Death as a “practical problem. Freedom and Tradition in the Church. liturgy of death. Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

Lethargic sleep from a medical point of view is a disease. The word lethargy itself comes from the Greek lethe (forgetfulness) and argia (inaction). In a person who is in a lethargic sleep, the vital processes of the body slow down - metabolism decreases, breathing becomes superficial and imperceptible, reactions to external stimuli are weakened or completely disappear.

The exact causes of lethargic sleep have not been established by scientists, however, it has been noticed that lethargy can occur after severe hysterical seizures, unrest, stress, and exhaustion of the body.

Lethargic sleep can be both light and heavy. A patient with a severe "form" of lethargy may become like dead man. His skin turns cold and pale, he does not respond to light and pain, his breathing is so shallow that it may not be noticeable, and his pulse is practically not felt. His physiological state worsens - he loses weight, biological secretions stop.

Mild lethargy causes less radical changes in the body - the patient remains motionless, relaxed, but he retains even breathing and partial perception of the world.

It is impossible to predict the end and the beginning of lethargy. However, as well as the duration of being in a dream: there are cases when the patient slept for many years. For example, the famous academician Ivan Pavlov described a case when a certain sick Kachalkin was in a lethargic sleep for 20 years, from 1898 to 1918. His heart beat very rarely - 2/3 times per minute. In the Middle Ages, there were a lot of stories about how people who were in a lethargic dream were buried alive. These stories often had a real basis and frightened people, so much so that, for example, the writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol asked to be buried only when signs of decomposition appeared on his body. Moreover, during the exhumation of the remains of the writer in 1931, it was found that his skull was turned on its side. Experts attributed the change in the position of the skull to the pressure of the rotted coffin lid.

Currently, doctors have learned to distinguish lethargy from real death, but they still have not been able to find a “remedy” for lethargic sleep.

What is the difference between lethargy and coma?

These two physical phenomena have distant properties. Coma occurs as a result of physical influences, injuries, injuries. At the same time, the nervous system is in a depressed state, and physical life is maintained artificially. As with lethargic sleep, the person does not respond to external stimuli. You can get out of a coma in the same way as with lethargy, on your own, but more often this happens with the help of therapy and treatment.

Burial alive - is it real?

First of all, we will determine that intentional burial alive is a criminal offense and is regarded as murder with special cruelty (Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

However, one of the most common human phobias, taphophobia, is the fear of being buried alive unintentionally, by mistake. In fact, the chances of being buried alive are very small. Modern science knows ways to determine that a person has definitely died.

Firstly, if physicians suspect the possibility of lethargic sleep, they must take an electrocardiogram or an electroencephalogram, which records the activity of the human brain and cardiac activity. If a person is alive, such a procedure will give a result, even if the patient does not respond to external stimuli.

Next, medical experts conduct a thorough examination of the patient's body, looking for signs of death. These can be either obvious damage to the organs of the body that are incompatible with life (for example, a traumatic brain injury), or rigor mortis, cadaveric spots, signs of decay. In addition, a person lies in the morgue for 1-2 days, during which visible cadaveric signs should appear.

If there are doubts, then capillary bleeding is checked with a slight incision, a chemical blood test is performed. In addition, doctors check the overall picture of the patient's health - whether there were any signs that may indicate that the patient has fallen into a lethargic sleep. Let's say if he had hysterical seizures, if he lost weight, if he complained of headaches and weakness, of a decrease in blood pressure.

The title of the new book by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann can be at least bewildering. "The Liturgy of Death and modern culture' is incomprehensible and very risky. But I would like to caution the reader against wanting to get into an argument about the title without opening the book.

The "religion of the dead" remains a significant part of our culture, even if we do not pay attention to it. In the 21st century, like two and five thousand years ago, the "religion of the dead" penetrates into all traditions and rituals associated with death and commemoration of the dead.

This statement is true for most different countries, but the connection with the "religion of the dead" manifests itself in different ways. Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann talks about America in the 1970s. But also modern Russia not an exception. The most striking, but by no means the only example, is the mausoleum with the body of Lenin, which, almost a quarter of a century after the fall of the communist regime, remains on Red Square, and it is unlikely that Lenin's body will be buried in the foreseeable future.

The mummy in the center of Moscow remains the most important symbol of the Soviet past, materially connecting all those living today with this past. This connection turns out to be so significant that the decision to bury it becomes not just a political one, but a religious-political one, and none of Russian presidents until he dared to accept it.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann - Liturgy of Death

M.: GRANATE, 2013.- 176 p.

Translation from English by E. Yu. Dorman

ISBN 978-5-906456-02-1

Alexander Schmemann - Liturgy of Death - Contents

Foreword

From sub

LECTURE I The Development of Christian Funeral Rites

Death as a "practical problem" A few introductory remarks
Challenges of Modern Culture Secularism
"Conspiracy of Silence" (death denial)
"Humanization" of death (tamed death)
Death as "neurosis"
The Christian Roots of "Secular Death" Christian Truths who have gone mad"
memento mori
"Christian Revolution" Ancient "cult of the dead"
Victory over death
Early Christian Origins of the Liturgy of Death

LECTURE II Funeral: rites and customs

Introduction
Pre-Constantine Christian funerals Continuity of forms / Discreteness of meaning
A radical new perspective on death
Surviving " early elements” in the modern funeral rite Prayer “God of spirits and all flesh ...”
Kontakion "With Saints..."
The “form” of the initial burial: parallels with Great Saturday Funeral as a procession: from the place of death to the place of rest
Service in the church Psalmody. The Word of God. Reading of the Apostle. Gospel

LECTURE III Prayers for the Dead

The second "layer" of the burial (hymnography)
Changing attitudes towards death
Loss of "eschatological vision"
Commemoration of the dead
Prayers for the dead

LECTURE IV The Liturgy of Death and Contemporary Culture

Plan practical action General Considerations Culture. Faith. Hope. Liturgical tradition
Plan of action Striving for catholicity. The need for education
Renewal and reunification of the funerary "layers": "Lamentation", "Great Saturday" and "Commemoration"
On the secularization of death The origins of secularization Rejection of eschatology
The return of a life of meaning

Alexander Schmemann - Liturgy of Death - "Conspiracy of Silence" - Denial of Death

Death is a fact, inevitable and generally unpleasant (I don't think the latter needs to be explained). As such (and here I am trying to summarize the secularist argument) it should be handled in the most efficient, businesslike manner, that is, in a way that minimizes its "unattractiveness" to all participants in the event, starting with the dying "patient" (as he is today called; a person is a "patient" of death), and the anxiety that death can cause to life and the living. Therefore, our society has created a complex but well-established mechanism for dealing with death, the unfailing effectiveness of which is ensured by the equally unfailing [perfect] help of medical and funeral workers, clergymen and - last of the conspirators in a row, but not least - the family itself.

This mechanism is programmed to provide multiple services to clients in a specific order. It makes death as easy, painless and invisible as possible. To achieve this result, first lie to the patient about his true state, and when this becomes impossible, then he is immersed in a narcotic sleep. Then this mechanism eases the difficult time after death. This is done by funeral home owners, experts in death, and their role is extremely diverse. Very politely and unobtrusively, they do everything that the family did in the past.

They prepare the body for burial, they wear black mourning suits, which allows us to keep our ... pink trousers! They tactfully but firmly lead the family in the most important points funeral, they fill up the grave. They ensure that their skilled, skillful and dignified actions deprive death of the sting, turning the funeral into an event, although (it must be admitted) sad, but in no way disturbing the course of life.

Compared with the two most important "death specialists" - the doctor and the director of the funeral home - the third component of the "funeral mechanism" - the priest (and the Church in general) - seems to occupy a secondary and actually subordinate position. The development of events that led the French scientist Philippe Aries (I consider him the best specialist in the field of the history of death) called "medicalization of death", which means transferring death to the hospital and treating it as a shameful, almost indecent disease that is best kept secret, this "medicine" first radically belittled the role of the priest in the entire process of dying, then is in what precedes death.

From a medical point of view (and more often than we can imagine, and from the point of view of the family), the presence of a priest is not welcome if he can disturb the patient, giving him the news of his imminent death. But if he agrees (which is happening more and more often today) to “participate in the game”, “become part of a team”, which is precisely what seeks to “destroy death” as a significant event [...], hiding it from the dying person himself, then he is accepted with open arms.

The second stage (treatment with the body, or, as the Church says, with the “remains of the deceased”), the Church has completely devoted to culture. She does not participate in the preparations for the burial of the body, which is secretly transferred to work room funeral home and brought to the church already as (please forgive this expression) “finished product”, personifying our aseptic, hygienic, “decent” way of life and death.

The Church does not take part in the invention and choice of the coffin, and she never, as far as I know, protested against this terrible, bright and catchy object, the purpose of which, probably, is to make death, if not desirable, then at least comfortable, solid, peaceful and generally harmless. And now, in front of this strange tastelessly decorated product (which involuntarily makes us think of shop windows and mannequins in large department stores), a funeral is quickly performed, a service, every word, every action of which denounces feelings, ideas, worldview, which, undoubtedly, most vividly express and are modern funerals.

About this service itself, about the church funeral, I will tell later. And I begin not with our Orthodox “liturgy of death”, but with the culture within which we celebrate it, because I want to prove a position that is essential and decisive for me.

Our culture is the first in the long history of mankind that ignores death, in which, in other words, death does not serve as a point of reference, a point of reference for life or any aspects of life. Modern man can believe, as everyone seems to believe modern people, "to some kind of afterlife" (I got this from a poll: "some kind of afterlife"), but he doesn't live that life with that "existence" in mind all the time. For this life, death has no meaning. It is, to use the economic term, an absolute complete ruin. And therefore the task of what I called the “funeral mechanism” is precisely to make this death as painless, calm and imperceptible as possible for us who remain to live on.

12/11/2014 - doc file by scribe

Recognized and processed text of a scanned book in Word-2003 format (*.doc). The work was carried out with the aim of preparing a book for reading in e-readers.

The preface by S. Chapnin is omitted, the preface “From the translator” by E. Dorman is left.

Fixed several typos in the original text (corrected words are highlighted in yellow).

Several notes have been added (in cases where, in my opinion, there are semantic or factual inaccuracies in the text; highlighted in yellow).

The Latin saying says that the most definite thing in life is death, and the hour of life belongs to uncertainty. But in life there are situations when there is no real possibility to define a clear line between life and death. Our article will focus on lethargic sleep, as one of the most incomprehensible states of the body, which cannot be explained by scientists from all over the world. What is a lethargic dream?

Lethargic sleep is a painful state of a person, very close and similar to sleep, which is characterized by immobility, lack of reactions to any external stimuli, as well as a sharp decrease in all external signs life.

Lethargic sleep can last as long as several hours, or stretch out to several weeks, and only in rare cases reaches several months or years. Lethargic sleep is also observed in a hypnotic state

Lethargic sleep - causes

The causes of lethargic sleep are such conditions as hysteria, general exhaustion -, strong excitement, stress

Signs of lethargic sleep

It is very difficult to distinguish a sleeping person from a dead person. Breathing is imperceptible, body temperature becomes the same as Environment; the heartbeat is barely perceptible (up to 3 beats per minute).

Waking up, a person instantly catches up with his calendar age. People age at lightning speed

Lethargic sleep - symptoms

In a lethargic sleep, the consciousness of the sleeping person is usually preserved and the patients perceive and remember everything around them, but they cannot react to it.

It is necessary to be able to distinguish and isolate the disease from encephalitis, as well as narcolepsy. In the most severe cases, a picture of imaginary death appears, when the skin becomes cold and pale, and the pupils completely stop responding to light, while breathing, as well as the pulse, is difficult to feel, decreases arterial pressure, and increased painful irritations are not able to cause any reactions. For several days, the sick do not drink or eat, there is a cessation of urine and feces, there is a sharp weight loss and dehydration of the body.

Only in mild cases of sleep is there stillness, even breathing, muscle relaxation, rare twitching of the eyelids, and rolling of the eyeballs. Able to retain the ability to swallow, as well as chewing and swallowing movements. Partially capable of preserving the perception of the environment. If feeding is impossible, the process of maintaining the body is carried out using a probe.

The symptoms are difficult to define and what nature they would not be, there are a lot of unanswered questions.

Some doctors attribute the disease to metabolic disorders, while others consider it one of the pathologies of sleep. foundation latest version were studies by the American physician Eugene Azerinsky. The doctor deduced an interesting pattern: in the phase of slow sleep, the human body is like a motionless mummy, and only after half an hour the person begins to toss and turn, and also pronounce words. And if it is at this time that a person awakens, then it will be very fast, as well as easy. After such an awakening, the sleeper remembers what he dreamed about. Later, this phenomenon was explained as follows: in the phase of REM sleep, activity nervous system extremely high. It is in the phase of shallow, superficial sleep that varieties of lethargic sleep fall. Therefore, coming out of this state, patients are able to describe in detail what happened when they were supposedly unconscious.

Due to prolonged immobility, a person returns to the world due to sleep with a bunch of diseases (pressure sores, blood vessels, septic damage to the kidneys, as well as bronchi).

The longest lethargic dream occurred with 34-year-old Nadezhda Lebedina after a quarrel with her husband. The woman fell asleep in a state of shock and slept for 20 years. This case is listed in the Guinness book.

Gogol's lethargic dream was mistakenly perceived as death. This was evidenced by the found scratches on inner lining coffin, and separate fragments of fabric were under the nails, and the position of the body of the brilliant writer was changed

Lethargic sleep - treatment

The problem of treatment remains to this day. From the end of the 1930s, short-term awakening began to be used in this way: first, a sleeping pill was administered intravenously, and then an exciting drug. This method of treatment allowed a living corpse to come to its senses for ten minutes. Hypnosis sessions were also effective in treatment.

Often, after waking up, people claim that they have become owners of unusual abilities: they spoke foreign languages, began to read minds, as well as heal ailments.

To this day, the frozen state of the body is a mystery. Presumably, this is inflammation of the brain, which makes the body tired and it falls asleep.

Liturgy and life

Early morning, quiet liturgy. Father Alexander has never been so happy, simply happy, as when he was preparing for the liturgy on a weekday. He walked to the seminary, entered the empty church, looked at the first rays of the winter sun falling through the window and rejoiced at the quiet, silent meeting with the altar, straightened the covers, lit candles ... He knew that soon people would begin to come - concelebrating priests, nervous deacons, choristers, sleepy students, and he was ready for them. He often talks about how he loves these quiet morning hours. All day, every day he was overcome phone calls, visits, problems. But the early liturgy was a blessed time spent in the Kingdom of Heaven. For him, this was everything - the joy of nature, the opportunity to free oneself from everyday worries, standing at the Cross, the highest happiness of Communion at the altar, for it was here from the very early childhood he wished to be, from here he preached the Kingdom of God, here he suffered the most and rejoiced most sharply. Why suffered? Because here he especially clearly felt the unsatisfactoriness, the insufficiency of his life, his activity, his preaching, he felt their incommensurability with the Kingdom of God, in which he was during the Liturgy and which is love, and peace, and thanksgiving.

I remember how, during one of our morning conversations, I asked Alexander a lot of questions about death: what happens after three days? what is the significance of the ninth day? what is purgatory? what will be on the Last Judgment? etc. I became more and more annoyed by the lack of clear answers, I began to get angry. And then Alexander turned to me and said very seriously: “Lyana, don’t peek!” - and continued with a quotation from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: “…eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him” (2:9). How often he cites this quotation with complete faith, confidence and anticipation! He was an intellectual, a thinker, but I knew how simple and trusting his faith really was. These words - "Do not peep!" - show how simple force faith and confidence in the undeserved mercy of God allow us to reach the Kingdom of God: “Lord, it is good for us to be here!”

Most of all, Alexander loved to serve, teach and, especially, write. But there was not enough time for everything. He had to write under the pressure of circumstances, he was always pressed for time by which it was necessary to hand over the material. In Labelle, during the holidays, he spent most of the day at desk. But serving at the altar was the highest joy for him, and he knew how to convey this joy to those around him - students, colleagues, family. We all shared this joy with him. It was thanks to Alexander that David Drillok learned to understand, love, and experience church services with unfading joy, and even twenty years after his death, he came up to me after Matins of Holy Wednesday, at which a special, very beautiful canon is sung, and said to me: “Mother, I know that Father Alexander was with us today,” and after the kontakion of the Ascension: “Remember how Father Alexander loved him?” So now, reflecting on what was the true center of Alexander's life, I can say with full responsibility: Divine Liturgy at the Lord's altar.

Alexander often went to visit his former students, he loved them and did his best to support the young priests. Once Alexander served with one of these former disciples of his, an Antiochian, at the hierarchal Divine Liturgy. This young priest made so many mistakes! After the liturgy, having taken off his vestments, a disheveled, sweaty, happy young man went out to his parishioners and said: “I learned everything I know and can do from my beloved Father Alexander!” Alexander shuddered inwardly and doubted that he had learned anything at the seminary. But his second thought was that, despite all the mistakes and flaws in the service, the Antiochian knew “the one thing that is needed,” namely, he loved the Lord.

Alexander was frequently invited to lecture at Catholic or Episcopal seminaries and churches. The universal character of Christianity in America, the tolerance, diversity, and interest of so many people, filled Alexander with infinite gratitude. He usually went there reluctantly, tired of numerous things, but he returned inspired and full of strength: “Where two or three are gathered in My Name…”

Alexander read a lot all his life. The diversity of his interests is amazing, but it can be noted that most of all he loved memoirs, diaries, biographies and autobiographies. The depth and variety of human lives fascinated him. He read about atheists, never attacking them with criticism, but trying to understand how and why a person held such views. He read about homosexuals, politicians, theologians, Jews, Muslims. He never judged those about whom he read. He could mark weak sides, false notes, unconvincing arguments and points of view, but never condemned. He really gave everyone a chance to convince himself without sifting other people's ideas through the filter of his own beliefs. Poetry was not only close to his heart, it was part of it. Possessing an excellent memory, he recited by heart Verlaine, Pushkin, Tyutchev, Robert Frost, Cummings, Rimbaud, and others.

Alexander was also interested in politics, especially in the personalities of politicians themselves, followed the elections with interest (will it pass? Will it not pass?), Never, however, being carried away by narrow party passions. He really was a true Democrat, respecting the ability of the American people to choose and then accept the results of elections. He also followed French politics, regularly read the weeklies Express, Le Pointe, and others.

Going to Labelle for the summer, Alexander was passionate about picking up books for summer reading. He was never stingy with buying books, and the house was full of books reflecting the varied interests of the owner. His perfect memory held names, dates, events, etc. “Oh yes, this is the one who wrote…” When he was in Paris, he wandered through his favorite bookstores, such as Libreri Gallimard, and rummaging through books was his favorite occupation, and I still remember with a share of shame how I sometimes had to rush him.

Throughout his life, Alexander took up keeping a diary several times. The first diary refers to the years of his youth. And the diary, begun in 1973, he kept until his death. He wrote in order to "get in touch with himself." This diary lets the reader into the inner world of Alexander, shows how he lived the last ten years of his life. Through the diary, he observed people, lived with them, communicated with the world. A diary is not a close examination of oneself, but rather a way to see oneself in the context of all creation, a way to "explain" oneself to oneself.

All his life Alexander was surrounded by friends. These friends belonged to very different walks of life.

For a while, we were simply besieged by dissidents who had come from the Soviet Union. Alexander attracted them with his hospitality, breadth of views, clear convictions and understanding of what they had to endure in their homeland. On Easter night they came to the seminary, and after the night service they gathered in Alexander's office with vodka and sausage. They smoked so much that the office soon filled with smoke. And these people, among whom there were many unbelievers, or not yet believers, were both Jews and former Marxists, nevertheless, were able to fully share with us the joy of Easter, the joy that Alexander radiated, despite the terrible fatigue after Holy Week .

Sometimes I was afraid that they would literally “drink” life from Alexander. But he had an amazing ability to replenish energy through reading and silence, which, however, were so few! A few hours in the morning between morning and the first lecture, the road to the seminary and back, the enjoyment of freshly fallen snow, the picture of someone else's life in the lighted window of one of the houses that quickly flashed before my eyes through the early morning fog - all this renewed Alexander's spirit and prepared him for a new day. .

50.00₽

Audio recording of the report of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann “Freedom and Tradition in the Church”, as well as reflections on the works of the last period of the life of the famous Russian Orthodox theologian of the 20th century: “... he finds liturgical meaning in many cultural phenomena. And even in those who seem far from the Church.

Cycle, series:

Persons:

Description

In 2013, the book by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann "The Liturgy of Death and Modern Culture" was published in Helena Dorman's translation. And on the radio "Grad Petrov" a previously unknown report by Father Alexander Schmemann "Freedom and Tradition in the Church" was heard.

The book is four lectures delivered on English language so thoughtful translation was required. But the English text was never written by Father Alexander Schmemann - this is a textual transcript of his oral speeches.

Unlike the book "The Liturgy of Death", we can hear the report "Freedom and Tradition in the Church", it was delivered by Father Alexander in 1976 in Paris at the congress of the RSHD in Russian.

The audio recording of the report was provided to the radio station "Grad Petrov" by the chairman of the radio station "Voice of Orthodoxy" (Paris), Archpriest Vladimir Yagello.

“And, finally, more than that: a kind of spiritual distortion of all shades, the very almost incorrect experience of Christianity. I cannot speak about this now, but I could say and could prove that if somewhere the church consciousness was perverted, it was not perverted because someone wrote some book at the Moscow Theological Academy. Believe me, no one has read this book. Maybe the Catholics read because they read everything. And it had no effect on the Russian consciousness. But already about what enters into worship ten years later, they say: this is Tradition. As the late Boris Ivanovich said to Sove, reading the liturgy at the Theological Institute: “Yes, yes, fathers, go to the parishes and you will see. You will be told: oh, this is the Apostolic Tradition, don't touch it. But be sure that this "apostolic tradition" appeared in the sixties of the last century. And then they will say that this is modernism. And modernism lies in the fact that the Throne itself is simply installed at this point. When you feel that some kind of dark veil is descending here, against which you can do nothing, nothing!”

These speeches refer to the last period of the life of the famous Russian Orthodox theologian of the 20th century. They allow you to reflect on the theological thought of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann and open up new horizons for understanding and further development modern theology.

Marina Lobanova and teacher of the Institute of Theology and Philosophy Konstantin Makhlak talk about the book by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann "The Liturgy of Death and Modern Culture" and the report "Freedom and Tradition in the Church" in the "Book Review" program.

Konstantin Makhlak:

“Schmemann at the end of his work, when he moved from the theme of liturgical theology in its purest form to a broader understanding of the theme of worship, liturgical tradition, moved on to perceiving it through the prism of culture, through the prism of human existence here and now. This is an important turn, which is rarely found in specialized works devoted only to liturgical theology, historical liturgy, for example. And here he comes to very interesting generalizations. This idea is often found in him, it goes into the context of his statements - he finds liturgical meaning in many cultural phenomena. And even in those who seem far from the Church.

The works of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann are constantly being reprinted, even those that are already widely known. However, the understanding of his legacy is always relevant.

Of course, it is important to discuss the previously unknown performances of Father Alexander Schmemann. But in their light, even earlier works can take on a new meaning.

We also bring to your attention a reflection on the collection of articles by Father Alexander "Theology and Divine Service".

There are 3 programs in the cycle. Total duration 1 hour 48 minutes.

The size of the zip archive is 244 MB.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann "Freedom and Tradition in the Church".

Book Review: "The Liturgy of Death and Modern Culture".