From the history of traditions and rituals

Epiphany This is one of the biggest holidays of the Orthodox Church, celebrated on January 19 in memory of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the waters of the Jordan. In all cities and villages where there were churches, water was blessed.

This is the third and last big holiday of the Christmas and New Year period.

The main tradition of the Epiphany holiday is the blessing of water. This tradition existed among other Christian peoples even before the adoption of Christianity in Rus' - for example, it was customary for the Greeks to immerse themselves in water on the feast of Epiphany.

Orthodox Christians have long had the custom of bringing home holy water and storing it carefully. This water is considered healing, they drink it, wash their faces with it, and sprinkle their homes with it.

In ancient times, Epiphany was considered a turning point. That evening we hoped for the best, made plans, made wishes. “On the night of Epiphany the sky opens,” people said.

But the Epiphany holiday is not only about bathing, blessing of water and fortune telling. Our ancestors had to ritual baking.

Ritual cooking, partially preserved to this day, retains echoes the most ancient magical rituals.

Collector of Russian folklore I.P. Sakharov noted: “In some villages, the old custom of preparing... animals from wheat dough has been preserved: cows, bulls, sheep and poultry, as well as figurines of shepherds. Animals were displayed in the windows to be shown to passers-by, they were displayed on the table in the morning for the family and in the evening they were sent as gifts to relatives.”

But this is already the enlightened 19th century. And the first mentions of dough figurines are found in Russian chronicles of the 12th century.

Traditional characters - horse, deer, cow, goat, duck, black grouse with chicks in those days, such ritual figurines of animals or birds were hung in barnyards as amulets; later, in line with the Christian tradition, at Epiphany the soaked figurines were added to livestock feed to keep them healthy and healthy. prolific.

Also traditionally baked at baptism Ritual cookies “Crosses”.

Russian peasants believed that these cookies could contribute to a good harvest and the well-being of the farm and family.

On January 18, housewives traditionally bake these cookies. The first morning meal on January 19 for each member of the household should consist of these cookies, which should be washed down with holy water. So the Siberians believed that eating a “cross” gives a person health.

Special cookies were also baked - personalized ones. The mother of the family, when she rolls out the dough and shapes it, marks the flour products: for herself with a raisin, for her husband with poppy seeds, for her son with anise, for her daughter with cumin, or simply squeezes out the first letter of the name with a knife.

These symbols, taken out of the oven, tell what cross of life all family members will have to bear in the coming year.

If the cross is well baked, yellow-pink, then it will give success, health, and prosperity.
You can then seek sympathy, intercession, and advice from the person who received such cookies for a whole year.
If the “cross” has fractures and cracks, then it predicts changes in fate and difficulties.

Figurines

I used brioche dough to bake the figures..

Although it would be more correct to use dough for lean baking.

Figures can be formed from a piece of dough, or they can be “cut out” using a stencil. The stencil for the figures can be taken from children's coloring books.

COOKIES “CROSSES”

Recipe

1 cup wheat flour
2 eggs
150g softened butter
100 g sugar
2 tablespoons rum, cognac (I used balm)
Vanillin
Salt
Cinnamon

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Technology

Grind the softened butter until white with sugar. Add beaten eggs, salt, vanillin, cinnamon, alcohol. Then add flour and mix quickly. I usually keep shortbread dough in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours. Roll out the resulting dough into a layer 0.5 cm thick. Then use a sharp knife to cut strips 2 cm wide and about 8 cm long. You can choose other sizes.

Place the strips in the form of a cross on top of each other. Decorate with raisins. In order for the raisins to stick well in the dough, I made indentations with the cap of a ballpoint pen at the location of the raisins.
Bake at 200°C for about 12 minutes.

DIFFERENCES

SIGNS FOR BAPTISM

If there is a blizzard, snow or drifting snow on this day, there will be a harvest.

There is little snow on the tree branches - don’t look for mushrooms or berries in the summer.

If the stars shine strongly that night, the bread will be good.

If you can't see the stars, there will be no mushrooms.

If there is a snowstorm on this day, the same will happen on Shrovetide; if there are strong winds from the south, the summer will be thunderous.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR BAPTISM

On a frosty day at Epiphany
You accept the invitation:
Come to a warm house
Let's have tea with pies!

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I hasten to congratulate you on your Epiphany
And wish you purity
All thoughts and all aspirations,
Health, happiness and love!

Fortune telling for a wish come true

The evening before Epiphany, write twelve of your wishes on pieces of paper and place them under your pillow before going to bed.

When you wake up in the morning, take out three pieces of paper at random, those wishes that will be indicated on these pieces of paper and should come true.

Scatter a handful of small items on the table, such as nuts, seeds, etc.
Make a wish and count the number of items.

If their number is even, the wish will come true, respectively, if the number of objects is odd, the wish will not come true.

The veneration week of Lent 2019 falls in its middle. Each week of Lent has a special name, reminiscent of one or another event associated with the holy great martyrs, metropolitans, miracle workers, Jesus Christ himself, the Mother of God and the Holy Trinity.

The names convey special differences in church services and in who should offer prayer and worship. This is also connected with special spiritual instructions, perceiving which Christians must unite in a single impulse, supporting each other in deed and word, let it be reflected only in prayer.

The Third Week of Great Lent is dedicated to the veneration of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross. The editors of the site found out when there will be a week of veneration of the cross, in which week of Lent in 2019. What traditions exist, traditions and rituals, as well as the history of this wonderful holiday. And we will share the best recipes for Lenten Cross cookies, which are traditionally baked at home during the week of the Cross.

What is the Week of the Cross and when does it occur?

The name “cross veneration” comes from the fact that in the named week, services in the church are accompanied by bows to the sacred cross on which the Son of God was allegedly crucified (“allegedly” means that Jesus was not crucified on each of the crosses in all churches).

This action - bowing after reading a prayer - occurs four times, starting on Sunday, which is called the Worship of the Cross, and then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Bowing means tribute to the feat of Christ, the desire to follow him, as well as the acceptance of one’s own burden, one’s destiny, which manifests itself every day in everyday life, such seemingly small deprivations in the form of a reduced portion of food and a complete rejection of worldly entertainment.

The meaning of the Week of the Cross lies on the surface. The people have an expression “carry your cross”; it is directly related to the explanation. During Lent, every Christian tries to bear the burden that lay on the shoulders of Jesus during the days of forty days of abstinence. Everyone experiences their own temptation based on their “weak” point.

This means that in the middle of Lent, the Christian already knew “his cross” and fully felt all the temptations that accompany abstinence, against which he raised his spirit. This is a kind of act of recognizing one’s burden as voluntary, desired.

Also, the cross is a symbol of a reminder of the death of Christ and the result of the entire fast, after which comes the sacred resurrection. Thus, on the Week of the Cross, everyone can feel inspired to continue their fast, realizing for what purpose and what result they are holding their will in their fist.

Story

During the Iranian-Byzantine War in 614, the Persian king Khosroes II besieged and took Jerusalem, taking the Jerusalem Patriarch Zechariah captive and capturing the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross, once found by Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen.

In 626, Khosroes, in alliance with the Avars and Slavs (yes, Slavs!) almost captured Constantinople. Through the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, the capital city was delivered from the invasion, and then the course of the war changed, and in the end the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius I celebrated the victorious end of the 26-year war.

Presumably on March 6, 631, the Life-Giving Cross returned to Jerusalem. The emperor personally carried him into the city, and Patriarch Zacharias, rescued from captivity, walked joyfully next to him. Since then, Jerusalem began to celebrate the anniversary of the return of the Life-Giving Cross.

It must be said that at that time the duration and severity of Lent were still being discussed, and the order of Lenten services was just being formed. When the custom arose of moving the holidays that occur during Lent from weekdays to Saturdays and Sundays (so as not to violate the strict mood of weekdays), then the holiday in honor of the Cross also shifted and gradually became assigned to the third Sunday of Lent.

Just from the middle of Lent, intensive preparation began for those catechumens who were going to be baptized on Easter this year. And it turned out to be very appropriate to begin such preparation with the veneration of the Cross.

Starting next Wednesday, at each Presanctified Liturgy, after the litany about the catechumens, there will be another litany - about “those preparing for enlightenment” - precisely in memory of those who diligently prepared and were planning to be baptized soon.

Over time, the purely Jerusalem holiday of the return of the Cross became not so relevant for the entire Christian world, and the holiday in honor of the Cross acquired a more global meaning and a more applied meaning: as a remembrance and help in the middle of the strictest and most difficult of fasts.

When and how does the Orthodox week of veneration of the cross take place?

Many of these sources call the 4th week of Lent the Worship of the Cross, which seems quite logical and memorable, given the clue that it falls exactly in the middle of Lent. However, in fact the name

The veneration of the cross begins the week with the Sunday of the same name, which ends the 3rd week of Lent. Consequently, the week of the Veneration of the Cross is the third, despite the fact that a greater number of services with veneration of the cross take place in the 4th week.

On the mentioned Sunday, the first service with bows to the cross takes place. The next one takes place on Monday, exactly one day later. Also on Wednesday and Friday evening of the 4th week, the last service of the Cross takes place, after which the cross takes its place in the altar.

The veneration week of Lent in 2019 falls on March 5th. On this day, the traditional removal of the cross to the middle of the temple hall will take place, so that every worshiper can bow to the ground before it and be inspired by the feat done by Jesus to continue the fast.

During the liturgy these days, the prayer to the Most Holy Trinity, which traditionally accompanies the service every day, is replaced by the prayer hymn “We worship Your Cross, O Master, and holyly we glorify Your Resurrection,” after which bows should be made.

If possible, you should visit all 4 services. The single voice of dozens, turned into prayer, can create a miracle, especially if our will has weakened under the pressure of routine.

Church service

On Saturday evening, at the all-night vigil, the Life-giving Cross of the Lord is solemnly brought into the center of the church - a reminder of the approaching Holy Week and Easter of Christ. After this, the priests and parishioners of the temple make three bows in front of the cross. When venerating the Cross, the Church sings: “We worship Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection.” This chant is also sung at the Liturgy instead of the Trisagion.

The Holy Cross remains for veneration during the week until Friday, when it is brought back to the altar before the Liturgy. Therefore, the third Sunday and fourth week of Great Lent are called “Worship of the Cross.”
According to the Charter, there are four venerations during the Week of the Cross: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Sunday, the veneration of the Cross occurs only at Matins (after the removal of the Cross), on Monday and Wednesday it is performed at the first hour, and on Friday “after the dismissal of the hours.”

Liturgical texts in honor of the Cross are very sublime and beautiful; they are replete with contrasts, allegories, and artistic personification.

Lent 2019: meals in the third week (March 24 - 31)

• March 24 – Sunday

Second week of Lent (second Sunday of fasting). Memorial Day of St. Gregory Palamas.
St. Gregory Palamas lived in the 14th century. In accordance with the Orthodox faith, he taught that for the feat of fasting and prayer, the Lord illuminates believers with His gracious light, as the Lord shone on Tabor. For the reason that St. Gregory revealed the teaching about the power of fasting and prayer and it was established to commemorate him on the second Sunday of Great Lent.

• March 25 – Monday

• March 26 – Tuesday

• March 27 – Wednesday

Dry eating: bread, water, greens, raw, dried or soaked vegetables and fruits (for example: raisins, olives, nuts, figs - one of these every time). Once a day, around 15.00.

• March 28 – Thursday

Hot food that has been cooked, i.e. boiled, baked, etc. No oil. Once a day, around 15.00.

• March 29 – Friday

Dry eating: bread, water, greens, raw, dried or soaked vegetables and fruits (for example: raisins, olives, nuts, figs - one of these every time). Once a day, around 15.00.

• March 30 – Saturday

Hot food that has been cooked, i.e. boiled, baked, etc. With vegetable oil and wine (one bowl 200g) twice a day. Pure grape wine without alcohol and sugar, preferably diluted with hot water. At the same time, abstaining from wine is highly commendable.

On Saturday of the third week, during Matins, the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is brought into the middle of the church for the worshipers to worship, therefore the third week and the next, fourth, week are called the Worship of the Cross.

Cookies in the shape of crosses for the week of the cross

There was such an interesting Russian folk tradition - baking cookies in the form of crosses on the Cross. Crosses may differ in size, but they are always of a similar shape; most often they are made symmetrical, equilateral, with four rays.

To do this, two equal strips of dough are placed on top of one another in a cross shape (these are “simple” crosses). or the rolled out dough is cut into “crosses” with a mold or knife (these are “cut-out” crosses).

Sometimes they are made even simpler - in the form of round cakes, on which the image of a cross is applied. According to legend, such Crosses “drived away” everything bad from the house and household members.

Ivan Shmelev in his book “The Summer of the Lord” described this custom well. I will give an extensive quote here - Shmelev very vividly showed how such a tradition is inscribed in the order of life and thinking of an Orthodox, church child. Shown the “presentation angle” of this custom:

“On Saturday of the third week of Lent we bake “crosses”: “Cross Worship” is suitable.
“Crosses” – special cookies, with almond flavor, crumbly and sweet; where the crossbars of the “cross” lie – raspberries from jam are pressed in, as if nailed down with nails. They have been baking this way since time immemorial, even before great-grandmother Ustinya - as a consolation for Lent. Gorkin instructed me this way:
– Our Orthodox faith, Russian... it is, my dear, the best, the most cheerful! It eases the weak, enlightens despondency, and brings joy to the little ones.

And this is the absolute truth. Even though it’s Lent for you, it’s still a relief for the soul, “crosses.” Only under great-grandmother Ustinya there are raisins in sadness, and now there are cheerful raspberries.

“Worship of the Cross” is a sacred week, a strict fast, something special, “su-lip,” Gorkin says so, in the church way. If we kept it strictly in the church way, we would have to remain in dry eating, but due to weakness, relief is given: on Wednesday-Friday we will eat without butter - pea soup and vinaigrette, and on other days, which are “variegated”, - indulgence... but on The snack is always “crosses”: remember the “Worship of the Cross”.
Maryushka makes “crosses” with prayer...

And Gorkin also instructed:
– Taste the cross and think to yourself: “The venerable cross” has arrived. And these are not for pleasure, but everyone, they say, is given a cross in order to live an exemplary life... and to bear it obediently, as the Lord sends a test. Our faith is good, it does not teach evil, but brings understanding.”

Recipe for almond cookies "Cross"

Products:

• 150 g peeled almonds,
• 1⁄2 cup boiling water,
• 100 g honey,
• 1 lemon slice with skin about 1 cm thick,
• 1⁄2 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg,
• 1⁄4 cup olive oil,
• 250 g wheat flour,
• 50 g rye flour,
• 2/3 sachet of baking powder.

How to cook:

Wash the almonds and pour boiling water for 10 minutes. Add honey, butter, a slice of lemon and grind with a blender. Mix flour, baking powder and spices. Pour the nut-honey syrup into the flour and knead the dough, which should eventually be rolled into a ball.
Leave the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour, then roll it out into a thin layer (about 5 mm) and cut out crosses. Bake at 190 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Honey cross cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour,
• 300 g honey,
• 2-3 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil,
• 100 g peeled nuts,
• 1 teaspoon of spices,
• 1 lemon,
• 1 teaspoon soda, raisins.

Preparation

Grind the kernels of nuts (walnuts, almonds or hazel) thoroughly or mince them, combine with honey, add vegetable oil, spices and finely grated lemon with zest.

Mix the mixture, add flour mixed with soda and knead the dough.

Roll it out, cut crosses with a notch or a knife, put the raisins on top and bake in the oven.
To flavor cookies, you can use various spices: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc., as well as their mixtures.

Lemon crosses

Required:

• 250 g lean margarine,
• 3 cups flour,
• 1 cup potato starch,
• 1 tbsp. l. baking powder,
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar,
• zest of 1 lemon,
• 1 glass of water.

We bake Lenten lemon cross cookies:

Chop margarine with flour and starch. Add sugar, baking powder, finely grated zest and replace the dough with very cold water (from the refrigerator). Make crosses by pressing raisins into the crossbars and bake.

Cookies Crosses with cucumber pickle

Products:

• 1 glass of cucumber pickle,
• 1 cup refined sunflower oil,
• 1 cup of sugar,
• 100 g coconut flakes,
• 2-3 cups of flour.

A simple recipe for Lenten crosses in brine cookies:

Mix butter, sugar, brine, half the chips and flour. Knead the dough as thick as shortbread. Roll out, sprinkle with remaining coconut shavings. Cut out the crosses, place on a baking sheet lightly sprinkled with flour and bake at 180 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Instead of coconut flakes, you can use poppy seeds, lemon zest, candied fruits, dried apricots, cut into small pieces or dried orange peels crushed in a coffee grinder.

Lenten cookie dough Crosses with poppy seeds

Cookies ingredients:

• 25 g poppy seeds,
• 1 cup flour,
• 4 tbsp. spoons of sugar,
• 5 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil,
• 0.5 teaspoon of soda,
• 3 tbsp. spoons of water with lemon juice

Lenten cookies with poppy seeds Crosses during the week of the Cross - step-by-step recipe with photos:

1. Mix poppy seeds with 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar, add 100 g of water, heat for 10 minutes until the water boils. To cover with a lid. Rub the poppy seeds in a mortar until milk of the poppy appears and the characteristic poppy smell appears.
2. Pour flour, poppy seeds, 3 tbsp into a bowl. spoons of sugar and rub with your hands.
3. Add oil.
4. Add soda with lemon juice, add 2 tbsp. spoons of water and knead the dough. Wrap in film and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough 0.5 cm thick, cut out crosses. Press a raisin into the middle of each cross. Bake at 180 C for 15 minutes.

In the old days, on Wednesday during the week of the Cross, people congratulated people on the end of the first half of Lent. It was customary to bake cross-shaped cookies from unleavened dough. Cookies were baked with prayer. In these crosses they baked either rye grain to make bread, or a chicken feather to raise chickens, or human hair to make the head easier.

A person was considered happy if he came across one of these objects. The cookies were a reminder of the suffering of Christ and that every person has his own cross in life.

There was a custom on the third Sunday of Lent to fumigate the house with vapors of vinegar and mint in order to cleanse the home and drive out the spirit of any disease.

The third Sunday of Great Lent is the Worship of the Cross, in Church Slavonic - the Week of the Worship of the Cross. From this day until the end of next Friday is the fourth week of Lent - the Week of the Cross.

Let us begin purification by abstinence, kissing warmly in praise of the All-Holy Tree on which we crucify Christ, who saved the world, as He is blessed.

This is how it is sung in the canon for this holiday.

For an event to become meaningful for children, it must become expected. Therefore, we tell children in advance about the main milestones of Lent, including, of course, the Week of the Worship of the Cross. And we raise this topic in more detail on the eve of the event - on Friday of the previous week, at a common dinner. Or at breakfast on Saturday: children don’t go to school, parents don’t have to go to work, you can talk calmly at the table.

Or you can tell it in your own words, focusing on the perception of your children.

Taking this opportunity, it would be good to remember with your children about the types of the Cross in the Old Testament. This is the rod of Moses and the brass serpent in the desert. But first of all - the tree of paradise, the tree of life:

Having come to know another paradise, the Church, as before had a life-giving tree, Thy Cross, Lord, from which we have partaken of immortality by touch.

The images of the Old Testament help to tell children about the Cross - not about the suffering and crucifixion of the Lord, but specifically about the Cross, about the life-giving Tree. It is no coincidence that the Old Testament is called a “schoolmaster”: the Old Testament images are very bright and, as it were, three-dimensional. Especially for children, they turn out to be a good help in understanding the meaning of many New Testament events. Moreover, the entire service of the same Week of the Cross is permeated with similar references to Old Testament paintings.

Mid-Lent

And we, together with the children, remember that these days are the very middle of the Holy Pentecost. Half of the post is already over, and there is still a lot left to go. By the way, this week is also called the Middle Cross. “Orthodox Christians, making a spiritual journey to Heavenly Jerusalem - for the Passover of the Lord, find that under its shadow they can gain strength for the further journey” (Rev. John of Damascus).

So, halfway through the post. First, the good news: there's not much time left until Easter.

Secondly, a reason to think: how did we fast during the first half of Lent? Usually, already in the first week, we invite the children to decide what each of them, each of us, will try to correct in themselves for this fast. For example, learn not to snitch. Or don't be rude. Try to overcome such a sin that has become a habit.

And now, on the eve of the Week of the Worship of the Cross, we will remind the children, we will remind ourselves of our plans for Lent. Did we manage to do any of what we planned three weeks ago? It often turns out that little has been achieved. And it’s time to get down to business on this matter. Try, pray, hope. At the beginning of the post it seemed like an eternity ahead, but now it’s clear that we need to try to get at least something done.

And there is also the everyday side of the issue. For Easter we usually clean the house, clean it, wash it. The children and I are preparing some interior decorations and gifts and crafts for the holiday. If we leave all this to the days before Easter, it will turn out that instead of the services of Holy Week, instead of prayer and memory of the suffering of Christ, we will have a vanity of vanities, washing chandeliers and painting wooden eggs. To manage everything, or rather, to manage at least something, you will have to prepare for the holiday in advance.

And the completed half of the post reminds us of this prose of life. I usually write a list: what needs to be done to clean the house for the Holidays. And I see what can be done from this list in advance. I distribute all this over the remaining three weeks. Wash the curtains and soft toys, finally put away the skis, clean up the washing machine - in general, a lot can definitely be done right now. Do everything that careless housewives like me put off for general cleaning. In this case, only current affairs and home decoration will remain for Strastnaya.

It’s the same with crafts, poems, and other pedagogical decorations. Everything that we have planned with the children to prepare for Easter can be done in the next three weeks. This is all we are now remembering and planning.

Divine service

But still about the main thing. On the Week of the Worship of the Cross (that is, on Sunday), the service of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is served. And this service begins on Saturday evening.

We tell the children in advance what they will see in the temple.

During the all-night vigil, after the great doxology, the priest will take a Cross decorated with flowers in the altar. The choir will sing the Trisagion: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us,” and under this singing the priest will solemnly bring the Cross to the middle of the temple. Place it on the lectern. And then all the priests, deacons - everyone will bow to the ground to the Life-giving Cross and sing: “We worship Your Cross, Master, and we glorify Your holy Resurrection.” And we will sing along with them, and we will make these three prostrations. By the way, we remind the children that the anointing on this day does not happen at the usual time, but at the very end of the service. Then it will be possible to venerate the Cross.

Children will know what to expect and will be able to follow the service more closely.

If you come to church with small children, it will be difficult to endure the entire all-night vigil. In this case, we try to do this: we come to church with the children not towards the beginning, but towards the end. If the service started at 17:00, then we arrive around 18:30. Then we will just get to the removal of the Cross and the anointing of oil.

Home prayer

We will return home after the all-night vigil, have dinner and get up for evening prayers with the children. And after the usual prayers, we will also sing, as in the temple. Three times, drawn out: “To Your Cross...” And at the same time we will bow to the ground before the Crucifixion. We will do this until Friday of the coming week, after our general evening prayers.

Children love these bows. Such prayers before the Cross happen three times a year - and children easily remember them. The last time this happened, on the Feast of the Exaltation, our three-year-old daughter said: “I really like it when we sing such a prayer. Let’s always sing and bow like this.”

This singing with three prostrations to the ground is short-lived and not difficult. But this allows us to remember and remember every day throughout this week. About why and for Whom we fast. That we are preparing to worship the Passion of Christ and His glorious Resurrection...

It reminds us - if we prepared our children to celebrate this holiday, if we talked about such moments and if we brought this holiday to our home, to our children.

holiday day

Sunday morning is, of course, Liturgy in church. And we all attend it together, we usually take communion - in general, during fasting we try to take communion more often. After the Liturgy at the Worship of the Cross, they usually do not give a cross to kiss, as happens on other days. But all the people approach the Cross on a lectern, taken out from the altar the day before. So we can venerate it again.

And at home we will start lunch (or brunch, depending on how you look at it) with reading. Just a couple of minutes, just a couple of paragraphs: from some sermon dedicated to the Cross or the Week of the Cross.

The Pravoslavie.ru portal always has good selections for every holiday - you can open any text you like and read it. Recently, we didn’t even read it ourselves, but turned on an audio recording of one sermon and listened a little at the table. But it’s still better to read it yourself: you can skip something, you can, while reading, clarify it or retell it in words that children can understand.

For example:

• sermon by St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) in the third week of Great Lent, the Worship of the Cross;
• sermon of Archimandrite John (Peasant): “Come, faithful ones, let us worship the Life-Giving Tree.”

Let's read just a little, just the beginning, or grab something from the middle. If you really want to, we’ll read it ourselves later, without the children. Let's stop now.

Or maybe we won’t read it. Let’s just remember again and say what we heard today during the sermon in church. Maybe one of us, as they say, “has something to say” about today's holiday. And we'll talk about it. Let it be a little. Sometimes it’s even very good, if just a little. But with this conversation, with this reading, we will set a certain tone for our small common feast. Let's return to what we lived in the temple - or rather, how we should have lived. And maybe these words will really linger in the heads of our children. Or at least in our heads.

Cross-shaped cookies

There was also such an interesting Russian folk tradition - baking cross-shaped cookies on the Cross.

Ivan Shmelev in his book “The Summer of the Lord” described this custom well. I will give an extensive quote here - Shmelev very vividly showed how such a tradition is inscribed in the order of life and thinking of an Orthodox, church child. Shown the “presentation angle” of this custom:

“On Saturday of the third week of Lent we bake “crosses”: “Cross Worship” is suitable.

“Crosses” – special cookies, with almond flavor, crumbly and sweet; where the crossbars of the “cross” lie – raspberries from jam are pressed in, as if nailed down with nails. They have been baking this way since time immemorial, even before great-grandmother Ustinya - as a consolation for Lent. Gorkin instructed me this way:

– Our Orthodox faith, Russian... it is, my dear, the best, the most cheerful! It eases the weak, enlightens despondency, and brings joy to the little ones.

And this is the absolute truth. Even though it’s Lent for you, it’s still a relief for the soul, “crosses.” Only under great-grandmother Ustinya there are raisins in sadness, and now there are cheerful raspberries.

“Worship of the Cross” is a sacred week, a strict fast, something special, “su-lip,” Gorkin says so, in the church way. If we kept it strictly in the church way, we would have to remain in dry eating, but due to weakness, relief is given: on Wednesday-Friday we will eat without butter - pea soup and vinaigrette, and on other days, which are “variegated”, - indulgence... but on The snack is always “crosses”: remember the “Worship of the Cross”.

Maryushka makes “crosses” with prayer...

And Gorkin also instructed:

– Taste the cross and think to yourself: “The venerable cross” has arrived. And these are not for pleasure, but everyone, they say, is given a cross in order to live an exemplary life... and to bear it obediently, as the Lord sends a test. Our faith is good, it does not teach evil, but brings understanding.”

In our family, every Lent, “crosses” are also baked. This custom is truly a “comfort” for children during Lenten times. Makes the Week of the Worship of the Cross something to look forward to, even for little ones. We told the children in words about the Week of the Cross. And these cookies are a good visual accompaniment for verbal learning. And not only visual, but tangible. And also edible.

Besides the visual appeal, baking these cookies in itself is a good idea for activities with children of all ages. We're all going together. And parents, and teenagers, and kids - everyone. This is a joint and fun common thing. Which in itself is worth a lot. Making these crosses from dough is very simple: roll two sausages, cross them, press in the middle so that they stick together - and you're done. It's fun for older people. For younger schoolchildren - culinary skills. For kids - fine motor skills, modeling, but instead of plasticine crafts, children make useful and tasty things. Yes, together with all the elders. And at the same time we are preparing something delicious for tea. So many advantages - and all in one and such a simple task.

You can bake these cookies from any dough.

The simplest one is the store bought one. You can buy yeast for pies. We will defrost it, as written on the package, and will make sausages. You can take puff pastry - then you will not need to sculpt, but simply cut the dough into small strips.

The big advantage of buying dough, of course, is that we reduce the cooking time. This is especially true on weekdays, when there is practically no time for anything. Then the finished dough allows us to spend only ten minutes on these cookies: that’s how much it will take to remove the defrosted dough from the package, cover the baking sheet with foil or paper and let the children sculpt.

But you can still work hard and make the dough yourself.

Rye is the healthiest. In addition, Lenten: rye flour, water, salt, honey. You can do it without honey, you can use it with yeast or sourdough, but add more salt. My husband loves these.

Yeast - prosphora: premium flour, yeast and water. From this dough you need to make thick sausages, about 2 cm in diameter. It is enough to roll one sausage yourself to the correct thickness and show it to the children - they will stick the same size according to this pattern.

Gingerbread - sweet. Dissolve a third of a glass of water, two-thirds of a glass of sugar, and two tablespoons of honey on the stove. Cool slightly. Add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the resulting syrup, baking powder on the tip of a knife and flour - so much flour that the dough becomes like plasticine. You can add half a glass of vegetable oil or 100 g of margarine for baking. But it’s also good without oil. From this dough you will need to make sausages with a diameter of about 8 mm. Ready-made gingerbread dough crosses can be coated with protein-free glaze. These cookies sell out immediately. However, my children eat all flour with great pleasure, as long as they give it to them.

In the middle of these crosses you can stick a raisin, a marmalade. This will be good for crosses made from yeast dough. Puff pastry cookies can be sprinkled with granulated sugar before placing in the oven to create a caramel crust.

We bake these “crosses” on the Saturday before Cross Sunday and eat them after returning from church, at lunch. And then we bake them again almost every day of this strict week of the Worship of the Cross.

In such cases, when we revive such folk customs, there may be some confusion. For example, baking crosses can become the actual main content of the Week of the Cross. And this can really happen. We see that in modern reality, as in history, external, essentially insignificant folk traditions or even time-honored, but just “traditions of the elders” overshadow for many the meaning of the events of the church year, becoming more important than the “commandments of God” and the teachings of the Church .

But this happens when the holiday is exhausted by such customs. When there is a Christmas tree and gifts under it, but there is no church, no worship, no reading of the Gospel, no “teaching of the Lord.” And when we really celebrate the holiday together with the Church, when we learn and accept its teachings, when we at least try to lead our children to God, to the temple, to “true” education - then all external attributes will take their rightful place. Namely: they will highlight the celebrated event from the series of everyday life. They will become a visual aid for kids and a joy for adults.

But for this it is precisely necessary that we ourselves do not turn cheese week into a gorging on pancakes under a smoked scarecrow, that we do not turn the beginning of Lent into a big cleaning called “Clean Monday”, and Good Friday into the day of baking Easter cakes.

It is important that we ourselves live the life of the Church.

And they brought their children into this life.

So that our children not only come, but come with us. Not only did they come, but they also understood where they ended up. They didn’t just come, they came with joy. So that they come to the temple and then return to it again. Already on your own.

But even the most diligent, truly righteous parents do not always have children who choose life with God. And what can we say about families like ours? But we have hope - we have a special weapon in this battle for life, for the real life of our children. After all, we have the opportunity to call for help on the invincible, incomprehensible and divine power of the Honest and Life-giving Cross. So that our children always return under the shadow, under the canopy of this mysterious Tree of Life. So that they themselves would look for him, love him, rely on him, and with him they would defeat enemies, visible and invisible. So that the paths and paths of our children will eventually reach this Tree of Paradise.

Sunday of the third week of Great Lent is called the Week of the Cross.

On Saturday evening, at the all-night vigil, the Life-giving Cross of the Lord is solemnly brought into the center of the church - a reminder of the approaching Holy Week and Easter of Christ. This year the Week of the Cross (Sunday) is March 23. During the Week of the Cross, as a reminder of the Savior's approaching suffering on the cross, crosses are traditionally baked - cookies made from rye or wheat flour, unleavened or sour dough in the shape of a cross. Having broken the cross, in previous years they said: “Half the cross is half the fast.” Crosses may differ in size, but they are always of a similar shape; most often they are made symmetrical, equilateral, with four rays. To do this, two equal strips of dough are placed on top of one another in a cross shape (these are “simple” crosses).

or the rolled out dough is cut into “crosses” with a mold or knife (these are “cut-out” crosses).

Sometimes they are made even simpler - in the form of round cakes, on which the image of a cross is applied. Recipes for cross dough.
Almond crosses
150 g peeled almonds,
½ cup boiling water
100 g honey,
1 lemon slice with skin about 1 cm thick,
½ tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg,
¼ cup olive oil,
250 g wheat flour,
50 g rye flour,
2/3 sachet of baking powder.
Wash the almonds and pour boiling water for 10 minutes. Add honey, butter, a slice of lemon and grind with a blender. Mix flour, baking powder and spices. Pour the nut-honey syrup into the flour and knead the dough, which should eventually be rolled into a ball.

Leave the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour, then roll it out into a thin layer (about 5 mm) and cut out crosses. Bake at 190 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Lemon crosses
250 g lean margarine,
3 cups flour,
1 cup potato starch,
1 tbsp. l. baking powder,
2 packets of vanilla sugar,
zest of 1 lemon,
1 glass of water.
Chop margarine with flour and starch. Add sugar, baking powder, finely grated zest and replace the dough with very cold water (from the refrigerator). Make crosses by pressing raisins into the crossbars and bake.
Crosses on pickle
1 glass of cucumber pickle,
1 cup refined sunflower oil,
1 cup of sugar,
100 g coconut flakes,
2-3 cups of flour.
Mix butter, sugar, brine, half the chips and flour. Knead the dough as thick as shortbread. Roll out, sprinkle with remaining coconut shavings. Cut out the crosses, place on a baking sheet lightly sprinkled with flour and bake at 180 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Instead of coconut flakes, you can use poppy seeds, lemon zest, candied fruits, dried apricots, cut into small pieces or dried orange peels crushed in a coffee grinder.

Chapter:
RUSSIAN KITCHEN
Traditional Russian dishes
70th page of the section

Traditional ritual and ceremonial dishes
Ritual cookies
"CROSSES"
"Voznesensky stairs"

Crosses (sacrums) are ritual cookies that were baked by Orthodox Christians for many religious holidays, but they were obligatory on Baptism and the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, as well as on the Cross Worship Week of Lent.

“...On Saturday of the third week of Lent we bake “crosses”: the Veneration of the Cross is coming up. “Crosses” - special cookies, with almond flavor, crumbly and sweet; where the diameters of the “cross” lie - raspberries from jam are pressed in, as if nailed down with nails. So, from time immemorial, they baked - as a consolation for Lent...” (I. S. Shmelev. Summer of the Lord).

Orthodox Christians also begin their first morning home meal on Epiphany (January 19) with “sacrums,” which were supposed to be washed down with holy water. Special personalized cookies were also baked, which the mother of the family marked with certain signs and symbols known only to her. From such “crosses” taken out of the oven, one could find out what cross of life each family member would bear in the coming year.

A well-baked yellow-pink cross promises health, success and prosperity. Cookies with cracks and breaks promise difficulties and changes in fate. But a burnt or unbaked cross predicts illness and sadness. These latter crosses cannot be eaten; they are usually fed to birds.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour, 300 g honey, 2-3 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil, 100 g of peeled nuts, 1 teaspoon of spices, 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon of soda, raisins.

Grind the kernels of nuts (walnuts, almonds or hazel) thoroughly or mince them, combine with honey, add vegetable oil, spices and finely grated lemon with zest.
Mix the mixture, add flour mixed with soda and knead the dough.
Roll it out, cut crosses with a notch or a knife, put the raisins on top and bake in the oven.
To flavor cookies, you can use various spices: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc., as well as their mixtures.

Ingredients:
1 kg of flour, 25 g of yeast, 125 g of vegetable oil, 1 glass of sugar, 250 g of water, a pinch of salt.
For lubrication: sweet strong tea.

Prepare lean yeast dough, roll it out and cut out “crosses” with a notch or knife.
At the center of the intersection of the bars, press the raisins into the dough.
Grease the cookies with sweet strong tea and bake in the oven.

Ingredients:
250 g flour, 1 egg, 125 g butter, 2.5 tbsp. spoons of sugar, 1 glass of cognac or rum, salt and vanillin to taste.

Combine all the products, knead the unleavened dough and divide it into several parts.
Roll each part into a rope and place them on top of each other in a cross.
Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden brown.

Stairway to Heaven:
Ritual cookies
"Voznesensky stairs"

These traditional cookies were prepared as a symbol of "ascent to heaven":
- on the Ascension of the Lord (40th day after);
- on the day of remembrance of St. John Climacus ();
- on Lazarus Saturday preceding;
- on the 40th day after death to facilitate the ascent of the soul of the deceased to heaven.

According to popular concepts, “ladders” made the road to heaven easier and symbolized the spiritual ascent of the soul of the righteous to heaven. At the Ascension, they were supposed to help Jesus Christ ascend to heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection.

Sometimes ladder cookies were used in rituals to increase the fertility of the earth and as a holy aid in healing the sick.

Depending on the occasion, cookies can be made from lean or fast dough, wheat or rye.

Ladder cookies are cut in two ways:
- roll the dough into long ropes, cut them into the sides of the ladder and rungs, then fold them on a baking sheet in the shape of a ladder (sometimes the “ladders” are made slightly tapering towards the top);
- the dough is rolled out into a layer (usually about 0.7-1 cm thick), cut into strips, side posts and rungs of the “ladder” are cut from the strips and “ladders” are assembled from them on a baking sheet.
Use a brush or shaving brush to lightly lubricate the places where the parts are applied so that the dough sticks together better and the baked products are strong enough.

The dimensions of the “ladders” can be arbitrary, but in some areas the number of “steps” was standardized:
- or 7 - according to the number of the 7 heavens of the Apocalypse,
- or 23 - according to the number of ordeals of the soul in the next world,
- or 30 - according to the number of 30 chapters of the work of John Climacus “The Ladder of Paradise” (“Spiritual Tablets”), which is a description of the “steps” of virtues along which a Christian must ascend on the path to spiritual perfection.

The symbolism of the number "30" used is explained in the preface to "The Ladder" as follows:
“The venerable father wisely decided by arranging for us an ascent equal to the age of the Lord in the flesh; for at the age of thirty years of the Lord’s coming of age, he divinely depicted a ladder consisting of thirty degrees of spiritual perfection, along which, having reached the fullness of the Lord’s age, we will appear truly righteous and inflexible to fall.”

Usually cookies are made with 7 "steps" or less, because... If the size is too large, the ladder cookies do not have sufficient strength.

Sometimes a small “ladder” was baked on the back of the “lark” (called a “sandpiper” in some areas).

Sometimes, elongated filled pies were placed as “steps” between two dough “racks.” In this case, the “ladder” was made large, covering the entire length of the baking sheet, as a tasty loaf for the holiday table. It turned out to be 2 long loaves of bread with pies between them.

In some places, the “ladder” cookie was given the appearance of an elongated flat cake, on which several strips of dough and crossbars were placed; sometimes the applied dough “slips” on a long flatbread were replaced with transverse cuts with a knife.

An open pie could also serve as a “ladder,” which was filled with cottage cheese, sour cream, potatoes or porridge, jam or poppy seeds, and a flat dough image of a ladder was placed on top.

In some places, “ladders” were baked from various types of sweet butter dough, simply as a tasty treat or for tea (“snack”). In this case, they were made from dough with the addition of honey, raisins, candied fruits and decorated with a sugar pattern.

The work belongs to the category of ascetic literature.

Demetrius of Rostov characterizes John’s work as follows:
“The “Ladder” of St. John is distinguished by deep spiritual experience, which is combined with a deep knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It is a rare thought that the Ladder expresses without illuminating it with a direct or indirect reference to Holy Scripture. John’s work is written in simple, but pure and living language, - expresses a lot in a few words, and therefore is full of power. That is why the “Ladder” of St. John has always been a reference book for monks living in a hostel."

The work of John Climacus consists of 30 chapters, representing the “steps” of virtues along which a Christian must ascend on the path to spiritual perfection.

The “steps” can be grouped as follows:

“The Ladder” also includes a “special word for the shepherd,” which, unlike the previous chapters, refers exclusively to mentors.

LADDER OR SPIRITUAL TABLETS
Our Reverend Father JOHN, Abbot of Mount Sinai

Content:
Preface to this book called Spiritual Tablets.
Word 1. On renunciation of worldly life.
Word 2. About impartiality, that is, putting aside worries and sorrow about the world.
Word 3. About wandering, that is, evasion from the world.
Homily 4. On blessed and ever-memorable obedience.
Homily 5. About caring and real repentance and also about the life of the holy condemned people, and about prison.
Word 6. About the memory of death.
Word 7. About joyful crying.
Word 8. About freedom from anger and meekness.
Word 9. About memory malice.
Word 10. About slander and slander.
Word 11. About verbosity and silence.
Word 12. About lies.
Word 13. About despondency and laziness.
Sermon 14. About the beloved and wicked ruler, the womb.
Homily 15. About imperishable purity and chastity, which perishables acquire through labor and sweat.
Word 16. About the love of money.
Word 17. About non-covetousness.
Word 18. About insensibility.
Homily 19. About sleep, about prayer and psalmody in the cathedral of the brethren.
Homily 20. About bodily vigil: how we achieve the spiritual through it, and how it should take place.
Word 21. About cowardice, or insurance.
Word 22. About diverse vanity.
Word 23. About crazy pride.
Homily 24. About meekness, simplicity and gentleness, which do not come from nature, but are acquired through diligence and labor, and about wickedness.
Homily 25. About the eradicator of passions, the highest humility, which occurs in the invisible feeling.
Homily 26. About the reasoning of thoughts and passions, and virtues.
Homily 27. About the sacred silence of soul and body.
Homily 28. About the mother of virtues, sacred and blessed prayer, and about remaining in it with mind and body.
Homily 29. About the earthly heaven, or about God-imitating dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection.
Homily 30. About the union of three virtues, that is, about faith, hope and love.
A special word to the shepherd, teaching what a teacher of verbal sheep should be like.

For the full text of this essay, see.

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