Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

allows God’s gracious powers to work in the preacher’s mind, helping him to understand the Truth.” This is a required preparation for a sermon.” The content of a message therefore is less important — the right heart is the key. Consider the following words about the preaching of Metropolitan Filaret, When people listened to him, they listened very intensely. Yet they could not understand the words of the preacher, and only heard the sound of his voice and felt the look of his eyes. It was enough to feed their spirit with the spirit of the great elder. This is the power of the spirit-led preaching. In it the spirit of the preacher immediately works on the listener’s spirit. °° °° Prokhvatilova, Pravoslavnaia Propoved, pp 145-147. > Nastol’naia Kniga Sviashchennika, Vol. 5, p 14. °2 A lot more can be said on the spirituality of the preacher, which is deliberately omitted due to the limitations of this work. In addition to the already mentioned spiritual preparation, there is a heavy emphasis on the need for the preacher to both understand the Truth, which is proclaimed, but also to experience it. For the preacher to experience the Truth means to show obvious gifts of the Spirit in his life, such as love, joy, peace, perseverance, grace, mercy, faith, humbleness and self-control. Unless the preacher exhibits such gifts in his life, his sermon becomes a mere theoretical reflection or human contemplation on the Word. (Nastol’naia Kniga Sviashchennika, Vol. 5, p 15). °3 A. Vetelev, Istoriia Propovednichestva Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi: Uchebnoie Posobie Dlia Studentov 4-go Klassa [The History of Preaching of Russian Orthodox Church: Study Guide for ra Year Students] (Sergiev Posad, Moskovskaia Dukhovnaia Seminariia, 2006), pp 84. 44 Henceforth, it is argued that preaching must be improvised or extemporaneous, allowing the Spirit to speak. ‘It is a living word because the word of God is applied to the condition of the listeners and is made contemporary for them, understandable for everyone. It is a living word also by the appearance, as a living message from the heart, free of any affectation.’ Therefore, an improvised, unprepared sermon, proclaimed in the power of the Spirit is capable of bringing the Word of God to the people, allowing them to participate in the act of God’s revelation.” Nastol’naia Kniga Sviashchennika names preaching ‘a culmination of the Divine Liturgy,’ which is directed outwardly. The role of proclamation is to carry saving truth to the hearts of the worshippers. Preaching has such an important place, that some of Orthodox theologians conclude that preaching by itself is a gift of grace, which priests receive at ordination. Thus, preaching differs from other genres of public speaking. Unlike rhetoric directed at the minds of the listeners (not their hearts), preaching reflects ‘the experiencing of God’s Truth in the soul of the preacher (at that very moment!).’