Very popular today. It is advertised on television, on the web and on the streets, and many gyms, many are educated as trainers and begin to lead people to perfect body... Along with the usual physical activity, there are many alternative and foreign sports options: martial arts, Pilates, and, of course, yoga.
It is about the latter option that disagreements arise, because yoga is not only sports activities, it is also a certain worldview of a person, and spiritual practices. What is the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards yoga and can an Orthodox person practice it?
The Purpose of Yoga as a Spiritual Practice
This oriental practice is an integral part of the whole religion - Buddhism, which became widespread thanks to yoga. Initially, this sport was popular only in Western countries, in particular America, but over time it also appeared on the territory of post-Soviet countries. And so the question arose, is it possible for Orthodox Christians to practice yoga or is it contrary to the charter of the Church? And in general, what is the attitude of the Orthodox Church to yoga?
Orthodox view of yoga
To answer these questions, you should initially understand what yoga is and why practicing it can lead to some kind of spiritual problems.
Yoga is a teaching consisting of a system of physical exercises, the purpose of which is the conscious control of the psyche and psychophysiology of a person. This is necessary to achieve more high level spiritual state. So, the idea of only the physical component is fundamentally wrong. Her main goal is a change in consciousness and this already makes one think about the harmlessness of such a sport.
A more accurate definition of yoga is a system of spiritual beliefs, so the exercises are primarily aimed at changing the consciousness of a person and his spirit.
Orthodox hieromonk Seraphim once said that "a person who practices yoga automatically prepares himself for spiritual views and experiences that he did not even know about." And Seraphim knew this for sure, because he himself, before taking the tonsure, actively practiced this system of exercises.
Orthodoxy about other theories and teachings:
In the center is meditation, and physical exercises are only a tool to calm the body and achieve physical peace, for subsequent spiritual practices. Seraphim also writes about this: "Its purpose is to relax a person to make him passive and receptive to spiritual impressions." Anyone who has practiced this sport for 2-3 weeks can confirm that it has become calmer and softer - this is the result of regular practice.
In such a relaxed state, a person is extremely susceptible to everything that will be told to him, and he will accept an alien philosophy much faster.
Why Meditation Is Negative
Self-knowledge lies at the center of meditation, it distracts a person from the hustle and bustle, leads to the world of images and colors. In the process of meditation, a feeling of peace comes, but at the same time, yogis presuppose concentration on the knowledge of one's own self.
Yoga is part of Hinduism
This is not a prayer in which a person talks face to face with the Lord. It's just a search for yourself and the desire to rekindle something in yourself that was not there before. People are chasing the peace that meditation presupposes and forget that in this pursuit one can forget that man is only God's slave.
Important! Yoga depersonalizes a person and erases the consciousness of God from him. This alone can give the Orthodox a clear answer that it is better to abstain from this practice.
A person stops praying, he begins to seek that peace that consciousness draws for him. Moreover, meditation makes a person accept and understand that he is God, and this contradicts the Commandments of God, which say that there is one Lord.
A person who is constantly engaged in such a practice, sooner or later, will repeat the sin of Adam - he will decide that he is no worse than the Lord God and will be overthrown.
“Salvation is accomplished not 'in oneself and through oneself', but in God,” says the theologian Hierotheos (Vlachos). But the master of Zen yoga Boris Orion claims that Zen or universal peace is freedom from religions where there is no God, and most importantly, it is an appeal to oneself. Wasn't that what the serpent in Eden said to the first people?
So yoga assumes:
- the importance of experience, whether positive or negative;
- lack of distinction between good and evil;
- concentration on the human "I";
- absence of God;
- achieving false peace;
- denial of the Lord.
All slogans sound very tempting, but in the end they lead a person to destruction of himself, denial of the Lord and complete spiritual collapse. A person can achieve peace and perfection only by coming to the Lord and submitting to Him.
Orthodox Church and Yoga
Yoga as a system of exercises (physical and psychological) has been around for over 1000 years. It is a branch of Buddhism and aims to attract new adherents to this religion. The attitude of the Orthodox Church towards this practice is strictly negative. Despite the fact that some perceive this practice only as a system of exercises, one cannot separate them from psychological practice.
The Church's Attitude to Yoga
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, commenting on yoga, confirmed that Orthodox believers should refrain from such practices and it is better to do another sport, in which there is no psychological connotation. He clarified that the practice is pagan and even just doing the exercises can open the way for the spiritual world, which will have an extremely negative impact on a Christian.
Important! Any contact with pagan practices leads to an imbalance in the spiritual life of a Christian and can lead to negative consequences.
The Orthodox Church is of the opinion that such activities Eastern practice leads the Christian to serious errors. Sooner or later, a yoga practitioner will be interested in psychological exercises, in particular the meditation that she offers. And now it will be difficult to leave from here.
Why Orthodox Christians shouldn't do yoga
An Orthodox Christian should not engage in this practice for the following reasons:
- yoga is part of a religious doctrine that is categorically opposed to Christianity;
- there is no God in her, no striving to know Him, no awareness of her sinful nature;
- yoga does not imply repentance or repentance for one's actions;
- this is a selfish practice of self-knowledge without knowledge of God, and this is categorically at odds with Christian foundations.
Regular practice, meditation - all this leads to the fact that a person begins to turn away from the Lord, to turn towards his selfish nature more and more. He falls into various delusions, ceases to distinguish between good and evil, which ultimately leads to a serious spiritual fall. Nobody gives guarantees whether a person will be able to return to the true path after this fall or not.
Advice! In order to avoid such troubles, it is best to refrain from such sports activities, especially since there are a huge number of very diverse physical activity without spiritual overtones.
Should a Christian do yoga
Priesthood response
As mentioned above, Patriarch Kirill spoke clearly about Eastern practice and noted that Orthodox believers should not engage in such things for their own good. At the same time, he noted that, in general, it is extremely positive to treat any kind of sport.
Spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian:
Sport should be aimed at improving our physical body and not touching the spiritual essence, and yoga works in a different direction - it attracts the body in order to amaze the soul. Physical exercise yogis are excellent, they develop endurance and flexibility, but her psychological techniques can destroy the spiritual world of a person, his essence and cultural identity.
Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) wrote a whole book about yoga, in which he explained the destructive effect of this Eastern practice and listed the reasons why Orthodox people should avoid it. His opinion is especially important for Orthodox Christians, since he himself was previously engaged in yoga and knows the whole system from the inside. In the book, he gives a historical background, the history of the development of this meditative practice and examines its roots in Buddhism.
Seraphim says that on the American continent, the spread of yoga led to the birth of many pagan cults. In particular, the hippie movement relies heavily on inner self-knowledge, meditation, and light energy. Hieromonk notes the harmful influence eastern system exercises on the spiritual life of a person and his gradual separation from the Lord, with complete further renunciation.
Archbishop Anastasius of Albania also wrote an article of the same name, in which he disclosed his position on yoga. He says in it that these exercises have a short-term positive effect on people, in particular, the same as any other sports activity.
Yoga is an integral part of Hinduism and the initial stage general spiritual ascent. Her goal is not just good physical condition, but full immersion into the primordially pagan Hindu beliefs.
And the Orthodox religious scholar Mikhail Plotnikov, who also studied Hinduism and Buddhism in India for many years, says in one interview that “yoga is originally the practice of Hindu monks, which helps them to abandon vicious desires, then natural human ones (the desire to have a family, prosperity, health), and then completely from all desires. "
First, a person must acquire complete control over his body, then over his psychological body, which is achieved through meditation. After numerous sessions of trance, the light of his own divinity should enter the mind of a person.
Important! Yoga is not just a harmless practice of interesting physical education. This is the beginning of a serious pagan religion, which sooner or later will capture the mind of a person, if you do not turn away from it in time.
IN modern world so many possibilities to find alternative sports activities it will not be difficult for a person.
The Orthodox Church on Yoga
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, Dear friends, Hello. On Solovki, in connection with the patronal feast of this holy monastery - the Transfiguration of the Lord, a rather interesting and unusual event took place. Athletes, representatives sports organizations, clergymen from different dioceses, laymen from Moscow, Arkhangelsk and other places gathered to discuss the topic of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the world of sports.
Some may ask today: Why is the Church interested in sports? Say, it seems to be something opposite to the Church, at least - a sphere of life far from the Church ... In Soviet times, they said, and even today many in the West say that the athlete's lifestyle and those social attitudes that are associated with sports, are an alternative to the religious way of life and those ideals that are preached by traditional religious institutions, in particular, the Orthodox Church.
They still paint us a rather banal, but ingrained picture in the minds of people. Here are believers who are indifferent to their own health, who are not interested active life... And here is the world of sports, which cultivates the strength of the body, healthy image life, active social and life position. These are two different worlds, and these are worlds that are associated with opposite value systems, with opposite aspirations and ideals, and these worlds are not only alien, but also hostile to each other.
On the other hand, many in the church environment today will say: “Why sport, why take care of the health of our own people and those around us, because we are all perishable, we all leave this world at the end of the game”? And there is a certain grain of truth in these words. A person who cares about his own health first of all, who lives by the desire to preserve his physical strength, beauty, his comfortable existence, often turns out to be either just an unbeliever, or a believer only formally, not realizing that the goal of life is not in physical health, not in bodily strength and beauty. Such a person begins to devote too much to something that is not really what by and large, it is only necessary - that is, not the salvation of one's soul, not striving for real, full, genuine - eternal life. He begins to worry about his material needs and physical condition, he begins to pay too much attention to his real or imaginary illnesses, literally running with frantic energy from a heart attack and other illness.
And often, by the way, it is precisely such people who do not end their earthly life in the best way. Because excessive concern for one's own health - care that crosses the line of rationality - sometimes leads to things that, in a spiritual and mental sense, just ruin human health, depriving a person of the joy of being, the opportunity to look around and understand: physical health and even physical life is not the most important thing.
The church can be everywhere. Including where life begins, where young people - and not very young - go in for sports, organize physical culture movements, mass sports competitions, and strength training, military-patriotic education, where sports fans gather. It is very natural, very logical for the Church to be there, because most of these people are baptized in Orthodoxy, most of these people with interest, with benevolent attention to any word spoken by a priest or a representative of an Orthodox public organization.
Today it is very important to show both these people and our entire society that Christianity is the salt, light and essence of the whole life of the people, in which the majority are baptized in the Orthodox Church. We need to say again and again what was said at the round table, which was discussed today: physical culture, spiritual culture and the culture of mental order should go hand in hand. Faith and action, idea and life, ideals and socially significant deeds - all this should be combined in the life of a Christian. This life should not consist of separately taken professional or social activities, to which faith supposedly has nothing to do, and the time that a person spends in church during divine services or parish work. Such a time, according to the thought of some of our enemies, should be completely separated from everything else - from those vital and significant deeds that this or that person does.
During the round table, much was said about the fact that today the system of interaction between the Church and the world of sports is gradually taking shape - from international level to the level of a Sunday school, an ordinary school, a courtyard football team and the teams of the parish, all sorts of circles and sections. There are a huge number of initiatives that are offered to the Church and are already being implemented by various sports organizations, including Orthodox public associations. There are systems that work very well sports training in Sunday schools, sports sections at temples and within the framework of inter-parish competitions. Among the places where such a system has developed is the Presnensky District of Moscow, in which I have the honor to serve. Inter-parish competitions are held there from time to time. different types sports.
As you know, clergymen are invited to speak at meetings sports teams, especially before sending to important international competitions... His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia more than once blessed the teams before traveling to the Olympics. His Holiness especially patronizes Russian ice hockey, and every year is held in different regions of Russia with the final in Moscow children's tournament for the Patriarch's Cup in this sport. This kind of interaction, such mutual communication is becoming completely natural today - it does not descend from above, it is not invented in some offices, it is not the fruit of political and social construction. It is a natural desire of the people of the Church and people of sport - and often they are the same people, Orthodox laymen - to be together.
On Solovki, the day after the round table, Soccer game between representatives of organizations and communities who came to the round table and the Solovetsky youth. Acting Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region Igor Anatolyevich Orlov, a deputy of the State Duma and famous athlete Nikolai Sergeevich Valuev, other people active in the world of sports and in public life, in particular, priest Daniil Zubov, cleric of the Church of St. Nicholas on Three Mountains, who plays sports with young people, including Sunday school, and organizes inter-parish competitions.
Young people, who, perhaps, felt some alienation from the life of the monastic community, suddenly saw that the Church - together with those social structures that interact with it - extended a hand of friendship to them. It often happens that the church community and the youth community, including the sports community, even those who are very close geographically, find themselves alienated from each other, living, as it were, on different planets. I would like to hope that this alienation will be overcome, including through the closest interaction between the Church and the world of sports, through common sports and social events, which can and should unite people - albeit doing quite different things, but at the same time united by one concern about Russia, with the spirit of Christian courage, the desire to arrange according to faith, according to the word of God, not only his personal life and not only his inner religious, prayer life, but also the whole life of society, the whole life of our people, which cannot be imagined without a Christian basis, without a Christian meaning ...
There is a saying "there is a healthy mind in a healthy body."
Train the body, take care of the soul!
At the very bottom is an article about sports from a Christian point of view.
On this page we will post news and events related to Orthodoxy and sports.
Christian authors of the 1st-4th centuries about sports
How should a Christian feel about sports? Where to draw the line between physical health and sports as a way to make money? How was it treated sports competitions antiquity, the holy fathers of the first centuries of Christianity?
There is an opinion that the fathers of the Ancient Church prohibited sports as a matter not pious. Is it true?
The answer to this question will not be unambiguous, since, on the one hand, the statements of Christian theologians and teachers of the Ancient Church help to understand the essence of the Christian attitude to sports, on the other hand, from
the port of the first centuries of Christianity and modern sports are still different things.
In the first centuries of Christianity, the Olympic Games were the most famous ἀ γ ώ νοι which literally translates to competitions... They appeared in distant Antiquity as part of a pagan cult: all existing myths about their origin are associated with the names of the gods of the Greek pantheon. First and last days competitions were accompanied by sacrifices. The athletes appeased the idols and thanked them for the victory. By sample Olympic Games others were established: the Pythian games, the Isthmian games, the Nemean games were also part of the pagan cult of specific gods.
The Olympic Games have long kept high ideals... They occupied an important place in public life. At the time of their conduct, wars stopped, the main principle of the athletes' performance was honesty. The participants prepared for a long time and persistently, trained, tempered their body and spirit. Winning the Olympic Games was prestigious not only for the winner, but also for the policy he represented.
With the decline of Greek culture and the fall of Greece under the rule of Rome, the situation changed. Games became more and more like Roman spectaculis- spectacles or, as they would say now, at sports shows. The athletes cheated, not only Greek citizens were allowed to compete, which was initially unacceptable. For example, even the Roman emperor Nero was an olympionic, who won a chariot race with a certain amount of imperial luck.
Another form of sports competition was Roman spectaculis... In the Roman Empire, as you know, among the people demanding "bread and circuses", these very spectacles were popular. Just like the Olympic Games, they had pagan roots and emerged from the Etruscan ritual, when prisoners and slaves were sacrificed during the funeral of killed soldiers. Later, those doomed to death (their place in the arena was often taken by Christians) were forced to fight each other, set wild animals on them, and staged military dramatizations in which this or that historical battle was played out. Such amusements became very popular, and the presence in the stands was an honorable duty of a citizen, since those killed in gladiatorial battles or in military dramatizations continued to be considered victims in honor of their deceased ancestors.
Idol sacrificial origin ἀ γ ώ νοι and spectaculis, of course, contradicted the foundations of the Christian faith. But the Fathers of the Ancient Church condemned ancient and Roman sports for a number of other reasons.
In the stands of the Colosseum, a person's consciousness was changing. It was impossible, having attended the meeting of the pagans, at the "council of the wicked" to preserve the image of God in oneself, not to fall into such disastrous states of the soul as anger, rage, irritation, anger, condemned by the Apostle Paul (Eph. 4:31). John Chrysostom wrote about this when some of his listeners, after a conversation with him, went to the races, where they “fell into such a frenzy that they filled the whole city with obscene noise and screams that aroused laughter, or better, crying” ...
Murder is a mortal sin. Participation in murder is no less serious sin. For a Christian, it is not only the desire to kill that is sinful, but also the presence during the murder. This was another good reason why a Christian did not
had to go to gladiator fights. Saint Theophilus of Antioch wrote: “<…>it is impermissible for us to look even at the games of gladiators, so that we do not participate in and witness the murder. "
Condemning the pagan essence ἀ γ ώ νοι and spectaculis and noting their detrimental effect on the human soul, the Church Fathers of the 1st-4th centuries sometimes resorted to sports terminology in their creations. This is not surprising. For the first Christian theologians, it was natural to use pagan terms and images, filling them with Christian meaning. The image of an athlete, a wrestler, training for the sake of victory was close to the Christian consciousness. In the spiritual sense, the true athletes were the martyrs who fought in the difficult feat of standing for the faith, waging a spiritual battle for an eternal reward in heaven.
In addition to such metaphors and images that make it possible to understand the essence of the Christian attitude to sports, in the patristic creations there are specific recommendations for Christians involved in physical education. Clement of Alexandria wrote in his famous “Educator”: “Young men need to have bodily exercise. There will be no evil if they exercise their bodies in what is good for health, so that such activities do not distract them from the best. Of the men, some can wrestle naked, others can play ball, especially in the open air in the so-called game of fenindu; let others be content with traveling around the country and walking around the city. "
Thus, it is possible to draw certain conclusions about how the Fathers of the Ancient Church treated sports.
They condemned the content of idols ἀ γ ώ νοι and spectaculis... Christians could not be present in the stands, because the mental dependence on the pagan crowd led people into a violent, sinful state of mind. It was also forbidden to witness murders, including those that occurred in gladiatorial fights.
The Church Fathers approved of the stubbornness and ascetic exercises of pagan athletes, but condemned the purpose of their exploits - victory for the sake of vanity and earthly honors. Instead of a local victory at the Olympic Games and in the arenas of the Colosseum, they urged to seek, instead of earthly glory and a laurel wreath, an eternal, never-ending reward - the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4: 8). And one can only wonder how right they were!
Vanity is the main sin of athletes, which, unfortunately, has stood the test of time. Much has changed in sports, but the desire to “be great” remains here on earth. Today, perseverance and hard work is not characteristic of all athletes. And when something does not work out, training turns out to be ineffective, victories do not come, the temptation is extremely great to go the easy way, to turn to the help of medicine - to doping ...
Obviously, the main thing: the Church Fathers condemned in sports that which takes a person away from God, drains and kills his soul, in other words, that which is contrary to true Christian values.
Philip Ponomarev
Theologian.Ru
In the photo: Artem Chernyshev is practicing on a horizontal bar near the Nikolsky Church in Dobrinka.
Photographer Dmitry Adonyev.
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Can Orthodox Christians go in for sports? Who would doubt today ... And the struggle? And what about sambo? And if they can, then what should be - and how should it be expressed - the participation of the Church in this sphere of human life? We invite you to talk ...
Athletes and the Russian Church will develop SAMBO ideology
Moscow. March 18. INTERFAX - The sportsmen, together with the Moscow Patriarchate, will develop the ideology of SAMBO as a national system of self-defense.
"Our task is to work together with the Russian Orthodox Church and develop a common ideology for sambo," Honored Coach of Russia Anatoly Khlopetsky said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
In turn Priest Georgy Roshchin, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations between Church and Society,
noted that the Russian Orthodox Church supports sports for the reason that in sports there is "tension of the will of people who want to achieve some results."
"It is the same in the spiritual life," the priest says.
As the participants of the press conference said, martial arts SAMBO was created by Vasily Oshchepkov with the blessing of his spiritual mentor, St. Nicholas of Japan. In 1937 V. Oshchepkov was shot as an enemy of the people, and his name was forgotten for many years.
In turn, Gennady Shvets, Head of the Public Relations Department and the Press Service of the Russian Olympic Committee, noted that "SAMBO has every right to ensure that the Russian authorities and the sports community actively promote this struggle in Olympic program".
With the aim of popularizing SAMBO in Russia and in the world, the Oshchepkov project has been created, which provides for the creation of a wide network of youth and spiritual-sports clubs.
See also:
Sport and the Church - it would seem that there are no phenomena that are more distant from each other. Church is spirit, spiritual, and sport is physical strength, agility, speed. Sports are called physical culture. But can't a true athlete be a believer? Can't the Church support his spirit?
Sign of the cross of the goalkeeper
Who among the sports fans does not know the name of the honored master of sports, three times Olympic champion, multiple champion the world, the greatest hockey goalkeeper Vladislav Tretyak? But few people know that Vladislav is a deeply religious person. This is what the great athlete himself says.
- Since childhood, I have deep respect for the Russian Orthodox Church, but the real faith came to me in the late 1970s during my visit to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. And the soul was favorably influenced by conversations with the governor of the lavra, Archimandrite Alexy (Kutepov), now the archbishop of Tula and Belevsky. I had the good fortune to be personally acquainted with His Holiness Patriarch Pimen.
I am especially close to the image of the founder of the lavra, the great spiritual ascetic and collector of the Russian land, St. Sergius of Radonezh, to whom I often turn in my prayers. Coming out on the ice, I always tried to cross myself, or rather, secretly, with a symbolic movement of my hand in a goalkeeper's glove, I depicted the sign of the cross, as far as possible in front of television cameras and under the gaze of our party
leaders who constantly attended matches.
Sport requires a certain amount of courage and dedication from people and encourages them to take risks. Entering the ice rink, you never know whether you will return from the game as a hero or a loser, unharmed or seriously injured. Prayer has always strengthened the spirit of Russian soldiers before battles. Prayer also strengthens the spirit of the athlete before responsible competitions.
I am convinced that without mass sports for children and youth, as well as without Orthodox traditions, we will not be able to bring up a full-fledged, physically and spiritually healthy generation in the country. "In a healthy body healthy mind"! How true this simple and wise proverb is! But who, besides the Church, will help us now to revive morality? I am well acquainted with the social and charitable initiatives of our Church - and to the best of my ability I participate in some projects, for example, I help an orphanage.
But sport also brings up the best qualities in souls!
The interaction of physical culture and sports organizations and clubs with the Russian Orthodox Church will certainly bear fruit. We are very pleased that His Holiness the Patriarch has recently addressed his greetings to the participants of the All-Russian movement young hockey players The Golden Puck. It expresses confidence that the competition will become for them "a serious test of character, will help them acquire the necessary spiritual qualities: courage, courage, determination." And it is very correct that the Church has established a Department for Youth Affairs, which will oversee this interaction.
Olympics without idols
For the first time in history Russian sports the spiritual father of the country's Olympic national team appeared in 2004 before the 2004 Olympics in Greece. The Russian national team at the Olympic Games was cared for by Archpriest Nikolai Sokolov, rector of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Zvonoryi, dean of the missionary faculty of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute.
Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Russia L. Tyagachev addressed Patriarch Alexy II with a request to appoint a confessor for the Russian Olympic team. This request did not arise out of nowhere. Spiritual nourishment before the 2004 Olympics Russian athletes another Moscow priest, Archpriest Sergiy Suzdaltsev, rector of the churches of the Life-Giving Trinity on Vorobyovy Hills and St. George the Victorious on Poklonnaya Gora was actively engaged. It was about. Sergius served for the first time in 1996 a parting prayer service on Poklonnaya Hill for Russian team going to the Atlanta Olympics. By the way, before the Olympics in Athens, Fr. Sergius served a prayer service for the athletes, presenting the Olympians with silver crosses and icons of St. George the Victorious. Together with the national team, a large temple icon of St. George.
Father Nikolai Sokolov comes from a well-known Moscow priestly family. He is the eldest son of Archpriest Vladimir Sokolov, close to Patriarch Pimen. His younger brother Sergius was Bishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk and was buried in Novo-
Siberian region.
The wife of the then confessor of the Olympic team, Natalya Nikolaevna, is the daughter of the famous spiritual writer Nikolai Pestov, who helped many Russian intellectuals of the 20th century find their way to the church. Himself about. Nikolai graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, spiritually takes care of the Tretyakov Gallery, so his influence on athletes in Athens was not only spiritual, but also cultural.
Here one should immediately "explain" to those ill-wishers of the Russian Orthodox Church who claim that the Russian Orthodox Church today "turns a blind eye" to the canonical rules allegedly prohibiting sports.
In the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils there is disapproval of all kinds of "lists", to which the ancient Olympic Games belonged, but this kind of opinion
The church was not caused by a negative attitude towards sports in general. Let's remember that the Olympic Games in Greece were dedicated to pagan gods. Various competitions in the Roman Empire were also dedicated to pagan gods. The Church did indeed impose a ban on such "lists".
As for the attitude to today's physical culture and sports, the "Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church" emphasizes that today "secular culture is able to be the bearer of the gospel." To a large extent, this applies to physical culture and sports.
At the Winter Olympics in Turin, and then the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Russian national team was again nourished by father Nikolai Sokolov. He himself says that it would be better to call his passion for sports "physical education" - he never rose above the first youth category in shooting. He was also engaged in tourist rowing, but after graduating from the Moscow Conservatory in violin and viola, he had to leave serious sports.
On the first day of stay in Olympic Village in Pekin
O. Nikolai consecrated both buildings and rooms where the Russian delegation lived. A prayer center was created, where there were rooms for Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. “It should be noted that our team is multinational and all four world religions are represented in it,” Fr. Nikolay. - Despite this circumstance, all athletes happily perceive the presence of a priest, because the soul and God are one for all. And I, in turn, try to give hope to all the participants in the Olympic Games for a medal. Three to four athletes come to me every day. And if someone cannot come by himself because of participation in the competition, their friends and comrades bring notes with the names of the people for whom I need to pray. "
For the competition itself about. Nikolai never made it out in Beijing. And I didn’t take offense at all. “I’m not here for my own pleasure, but at the service,” said the priest.
Pray for the Russian national team
Everyone remembers the wonderful performance of the Russian national team last year at the European Football Championship. But not many people know that football fans not only splashed their enthusiasm on the streets, but also came with their sports aspirations to the temples.
So, the rector of the Yekaterinburg temple of Innokenty of Moscow, Fr. Vladimir Zaitsev stated that successful performance the Russian team at Euro 2008 is a good cause. “Most of our parishioners pray for success Russian footballers... And the priests themselves, like me, for example, conduct services, ”Fr. Vladimir. He said that on the night of a very important match, he would be watching the broadcast with other priests. “If ours win, then in the morning we will hold a thanksgiving service. Although, in an amicable way, it should be held after the end of the championship, but even the successes of the Russian footballers that exist at the moment are worthy of gratitude, ”Fr. Vladimir.
On the same days, the assistant to the Bishop of Barnaul and Altai Maxim S. Goncharov said that special prayers for Russia's victory at Euro-2008 are not served in Barnaul churches, but notes with the names of the Russian national team players are served. “Naturally, the clergy pray for the health of those indicated in the notes, that is, for our team,” said Sergei Goncharov. In those days, they were not indifferent to football in the Yuzhno-Sakhalin and Kuril dioceses. “On the eve of the semifinal meeting, in the evening, a prayer service for the victory of Russian footballers will be served in the Resurrection Cathedral,” said the head of the missionary department, Fr. Victor.
As for the remarks that the possible future defeats of our athletes may lead the people into despondency and depression, then, according to Fr. Alexandra, “There is nothing wrong with praying for our athletes, whether they lose or win ... I do not think that if our athletes start losing, the people will fall into a general depression. In this regard, I would like to recall one episode from Russian history. Everyone probably remembers that two years after the victory at the Kulikovo field, Tokh-tamysh took Moscow, set it on fire, but still this did not shake the faith of the Russian people in their own strength. And all because the people who won the victory on the Kulikovo field realized that with God's help they could stand firmly on their feet, ”Fr. Alexander Novopashin.
Sambo with the blessing of the saint
“Of course, our sport has room to develop,” said Fr. Vsevolod. - To do this, you need to return it to mass. We need to think about the state, local authorities and business to support talented and athletic youth ”.
According to Father Vsevolod, the Russian Orthodox Church “is very supportive of the Paralympic Games (games of disabled people -“ Emergencies ”), contacts with the Russian national team and the head of the Paralympic movement, renowned human rights activist Vladimir Lukin. “May God grant them success, because they need special efforts and will to achieve their goals,” said the priest.
The Russian Orthodox Church especially supports those sports that are associated with national traditions. The round table "Orthodox consciousness and martial arts" held at the Moscow Theological Academy is indicative. Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee of Russia, President of the International and Russian SAMBO Federation M. Tikhomirov defined its results in the following words: “At a time when martial arts alien to our spirit are implanted in Russia, the revival of the national tradition of martial arts is of particular importance. And in this we are supported by the Russian Orthodox Church. "
It has become a good tradition for representatives of the Department for External Church Relations to participate in the opening ceremonies of the Russian SAMBO Championships and other martial arts competitions. “Sambo was created as a synthesis of spirit and body with the blessing of St. Nicholas (Kasatkin), Archbishop of Japan at the beginning of the 20th century,” says M. Tikhomirov. - The saint blessed his novice to collect all the best from oriental martial arts to create a new martial art to serve the Fatherland and God. "
In a healthy body healthy mind
Strength has always been appreciated in Russia, recalls the honored coach of Russia, President of the Powerlifting Federation of the Novosibirsk Region Igor Belyaev. Physically strong people Our ancestors looked not just as strong men, for the fun of those who were ready, surprising the people, to bend horseshoes, tie a poker in a knot, turn over carts with one hand and fight a bear, but above all as Russian heroes, defenders of "Faith, Tsar and Fatherland." “That is why we invited an Orthodox priest to our competition - Archpriest Alexander Novopashin, who himself is engaged in powerlifting,” said Igor Belyaev.
Father Alexander stressed that the Orthodox Church has a positive attitude towards harmonious physical development of people. The priest said that he himself had been involved in power sports all his life, and in recent times trains the inhabitants of the male Orthodox community for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, organized by him with the blessing of the ruling bishop at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Father noted that sports load undoubtedly helps in the rehabilitation process - a physically trained person has not only good muscle tone, but also emotional, which distracts him from bad thoughts and thoughts.
— Physical education, sports take young people away from the vices that fill our modern society, - said the priest. For this reason, the Orthodox Church cannot but welcome people who reject vice and by their own example inspire young people to follow their path. But the material should not overshadow the spiritual, goals and achievements should not be paramount. “Do not create an idol for yourself” is the second commandment of God. If a person forgets about the soul, then a powerful imbalance occurs in his spiritual life, - said the priest.
- In the Holy Scriptures, the Lord tells us to first of all seek the Kingdom of Heaven, and everything else will follow. A person should have a healthy spiritual core that will not break, will not bend, and we can find spiritual health only in true faith in God, in Orthodoxy, ”said Father Alexander.
When asked how the athletes themselves feel about what is present at the tournament Orthodox priest, athlete-all-rounder Gennady Bardin replied: “Holy cause! The Slavs must unite in the Orthodox faith and follow a godly path. After all, this is not some kind of sect, this is our native Orthodoxy. Believers are becoming cleaner, doing less stupid things, and spiritual strength is increasing. And this also helps in sports, where you need to be able to endure. And without spiritual strength, where can real patience come from? "
Gennady Bardin is sure that the blessing of the priest will certainly strengthen the athletic spirit of the participants in the competition, help them to wage a difficult fight with dignity. Yuri Shumskikh from the Koltsovo science city - the grandfather and coach of 11-year-old Alexander, the youngest participant in the tournament, but already having the second senior category in weightlifting, is sure that the presence of priest Alexander Novopashin at the tournament will make people look at sports differently.
“It is sometimes said that sport and the Orthodox faith are mutually exclusive, but I strongly disagree with that,” said Boris Levitan, a novice of the Cathedral of Saint Blessed and Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, master of sports in powerlifting, Boris Levitan (great-grandson of the great announcer Yuri Borisovich Levitan).
On the contrary, according to the athlete, these things should not be separated. “But, of course, I agree with the patristic opinion that one cannot cross the line beyond which sport is already becoming an end in itself, when any means are used for the sake of high athletic performance... And this applies not only to sports. As an Orthodox Christian, I cannot accept this, ”said Boris Levitan.
Everyone needs faith in God, emphasizes Boris Levitan. It strengthens spiritually and certainly helps in work. “During the competition between sets, pray to the Lord and feel how nervousness disappears, calms down, inner confidence and concentration appear,” the athlete admits.
Boris Levitan said that he knows many athletes who wear their pectoral cross not as a decoration. According to him, there are many believers in sports, but not churches. And the fact that the rector of an Orthodox church came to the athletes in order to spiritually support them will certainly do a good job - after all, by his arrival, the priest shows the athletes the way to the church.
At the end of the tournament, Father Alexander addressed the athletes with words of edification. “We are all well aware of the phrase:“ A healthy mind is in a healthy body, ”said the priest. “But few people know that in Soviet times,“ for ideological reasons, ”these words, which belonged to the ancient Roman politician and philosopher Cicero, were taken out of context. The philosopher said: "Pray to the gods for a healthy mind in a healthy body." We live in an Orthodox society, and today these words can and should sound like this: “Pray our Lord Jesus Christ to strengthen your spiritual life, so that you do not deviate from the right path and, even worse, do not drag someone away for yourself. "
"In which direction will he direct his power strong man, depends on his spiritual state, - emphasized Fr. Alexander. - Without a solid spiritual core, even a physically strong person can quickly degrade, become vicious. Therefore, I would like to wish everyone present here, first of all, not to forget to pray for a healthy mind in your healthy body. And then it will be good for you, and for your families, and for the whole society as a whole. I wish you further victories, including in the spiritual field. Help, Lord! "
Alexander OKONISHNIKOV,
"HONESTLY"
Graffiti: art collective bs.as.stncl. www.bsasstencil.org
No, the church, of course, does not anathematize athletes or simply those who practice strength training in order to become stronger and more beautiful. But he does not at all approve of those who are overly carried away: one must think about the spirit, not about the body.
Church media on fitness and bodybuilding
So, for a start, you should imbued with the style of the official church media when they write about fitness and bodybuilding. Here, for example, is an excerpt from the article "If bodybuilding at the same time developed brains!" published in the daily Internet media "Orthodoxy and the World":
"In a healthy body healthy mind!" It would seem that there is nothing more absurd than this ancient saying. Try it, say it, looking into the angry eyes of the fellows of the skinhead group, pumping their biceps in the gym. Or at bodybuilding competitions, among inflated (in direct and figuratively), often with the help of doping, mannequins (MANNEQUINS? !! - Zozhnik's note). Or in a ward for suicidal patients ... How much spiritual health can you find in the empty faces of “bimbo” - “professional” women in fitness gyms, who have never had a pain in their lives, except for a throat and a tightly squeezed foot? ”
The author's further reasoning about the soul and body of the article ends with the appeal: “Health is too fragile an idol, you should not create it, let alone worship it. You just have to live without wasting this talent, God-given, in vain, but also not to bury it in the ground, thus trying to preserve. "
Here is another quote from an article about the Christian fast “Seven weeks without anesthesia,” published in the Foma magazine approved by the Synodal Information Department of the Russian Orthodox Church:
“There is such strange look sports - bodybuilding. The name itself suggests that the main purpose of it is construction own body, an increase in the volume of muscles. Every day for several hours a bodybuilder tortures himself on simulators, methodically drags iron, performs strength exercises looking in the mirror - are there any results? Is his body more muscular than a few days ago? The bodybuilder does not strive to be the "best". With equal weight, the weightlifter is stronger than him, and even a qualified middleweight boxer can knock out a hundred-kilogram pitching. But this does not bother him, he has a different task - he grows, he increases muscle mass.
To build a body, he needs building material, and the bodybuilder follows a certain diet: he eats meat, chews milk formula for baby food, drinks protein shakes, in a word - makes up his diet from foods rich in animal protein. That is, just one of those that a Christian refuses to fast. Such a different attitude towards the same food, obviously, implies a difference in the goals set. The bodybuilder eats heavily in order to build muscle and enjoy the consciousness of his own superiority over less "swayed" fellow citizens. A Christian, on the contrary, restricts himself in food and weakens his body in order to see sins and shortcomings in his soul, to understand that there can be no question of any superiority over other people, and to try with God's help to bring his own inner world into a healthier state. "
Body or spirit
In their speeches and texts, the mouthpieces of Orthodoxy all the time repeat in different words the conclusion: the enthusiasm for the development of the body interferes with the development of the spirit. And the expression “in a healthy body - a healthy mind” does not count for them. In the already mentioned article in "Orthodoxy and the World", this phrase is sorted out and analyzed. The original text in Latin “Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano”, the author of the article translates more precisely: “I wish there was also a healthy mind in a healthy body” or in a more modern version: “If bodybuilding at the same time developed brains!”
The conclusion, in Zozhnik's opinion, is rather outdated, because in the articles any professional sport is equated with bodybuilding, which the church speaks so rudely about. That is, as it were possible, but, as they write in the popular Twitter account, “sinful”.
The answer of one of the representatives of Orthodoxy on the Internet forum:
Or another answer - priest Constantine:
While the ROC's competitor in the “Christianity” niche - the Catholic Church - is actively assimilated by young people, officially approving break-dance, for example, Orthodoxy is actively losing this new generation.
To complete the picture, we will supplement the topic with other statements by Orthodox clergy about fitness and bodybuilding on forums on the Internet:
“Well, and if the husband is not satisfied with the thickness of his wife. Can she squat with a barbell for weight loss? "
Finally, a few more words about professional sports from an international master of sports in Greco-Roman wrestling, two-time champion of Russia, winner of the World Cup, rector of the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah, priest Sergius Poperechny.