Sysoyev Program: Press, Plans and Fruits
Article by Andrew Smith :: Photo from Essolo (via WP)
This post will be continuing the series on Fr Daniel Sysoyev. If you don’t know who he is, check out my first post.
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In addition to Fr Daniel’s work forming a missionary school and delivering lectures and sermons, Fr Daniel also ran a publishing house. This publishing house produced a number of books, including prayers, psalters and introductions to Orthodoxy; notable because these books were published in the many languages of those people who lived and worked in Moscow.
Fr Daniel was not limited to the plans he put into place; he had other plans that he wanted to put into practise before his untimely martyrdom. Fr Daniel wanted to organise ‘confession vigils’. Often in confession, it can seem like sins are blurted out and prayers are read without any kind of discussion as to how to improve; confession vigils, Fr Daniel hypothesised, would allow people to speak to a priest properly for particularly difficult sins that may require more than simple advice. Further, Fr Daniel wanted to broaden missionary work from Moscow to other parts of Russia, making trips to places that needed Orthodox missionary work.
Perhaps most significantly in this series was the results that Fr Daniel saw through his work. He was able to see joy in his parish as a result of his missionary outreach – both for the missionaries, who were able to bring people to God, and for those who were brought to God, because of their relationship with Him.
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This has concluded the section of the series setting out Fr Daniel’s missionary plan; the series will continue with discussing the application of his plans in the next post.
Do you think that these ideas – a multilingual publishing house, confession vigils, missionary trips – would work in Western countries? Have you tried any of these? Do you think that missionary work would bring joy to parishes that supported it?
Leave your comment below!
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A multilingual publishing house is needed and necessary for a country like Australia which is multicultural and polyethnic.
Confession vigils would be a good idea. For the newly-illumined it could be quite a strain and even a shock to have to make confession during a Saturday evening All-Night Vigil, where they would want to actually observe the Vigil service as an integral part of their regular prayer and worship life. Having confession outside of a Divine Service would offer greater time to confess with greater attention and focus.
Missionary work can and does bring joy to parishes which support it. The parish as a spiritual family is energized, excited, inspired, vibrant and active as a parish and this translates to the parishioners own spiritual life and spiritual well-being.
How would such a publishing house be established?
In the future it may be required, but I’m not convinced that there is yet the need for confession vigils – confessions of a neophyte could easily be heard prayerfully outside of service times, whereas confession vigils seem to be for a number of people much greater than most parishes. Your thoughts?