Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

Bulletin - 3/13/11   

We continue publishing short accounts of the lives of the saints depicted on the new icon in the narthex. The Lives are published in hierarchical order.

Holy Hierarch Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow,

Enlightener of Alaska and Siberia (†1879)

Saint Innocent was born John Popov on 26 August 1797 at the village of Anginskoe, Irkutsk Province, to the poor family of the local church's reader. He lost his father at the age of six to experience the bitter life of an orphan. In 1806 nine year-old John entered the seminary in Irkutsk. During his years at the seminary, John showed brilliant abilities in learning the basics of theology, rhetoric, philology, which allowed him later to achieve a truly outstanding success in his educational work. During his life in the seminary, the future luminary showed such Christian virtues as humbleness, natural kindness and exceptional industry. His extraordinary achievements and exemplary behaviour compelled the rector of the seminary in 1814 to give him the family name of Veniaminov after the recently reposed Archbishop Veniamin who was much loved by the faithful.

In 1817 John Veniaminov was married and ordained deacon. In May 1821, he was ordained priest. Since the first years of his priesthood, Father John enjoyed general favour and love for his Sunday talks with children on the interpretation of the Holy Gospel. The Irkutsk period set an indelible stamp on the saint's memory. Later, performing his pastoral ministry, he never forgot about the church service he carried out in his native land. Later he dedicated the first church, in the Unalashka Islands, to the Ascension of the Lord in memory of St. Innocent's Monastery of the Ascension in Irkutsk. He also renamed the Ust-Zeiskaya Cossack village on the Amur as the town of Blagoveschensk (Annunciation) after the Church of the Annunciation in Irkutsk in which he was ordained.

Yet, it was in such remote lands as the Russian America that God's selected-one had to carry out his educational ministry in the apostolic field. Monks from several northern Russian monasteries began this work in 1794 in the Kodiak Island of the Aleutian Archipelago. In 1822, the Holy Synod decided to send a missionary priest to the Aleutian Islands. Motivated by the apostolic zeal, Father John Veniaminov approached Bishop Michael of Irkutsk and declared his willingness to assume this service. Already in May 1823, the 26 year-old missionary together with his family set off for a very hard and dangerous journey. In June of the following year, the travelers arrived in Unalashka, the main island of the Aleutian Archipelago.

Father John’s primary concern was to learn the language of the local people and to build a church. He built it with his own hands together with islanders, while teaching them various skills. The church was consecrated in July 1826 and became the center of Christian education for the Aleutians in Unalashka and the surrounding islands. Exposed to various dangers and deprivations, the pastor went in wretched boats from island to island, preaching the Word of God to local people. The zealous missionary managed to learn quickly six local tribal dialects and created alphabet and grammar for the Aleutian language and translated the Gospel of St. Matthew into it, as well as the catechisms and the most important prayers and church hymns. Using a simple and accessible language, he wrote an Aleutian brief course of Orthodox dogmatics and morality entitled "A Guideline to the Kingdom of God". Considered one of the best catechetical courses and educational aids for children and youth, this course has been reprinted many times since. Father John organized schools in which some 600 boys were taught to read and write, built a hospital and an orphanage, fought with hard drinking and polygamy widely practiced by local people and managed to overcome these vices almost completely.

After ten years on the Unalashka Island, Father John baptized all the people in the archipelago. With the blessing of Bishop Michael of Irkutsk, he made a trip in 1829 to Nushegak in the American continent and preached the Word of God to people who lived on the Bering Sea coast and baptized those who came to believe. In 1834, Father John was transferred to New Archangel on the Sitka Island to serve in the Cathedral Church of Archangel Michael. During his four years on the island, he brought into the fold of the Church of Christ many local heathens who had been known, before he came, for their commitment to paganism and cruel practices. In spite of all the hardships he encountered in his missionary work, the great enlightener found time and energy to engage himself in a fundamental study of the life, culture, languages and customs of the local population. He also studied the local climate, flora and fauna and left capital ethnographic, geographical and linguistic works.

The acute need to draw the attention of the Holy Synod to the urgent needs of missionary and parish work in Russian America compelled Father John Veniaminov to make a trip to St. Petersburg. He arrived in the city in June 1829 and met with a lively response of the Synod members whom he managed to convince of the need to establish a permanent Orthodox Mission in the north of the American continent. In acknowledgment of his missionary service on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow elevated Father John to the rank of archpriest. It was in St. Petersburg in November 1840 that Father John received sad news about the death of his wife in Irkutsk. After a pilgrimage to St. Sergii - Holy Trinity Lavra and to the holy places in Kiev, Archpriest John, on the advice of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, took monastic vows on November 29. He took the name of Innocent and was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on the following day. In December 1840, the Holy Synod established a new diocese of Kamachatka-Kurils and the Aleutian islands based in the city of New Archangel. Archimandrite Innocent was consecrated bishop on 15 December 1840 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan in St. Petersburg and became the first archpastor of the new diocese. It was the time when his archpastoral gifts blossomed.

He was to occupy it for eleven years. As metropolitan, he undertook revisions of many church texts that contained errors, raised funds to improve the living conditions of impoverished priests and established a retirement home for clergy. It was on his initiative that the Holy Synod chose San Francisco as the bishop's See in America. Metropolitan Innocent also emphasized the need for the clergy to know English and for the Church to train priests from among local Americans as a necessary condition for strengthening Orthodoxy in the American continent.

Feeling his death approaching, Metropolitan Innocent asked on the Great Tuesday, 27 March 1879, that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction be administered to him. On the Great Thursday, 29 March, he communed. On the Great Saturday, March 31, the Metropolitan Equal-to-the-Apostles passed away in the Lord.

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

New York, NY: There are several changes that will appear in the forthcoming New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). Most remarkable, almah, the Hebrew word traditionally rendered as “virgin” (Isaiah 7:14 “the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel”, also , Matthew 1:23 “behold, a virgin shall conceive”), will be rendered as “young woman”, i.e. a young female who had relationship with a man, that is, not a virgin. Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz of Jews for Judaism praised the change from “virgin” to “young woman,” calling the traditional Christian rendering a “translation error used by missionaries to convert Jews.”

Vatican City: Pope Benedict XVI in his new book “Jesus of Nazareth-Part II” says there is no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death. While the Catholic Church has for five decades taught that Jews weren’t collectively responsible, Jewish scholars said the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff was a landmark statement that would help fight anti-Semitism. It is easy to see that the pope’s statement is not of theological nature, but rather of the political one. In the contemporary world, no one may freely talk about ‘the holocaust’.  In some countries it is forbidden to deny ‘the holocaust’ or to question the contemporary Jewish interpretation and analysis of the issue. On the other hand, it is a common place to blame ‘Christianity’ for Hitler’s killing of the Jews, while the German Nazis, who are responsible for ‘the holocaust’, were mostly neo-pagans, not Christians. Holocausto-centrism dominates the Western Judophile worldview which found its expression in Theodor Adorno’s statement that the contemporary civilization has no right to life after Auschwitz. In here are the roots of Pope Benedict’s theory. Moreover, one should not forget that the pope’s past is tainted – he is a former member of the Hitlerjugend, therefore he is trying to absolve himself from the sins of his youth. In all this propaganda play one can’t help noticing double standards: the pope says one cannot blame all Jews for the crucifixion of Christ, but at the same time all Christians are accused of anti-Semitism, and all Christians are referred to as ‘gentiles’ by the Jews, while everyone knows that ‘gentile’ means pagan and heathen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. March bulletin covers’ sponsor is Dorothy Mastronicola — health of family

2. This Saturday, March 19, is our Soup Sale. We need all the input we can get. Anything you can cook or bake will be greatly appreciated: be it soups, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.

3. We have lived through the first week of Lent with its daily Divine services. We have made the first step towards Pascha of the Lord. It is good for all of us to confess our sins and partake of the life-giving Body and Blood of the Saviour at least twice during the Great Lent. If you feel yourself outside of the spiritual regeneration of the fast — come to the weekly services, come often and pray.

4. Tomorrow, Monday March 14, parish board will gather for a meeting at 7:00 P.M.

Bulletin - 3/6/11   

Three weeks ago, a new icon appeared on the northern wall of the narthex. The beautiful icon of the Synaxis of the Saints of America was donated by Elaine Williams who resides in Texas and is a cousin of Nicholas Yacko.

America has few saints and some of them spent only several years on the American continent, but almost all of them were sanctifying this land with their grace-filled labors while themselves partaking unconstrainedly from the fountain of grace springing forth in their Motherland which lies across the ocean. While we now in America are constantly trying to assert our self-sufficiency and independence, the examples of the saints humble us, for their roots went deeply into the soil of the land which had been sanctified with the labors of the Holy Fathers, ascetics and righteous ones numerous centuries before them. God glorifies His saints, so that their lives would be guidelines on our path to salvation.

Below, we begin publishing short accounts of the lives of the saints depicted on the icon. The Lives will appear in hierarchical order.

Holy Hierarch Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the Confessor

Vasily, the future Saint Tikhon, was born on January 19, 1865 into the family of a rural priest in the Pskov diocese, Russia. From his childhood he displayed a particular religious disposition, love for the Church, as well as rare meekness and humility. When Vasily was still a boy, his father and his three sons were sleeping in the hayloft. Father suddenly woke up. He had seen in a dream his dead mother, who foretold to him his imminent death, and the fate of his three sons. One would be unfortunate throughout his life, another would die young, while the third, Vasily, would be a great man. The prophecy came true regarding all three brothers.

Vasily went to study at the Pskov Theological Seminary. The modest seminarian was tender and affectionate by nature. His fellow students liked and respected him for his piety, brilliant progress in studies, and constant readiness to help comrades, who often turned to him for explanations of lessons, especially for help in drawing up and correcting numerous compositions. Vasily was called "bishop" and "patriarch" by his classmates.

St Nicholas Cathedral, Manhattan, New York

On September 14, 1898, Bishop Tikhon was made Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska. As head of the Orthodox Church in America, at the time when all Orthodox parishes in North America were part of the Russia Church, Bishop Tikhon was a zealous laborer in the Lord's vineyard. He did much to promote Orthodoxy and to improve his vast diocese. He reorganized the diocesan structure and changed, with the blessing of the Holy Synod back in Russia, its name from "Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska" to "Diocese of the Aleutians and North America". Both clergy and laity loved their archpastor, and held him in such esteem that Archbishop Tikhon was granted an honorary citizenship of the United States.

Archbishop Tikhon’s farewell to America

In 1905, the American Mission was made an Archdiocese, and St. Tikhon was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. He had two vicar bishops: Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) in Alaska, and St. Raphael (Hawaweeny) in Brooklyn to assist him in administering his large, ethnically diverse diocese. In June of 1905, St. Tikhon gave his blessing for the establishment of St. Tikhon's Monastery.

In 1907, he returned to Russia, and was appointed to Yaroslavl, where he quickly won the affection of his flock. He spoke simply to his subordinates, never resorting to a peremptory or overbearing tone. When Saint Tikhon was transferred to Lithuania in 1913, the people of Yaroslavl voted him an honorary citizen of their town. After his transfer to Vilno, he did much in terms of material support for various charitable institutions: his generous soul and love of people clearly manifested themselves. When World War I broke out, he spared no effort to help the poor residents of the Vilna region who were left without a roof over their heads or means of subsistence as a result of the war.

His Holiness Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Saint Tikhon’s gentle disposition did not prevent him from showing firmness in Church matters, however, particularly when he had to defend the Church from her enemies. He bore a very heavy cross. In the revolutionary Russia, he had to direct the Church amidst wholesale church disorganization, in conditions of internal schisms and upheavals by various modernists.

The situation was complicated by external circumstances: the change of the political system, by the accession to power of the godless regime, by hunger, and civil war. This was a time when Church property was being confiscated, when clergy were subjected to persecutions, and Christ's Church endured repression. Patriarch’s exceptionally high moral and religious authority helped him to unite the scattered and enfeebled flock. At a crucial time for the Church, his unblemished name was a bright beacon pointing the way to the truth of Orthodoxy. In his messages, he called on people to fulfill the commandments of Christ, and to attain spiritual rebirth through repentance. His irreproachable life was an example to all.

For staunch defense of the Church, Patriarch Tikhon was imprisoned from April 1922 until June 1923.

His Holiness, Patriarch Tikhon did much on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church during the crucial time of the so-called Renovationist schism. He showed himself to be a faithful servant and custodian of the undistorted precepts of the true Orthodox Church. He was the living embodiment of Orthodoxy, which was unconsciously recognized even by enemies of the church, who called its members "Tikhonites."

It was extremely painful and hard for the Patriarch's loving, responsive heart to endure all the Church's misfortunes. Upheavals in and outside the church, the Renovationist schism, his primatial labors, his concern for the organization and tranquility of Church life, sleepless nights and heavy thoughts, his confinement that lasted more than a year, the spiteful and wicked baiting of his enemies, and the unrelenting criticism sometimes even from the Orthodox, combined to undermine his strength and health.

In 1924, Patriarch Tikhon began to feel unwell. He checked into a hospital, but would leave it on Sundays and Feast Days to serve. On the evening of the Feast of Annunciation, April 7, 1925, the patriarch slept a little, then he woke up and asked what time it was. When he was told it was 11:45 P.M., he made the Sign of the Cross twice and said, "Glory to Thee, O Lord, glory to Thee." He did not have time to cross himself a third time.

Almost a million people came to say farewell to the Patriarch. The large cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow could not contain the crowd, which overflowed the monastery property into the square and adjacent streets. In October 1989, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified Patriarch Tikhon and numbered him among the saints.

Perhaps the saint's own words can best sum up his life: "May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake."

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. March bulletin covers’ sponsors is Dorothy Mastronicola — health of family

2. This Saturday, March 12, we are gathering again to make nut rolls. Please try to come and help.

3. This Monday, Great Lent begins. It is custom in the monasteries, as well as among pious Christians to eat nothing (many abstain from water) till the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts on Wednesday. Although we are weak and are not used to fasting as we ought to, let us make an effort. Let us fast stricter than we did last year. Remember that fasting also includes abstinence from marital relations. May the Lord bless all those who deny themselves and follow Him, and Him alone.

4. Next Sunday, at the end of the Liturgy we are collecting donations for the Mission Fund.

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Bulletin - 2/27/11   

One Can't Learn to Pray Sitting in a Warm Armchair
Interview with hieromonk Gabriel (Bunge) by Konstantin Matsan

Reprinted from “Foma: Orthodox Christian Journal For Doubting Thomases”

Part III

JUMP INTO THE WATER

Q: What must change now in your daily life after the conversion?

A: Of course, there are things that cannot but change. Having become a member of the Russian Orthodox Church but still living in Switzerland, I submit to Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun. My relations with the Catholic Church cannot, naturally, remain the same.

Q: What reaction do you expect from your spiritual children? They must be all Catholics...

A: Firstly, I fortunately deal with good understanding people, and I am sure they will respect my decision. And secondly, I have never kept my opinions and beliefs in secret. All my spiritual children have known that my ideal of Christianity is in the East. I do not think they will be that surprised. I had not said anything to them beforehand to avoid unnecessary discussions. But I do not think anything extraordinary will happen. I believe that the tradition of spiritual talks my children used to come for will remain, I have no reason to stop it. Finally, people I communicate with regularly share my spiritual ideal more or less; otherwise, they would not be coming.

Q: What about Divine services?

A: Of course, from now on I won't be able to administer communion to Catholics. But even before I used to do it very seldom: the skete is away from the big world, the territory is kept locked, the services are also private, the chapel is small - for ten people, at the most. Only at Christmas and Easter we open the doors for everyone who wants to join us.

Q: If you could and wanted to give contemporaries a very short piece of advice about organizing their praying life, what would you say?

A: If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. Only that way you can learn. Only the one who prays will feel the meaning, the taste and the joy of prayer. You can't learn to pray sitting in a big warm armchair. If you are ready to kneel, to repent sincerely, to raise your eyes and hands to Heaven, then many things will be revealed to you. Of course, you can read many books, listen to lectures, talk to people - these are also important and help to understand more. But what is the value of all these things if we don't take any real steps afterwards? If we don't start praying? I think you must understand this, too. Obviously, you are asking this question from the position of one who does not believe...

Q: Exactly. Our magazine is for those who doubt.

A: There is nothing wrong with doubts, they are even useful. One should not search for them, however. But if they do appear, one must simply recall that we all have a chance to hear, "Reach your finger, and behold My hands; and reach your hand, and put it into My side: and do not be unbelieving, but believing" (John 20: 27).

. . . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Patriarch Irinej of Serbia

Zurich, Switzerland: On 22 February 2011, the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission, convened to consider the agenda of the Pan-Orthodox Council, began its work at the Orthodox Centre of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Chambesy, Switzerland. The results of the Commission’s work should be submitted to the 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference. The time of its convening will be fixed after the preparatory work is completed. The Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conferences were held in 1976, 1982, 1986 and 2009. Delegations of the fourteen Autocephalous Orthodox Churches take part in the session. The Commission, which is to consider the contents of the Tomos on Autocephaly and the manner of its signing, as well as the topic of diptychs, will work till February 26.

Dormition Monastery in Thailand

New York, NY: A new poll shows that customers are significantly supportive of companies that manage their affairs according to Christian principles. A new Barna survey released Monday revealed that 43% of American adults say they would be open to buying a particular brand if they knew the company was run based on Christian principles. 51% respondents say they are indifferent, and only 3% say an overt Christian faith in the company would turn them away from it. Customers in the Midwest and the South expressed the most interest in Christian brands and businesses. Other demographics that were more likely to favor Christian brands include women, Baby Boomers, the elderly (age 65 and above), and married adults, particularly those with young children. Don Barefoot, president of the Christian business network C12, says the key secret of Christian business is trustworthiness. Barefoot says trustworthiness means “that you will do what you say you will do and that’s rooted in service.” His network trains over 700 Christian–led businesses to operate using a style he calls servant leadership. The guidance that C12 offers is derived largely from the Bible and encourages businesses to treat customers with humility and love. Barefoot explains that Christian and non-believers alike are prone to become loyal customers of trustworthy businesses because their products are based on a genuine desire to serve customers rather than making money. “A lot of successful businesses have been led by Christians … and the customers don’t know it,” he reveals. According to the poll, these actions are well received by most demographics except one. According to the poll, young adults, 45 years old and younger, are less interested in Christian businesses. Youths under the age of 25 are the least interested in Christian businesses. Moreover, four percent of adults 18 to 26 years of age are even slightly less likely to be patrons of Christian businesses. That is the highest percentage among all the age ranges.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. February bulletin covers’ sponsors are the Polomchaks family — anniversary.

2. Last Friday, a group of church-loving people gathered in the parish hall and worked hard on making stuffed cabbage for our March Soup Sale. Next two Saturdays, March 5 and March 12, we are gathering to make nut rolls. Please try to come and help. If you can — help by providing monetary donations.

3. This week is the last week when the Church gives her blessing for us to eat dairy and eggs till Pascha.

4. When coming up for communion, try to remember to let little children to come first. When it is your turn, have your arms crossed on your chest, come close to the Cup (do not make the sign of the Cross before the Cup, nor pull the communion cloth towards yourself — it is altar servers’ job to make sure that the communion cloth is stretched between the Holy Cup and your chin). It is a custom, having received Communion, to step aside and take zapivka (a little bit of water sweetened with wine and a piece of prosphora).

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Bulletin - 2/20/11   

One Can't Learn to Pray Sitting in a Warm Armchair
Interview with hieromonk Gabriel (Bunge) by Konstantin Matsan

Reprinted from “Foma: Orthodox Christian Journal For Doubting Thomases”

Part II

Q: And what should our attitude be to those who are not very dedicated to tradition?

A: We should not beat them in the face and, of course, we should not chase them out of the Church. Any person deserves Christian mercy. If I, being an Orthodox, saw a Catholic in an Orthodox church, I would like to approach him and tell him openly, softly, and confidentially, “Listen, brother, you might be interested to know that in the beginning we all crossed ourselves in this way: from right to left. Now everything has changed. No, I am not calling you to reconsider all your life and rush to the Orthodox Church. I just want you to know where things came from.”

VALAAM

Q: Why did you choose the Russian Orthodox Church?

A: I think the key factor in such decisions is the people who surround you. When my acquaintances, Russian bishops from Saint Petersburg, learned I was adopting Orthodoxy, they said, “We are not in the least surprised! You've always been with us. But now we are going to have closer communion, a sacred one – at one Chalice.”

I've known Metropolitan Hilarion, the current head of the Department for external church relations of Moscow Patriarchate, for a long time. We first met in 1994 when he was a hieromonk. I consider him to be my good friend and I cherish this friendship. Hierarch Hilarion, if you will, is one of the most competent and knowledgeable people I've ever met. He actually became for me the only person I could turn to with my request, who knew me, my beliefs and my situation. And who, as I was sure, was ready to respond. And that's what happened.

Q: How will it help you in reaching your ideal of spiritual life?

A: You want prophecy from me, but I am no prophet. I do not know specifically what will happen next. We shall simply live. Even now I have already found in Russia many things that keep me interested.

For example, I visited Valaam. You know, in the West, if a believer is drawn to a life utmost monastic seclusion, he actually has nowhere to go.

Q: Isn't there enough loneliness in your skete in Switzerland? Valaam is also a crowded place, pilgrims come there regularly.

A: Switzerland is a small and densely populated country. The skete is surrounded by a forest, but in a 15-minute walk there is a village with approximately a hundred people living there. In Valaam, it is much more quiet. Yes, of course, there are many people there. But the place itself, as I felt, is isolated from the rest of the world. Maybe it is so because it is an island, or maybe it is due to other, non-geographic reasons.

It seems to me that all this can give rise to this desirable state of seclusion in the heart of everyone who comes there.

Q: Is it more difficult in Europe?

A: To put it roughly, we can say this does not exist in the West altogether. The authentic monastic tradition in the West was practically stamped out in the course of the French bourgeois revolution in 1789. I have a firm belief that the consequences of this revolution for Europe were no less heavy than the consequences of the 1917 revolution and the 70 years of atheist power for Russia. In France, after those bloody events, monasticism had to be restored almost from scratch. Common priests, not monks, were to perform this. There was no one else. In Russia, monasticism survived in spite of all the shocks and horrors. Yes, it happened at the level of particular individuals, namely, elders. But they existed! And they kept the spiritual tradition and authentic monastic life. It seems to me that in everything that concerns monastic life, Russia did not have to start from scratch. This is why I am sorry to hear Russians say sometimes: “we had it all destroyed, the Church was stamped out, etc.”

I always want to respond, “On my opinion, you have it all, new martyrs and confessors, monastic elders.” And they are all near, just stretch out your arm. Only you have to stretch it out, take this wealth and use it in practice, so to speak, in your life. I often get the impression that the majority of people in Russia do not value this. Or they just do not understand that this is valuable.

Q: Why, in your opinion, does it happen so?

A: Speaking of problems, people concentrate on material, at times external difficulties that monasteries and the Church face nowadays. Yes, there is much to reconstruct. But this is only the technical part, so to speak, only the walls and the roofs. It goes without saying, people complain: roofs and walls cost money, and where can one find money… But if we mentally go above the roof – let it be with holes – we shall see that the walls is not the main thing, it's more important with what kind of heart one enters the walls. The Russian saying goes, “The church is not in the logs but in the ribs.” And this is the most important thing, this spiritual tradition, that is still within Russians. Monastic elders and new martyrs preserved all of this for us. Sometimes people argue, “But there are so few elders now, most of them died already. There is no one to teach us.” I always respond, “If you have no living elder to teach you, turn to the deceased one. You have his hagiography, his texts, his teachings. Read them, and correlate with your life.”

I don't mean to say that I have never met people in Russia who know, value, and cherish this knowledge. There are many, many people who do and my visit to Valaam proved it.                                                   

To be continued....

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. February bulletin covers’ sponsors are the Polomchaks family — anniversary.

2. Our Soup Sale last Saturday was very successful, although not without temptations. All of our product was sold. We are thankful to all of you who participated in this Soup Sale.

3. On Friday, February 25th, we are getting together in church to make more stuffed cabbage for our last Soup Sale on March 19th. Please come and help. The work begins in the morning and continues through the afternoon. The more people we have — the quicker and with less strain for the laborers the work will be done.

4. Next Sunday, please remember to bring non-perishable items which we collect for Hobart Food Pantry.

5. This week — of the Prodigal Son — is the last week when we can eat meat before Pascha. This means that we should try to finish up all the meat products in our houses. The following week is the Cheese-fare week, when we do the same with the dairy and eggs.

Bulletin - 2/13/11   

One Can't Learn to Pray Sitting in a Warm Armchair
Interview with hieromonk Gabriel (Bunge) by Konstantin Matsan

Reprinted from www.pravoslavie.ru

A Catholic hermit converted to Orthodoxy

A well-known theologian, hieromonk Gabriel Bunge, rarely gives interviews. He leads a hermit's life in a small skete in Switzerland, never uses the Internet, and the only means of communication with him is the telephone. The latter works as the answering machine in a distant room. If you want to talk with him, you have to leave a message with the time when you are going to phone again, and if Father Gabriel is ready to talk, he will be near the telephone at the time you specified. We were lucky not to go through this complex operation because we met Father Gabriel in Moscow. On August 27, he converted to Orthodoxy from Catholicism.

“We Are Like Weirdos”

Q: If someone comes from one Christian tradition to another, it must mean that they feel they lack something vital in their spiritual life...

A: Yes. And if this person is seventy years old, like me, this step cannot be called a hasty one, can it?

Q: No, it can't. But what did you lack, being a monk with such a great spiritual experience?

Hieromonk Gabriel

Like all young people, I was searching for my way in life, so to speak. I entered the University in Bonn and started studying philosophy and comparative theology. Not long before that, I had visited Greece and spent two months on the island of Lesbos. It was there that I saw a real Orthodox monastic elder for the first time. At that time, I was already inwardly being drawn to monasticism and had read some Orthodox literature, including Russian sources. That elder amazed me.  He became the incarnation of the monastic that before I had come across only in books. Suddenly, in front of me, I saw a monastic life which from the very beginning seemed to be authentic, true, the closest to the first Christian monks' practice. Afterwards, I was in touch with that elder my whole life. So I got an ideal of monastic life.

When I came back to Germany, I joined the Order of Saint Benedict - it seemed to be the closest to my aspirations. The structure of the Order itself resembles one of the early Christian Church. In the Order, there is no vertical system of subordination, each community exists on its own. What guarantees the unity of these communities is the tradition and the Church Typicon. That is, not the juridical order but the spiritual ideal. By the way, in this sense I think that it is the Benedictines, of all Western believers, who are ready to understand the Orthodox believers most keenly. But still my spiritual Father and I saw very soon that with my fancy for Eastern monasticism and the love of Eastern Christianity on the whole, I was not in my proper place in this Order. So the abbot, an elderly and experienced man I still honor, decided to transfer me to a small monastery in Belgium. I spent 18 years there, acquired great experience, and from there, with a blessing, I went to the skete in Switzerland. All those transfers were caused by one reason: the attempt to progress to authentic monastic life, as it was with early Christians. Like the one I saw with Eastern Christians. The most recent step on this way was the conversion to Orthodoxy.

Q: Why did you decide to adopt it? One can love Orthodoxy with all one's heart and stay within the traditional Catholicism. There are many such examples in the West.

A: Yes, many people who are drawn to Orthodoxy stay within the Catholic Church. And this is normal. In the majority of Western cathedrals there are Orthodox icons. In Italy, there are professional schools of icon painting taught by Russian specialists and others. More and more believers in Europe are interested today in Byzantine hymns. Even the traditionalists of the Catholic Church have been discovering Byzantine singing. Of course, they do not use them during the divine service in the church, but outside of the church, for example, at concerts. Orthodox literature gets translated into all European languages, and the books are published in the major Catholic publishing houses. In short, in the West they really have not lost the taste for all authentic, Christian, that the Eastern tradition has preserved. But, alas, it changes nothing in real life of people and society on the whole. The interest in Orthodoxy is more cultural. And those wretched people like me who have a spiritual interest in Orthodoxy, are left in the minority. We are like weirdos; we are seldom understood.

“Simply to Know Where Everything Comes From”

Q: As a theologian, you have often spoken on the problem of West and East's separation. Can we say that your conversion to Orthodoxy is the result of your meditation on this topic?

A: When I was in Greece and started turning towards Eastern Christianity, I began to perceive the schism between the East and the West very painfully. It stopped being an abstract theory or a plot in a Church history book, but rather something that was directly affecting my spiritual life. This is why the conversion to Orthodoxy started looking like a very logical step. In youth, I sincerely hoped that the union of the Western and the Eastern Christianity was possible. I was waiting for it to happen with all my heart. And I had some reasons to believe in it. At the Second Vatican Council, there were observers from the Russian Orthodox Church, including the current Metropolitan of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir (Kotlyarov). At that time, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) was very active in international affairs. And many people thought that the two Churches were moving towards each other and would eventually meet at one point. It was my dream that was becoming more and more real. But as I was growing older and learning some things deeper, I stopped believing in the possibility of the reconciliation of two Churches in terms of the divine services and institutional unity. What was I to do? I could only go on searching for this unity on my own, individually, restoring it in one separate soul, mine. I could not do more. I just followed my conscience, and came to Orthodoxy.

Q: Isn't it too radical an opinion?

A: While still in Greece, being a Catholic, I realized that it was the West that separated from the East, not vice versa. At that moment, it was unthinkable for me. I needed time to understand and accept this. I cannot blame anyone, of course, I can’t! We are talking about a whole big historic process, and we cannot say that this or that person is to blame for this. But facts remain facts: what we call Western Christianity today was born as a chain of ruptures with the East. These ruptures were the Gregorian reform, followed by the separation of the churches in the 11th century, then the Reformation in the 15th century, and finally the Second Vatican Council in the 20th century. This is, surely, a very rough scheme, but I think it is correct on the whole.

Q: However, there is an opinion that the chain of these ruptures is a normal historic process because any phenomenon (and Christian Church is no exception) goes through its stages of development. What's the tragedy in that?

A: The tragedy is in the people. In a situation of radical, revolutionary events there always appear people who start to divide life into 'before' and 'after.' They want to start counting only from this new point, as if everything that happened before had no meaning. When the future Protestants proclaimed the Reformation, I do not think they knew it would lead to the separation of the Western Church into two big camps. They did not realize it, they just acted. And they began to divide those around them into the healthy ones - those who accepted the Reformation - and the unhealthy, sick ones - the followers of Pope.

Moreover, history repeats itself: the same is happening now around the Second Vatican Council within the Roman Catholic Church. There are people who did not accept its decisions and people who consider it to be some kind of a starting point. And everybody reasons along those lines. A simple example: if in a conversation, someone mentions 'council' without any additional details, everybody automatically assumes that they are talking about the Second Vatican Council.                             

To be continued

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Bucharest, Romania: February 4th marks 86 years since the raising of the Church in Romania to the rank of Patriarchate. The decision was taken by the Holy Synod on 4 February 1925 and it was confirmed through Royal Decree of 25 February, the same year. So, the Metropolitan Miron became “Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Ungrowallachia and Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church”. The Tomos of autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate was, on 30 July 1925, brought with great solemn pomp to Bucharest. Several decades before, under the Austro-Hungarian Catholic influence, the country of Wallachia had been renamed Romania, the traditional Cyrillic alphabet, which was used at the time by the Orthodox Wallachians, was replaced with Latin, and, some decades later, the Julian Calendar was replaced by the Gregorian one. During the World War II, Romania sided with Hitler and took part in his occupation of Russia. For her collaboration, Romania was handed over southern Russia: Moldavia and the southern part of the Ukraine (including such cities as Odessa and Nikolaev). The Romanian Orthodox Church followed the army into the newly-acquired lands and unlawfully seized there the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate — the only canonical churches in the area. New lords tried to force on their flock both the New Calendar and the Romanian language as the language of the Divine services. Even now, 66 years after the end of the war, the Romanian Church has not stopped her meddling in the life of the Orthodox in Moldavia.

Paris, France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared multiculturalism a failure, echoing British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. France has stood out in Europe by proudly refusing to bend to some unfamiliar practices, most notably the Muslim veils it has outlawed in public and headscarves it banned from schools. Germany has been more flexible and Britain much more so. Despite their differences, all three say they have a problem with the integration of Muslims and their statements on multiculturalism clearly focus on those minorities. "The truth is that, in all our democracies, we've been too concerned about the identity of the new arrivals and not enough about the identity of the country receiving them. This raises the issue of Islam and our Muslim compatriots," he said. "Our Muslim compatriots should be able to live and practice their religion like anyone else ... but it can only be a French Islam and not just an Islam in France." Cameron said last week that multiculturalism had failed and left young British Muslims vulnerable to radicalism. Amid a heated debate about Muslim immigration last October, Merkel denounced the approach and said newcomers must integrate.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. February bulletin covers’ sponsors are the Polomchaks family — anniversary.

2. In preparation for the Soup Sale, which is this Saturday, Feb. 19, we are asking our parishioners to help us purchase necessary supplies and provide us with your monetary donations. Donations list is in the narthex.

3. The list for your soups and baked good is in the narthex.

4. On Friday, February 25th, we are getting together in church to make more stuffed cabbage for our last Soup Sale this season. Please come and help. The work begins in the morning and continues through the afternoon. It is estimated we need at least 5-6 people for the work to proceed smoothly.

5. There is no fasting this week either on Wednesday or on Friday.

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Bulletin - 2/6/11   

Within a month, two articles about Steelers’ Troy Polamalu have appeared on the pages of the major newspapers. Many of those who are interested in what happens in the world NFL and who read the news online are familiar with the articles. Most of our readers, though, do not make it into the above-mentioned category, due to our computer illiteracy. The following article has appeared on the Old Calendar Christmas in Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette. (Article’s most blatant errors were corrected, while some curious points were retained for our knowledgeable readers’ amusement).

Troy Polamalu says 'Kala Christougena!'

The most famous Orthodox Christian in Pittsburgh, if not the nation, has a greeting for his fellow believers today: "Kala Christougena!" said Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. That's Greek for "Merry Christmas!"

Mr. Polamalu and his wife, Theodora, actually celebrated Christmas 13 days ago, but they keep the same Orthodox traditions as those who observe today. Some Orthodox celebrate on Dec. 25, but most churches tie liturgy to the old Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. The Greek Orthodox Church and some others have adopted the Gregorian calendar — except at Easter.

"We all celebrate Easter on the same day," said Mr. Polamalu, 29. Orthodoxy is the earliest Christian church, from which the Catholics split in 1054.

He and Theodora converted to Orthodoxy about five years ago. His background was Catholic and Protestant, hers Muslim and Protestant. They were Christians in search of a deeper, more consistent experience of God.

"Orthodoxy is like an abyss of beauty that's just endless," he said. "I have read the Bible many times. But after fasting, and being baptized Orthodox, it's like reading a whole new Bible. You see the depth behind the words so much more clearly."

That fasting is a Christmastime difference between Eastern and Western Christians. While many Americans pile on the food from Thanksgiving to Christmas, Orthodox Christians start fasting Nov. 15 or 28. "Christmas Lent" or "Winter Lent" lasts 40 days, broken by a feast on Christmas, said the Rev. Stelyios Muksuris, administrative assistant to Metropolitan Maximos of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh and professor of liturgy and theology at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary. Slavic Orthodox keep a strict fast, abstaining from meat, dairy products, oil and fish for 40 days. Greeks usually permit fish, cheese and oil for the first few weeks, then fast strictly for the last two, he said.

Mr. Polamalu is of Samoan heritage, and belongs to the Greek Church, but fasts like a Russian. His consists of a "fast from dairy, from meat and from oil for 40 days -- as well as from marital relations," he said. "It's to prepare you for the birth of Christ, of God incarnate." Fasting doesn't affect his football fitness, he said. "When you fast, you can eat extremely healthy by eating a lot of light food, like fruits and vegetables."

There are other aspects to fasting. "Maybe not watching as much TV, or not getting caught up in idle talk or different things, in order to keep you spiritually healthy," he said.

The most important Orthodox fast is Great Lent, for 50 days before Easter.

When he has kept longer fasts "I have never felt more spiritually strong," he said. Referring to great theologians of the Early Church, he said, "The Church fathers have said that when you eat gluttonously or you eat a lot of meat, your passions get stronger, so your inclination toward sinning becomes stronger. ... [Fasting] really does soften your passions. It gives you spiritual insight." In Orthodox theology "passions" are negative impulses — such as sadness or greed — that can harm the soul.

He doesn't claim that practicing the faith improves athletics. The player known for crossing himself on the field has seen his faith grow more from his injuries than his interceptions. "When I got injured, I learned so much from it spiritually, just thanking God for the health that I had when I was healthy," he said.

"People have this idea that the more pious and devout I am, the more successful I am. Which is very dangerous. If you look at faith in that way, you're bound to fail at both — spiritually and in your career."

As the Polamalus build Christmas traditions for their children, Paisios, 2, and Ephraim, 3 months, "It's become less about Santa Claus and more about the birth of Christ and the celebration of the Virgin birth."

They spent Christmas Eve at an Orthodox monastery. The service lasted several hours, ending at 1 a.m. It was entirely chanted. "Orthodox chanting is non-emotional, it's very monotone," said Mr. Polamalu, who also calls it "the most beautiful thing."

"It's the perfect environment for prayer," he said. "Chanting in Greek ... is like a beautiful opera, but way better. You have candles, not [electric] lights. It's dark. You have the women on the left and the men on the right. Everything is to keep your mind focused on God. ... To me the most beautiful thing anyone on earth can experience, other than maybe marriage and child-bearing, would be the Orthodox Liturgy."

Before he became Orthodox, he said, songs in church sometimes moved him to tears. He now distrusts those passing feelings. "I'd start crying and feel 'This is awesome.' If I'd had a Red Bull, I'd feel it even more. If I'd had breakfast, I'd feel good. If I didn't have breakfast, I didn't feel anything, I was grumpy," he said. "It was a very superficial experience. I was thinking, 'God, why did I not feel You today?' because I wasn't feeling the music today. Orthodoxy is very sensitive to that, to take the emotion out of it, to really go after the heart."

The difference between the heart and emotion, he said, is like the difference between the deep love he has for his wife and their daily ups and downs. "I could say, emotionally, I'm mad and sad with my wife. But that has nothing to do with how much I love my wife within my heart," he said. "Before we were Orthodox we were able to separate our spiritual lives and our daily lives. Now that we're Orthodox, because of the prayer life that is required ... and the fasting, it consumes your life. It's the number one thing in your life."

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Moscow, Russia: According to the experts, those who have recently joined the Islam, are likely to join Islamist sects. “Newly-converted youth regardless of their ethnic background do not receive even the basics of their religion. They were drawn in by attractive slogans, they came, learned to do salaat, learned something about their faith and that’s all”, said a Muslim theologian Vyacheslav Polosin. Then “someone takes them by the hand and leads to some gatherings in poorly-lit rooms and begins indoctrinate them somehow in most radical things”, he said. “Unfortunately, we do not have that which the Orthodox call “churching” (Fr S.: Churching can be understood as adoption of the fundamentals of the Orthodox Faith and conscientious entering the Church life; growing in into the Church body, turning of the nominal Christian into the real one; such a profound entering the Church life so that it becomes the person’s own life). Therefore some young men meet not your average Muslim teacher, not a traditional Islam, but the sects or militant groups which speculate their religion and work on forwarding their terroristic tasks,” Polosin added. Roman Silantiev, a researcher of Islam, agrees with the Muslim theologian: “The people who convert to Islam due to some ideological reasons most of the time end up in sects, and most likely those sects are of terrorist extremist natures”. According to the expert, there are no more than 6,000 Russian Muslims and 70% of them are wives of the Muslim men. “Others are those who converted to Islam for ideological reasons, what is more, hundreds of them, if we analyze statistics and police reports, become terrorists and extremists”, said Silantiev. Basil Dereviankin, chairman of “Straight Path” Muslim organization, remarked that most of the new Russian converts to Islam do not come from Christianity: “those you can count on the fingers of one hand — those who were churched Orthodox Christians and who later changed their mindset and accepted Islam. Mostly the newcomers come to us from atheism, non-religious humanism and from their own understanding of monotheism”.

Hirbet Madras, Israel: Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks. The Orthodox church located southwest of Jerusalem, excavated over the last two months, will be visible only for another week before archaeologists cover it again with soil for its own protection. The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., said the dig's leader, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. He said the floor was "one of the most beautiful mosaics to be uncovered in Israel in recent years. It is unique in its craftsmanship and level of preservation," he said. Archaeologists began digging at the site, known as Hirbet Madras, in December. The Antiquities Authority discovered several months earlier that antiquities thieves had begun plundering the ruins, which sit on an uninhabited hill not far from an Israeli farming community. Though an initial survey suggested the building was a synagogue, the excavation revealed stones carved with crosses, identifying it as a church. The building had been built atop another structure around 500 years older, dating to Roman times, when scholars believe the settlement was inhabited by Jews. Stone steps lead down from the floor of church to a small burial cave, which scholars suggest might have been venerated as the burial place of the Old Testament prophet Zechariah.

Alexandria, Egypt: Like the protesters who have flooded the streets of Egypt in the past week, the country’s large minority of Coptic Christians worry about joblessness and lack of freedoms. But most want President Hosni Mubarak to stay in power. Fear of what may follow the removal of Mubarak, a secular strongman who has ruled the country for the past 30 years, is making reluctant supporters out of the country’s Christians, an estimated 10% of Egypt’s 80 million population. Mubarak has been pursuing Islamist extremist groups, a policy that has endeared him to Coptic Christians. Many Copts worry that Mubarak’s exit would leave them dangerously exposed — either by chaos, or to a government that may be more tolerant of Islamist extremists. 

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. February bulletin covers’ sponsors are the Polomchaks family — anniversary.

2. This Sunday the Eternal Candle is offered by Anne Springman, Madge Petri and Helen Urban in memory of their sister Pauline Anthony for her birthday. May her memory be eternal!

3. In preparation for the upcoming Soup Sale, we are asking our parishioners to help us purchase necessary supplies and provide us with your monetary donations. Donations list is in the narthex.

4. The list for your soups and baked good is in the narthex.

5. Next Sunday, February 13, donations are collected for our Mission Fund.

6. This week we are going to make stuffed cabbage, which is going to be stage 2 of the process. Last Wednesday, we were going to get together to mix the meat and made it into balls. However, due to the weather conditions, we were not able to do that on the set day but did the work on Thursday without letting our parishioners know about the change — we apologize for this. This week’s work date is not set, yet. We are planning to discuss this after the Liturgy this Sunday. We need all the help we can get. If you were not in church on Sunday and do not know what was decided but still want to come and help your parish, call Fr Sergii for the information.

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Bulletin - 1/30/11   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Conclusion of our translation of the Priest’s Reference Book (Nastol’naia kniga sv’ashchennosluzhitel’a)

Metropolitan Laurus of New York (†2008) concelebrates with other hierarchs in the altar of the Sretenskii Monastery

 A vessel with the Holy Chrism can also be found on the Altar Table. If the temple has several altars, the communion kits and the vessels with the Chrism are usually kept not on the main Holy Table but on one of the side ones.

Icon of the ‘Meeting of the Lord in the Temple’, with the curtain (drawn back) between two pillars of the canopy/ciborium concealing the front of the Altar Table

Ciborium above the Altar in the church of the Grebnevskaia Icon of the Mother of God in Moscow, late 19th century

In the olden times, canopy, or ciborium, was sometimes erected (and are still preserved) above the Altar Table in large temples. Such canopy signifies the heaven spread over the earth where Jesus Christ’s podvig of redemption was accomplished. In that case, the Altar Table represents that part of the earth, that region of the creation which is sanctified by the Lord’s Passions, and the ciborium – the heavenly realm which lowered itself in adoration to the greatest glory and holiness of the Act accomplished on earth. Inside of the ciborium, from within its center a small figure of the dove was suspended – a symbol of the Holy Spirit. In the antiquity, sometimes the reserved Holy Gifts were kept inside of this mage. Therefore, the ciborium can mean the immaterial tabernacle of God, His glory and grace, which envelopes the Altar Table as the greatest sacred object in the church on which the Mystery of the Eucharist is accomplished and which represents the Lord Jesus Christ Who suffered, died and rose from the dead. Ciborium is usually arranged on four pillars erected near the corners of the Altar Table; in rare cases it is suspended from the ceiling. This structure was beautifully adorned. Ciborium used to have veils which were suspended between the pillars of it concealing the Holy Table on all sides hen there were no Divine services.

If in antiquity the ciborium could be found in not too many temples, then now it is even more of a rarity. Therefore, from antiquity, a pelena, or a cover cloth, has been used to cover the sacred object on the Altar after the conclusion of the Divine services. This cover signifies the mystical protecting cover which conceals the holy things from a profane look. It means that it is not often that the Lord God opens His powers, energies and the mysteries of His Wisdom. Practical role of such a cover is evident.

From all sides around the Holy altar Table it may have one, two or three steps signifying the degrees of the spiritual perfection essential for the ascent to the holiness of the Divine Mysteries.

 . . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Kiev, Ukraine: Each family brought up a priest at the Ukrainian village of Zalestsy, which consists of 500 households. "Our people are pious, criminal situation is quiet. No one of our residents will dare violate God's commandment," says the secretary of the local council. 220 priests native of Zalestsy serve in Orthodox churches of Ukraine, Russia and Germany. Villagers believe the reason they brought up so many priests is that in Soviet times they had a powerful spiritual father - rector of the local church hieromonk Savva. All priests annually come to the Divine service to their village on August 2, Day of Prophet Elijah when the local church celebrates its main feast.

Islamabad, Pakistan: Motivated by fear and better economic prospects, at least 20 Pakistani Christians are converting to Islam each week. In recent weeks, a leading Muslim politician who called for modifications to the nation’s blasphemy law was gunned down, and thousands marched through the street of Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, chanting, “Death to Christians and the friends of Christians.” “People have no faith in the police or justice system, and the kind of fear that exists now was never there before,” says Peter Jacob, a prominent lay Christian worker. “No one feels safe right now,” adds Nadeem Anthony, a Christian and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. “People are scared.”

New York, NY: By 2030 the global population is set to reach over 8 billion and 26.4% of that population will be Muslim. A report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life titled "The Future of the Global Muslim Population" projects that the number of Muslims in the world is set to double from 1.1billion in 1990 to 2.2 billion in 2030. While these are impressive numbers, it actually indicates that the worldwide growth of Islam is "growing but slowing" as it will drop from a growth rate of 1.7% between 2010 and 2020 to 1.4% between 2020 and 2030. Pew projects that Pakistan is set to overtake Indonesia as the country with the world's largest number of Muslim's as its Muslim majority population pushes to over 256 million. The number in the U.S. will double to over 6.2 million while Afghanistan's Muslim population is set to rise by almost 74% as the number rises from 29 million to 50 million, making it the country with the ninth largest Muslim population in the world.

London, U.K.: The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has doubled in the last 10 years, according to a study published by The Independent newspaper on Tuesday. The report said the figures were surprising in light of the fact that the Islam is known as one of the most inhumane world religions. The Independent said the estimate of the number of converts living in Britain has always been difficult because the census does not distinguish between whether a person has adopted a new religious faith, or was born into it. Previous estimates have put the number of Muslim converts in the United Kingdom between 14,000 and 25,000, according to British newspaper. However, according to the report, a new study suggests that the real figure could be as high as 100,000, with up to 5,000 new converts around the country each year. Using data from the 2001 Census of Scotland, the researchers estimated there were 60,699 converts living in Britain in 2001. Without new census expected until next year, according to the report, researchers surveyed mosques in London to try to figure out how many conversions are taking place one year. The results showed a figure of 1,400 conversions in the capital over the past 12 months, which, when extrapolated nationally, would mean approximately 5,200 people embrace Islam every year.  

Brussels, Belgium: On 20 January 2011, the European Parliament took an unprecedented step by adopting a resolution on the situation of Christians in the context of freedom of religion. It is for the first time that a major political body of the European Union recognized that Christians are persecuted. On 19 and 20 January 2011, the European Parliament discussed many cases of violence against Christians in different parts of the world. In the evening of January 19, the EP members lit candles to commemorate Christian victims of the recent terrorist attacks. On January 20, resolution on the situation of Christians in the context of freedom of religion was adopted. It condemns killing or discrimination of Christians in various countries, particularly in Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Philippines. The EP deputies made public the information showing atrocious persecution of Christians in these countries. The resolution addressed to their governments and leaders was adopted by the majority. Representatives of all political parties present in the EP voted in the affirmative.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. January bulletin covers’ sponsor is Madge Petri — January birthdays.

2. This Wednesday, we are beginning to make stuffed cabbage for the two last Soup Sales this season (February and March). To making the task more feasible it was decided to break the work into two sessions. Therefore, this Wednesday we are making meat balls which will be frozen, to be wrapped in cabbage leaves the following week. The work will start at about 9:00 A.M. this Wednesday. Please come and help.

3. In preparation for the upcoming Soup Sale, we are asking our parishioners to help us purchase necessary supplies and provide us with your monetary donations. Donations list is in the narthex.

4. Next Sunday at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy the re-installed members of the parish board will be blessed for their work in this new year.

5. More than once have we mentioned the importance of keeping silence in church. Especially this is true for the moments of the Liturgy which require our most concentration and intensity of prayer, and the Great Entrance is one of such moments. During the Great Entrance, which represents placing of Christ’s Most Holy Body into the Tomb, all conversations and movements in church must cease. While the Gifts are transferred to the Holy Altar Table, we must pray, most intensely, to the Lord for forgiveness of our sins and for the health, salvation and hastening in all good things for all our relatives and those whose wellbeing is close to our hearts (especially for the non-Orthodox among them).

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Bulletin - 1/23/11   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Continuation of our translation of the Priest’s Reference Book (Nastol’naia kniga sv’ashchennosluzhitel’a)

Part Eight

Tabernacle

Deacons censing with ‘Jerusalems’ on their shoulders 

In Russia, tabernacles were used to be called tomb, Sion, or Jerusalem, since sometimes they were modeled after the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. They were used liturgically: in the 17^th century, they were carried out in the Great Entrance during the Liturgy and in the Cross Processions at the hierarchical Divine services in the Novgorod’s Holy Sophia Cathedral, as well as in Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral. In Putivl’s Molchansk Saint Sophrony Hermitage of Kursk Diocese, deacons came out for the censing carrying on their left shoulder the tabernacle which was shaped as a church. This holy object dates from antiquity. It wasn’t kept on the Altar Table universally. In the East, the box for the reserved Gifts was furnished not on the Altar. The tabernacle [in the Christian temples] is appropriately likened to the Ark of the Covenant of the Old Testament, which was placed by Moses into the tabernacle, since it, besides being a prototype of other holy objects and persons of the New Covenant, literally pre-figured the tabernacle which contains the Mysteries of the New Covenant – the Body and Blood of Christ (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:27; John 16:32).

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Cairo, Egypt: The leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church did not celebrate the liturgy in public on the feast of Theophany, Jan. 19. Shenouda III's decision reflects the concerns of the Coptics about anti-Christian violence in Egypt, in the wake of rioting that left 22 dead and nearly 100 injured at a church in Alexandria.

Vienna, Austria: More than 87,000 people left the Catholic Church in Austria last year - 63% more than in the previous record year 2009. Figures make 2010 a post-war record year. The highest number of people leaving the Catholic Church in Austria was registered in 1938, when 200,000 members walked out. The statistics mean that 65.1% of the overall 8.5 million people living in Austria are Catholics, down from 89% in 1961. The share of Catholics in the population of Vienna is around 39%. The capital's diocese suffered the highest exodus rate among the country's nine provinces with 25,314 people leaving the Church. The diocese announced last year to give up a church in Ottakring district and hand it over to the prospering Serbian Orthodox community.

Strasbourg, France: Return of Europeans to their Christian roots is a matter of their physical survival, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Strasbourg Igumen Filaret (Bulekov) believes. "Only deeply religious perception of life can prevent extinction of once Christian Europeans," the priest writes in his article published on Monday by the Expert magazine. According to him, people who don't believe in anything "egoists-consumers alien to any "dirty" work, who reassigned it to strangers-immigrants, are just doomed not only to spiritual perish, but to physical extermination." The author writes that Muslims in Europe are not just a challenge to "heirs of great Christian tradition," but also an appeal not only to "turn to the faith of their fathers, but to the very core of this faith." He also pointed out to inefficiency of the dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Europe as the first ones turn out to be "a very weak partner in religious field" in such a dialogue.

New York, NY: The Supreme Court in New Hampshire was asked to reverse a lower court decision that ordered a homeschooled student who was "well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level" into a public school because she was too "vigorous" in defense of her Christian faith. "Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children," said John Anthony Simmons, an attorney allied with the Alliance Defense Fund. "Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That's precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that's where our concern lies," Simmons said. The dispute arose as part of a modification of a parenting plan for the girl, who was 10 in 2009 when the court intervened in her schooling program which meets all state standards. In addition to homeschooling, the girl attended supplemental public school classes and had also been involved in a variety of extra-curricular sports activities.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. January bulletin covers’ sponsor is Madge Petri — January birthdays.

2. In the narthex, we have a sign-up sheet for home blessings. Two families can put their names in a single opening — this way the priest can bless two homes in one time of the day. When expecting the priest, please clear up a table in the kitchen/living-room, put on it an icon of Christ (preferably) and a lit candle, prepare a bowl for the Holy Water.

3. Last Saturday, we had our January Soup Sale. It went very good — almost everything was purchased, and we did have a large variety of soups and desserts. We are grateful to all our faithful who contributed for the success of this fundraiser! If anyone would like to purchase nut rolls and pumpkin rolls or stuffed cabbage — we still have them.

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Bulletin - 1/16/11   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Continuation of our translation of the Priest’s Reference Book (Nastol’naia kniga sv’ashchennosluzhitel’a)

Part Seven

From the spiritual point of view, the existence of the movable antimins on the immovable Altar signifies that the Lord God is invisibly present through His Grace on the Altar; God, although inseparable from His creation, is not confused, not mingled with it. The antimins with the depiction of Christ placed in the Tomb reveals to us that we venerate the Altar like the Tomb of Christ, because thence there shown forth the Source of eternal life, Source of our resurrection. In antiquity, the antimins were made by the priests who would take them to the bishops for consecration. The depictions on the antimins were not uniform. As a rule, ancient antimins had on them the depictions of the four-pointed [or two-bar] or eight-pointed [or three-bar] cross, sometimes accompanied by the instruments of Our Saviour’s Passion. In the 17^th century Russia, in Patriarch Nikon’s time, production of uniform antimins was begun. Later on, there appeared antimins with the depiction of placing of Christ in the Tomb, printed on printing presses.

18^th century Gospel Book

Gospel cover 10^th-11^th centuries, Constantinople

From antiquity, it was a custom to adorn the Altar Gospel with precious covers, with golden or silver inlays. On the corners of the front cover, from the ancient times, we find images of the four Evangelists. In the 14^th-17^th centuries, in the center of the front cover there were usually depicted either the Crucifixion of Christ with the Theotokos and John the Theologian on either side, or the image of Christ the Almighty on the throne, also with the Theotokos and Saint John. Sometimes, the covers had images of the cherubim, angels, saints, and they were richly ornamentally decorated. In the 18^th-19^th centuries, we find the Gospel covers with the image of the Resurrection of Christ. The Gospel’s back cover has the depiction of either Crucifixion, or the Cross, or the image of the Trinity, or the Mother of God.

Since the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ is accomplished on the Altar, the Cross with the depiction of the Crucified Lord is always placed next to the Gospel. The Altar Cross, with the antimins and the Gospel Book, is the third unalienable and integral object to be found on the Holy Altar Table. The Gospel, since it contains the words, teaching and the events of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, symbolizes the Son of God; the Crucifix (Altar Cross) symbolizes the highest point of His podvig for the sake of salvation of the human race, the instrument of our salvation, offering of the Son of God as the sacrifice for people’s sins. Gospel and the Cross together comprise the fullness of the Divine truth concerning the economy of the salvation of the human race which is revealed in the New Testament. That which is contained in the words of the Gospel is depicted succinctly in the Crucifixion of Christ. Together with the words of teaching about salvation, the Orthodox Church has to have an image of salvation, because it is in the image that that which it depicts is mystically presented. Therefore, during the celebration of all the Mysteries of the Church and many rites, it befits us to always place either on the analogion or on a table the Gospel and the Cross with the Crucifix on it.

Usually the Altar has several Gospel Books and Crosses: small or non-liturgical [trebnye] Gospel Books and Crosses are kept on the Altar as on the most sacred place in the church. They [smaller Crosses and Gospel Books] are used for celebration of the Mysteries of Baptism, Unction, Marriage, Confession; when needed, they are taken from the Altar and then returned to it.

The Altar Cross with the Crucifixion is used during the Divine services: during the Dismissal of the Liturgy and at some other special moments the people are blessed with it; the water is blessed with the Cross at the Theophany and at more solemn molebens; at the moments prescribed by the Ustav, the people venerate the Cross.

To be Continued

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Athens, Greece: Greek government's anti-crisis plans aimed at reducing the number of government employees by the formula "1 government employee for 5 laid off" is going to include the clergy of the Church of Greece who receive their salaries from the State and are considered government employees. "If this measure effects the clergy, the government thereby is going to make one more large step towards separation of the Church and the State. According to the anti-crisis plans, employment of the new personnel is going to depend on the necessity and the financial capabilities of the State. This will jeopardize the Church's freedom in ordaining new clergy, for such plans now have to be approved by the government agencies. "We the clergy are not government clerks, by religious ministers who are salaried from the government budget. Those salaries are provided for in advance by the continuing nationalization of the church property for which the Church gets no reimbursement. "What measures can be offered now? They are going to tell us that next year we can ordain only 20 priests? Or perhaps the government itself is going to ordain them? What is going to be the government's next step?" commented on the situation of the metropolitans of the northern Greece.

Dhaka, Bangladesh: A group of village elders and clerics sentenced Sufia Begum under Sharia law to 40 lashes for adultery. The 40-year-old died of her injuries almost a month after the beating in Rajshahi district. Bangladesh banned such punishments by Muslim clergy in 2010. It is thought to be the first case of a fatality linked to a Sharia law punishment since the practice was outlawed. Two people, including a woman who allegedly took part in the beating, have been arrested. Police say they are looking for four others. Instead of giving the woman 40 mandatory lashes, the village elders tied 10 canes together and beat her 4 times. "Her body was swollen and I couldn't even recognise her," said Ms Begum's brother, Taimur Rahman. Ms Begum was admitted to a hospital in Rajshahi, a city in the district of the same name, with severe injuries a week after the beating, which took place on 12 November in a village in the north-west of the country.

Vatican: In the western world, it came as a welcome blast of commonsense for those who despair at the craze of giving children names such as Brooklyn, Apple and Princess Tiaamii. The Pope of Rome has pleaded with parents to give their children traditional first names. Benedict XVI told a Vatican baptismal ceremony that the Christian name is an ‘indelible sign from the Holy Spirit’ and protects family life, which is ‘being threatened’. He said baptism with a strong name is ‘the start of spiritual life which is fulfilled through the Church’. His comments came just hours after David and Victoria Beckham announced they were expecting their fourth child, after their three sons, Brooklyn, Cruz and Romeo. And what about the names of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s daughter Apple, Katie Price and Peter Andre’s daughter Princess Tiaamii, and the entire brood of Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates – named Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches and Pixie? Denmark, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Argentina are among those countries which publish lists of acceptable names from which parents must choose. In the traditionally Orthodox lands, the cases when parents give their children non-Christian or outright made-up names are very rare. Among the Orthodox living in the West this problem is serious and is but another indication that the lives of the parents who give their children such names is far from being inspired by the Christian ideals. On the contrary, such parents’ ideals are inspired by mass media which, in its turn, is a product of the hedonistic culture that can give lip service to Christianity but it is anti-Christian in its core.

Jerusalem, Israel: Science cannot explain a mystery of the cloud, that every year descends on the Mount Tabor where the Transfiguration of the Lord took place. Sergei Mirov, a participant in the research organized last summer by the working group on miraculous signs at the Synodal Theological Commission, the investigation was conducted by Russian and Israeli meteorologists. According to him, summing up the results, the experts concluded that fog cannot be generated in such dry air and temperature. Mirov stressed that “descending of the blessed cloud” takes place only in a territory of the Orthodox monastery. He said that during a festal service according to the Old Calendar (miraculous phenomenon happens on the Orthodox feast of Transfiguration, August 19th) a glaring sphere rushes over believers, then the cloud appears above the cross of the Transfiguration Church, it grows in dimensions and descends on believers, covering them and pouring life-giving moisture over them. In his turn Pavel Florensky, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences academician and head of the working group on miraculous signs, said that his team examined appearance of the Holy Fire at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Great Saturday (on the Old Calendar) with the help of modern highly accurate equipment. “The conclusion is simple: the appearance of fire is accompanied with powerful piezoelectrical phenomenon in the church and adjacent territories similar to those that take place during thunderstorms, but there was no thunderstorm… Thus, it means that this event can be considered miraculous,” he believes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. January bulletin covers’ sponsor is Madge Petri — January birthday.

2. This Sunday, January 16th, the Eternal Light and the two votive candles by the Holy Altar Table are offered by Maryann Nagy in memory of the newly-departed Michael Feryo. May his memory be eternal!

3. Our January Soup Sale is this Saturday, January 22nd. We are looking forward to good participation of our parishioners. Any product that you can make is welcome: soups, pies, breads, etc.

4. Please remember to bring non-perishable food items next Sunday — to help the Hobart Food Pantry.

5. When entering the church, please remember to lower your voice; try to walk as noiselessly as possible; if taking your coat in the nave of the church, don’t throw it on the bench, but rather lay it down quietly; make a habit of turning your cell phone off before you enter the church. 

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Bulletin - 1/9/11   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Continuation of our translation of the Priest’s Reference Book (Nastol’naia kniga sv’ashchennosluzhitel’a)

Part Six

In the 4^th-8^th centuries A.D., during the heated battles of the Orthodox Church with diverse heresies there were periods when the heretics would seize Orthodox temples, or would build their own. Later on, all those temples would be return to the Orthodox and the Orthodox would have to consecrate them again. Such instances of temples changing hands were not rare. Already back then it must have been of great importance for the Orthodox to have a distinct testimony, or assurance that the Altar Table in a particular temple was consecrated by an Orthodox bishop and consecrated correctly. To avoid any doubt, the Altars had to have some sort of a visible seal on them, bearing information of when the Altar was consecrated, by what bishop, and also verifying that it was consecrated with the placing of the relics. Linen kerchiefs with the depiction of the Cross and the appropriate inscriptions became just such seals. First Russian antimins of the 12^th century bear witness to that. Those ancient antimins of the Russian temples were sewn to the srachitsa (white undergarment) or were nailed to the Holy Table with small wooden nails. This shows that in the ancient Byzantium, whence this custom was brought to Russia, the sewn or nailed kerchiefs with the inscriptions on them had no liturgical significance, but only testified that the Altar was consecrated correctly, with the placing of the relics, and it contained the information about when and by whom it was consecrated. However, in Byzantium, in the 8^th-10^th centuries, since it was very difficult for the bishop to personally visit all the temples [of his diocese], which were built back then in great numbers, there appeared a custom of entrusting the task of consecrating distant temples to priests. In this case, the Altars still had to be consecrated by the bishop, since the canonical right to consecrate an Altar and to place holy relics in it belongs to the bishop. Then instead of consecrating the Altar Tables, the bishops started consecrating the linen cloths (which by that time had become an unalienable part of a temple), inscribing them with everything necessary and placing the holy relics in them. Now that kerchief – antimins (‘instead of the table’) with the relics sewn into it and blessed by a hierarch could be nothing else but also the Altar Table, the Holy Trapeza, as it has been referred to to this day. Since in the beginning, the antimins continued to be used only as a testimony that the Altar was consecrated by a bishop, so it was sewn to the undergarment of the Altar or was nailed to it. Later on, it was realized that that kerchief is, in fact, the lofty and immovable Altar on the Altar, whereas the [wooden] Altar has become its sanctified plinth for the antimins. The antimins, because of its exalted, sacred meaning, has gained a liturgical significance: now it is placed on the Altar and it is folded and unfolded in a special manner during the Mystery of the Eucharist.

To be continued

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Chernigov, Ukraine: On the night of January 1, the Holy Great Martyr Barbara tent-church was burned to the ground by the Ukrainian nationalists who have connection with the Ukrainian Church in USA. When the church was set on fire a divine service was in progress. Fortunately, there were no casualties, although the church with everything in it (icons, holy altar, liturgical items and the personal belongings of the people who prayed therein) is burned to the ground. According to the rector of the church Fr Alexander Ledovoi, bottles from combustible liquid were found by the church site. Several days before the fire, the leader of “Kiev Patriarchate” sect Filaret Denisenko when visiting Chernigov said that the tent church was soon to be “lovingly removed”. In 2006, then president of Ukraine Yushchenko ordered for the temple to be taken from the canonical Orthodox Church and given to the schismatics of the so-called “Kiev Patriarchate”. The parish, despite all its efforts, couldn’t fight off the assaults of the nationalistic regime of the country and lost the temple. Since then, the parish gathered in a tent church, which was first set on fire in April of 2008. Then, fire was set to the church early in the morning, apparently in hope of killing the people who were in the church guarding it around the clock. Back then everything was lost to the fire: Altar Table, Table of Oblation, iconostas, liturgical books, icons, banner, etc.

Fr Dimitrii Sidor

Uzhgorod, Carpathian Rus’: An Uzhgorod Archpriest Dimitrii Sidor, the leader of the Rusyns in the Trans-Carpathia, issued a sharp accusation directed at the Ukrainian state. He stated that the Rusyn people “after many years of demanding for their rights to be honored has a right to the armed defense of their freedom”. “We accuse Kiev of ethnocide, of discrimination with the pronounced elements of genocide. The barbaric ignoring of the existence of the Rusyn people and our nationality, ban of opening Rusyn schools and learning of the Rusyn language are still going on. There are court cases against the Rusyns who want to be what they are”. Concerning the relationships between Trans-Carpathia and the Ukraine Father Dimitrii said: “If you keep on beating your wife, there will be a day when she will leave you! Then all your stories that she is ‘a hardened separatist and is spying for your neighbor’ are going to be in vain. You just shouldn’t have been beating her!” Moreover, the priest proposed the following conditions for further existence of the Rusyns within the Ukrainian republic: “If the Ukraine and the new government are going to accept the right of the Rusyns, then we, the Rusyns, are ready to remain an enclave within the Ukraine”. However, “If the Ukraine cannot recognize our lawful autonomous status and continues to wail that the Trans-Carpathia lives on Kiev’s grants, then let her remove from her neck the burden of those grants and we will peacefully part our ways. Just like the Czech Republic and Slovakia”, he added. In 2008, the Trans-Carpathian Rusyns addressed Russia with a request recognize the independence of the Trans-Carpathian Rus’ from the Ukraine. They also stated that the Rusyns have it as their duty to their descendents and ancestors to restore their statehood, which already exists de-jure. 

Belgrade, Serbia: The Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Irinej, blamed the international community for turning a blind eye to Kosovo organs trafficking by Muslim Albanians in the region. In his Nativity Epistle of January 7th, Irinej said the trafficking of human organs, taken from Serb prisoners during the 1990s Kosovo rebellion, was going on before the eyes of the international community and its representatives in Kosovo.“The horrible crime of trafficking organs of innocent Serb victims of hate and terror has been going on with indifferent and often complicity silence of representatives of the international community,” Irinej said.“Unfortunately, the gravest example is the attitude of too many powerful people towards the right of Serbian people in Kosovo to life, freedom and the future,” the patriarch said. An investigator from the Euopean Council human rights watchdog, Dick Marty, said in a report delivered last month that Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and other high officials and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were involved in human organs trafficking which were sold to western clients. Foreign representatives in Kosovo “knew very well, what was going on”, Irinej said. “But truth and God’s justice always have the last word,” he concluded. Kosovo majority Albanians (who flooded the region after the WW2) declared independence from Serbia in February of 2008 with the help of western powers. Christians of the region continued to oppose Kosovo’s secession.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. January bulletin covers’ sponsor is Madge Petri — January birthday.

2. Annual parish meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 16th, coinciding with a Coffee Hour.

3. This Sunday, January 9th and the following one, January 16th, the Eternal Light and the two votive candles by the Holy Altar Table are offered by Maryann Nagy in memory of the newly-departed Michael Feryo. May his memory be eternal!

4. Our January Soup Sale is on Saturday, January 22nd. We are looking forward to good participation of our parishioners. Any product that you can make is welcome: soups, pies, breads, etc. We are asking our faithful to help us by offering your cash donations which are much needed for purchasing walnuts, flour, sugar, meat and cabbage.

5. Please remember that the icons of Christ, of the Mother of God or of the saints should not be venerated by kissing the face or the lips of the person depicted. It is appropriate to venerate such icons by kissing them at the bottom right corner.

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Bulletin - 1/2/11   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Part Five

The word antimins is made of two Greek words: anti – instead and mision – table; therefore antimins literally means instead of the table – it is a sacred object which replaces the Altar Table and itself is the Altar Table. This is why on the inscription made on it it is called ‘trapeza’. More than that: during the episcopal consecration of the temple one or several antimins are placed on the Altar and they are consecrated together with the Holy Table. It is worth noting that in the prayer for the consecration of the Altar Table those antimins are also referred to as ‘tables of oblation’, for it is on them that the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ is offered. Thus, the Rite of the consecration doesn’t make any difference between the immovable Holy Table in the altar of the temple and the movable antimins. In the center of the antimins, closer to its upper side, the relics, imbedded in wax-mastic, are placed in a little pouch. Antimins is anointed with the Holy Chrism.

Why was it necessary to have on the unshakable and immovable Altar Table the antimins – its movable and separable duplicate?

Contemporary icon of 14,000 Holy Infants murdered by Herod in Bethlehem of Judea 

Persecutions gave rise to the need for the transferable Altars – antimins which also contained the relics of the holy martyrs. This custom had acquired such an important and profound meaning for the Orthodoxy that a canon of the 7^th Ecumenical Council gave a special consideration to the relics: “Paul the divine apostle says: “The sins of some are open beforehand, and some they follow after.” These are their primary sins, and other sins follow these. Accordingly upon the heels of the heresy of the traducers of the Christians, there followed close other ungodliness. For as they took out of the churches the presence of the venerable images, so likewise they cast aside other customs which we must now revive and maintain in accordance with the written and unwritten law. We decree therefore that relics shall be placed with the accustomed service in as many of the sacred temples as have been consecrated without the relics of the martyrs. And if any bishop from this time forward is found consecrating a temple without holy relics, he shall be deposed, as a transgressor of the ecclesiastical traditions.”

This canon shows clearly enough how great in the mind of the Church was the significance of the relics of the martyrs on the Holy Altars, therefore it is hard to imagine that, having been left without the temples during the persecutions, the Orthodox would dare serve the Liturgy not on the relics.

Departing for long and distant journeys, Byzantine Emperors and generals had with them priests who served the Mystery of the Eucharist for them in the camps. During the after-apostolic times the priests who had to move from place to place all the time, served the Eucharist in different homes and places. From the ancient times, the pious people who could afford to support priests would take them along when going on a distant journey not to be left for a long time without the communion of the Holy Gifts. From antiquity, for those purposes there were transferable Altars.

All this proves that the practice of using transferable Altars (antimins) is very ancient, but at the same time it leaves unanswered the question of why the immovable Altars in the temple had antimins on them, as an unalienable item.

The above-cited canon of the 7^th Ecumenical Council helps to clarify this question.           

 To Be Continued

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Athens, Greece: The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece issued a proclamation, regarding political and economic instability of the country. Here are some excerpts from the four-page document: “Our country seems to be no longer free but rather effectively ruled by its creditors”. “What is happening to our fatherland is shocking and unprecedented. Along with the spiritual, social and financial crisis we see all kinds of overturning. It is an effort to destroy and uproot everything that we believed was a given in our country's way of life ... These measures are demanded by out lenders. It's like we declare that we are a country under foreign occupation and we obey the orders of those in charge, our lenders”. “The problematic ways of our society and economy that we violently seek to correct today, why haven't we corrected in time? Why did it have to come to this? The political leadership has been the same for decades. How come they used to calculate the political cost of their acts and now feel like they don't have to, since they follow orders?" the Holy Synod adds. The Church says that the country's leadership "in practice has undermined the real interests of the country and its people. And on the other hand, the people behaved irresponsibly and indulged in easy wealth, good life, easy profit and deception. We didn't take stock of the truth of things.”

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Dressing up like a woman to sneak past security in Saudi Arabia is what gives Muslims a bad name, a leading cleric said from Mecca following an al-Qaida raid. Security authorities last week killed an alleged member of al-Qaida disguised as a woman after he opened fire at a security checkpoint. Saudi Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulaziz al-Sheik told the newspaper that dressing up in a women's traditional Muslim garb to avoid detection “contributed to tarnishing the reputation of Muslims.” Two suspected members of al-Qaida were killed by Saudi forces in 2009. Both men were disguised as women and carrying suicide vests.

Amman, Jordan: The site where Our Lord was baptized witnessed a record number of visitors in 2010. Baptism Site Commission Director Dia Madani said 210,000 visitors came to the site at the east bank of the River Jordan in the first 11 months of the year, a 20% surge from 2009. Madani attributed the increase in visitors to the promotional efforts of the Jordan Tourism Board as well as a growth in visitors from East Asia and South America. The Russian Orthodox Church is also expected to start sending pilgrim groups to Jordan, while officials are working to attract organized pilgrimages from other target markets including East Asia and Eastern Europe. Pilgrimage tours includes Mount Nebo, where Moses looked over the Promised Land and where he was buried, the Hellenistic site of Pella, another famous biblical site, and Um Qais, formerly the city of Gadara, the site of the miracle of the Gadarean swine. Outside of the organized tours, the vast majority of visitors currently come to the Baptism Site as individuals or in small groups. The Russian Orthodox pilgrimage guesthouse as well as Coptic are close to completion. Excavations in the area have uncovered more than 20 churches, caves and baptismal pools dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Jerusalem, Israel: The 153,200 Christians living in Israel make up 2% of the country's population, data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Christmas show. According to the data, a little more than 80% of Israel's Christians are Arab. Most of the Christians who immigrated to Israel with their Jewish family members in the framework of the Law of Return arrived during the mass aliyah from Russia in the 1990s. Nazareth is home to the most Christian Arabs - 22,300 - followed by Haifa (13,700) and Jerusalem (11,500). Haifa is home to the most Christians who are not Arab - 3,400 - followed by Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The annual growth rate of the local Christian community stands at 1%, compared with a 1.7% growth rate of the Jewish population and 2.6% growth rate of the country's Muslim community. The data further show that Christian men get married relatively late, with the median age being 29.1. Jewish-Israeli men get married a year and a half earlier, on average, and Muslim men -- three and a half years earlier. However, Christian women in Israel get married earlier than Jewish women (median ages 24.5 and 25.5, respectively), but later than Muslim and Druze women. In 2009, 2,514 children were born to Christian women in Israel - 2,009 of them to Arab Christians. Christian women give birth to an average of 2.2 children; Muslim women have 3.7 kids on average, while Jewish women give birth to 2.9 children. 

Jerusalem, Israel: Cross has been banned from souvenir shops as tourists and pilgrims pour into the Holy Land for the Nativity season. According to AsiaNews, textile shops in Jerusalem and Hebron have begun to print and sell T-shirts depicting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem without the cross. The cross has also been removed from T-shirts of local football teams because of the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the Palestinian territories. Samir Qumsieh, director of the Catholic television station Al-Mahed Nativity TV in Bethlehem, said: “I want to launch a campaign to urge people not to buy these products, because the removal of the cross is an intimidation against Christians, it is like saying that Jesus was never crucified.” Qumsieh says that the population is living these days with joy, but the situation for Christians is still dramatic. According to the journalist, the dialogue of recent years between Muslims, Christians and Jews has not changed the situation. “Every day there are people who flee to other countries”, said Qumsieh. “As Christians, we live in a constant feeling of fear and uncertainty, and if you live in constant tension and pessimism you cannot plan anything”.

New York, NY: Several Christian leaders are alarmed that Apple Inc. deleted an iPhone/iPad software application containing the text of the Manhattan Declaration, a 4,700-word document that includes basic Christian teachings and Bible verses on marriage, life, and religious liberty. Apple's action signals a growing societal intolerance of orthodox Christianity that "reflects hostility toward Christian beliefs," according to those signing an objection letter to Apple. Nearly 500,000 signed the original submission to Apple in 2009, including representatives from many major Protestant denominations, Catholic bishops, and leaders of the Orthodox Church. Apple pulled the free app from its online store in November, saying it “violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people” because it opposes gay marriage, abortion, and embryonic stem-cell research. The letter objecting to Apple's action says the declaration "simply reaffirms the moral teachings of our Christian faith on the sanctity of human life, marriage and sexual morality, and religious freedom and the rights of conscience. It is difficult to see how this is anything other than a statement of animus by a major American corporation against the beliefs of millions of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox citizens," the letter said.  

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. We still do not have a sponsor for the January bulletin covers.

2. Next Sunday, January 9, at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy we will be collecting funds to support Orthodox missions in our country.

3. Annual parish meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 16th, coinciding with a Coffee Hour.

4. We start getting ready for our January Soup Sale on Saturday, January 22nd. We are asking our faithful to help us by offering your cash donations which are much needed for purchasing walnuts, flour, sugar, meat and cabbage.

5. We are looking for volunteers to put the Christmas tree and other decoration away. Please, let our parish board president Michael Petyo know if you would like to do that.

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Bulletin - 12/26/10   

 New Altar Table is Installed, Blessed and Vested

Last Sunday, December 19th, our parish made an important step towards following the apostle’s admonition: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). A proper Altar Table, properly adorned with appropriate vestments, was installed in the altar. Below are some of the photos capturing that sacred event.

The first photo on the left presents us with the new Altar Table bare and ready to be blessed and vested. To the East and an inch away from it is the specially-made shelf with semisvechnik, or seven-branch candle stand, on it. (Please also note an icon on the wall right above the Altar Table. It is one of the two icons (written on canvas) which were donated to by Archimandrite Pachomy of Saint Sabbas Monastery in Harper Woods, MI. We had had the two icons for over two years before pasting them up on the walls of the altar this Fall. A couple of weeks ago Emmanuel Mixis skillfully wrote the names of the saints, who are: Holy Hierarch Michael, First Metropolitan of Kiev (†992), and Holy Hierarch Alexios, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, the Wonderworker (†1378). Saint Michael’s icon is on the northern wall of the altar, while the image of Saint Alexios is on the opposite southern wall.)

First, the new Altar Table was simply censed and sprinkled with the Holy Water (therefore, we are yet to witness the full consecration of the Altar).

Then, the undergarment (known as srachitsa, or katasarkion) was blessed and the Altar was vested in it.

The same was repeated for inditia, the outer garment.

Those who witnessed the vesting of the Altar noticed that while srachitsa fitted tight, inditia’s sides are made open, they are buttoned together where the sides meet at the corners.

Then the red pelena, or covering cloth, was put on, thus completing the vesting of the Altar Table. A small cross was sewn right in the middle of the pelena

 The last step in the installation of the new Altar Table was lighting of the semisvechnik, placing on the Altar all the sacred objects which should be there: tabernacle (containing the Body of Christ), antimins, Holy Gospel and the blessing crosses. Finally, the burning lampada was placed in front of the tabernacle, as a sign of the constant presence of Christ on the Holy Altar Table in His Awesome Mysteries.

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. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Cologne, Germany: Dieter Graumann, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, in his interview to Cologne’s DomRadio said that German Jewry faces problems. One of them has to do with the fact that, according to Graumann, the influence of religion on youth is declining, and this is why “our synagogues are beautiful, but always empty”. He also stated that although the Roman Catholic Church is free in her actions, the forthcoming “beatification of Pope Pius XII is going to be to the detriment of the Jews”. During the World War II, when millions of Jews were killed, “silence of Pius XII cost us a lot”, believes Graumann.

Athens, Greece: Cabinet ministers of Greece, despite of the economic crisis, approved the plans to provide financial aid to the monasteries of the Holy Mountain in the remaining days of 2010. The Greek government is giving the Earthly Lot of the Most Holy Theotokos 2,25 million Euros.

London, U.K.: A Muslim group has launched a nationwide poster campaign denouncing Christmas as evil. Organizers plan to put up thousands of posters around the UK claiming the season of goodwill is responsible for rape, teenage pregnancies, abortion, promiscuity, crime and paedophilia. They hope the campaign will help 'destroy Christmas' in this country and lead to Britons converting to Islam instead. The posters, which have already appeared in parts of London, feature a festive scene with the Star of Bethlehem over a Christmas tree. But under a banner announcing 'the evils of Christmas' it features a message mocking the song the 12 Days of Christmas. According to the Muslim posters, Christmas is also responsible for paganism, domestic violence, homelessness, vandalism, alcohol and drugs. Another offence of Christmas, it proclaims, is 'claiming God has a son'. The bottom of the poster declares: 'In Islam we are protected from all of these evils. We have marriage, family, honour, dignity, security, rights for man, woman and child.'

Khartoum, Sudan: 40,000 women in this Muslim country are subject to police whippings for moral transgressions each year, which is 600,000 lashes dealt yearly. Law 152 allows for women to be whipped for an array of moral crimes, from excessive use of alcohol and gambling to washing one’s car in an incorrect location.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. December Bulletin Covers sponsors are the Kunch family: birthdays.

2. The Eternal Light on the Feast of Nativity and the Sunday after Nativity is offered by Ann Hakos for the blessed repose of the departed members of her family. May their memory be eternal!

3. Last Sunday we had a beautiful celebration of Saint Nicholas and Saint Nicholas Parish Dinner. Two moments of the Dinner are to be singled out. First, we would like to thank Paul Kaderabek for sponsoring the Dinner: the food was good, appropriate for the fast and in abundance. Second, it was wonderful to see our parishioners stepping up, tucking their neck ties in and helping with the dishes. Wonderful all around!

Bulletin - 12/19/10   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Part Four

Antimins is a quadrangular cloth of silk or linen which bears an image of placing of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Tomb, the instruments of His crucifixion and in the corners – images of the four Evangelists with their symbols: calf, lion, man and eagle, and the inscription conveying when, where, for what church and by what bishop this antimins was consecrated and given, and the bishop’s signature. [Liturgical] sponge is always found on the antimins for collecting the small pieces of the Body of Christ and the particles of the prosphoras from the diskos into the cup, as well as for wiping of the hands and lips of the clergy after Communion. This sponge represents the sponge filled with vinegar, which was taken on the reed to the lips of the Saviour crucified on the Cross.

Antimins is a mandatory and integral part of the Altar Table. Liturgy cannot be served without antimins. The mystery of bread and wine becoming the Body and Blood of Christ may be accomplished only on this holy cloth. Antimins is always kept folded inside the special cloth, also made of silk or linen, which is called iliton (which means ‘wrapper’, or ‘bandage’ in Greek). Iliton has no images or inscriptions on it. Antimins is unfolded and opened only during a specific moment of the Divine Service – before the Liturgy of the Faithful, and it is folded in a special manner at the conclusion of it. If, during the Divine Liturgy, the temple catches on fire or some other natural catastrophe creates a threat to the temple, the priest is supposed to take away with him the Holy Gifts together with the antimins, unfold it in some convenient place and complete the Divine Liturgy.

Thus, antimins, in its significance, is equal to the Altar Table. The image of the placing of Christ in the Tomb, inscribed on the antimins, testifies one more time to the fact that in the mind of the Church the Altar Table is, firstly, a symbol of the Tomb of the Lord, and, secondly, a symbol of the glory of the Saviour Who rose from that Tomb. The latter meaning is witnessed to, on one hand, by the images of the four Evangelists on the corners of the antimins which manifests that the Gospel is addressed to all the ends of the world, to the entire universe, and, on the other hand, by the iliton which symbolizes, according to Blessed Symeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, the napkin wherewith the Head of the buried Saviour was wrapped and which was seen lying folded and separately from the shroud by Apostles Peter and John in the Tomb after His Resurrection (John 20:7). In general, iliton represents the burial linens of Christ the Pantokrator, i.e. it is to the antimins what the [white] undergarment is to the Altar Table. In the antiquity, the antimins cloth sometimes was understood as the shroud of Christ in the Tomb. Saint Isidore of Pelusium calls the cloth of the antimins sindon, or shroud. The clothes which the bishop wears during the consecration of the Altar Table are also known by that name, as representing the burial shroud of the Saviour.                                   

 To be Continued

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Riga, Latvia: Latvian Parliament supported the bill introduced by the parliament faction “Concord Center” which will make Orthodox Christmas Eve, January 6th, and Christmas Day, January 7th, official state holidays. “Of Latvia’s 2,200,000 population, 400,000 are Orthodox and Old Believers. Nativity for them, just as for the representatives of other denominations, is one of the most important religious holidays. Therefore, January 6th and 7th should be placed on the civil calendar, as well”, said the faction’s member Ivan Dementiev.

Warsaw, Poland: Poland is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, when compared with its neighbors. But the society is changing. Catholic Church’s representatives in Poland have lost authority and credibility and much of the population is moving toward a more secular view of life, one with a greater separation between church and state, and a rejection of church mandates on individual morality. “We are considered the European museum of Catholicism, but let me tell you we are no longer,” said Szymon Holownia, program director for Religia TV, a station that aims to convince Poles that faith can and should be relevant in modern life with programs like a cooking show led by a nun. “20 years of freedom and religion is evaporating,” he said. “This is the crisis of Christianity in Poland.” 95% of Poles identify themselves as Catholic, but only 41% attend Sunday Mass regularly. In the big cities of Warsaw and Krakow, only about 20% attend Mass regularly on Sundays. The numbers dropped far below the 41% when it came to accepting moral mandates about issues like divorce and in vitro fertilization, both of which the church opposes and a majority of people appear to support. “It seems we are Catholics in a cultural way; we identify as Catholic, but do not attend church,” said Tomasz Terlikowski, editor of Fronda, a conservative Catholic magazine. Terlikowski said he was astounded when he heard that church leaders in Poland were so frustrated with what was being said about the church in the national newspapers that they ordered their staff members to stop bringing them the papers.

Moscow, Russia: Sometime corruption is good. Most of foreign grants given from 1990 to radicalize Muslims in Russia were embezzled, Islamologist Roman Silantyev says. "Thanks to God, over 90% of foreign grants for the wahhabisation Russian Muslims were successfully plundered. Instead of hundreds of centers for training terrorists and funding websites and papers, hundreds of villas in resort areas were built, expensive automobiles and apartments were purchased," Silantyev writes in his article posted on the Journalists against Terror website. According to him, taking into account that "aggressive Muslim sects even now are widely spread in Russia, we can only guess what it would be if the local partners of Al-Qaeda didn't have so sticky fingers." The article cites information, that 60 Islamic extremist organizations, about hundred commercial companies outside of Russia and ten banking groups financed terrorism in Russia. Silantyev noted that up to two thirds of Russia-bound Islamic foundations appeared to be "subsidiaries of extremist organizations that have the following prospective tasks: establishing control over Russia's Islamic elite, penetrating into supreme echelons of power and forming influential lobby, turning Muslim communities of certain regions into their faith and their further alienation from the country, establishing in Russia a wide-scale anti-governmental underground, supporting missionary activities among people of non-Islamic culture". 

Kiev, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has announced a state-wide event, entitled "With an open heart to every child" dedicated to the Feast of Saint Nicholas, celebrated on December 19. President demanded that the heads of regional administrations submit by information about the number of children at boarding school type establishments, foster homes, and family-type children's homes, as well as to ensure the purchase of presents (sweets, stationary, personal hygiene items) for such children. All the gifts are to be distributed by the heads of the local administrations by Dec. 19.

London, U.K.: A new poll has found that most Britons think Christians should be able to follow their conscience in the workplace without facing disciplinary action from their employers. 72% said Christians should be able to refuse to act against their conscience without being penalised by their employer. 73% agreed that the right to wear Christian symbols such as a cross in their workplace should be protected by law. 87% felt it was wrong for healthcare workers to be threatened with the sack for offering to pray with patients. The poll’s findings are an indication that the attitudes of some politicians and employers are out of step with the feelings of the majority of the population when it comes to public expressions of faith. The release of the poll results coincided with Christian Concern’s launch of its Not Ashamed campaign. The organisation and its sister group, the Christian Legal Centre, have been involved in the legal defence of numerous Christians who penalised by their employers. They include the high profile cases of homeless adviser Duke Amachree who was sacked by Wandsworth Council in London for suggesting to a terminally ill client that she “put her faith in God”, and Olive Jones, a 54-year-old teacher who was dismissed after offering to pray for a sick pupil. Mrs Jones was eventually offered her job back but Mr Amachree lost his legal challenge. The last few years have also seen the closure of Roman Catholic adoption agencies because of their refusal to place children in same-sex ‘families’ and the dismissal of Christians who refused to change their biblical views on sexuality. Andrea Minichiello Williams, Director of the Christian Concern, called upon senior politicians and judges to take note of the findings and make moves to change the law so that more Christians are not dismissed for their beliefs in the future. She said: “Very often in the national debate we hear a lot from a small minority, with extreme views, that would like to see the Christian fabric of our nation destroyed. This poll suggests that their voice is not representative of the vast majority of the British public”.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. December Bulletin Covers sponsors are the Kunch family: birthdays.

2. Yesterday, December 18th, we had our annual Cookie Walk. According to the reports of the people who were setting up for the event, this year’s Cookie Walk had the best variety of cookies they had ever seen! Our patrons had over 60 trays of cookies to choose from. This means that almost every family in the parish worked hard and showed their utmost dedication to Saint Nicholas church. We are grateful to them all for their vital contribution towards the wellbeing of the parish.

3. Tomorrow, on Monday, December 20th, we clean the church and prepare the temple for the Nativity. Please come either in the morning or on the evening to help clean the church. 

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Bulletin - 12/12/10   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Concerning translation: Some Church-Slavonic words are not easily translated adequately into English. We would like to bring to your attention yet another usage of the most-frequently used word in this article, i.e.  ‘Altar’. We have already mentioned the difference between ‘Altar’, meaning the Altar Table (prestol, in Slavonic), and altar as space between the iconostas and the Eastern wall of the temple, or the area behind the iconostas. Here, we would like to make another remark about the word ‘Altar’. Slavonic word prestol was the original name for the throne of the king. Therefore, when we read in the following paragraphs about the throne of God, we should remember that the word for the throne of the king and the Altar Table in the temple are one and the same reality, not only symbolically, but also grammatically — one and the same word is used to describe both of them, and this word is prestol.

Part Three

With the beginning of the consecration of the Altar Table, all lay people leave the altar, only clergy remain. Although in the Rite of consecration of the temple it says that this is done in order to avoid any hindrance caused by the large congestion of people, it has another, spiritual significance. Blessed Symeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, says that at that time “the altar already becomes heaven and the power of the Holy Spirit descends upon it. Therefore, it is fitting that only the heavenly, i.e. the holy, can be there, while nobody else may watch”. At the same time, all the objects which can be moved from place to place (icons, vessels, censers, chairs) are removed from the altar. By this it is portrayed that the Altar Table, which is established unshakeable and immovable, is a symbol of the Inviolable God from Whom everything that is liable to movement and change receives its being. Therefore, after the immovable Altar Table is consecrated, all the movable holy objects are transferred back into the altar.

Anointing of the antimins with chrism


After the Altar Table is anointed with chrism, the rest of the temple is anointed in proper order in specific places, as well as sprinkled with the holy water and censed with the fragrance of the incense. All these are accompanied by saying of prayers and singing of holy hymns. In this manner, all the temple and everything there is in it receives sanctification from the Holy Altar Table.
In the catacombs, the stone tombs of the martyrs served as Altars. For this reason in the ancient temples the Altars were often made of stone with their sides usually decorated with sacred images and inscriptions. Wooden Altars can be built on one pillar which then signifies God One in essence. Wooden Altar can have side panels. Often in such cases the panels are adorned with decorated images of the events of the sacred history and with inscriptions; if that’s the case the Altar is not robed with vestments, for those decorated panels replace the inditia. Nevertheless, regardless of the Altar’s structure, it retains four corners and its symbolism.
Due to the great holiness of the Altar Table, only bishops, priests and deacons may touch it and the objects on it. The space between the Royal Doors of the altar and the Altar Table, which represents the going in and out of the Lord God Himself, may be crossed by bishops, priests and deacons only when it is necessitated by the logic of the Divine Service. To walk around the Altar Table one has to pass it on the Eastern side of it, by the High Place.
Altar Table to the temple is what the Church to the world. The dogmatic meaning of the Altar Table, as of the image of Christ the Saviour, is very clearly expressed in the prayer repeated twice during the Divine Liturgy: during the censing of the Altar Table after the proskomedia and at the remembrance of the burial of Christ during the transfer of the Holy Gifts from the Table of Oblation to the Altar Table: “In the Tomb with the Body, in hell with the Soul as God, in the paradise with the thief, and on the Throne wast Thou, O ineffable Christ, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, fulfilling all things”. This means that the Lord Jesus Christ as God, never abandoning the heavenly Throne of the Most Holy Trinity, lay bodily in the Tomb as one dead, while His Soul descended into hell and at the same time He was in paradise with the penitent thief whom He saved; in other words, He filled with Himself everything in heaven, earth and in the nethermost parts, He was present with His Person in all the regions of the Divine and created realms, even to the utter darkness – hell, from which He freed those of the Old Testament people, pre-chosen for salvation and forgiveness, who had been awaiting His Coming.
Such God’s omnipresence makes it possible for the Holy Altar Table to be at the same time a symbol of the Tomb of the Lord and the Throne of the Holy Trinity. Also, the aforementioned prayer expresses clearly the Church’s incorrupt and integral vision of the world as of the indivisible, although unconfused unity of the heavenly and earthly realms in God, which makes Christ’s omnipresence possible and natural.
Besides inditia and top cloth, several holy objects are to be found on the Altar Table: antimins, Gospel Book, one or several blessing crosses, tabernacle, cloth, which covers the Altar Table and the objects on it between the Divine Services.

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Belgrade, Serbia: December 9, Serbian Patriarch Irinej visited Belgrade synagogue "Sukat Shalom" and lit one of eight candles during the Hanukkah ceremony. According to the Canons of the Holy Apostles, this action can be considered as an act of apostasy. Canon 45 of the Holy Apostles says: "If a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon prays with the heretics, let him be excommunicated. If he allows them to act as Church ministers, let him be defrocked". Canon 65: "If any of the clergy or laity enters a synagogue of the Jews or of the pagans to pray, let him be defrocked and excommunicated". Canon 70: "If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or any one on the clergy list fasts with the Jews, or celebrates with them, or receives gifts of their festivals from them, such as unleavened bread, or something of the sort, let him be defrocked. If the such is a layman, let him be excommunicated”. Finally, Canon 71 of the Holy Apostles commands: "If a Christian brings oil into the pagan place of worship, or into the synagogue of the Jews, during their festival or lights a candle there, let him be excommunicated."

This act of apostasy on the part of the Patriarch of Serbia is a logical continuation of the ecumenical activity which he openly began implementing after his enthronization. His actions are aimed at disruption of the spiritual foundation of the Serbian people and ideological support for the Tadic regime which incorporates Serbia into the North Atlantic structure in the position of the powerless pseudo-State ruled from beyond its borders.
Immediately after his enthronization, Patriarch Irinej hastened to state his pro-Catholic views. In September 2010, during his Austrian visit, he called for intensification of the ecumenical dialogue with the Catholics, stating that healing of the division between the Churches of the East and of the West is a "historical imperative" and it is to be reached by way of achieving some "unity in diversity". He openly expressed his desire for all the Local Orthodox Churches to adopt the New Calendar for the sake of convergence with the Papists and joint celebration of Pascha.
Patriarch Irinej's politics should attract special attention of the Orthodox public, since his embarking of the way of apostasy, which is absolutely acceptable and normal for Catholicism, is a blatant defiance of Christianity in the eyes of the members of the Orthodox Church; it is also an open disregard for the opinion and interests of the Orthodox Serbs, who have already experienced to the fullest the impact of the Vatican's most cruel and cynical expansion (from Ruskline.Ru).
New York, NY: the faithful of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church returned to Ground Zero Sunday to pray at the site of their former home. The small church, founded nearly a century ago, stood just south of the Twin Towers and was destroyed by their collapse on 9/11. Since then, the church’s leaders have not been able to reach an agreement with the Port Authority over where and how to rebuild, and the two sides have not spoken for nearly two years. “We gather, but without the church,” Archbishop Demetrios told the crowd of more than 200 people who stood on the frigid construction site near Liberty Street on Sunday. “This is not going to continue this way,” the archbishop said. “The need for rebuilding is urgent and immediate.” As the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11, the church has become a symbol of wider importance than just a local parish, the archbishop said. In addition to St. Nicholas parishioners, the gathering included the Orthodox from around the tri-state area, representatives of the Greek consulate and local officials including City Comptroller John Liu. The Port Authority is currently using the church’s land without permission to build an underground parking garage.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: After nearly 10 years of marriage that produced five children, Mufleh Mohammed of Saudi Arabia still has not seen his wife’s face. Mohammed Hilal, another Saudi husband, could not identify his wife who was killed in a road crash until her veil was put back on her face. Mufleh and Mohammed are among many Saudi men who have never seen the face of their wives as they insist on sticking to ancient tradition of keeping their face covered even in front of their relatives or husbands. Even after they get married, many Muslim women never remove their burqu (face veil), leaving their husbands guessing how they look like. Mufleh is one of those husbands. “My wife still keeps her face covered all the time even in front of her family and relatives because she has been accustomed to this since she was a child… I have to respect her wishes and not insist on seeing her face,” he said. “Although I have been married to my wife for nearly 10 years and have five children from her, I have not seen her face even once in my life.”

Mogadishu, Somalia: Muslim militants in Somalia recently killed a Christian woman for refusing to wear a veil in public. Three masked men shot 45-year-old Amina Muse Ali in her home. Two weeks prior to her death, Ali informed local Christian leaders that she had received several threats from members of the Islamic group Suna Waljameca. Also, a 17-year-old girl in Somalia who converted to Christianity from Islam was shot to death last week in an apparent “honor killing”. Nurta Mohamed Farah, who had fled her village of Bardher, Gedo Region to Galgadud Region to live with relatives after her parents tortured her for leaving Islam, died on Nov. 25. Area sources said they strongly suspected that the two unidentified men in Galgadud Region who shot her in the chest and head with a pistol were relatives or acting on their behest. Her parents had severely beaten her for leaving Islam and regularly shackled her to a tree at their home. She had been confined to her home in Gedo region in southern Somalia since May 10, when her family found out that she had embraced Christianity. Her parents also took her to a doctor who prescribed medication for a “mental illness”. Alarmed by her determination to keep her faith, her father, Hassan Kafi Ilmi, and mother, Hawo Godane Haf, decided she had gone crazy and forced her to take the prescribed medication, but it had no effect in swaying her from her faith. She had declined her family’s offer of forgiveness in exchange for renouncing Christianity. The confinement began after the medication and punishments failed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. December Bulletin Covers sponsors are the Kunch family: birthdays.

2. Our annual Saint Nicholas/Nativity Dinner is scheduled for Sunday, December 26th. We invite all our parishioners and their families to come for the festive Dinner. The Dinner is free of charge. All we ask from you is to write down on the sign-up sheet in the narthex the number of people coming and any side dishes or desserts you would like to bring (this, obviously, is optional).

3. Our Cookie Walk is this Saturday, December 18. Cookies, as well as your other edible contributions, should be delivered to church on Friday evening.

4. The moment that many of us have been waiting for so long is just around the corner: on Sunday, December 19, before the Divine Liturgy, we will bless the new Altar Table, new Altar Table vestments, new seven-branch candle stand (to be placed behind the Altar Table) and the lampada which will be burning on the Altar. We will also sing “Many Years” for those who fashioned the new Altar, as well as everything that adorns it. The blessing of the new Altar and its vestments and vesting of the Altar will begin at about 9:10 A.M., which hopefully will enable us to begin the Divine Liturgy on the new Altar Table at 9:30. Come and see!

5. Pre-festive church cleaning is scheduled for Monday, December 20th. That Monday evening we will decorate the temple for the Holy Days.

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Bulletin - 12/5/10   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

We continue publishing our translation of selected pages from the fourth volume of the Priest’s Reference Book (Nastol’naia Kniga Sv’aschennosluzhitel’a). The Book describes the Holy Altar Table and its consecration by a hierarch. As a rule, the Altar Table’s consecration is done as part of the consecration of the entire temple (in our Slavic tradition, church as building is usually called temple, while Church is used to refer to the Mystical Body of Christ — the Universal Holy Orthodox Church). Full consecration of the temple may be done only by a bishop. Our temple was consecrated several years ago by Metropolitan Nicholas. However, at the time, our temple didn’t have a properly-built Holy Altar Table. At last, it has been constructed and the vestments have been made for it. Since, due to doctors’ orders, our ruling hierarch Metropolitan Nicholas cannot travel, we have received a permission from the diocesan chancery to install the newly-fashion Altar Table and vest it in the appropriate manner. It will enable us to serve the Divine Services on the new Altar, while we await our Metropolitan’s recovery and his hierarchical visitation to our parish for the Altar’s consecration.

Part Two

Further on, the Holy Altar Table is vested in the undergarment, which is specially blessed – katasarkion, which, when literally translated, means ‘next to flesh’, i.e. the clothes closest to the body, (srachitsa, in Slavonic). It covers the entire Altar Table to the ground and represents the shroud wherewith the Body of the Saviour was wrapped at the placing into the Tomb. After this, the Altar Table is tied around with a rope (vervie, in Slavonic) which is about 40 meters (131 feet) long. If the Altar Table is blessed by a hierarch, it is tied with the rope in such a way that the rope makes crosses on all four sides of the Altar Table. However, if the Altar Table is blessed by a priest who has his hierarch’s blessing to do so, then the tied rope forms a belt around the upper part of the Altar Table. This roping signifies the fetters wherewith the Saviour was tied when led to be judged by the Jewish high priests, as well as the Divine Power which upholds the entire universe, encompasses the whole of God’s creation.

During the consecration: Altar Table is vested in srachitsa and laced around with vervie

Right after this, the Altar Table is vested into the outer festive garments – inditia (enthiti, in Greek), which is translated as ‘clothes’. It symbolizes the vesture of the royal glory of Christ the Saviour as of the Son of God, Who, after His saving podvig, sat on the heavenly throne in the glory of God the Father and is coming “to judge the living and the dead”. Thereby, it is represented that the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which He had before the ages, is also profoundly founded on His extreme humiliation, even to death, at His first coming as the Sacrifice which He offered for the sins of the human race. Therefore, the hierarch, who is consecrating the temple, up to the moment when the Altar Table is vested in inditia is serving in srachitsa – the white garment which he puts on over his episcopal vestments. Performing the actions which symbolize Christ’s burial, the hierarch, who represents Christ the Saviour as well, is vested in the garments which call to mind the burial shroud, wherewith the Saviour’s Body was wrapped during the burial. However, when the Altar Table is vested in the garments of the royal glory, then the hierarch takes off the burial vesture and appears in the splendor of the episcopal vestments representing the clothes of the Heavenly King.                                                          

To be Continued

. . . . . . . . News  From  All  The  Ends  Of  The Earth . . . . . . . .

Moscow, Russia: The crew of Soyuz TMA-20 piloted spaceship that starts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 5, will take Gospels to the International Space Station (ISS), the crew commander Dmitrii Kondratiev said: “The crew attended a moleben before our flight. We received church gifts and Gospels for ISS. We hope to take it with us and leave at the station”. The moleben, which was attended by Kondratiev and his colleagues Catherine Coleman (USA) and Paolo Nespoli (Italy), was served in the Transfiguration Church in Zvezdny Gorodok. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia consecrated the newly built church last weekend.

Igumen Job speaking with the astronauts after the moleben

Taif, Saudi Arabia: A Saudi man is to be lashed 70 times with the whip after he was caught using the Bluetooth feature in his mobile phone near a women’s shopping centre. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice grabbed the man after suspecting him when he came close to a women’s market in Taif. They handed him over to the authorities after they checked his mobile phone and found that the Bluetooth option was in operation, establishing contact with everyone near him.

Berlin, Germany: Germans view Muslims and their religion more negatively than their European neighbours do, according to a survey released Wednesday. Detlef Pollack, who led the study by the University of Muenster, told Zeit newspaper that most Germans entirely disagreed with a recent statement by President Christian Wulff that Islam ‘belongs to Germany’. Fewer than 5 % of Germans thought Islam was a tolerant religion, compared to 20 % of Danes, French and Dutch, the survey found. While 50 % of Danes and two-thirds of French and Dutch respondents approved of the building of mosques, fewer than 30 % of Germans said they did. In Denmark, France and the Netherlands, a clear majority of respondents viewed Muslims positively. In Germany however, 34 % in the west of the country had a positive view of Muslims. In former communist east the figure was 26 %. The findings follow intense debate in recent months over the level of integration of Muslims in Germany. Senior politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, have said that immigrants must do more to learn the German language, laws and customs.

London, U.K.: A gang of 8 men, 7 of whom were Muslim, cruised city streets for girls as young as 12 - usually white - who were then plied with drink and drugs and raped or abused. Up to 100 have been abused by married fathers Abid ­Saddique and Mohammed Liaqat, and their friends. A court heard the pair used Liaqat’s BMW to trawl for victims. When girls refused their advances they were threatened with hammers or thrown out of cars. The Muslim men are described by their relatives as “good Muslims”.

Moscow, Russia: Russia will allocate 2 million dollars to restoring Kosovo's Orthodox churches. An agreement in this respect was signed in UNESCO Paris headquarters. Four churches will be restored, including the Monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec, Visoki Decani Monastery, Gračanica Monastery and the Ljeviš Church of the Mother of God.

Graz, Austria: A gardener has been fined 700 euros for ‘offending’ his Muslim neighbours by yodelling during their call to prayer. The 63-year-old Markus Kohl claims he did not mean to cause offense, saying that 'it wasn't my intention to insult them.' He claims he was just in a good mood and wanted to express himself with a bit of yodelling. ‘I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood on that day,’ Kohl explained.

Constantinople, Turkey: Patriarchate of Constantinople was given back the deed to a historic building on Monday in a move hailed as a symbolic but important victory. The Turkish government returned control of the 19th-century orphanage, one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople after a ruling for the church in the European Court of Human Rights. The European Union has called for Turkey to return dozens of other properties seized from Jewish and Christian foundations decades ago. Several court cases are currently under way by minority religious groups against the Turkish state. Patriarch Bartholomew I plans to turn the building into an institute for the environment after it is restored. But he said the government had refused to issue the necessary permits for the maintenance and repair of the large structure. The EU has also called on the government to reopen a seminary which was closed by Turkey in 1971. The official argument for its closure is that a religious institution without government oversight is not compatible with the secular institutions of Turkey, a country where all Muslim clerics are trained and paid by the government. Official Ankara refuses to open the seminary because it wants to prevent the Church from raising new leaders. The Church’s leader has to be a Turkish citizen, which makes it difficult for the dwindling Greek community of several thousand to produce any candidates.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. December Bulletin Covers sponsors are the Kunch family: birthdays.

2. Our annual Saint Nicholas/Nativity Dinner is scheduled for Sunday, December 26th. Our new parishioner Paul Kaderabek expressed a desire to sponsor the Dinner. Paul invites all parishioners, as well as their families and friends, to attend the Dinner. No admission fee!

3. Our Cookie Walk is on Saturday, December 18. Many times did we encourage our parishioners to participate in this fundraiser and we hope our plea is heard. Some of us have started baking, may the rest of us follow the course. Bake now and freeze the cookies to be sold in two weeks.

4. On Sunday, December 5, the Eternal Light will be lit in memory of servant of God Norman Mastronicola, Sr., on the 20th anniversary of his repose. May the Lord rest his soul with the righteous!

5. Next Sunday, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, a collection will be taken for our Mission Fund.

6. Look at the parish calendar: we have schedule church cleaning for Monday, December 20th. That Monday evening we will decorate the temple for the Holy Days. 

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Bulletin - 11/28/10   

HOLY  ALTAR  TABLE

Our parishioners know well that hopefully soon we are going to install a new Holy Altar Table in our temple. This Altar Table was built according to the specifications which have been followed throughout the Orthodox world for centuries. The following description of the structure and symbolism of the Holy Altar Table is a translation of the pertaining pages from the fourth volume of the Priest’s Reference Book (Nastol’naia Kniga Sv’aschennosluzhitel’a). May this article serve to refresh our memory concerning the significance of the Holy Altar Table in the Christian Church and its profound meaningfulness. Keep in mind that in our common English usage the word altar may refer both to the Altar Table (prestol) and to the entire area behind the iconostas. In our translation, we tried to keep the distinction clear, refraining from using prestol for the Holy Altar Table. We hope the intended meaning is obvious from the context.

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Holy Altar Table of the Orthodox temple signifies the immaterial Throne of the Most Holy Trinity, God – Creator and Provider of all that exists, of the entire universe.

Interior of the altar area in the Church of Nativity, Erie, PA 

Four sides of the Altar Table correspond to the four cardinal directions, four seasons, four parts of the day (morning, day, afternoon and evening), four levels of the matter (inanimate nature, plant kingdom, animal kingdom, humankind). Also, Altar Table signifies Christ Almighty. In this case, the quadrangular shape of the Altar Table refers to the four Gospels which contain the fullness of the Saviour’s teaching and symbolizes that from all four points of the Earth all people are called to communion with God in the Holy Mysteries, for the Gospel is preached, according to the words of the Saviour, “in all the world for a witness unto all nations” (Matthew 24:14). On the other hand, the four sides of the Altar Table indicate properties of the Person of Jesus Christ: Angel of Great Counsel, Sacrifice for the sins of the human race, King of the world, perfect Man. These four properties of Jesus Christ correspond to the four mystical beings seen by Saint John the Theologian on the Throne of Christ the Almighty in the temple in heaven: calf – a symbol of the sacrificial animal; lion – a symbol of king’s power and strength; man – a symbol of the human nature which bears the image and likeness of God within itself; eagle – a symbol of the lofty, exalted, angelic nature. These symbols are appropriated by the Church to the four Evangelists: man for Matthew, lion for Mark, calf for Luke, eagle for John. Movement of the liturgical star (zvezditsa) above the diskos, accompanied by priest’s exclamations during the Eucharistic canon, also call to mind the symbols of the four mystical beings: ‘singing’ pertains to eagle which is flying high ever singing praises to God, ‘shouting’ – to sacrificial calf, ‘crying’ – to lion as to a king proclaiming his will with power, ‘saying’ – to human being. This movement of the star corresponds to the depiction of the four Evangelists with their symbolic animals in the sails on the dome of the central part of the temple, below the cupola, where the most direct union of the liturgical, material, iconographic and architectural symbolism of the Orthodox temple is made most vividly manifest.

Holy Altar Table represents the Tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ, where His Body rested before the moment of His Resurrection, as well as the Lord Himself, lying in the Tomb.

Christ the Saviour on the Throne (prestol) of His glory 

This Rite is complex and profoundly mystically meaningful. References to the tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon, found in the prayers of consecration of the temple and the Altar Table, are used to bear witness to the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament’s prototypes in the New Testament and the Divinely-inspired nature of the holy articles in the temple.

A wooden board about 2 cm thick is placed on four wooden pillars 98 cm (38.58”) each (so that together with the board the height of the Altar Table would be 1 meter (39.3”)) in the way that the board’s corners are flush with the sides of the pillars. The area of the Altar Table top may depend on the size of the altar area. If the temple is consecrated by a hierarch, then between the four pillars in the center under the top of the Altar Table there is placed the fifth, smaller pillar 2 feet 4 inches high as the foundation for the box containing the relics of the saints.

        Pouring mastic into the corners of the Altar

 The corners of the Altar Table’s top, called trapeza, where they rest on the pillar, are filled with wax mastic – melted mixture of wax, mastic, crushed marble crumbles, myrrh, aloe, incense. According to the interpretation of Blessed Symeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, all those ingredients “represent the burial of the Saviour, since the very trapeza itself represents the life-giving Tomb of Christ; wax and mastic are combined with the spices because those sticky substances are needed here for attaching and joining the trapeza with the corners of the Altar Table top; in their union all those substances portray the love that Christ the Saviour has for us and His union with us which He offers to us even to His death”

               Washing of the Altar with wine and rose water. 

The Holy Altar Table [top board and the pillars supporting it] is fastened together by four nails, which represent the nails wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross; then it is washed with warm sanctified water, red wine with rose water; after which it is anointed in a special manner with the Holy Chrism, which represents both: the pouring of myrrh upon Christ the Saviour before His sufferings, as well as those spices which were poured upon His Body during His burial, and the warmth of Divine love and grace-filled gifts of God, which were poured out on us thanks to God the Son’s podvig for us on the Cross.

To be continued

ANNOUNCEMENTS