitha when
she was a little girl. She herself couldn’t remember who had dared read her the
text which is forbidden for the Jews, but the most important thing is that she
remembered those wonderful lines, though she had been raised in an absolutely
different environment. And now peace reigned in her soul through hearing the
Good Tidings of Christ.
How
often we seek outward, impressive, powerful miracles and striking signs. But
the power of God is manifest in the fact that His grace influences human souls
peacefully and quietly. The soul touches the Word of God and something inside
it responds. Then why should we need spectacular signs? Tabitha just listened
attentively, perceiving the silence of the Word of God in the stillness of her
soul. Natalia would just read, and nothing more. And Tabitha’s soul was
transformed.
There
are the following words in the Holy Scriptures: The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall
live (Jn. 5:25). These words literally mean that one day all who are in the
graves will rise from the dead on hearing the voice of the Son of God. But if
we take this verse figuratively, it means that those spiritually dead (because of
their sins) in this earthly life will revive spiritually, once they’ve heard
the voice of the Son of God in the Gospel. Here is that very happiness, which
is quite possible and attainable, of reviving spiritually in this life by
responding to the voice of Christ.
Tabitha’s
soul felt drawn to the Savior. Through the Gospel she developed tremendous
respect and love towards Christ. With her simple and sincere heart, Natalia
suggested that Tabitha take some holy water and prosphora every time she
suffered a relapse. Thus the baggage full of holy objects came in handy. The
father-confessor who had blessed Natalia to take so many holy objects to the
Holy Land may have not imagined how it would all turn out. As the Holy Fathers
used to say, obedience to our spiritual father works wonders. Natalia would
anoint Tabitha with the holy oil of St. Nektarios of Aegina and this prolonged
her life.
In
some sense, an obvious miracle happened: Tabitha might feel bad, with severe
suffering and excruciating pain several minutes earlier, but as soon as she
took some holy water and prosphora her pain was relieved in a matter of
minutes. It was evident even to the hospital staff. It became known to the
Jewish nurses that Natalia read the Gospel. Much to her amazement, some of them
came up to her and admitted in a reverent whisper, as if they were
conspirators: “Yes, we do know about Jesus Christ, but we are forbidden to talk
about Him.” It’s a pity we are unable to look inside the souls of these simple
women and see by what mysterious ways respect for Christ was born in their
hearts despite the circumstances.
One
day Tabitha’s condition got worse. The doctors believed she was dying. Natalia
got scared too. “What should I do? Can I really abandon the suffering woman
halfway through, depriving her of the most important thing?” And Natalia
brought herself to speak with Tabitha sincerely. What did she speak about? She
just stated what was absolutely evident: Tabitha was comforted by her meeting
with Christ on the Gospel pages and was relieved by the holy things. Thus the
Lord showed her where true grace could be found. And now she had the chance to
know Christ through the sacrament of Baptism—then the Savior Himself would be
with her.
Tabitha
agreed.
Natalia
did the Baptism herself as a laywoman. She poured water three times upon the
head of Tabitha with the words: “The servant of God Tabitha is baptized in the
Name of the Father, amen; and of the Son, amen; and of the Holy Spirit, amen.”
Tabitha smiled sunnily and went into a peaceful sleep. When she woke up, her
face radiated an incredible joy, as if something had been revealed to her soul,
as if she had touched something supernatural, otherworldly. She could hardly
speak, yet her soul was filled with peace and joy. Thus spiritual death was
overcome, and physical death retreated timidly—Tabitha was still alive. And now
that the additional time had been gained Natalia called a priest.
You
should know what inviting a priest to an Israeli hospital for a religious
service is like. I will be brief without going into detail: a priest came and
began to do the prayers (he intended to do not only the sacrament of
Chrismation but Unction as well), but soon some Jews burst into the ward and
literally threw the priest out of the hospital. The priest, who had seen
everything in his time, said quietly to Natalia that the angels would complete
what he had not been able to finish.
Tabitha
had only one month to live. When Natalia was going to fly back to Russia, she
was informed that the terminally ill woman had passed away. Tabitha’s relatives
buried her in a Jewish cemetery according to the Jewish rites. Of course,
Natalia couldn’t prevent that. But many miles away, in the tranquil atmosphere
of the Pochaev Lavra, three archimandrites were conducting the Orthodox funeral
service for the newly-departed woman. Though the ceremony was conducted in
absentia, their prayer reached heaven. And all who had been involved in this
story were praying for the repose of the soul of Tabitha, for whom Christ and
His Kingdom had become closer than the closest people in the world.
I
could finish my narrative here. But I cannot pass over one more fact in
silence. After forty days Natalia received consolation. Tabitha’s soul appeared
to her in a dream in an angelic choir, singing: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord of
Sabaoth. Heaven and Earth are full of Thy Glory.” She was in a state of bliss…
Please,
forgive me if you find that this story resembles the Life of some ancient
saint. But very many miracles of this kind occur in the Holy Land in our days.
True, the Lord didn’t vouchsafe Tabitha to participate in the Divine Liturgy on
earth and listen to the angelic hymn, inspired by the vision once granted to
the Holy Prophet Isaiah and sung during the Eucharistic Canon at the Orthodox Divine
Liturgy. But we dare to believe, hope and pray that her soul was received in
the heavenly abodes to participate in the heavenly Liturgy, glorifying the Most
Holy Trinity with the angels.
Someone
denounced Natalia’s actions with his spouse to the rabbi. He was displeased and
reprimanded Natalia. The latter tried her best to justify herself without
telling him the whole truth. But after her vision on the fortieth day after
Tabitha’s repose, Natalia shared her joy with the rabbi. After all, the angelic
hymn can be found in the Old Testament, which makes it important to the Jews.
“Your spouse’s soul is in the company of angels now,” she concluded. “I must
thank you for that,” said the rabbi, who was very pleased. “No, God alone must
be thanked,” Natalia replied.
And
now let us make conclusions.
Firstly,
the seeds of the Gospel which were sown in one’s infancy may germinate and
produce fruit even in his very old age. In her advanced age Tabitha remembered
the holy verses because somebody had read them to her in her childhood. Since
she remembered this, it means it had impressed her and been imbedded in her
soul. After all, we cannot recollect all that we heard when we were children.
It is
amazing that the Gospel was read to her at the dawn of her life and then in the
evening of her life. As a result she is now with Christ. Therefore, evangelism
is never fruitless. In our lives we often hurry, trying to rush God into
showing His providence in the salvation of our neighbors. We want to see the
fruit of our labors immediately, whereas it may appear only towards the end of
the lives of those to whom we preached. In any case, our efforts won’t be
futile. The Gospel always leaves an imprint on people’s souls, and after many
years or even decades this seed is sure to germinate and produce fruit.
And,
secondly, you need neither sophisticated techniques, nor special psychological
methods, nor programs, nor oratorical skill in order to preach Christ. All that
you need is to be with Christ, to remain a sincere Christian, working where the
Lord has brought you. A life of sincerity in full devotion to God will not
leave those around you indifferent.
If you
have been ordained by God to labor alongside adherents of other religions, it
may, by the mysterious work of Divine providence, turn out to be the most
wonderful service of God—the salvation of a soul which will find the Truth in
the Gospel of Christ. But you must be a genuine Christian and perform the
assigned tasks with full responsibility. Such are these simple truths.
Priest
Valery Dukhanin
Translated
by Dmitry Lapa
Pravoslavie.ru
2/27/2019
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