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Bulletin - 7/4/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved In what condition was the Gornensky Monastery when you arrived in the Holy Land and what work was there for you as igumenia? When I arrived at the Gornensky Monastery, they hadn’t had igumenia there for five years. The monastery had never been repaired since it was founded. All the little houses where the sisters lived were old, dilapidated and most of them didn’t have any conveniences. There was no fence around the monastery, no running water, no telephone. Well, many things were not there. For instance, there were no good inns for the pilgrims. Also, I found the walls of the magnificent cathedral unfinished. Construction of the cathedral began back in 1910 with the money of the Royal Family and donations of simple Russian people. The first builders decided to set it on an elevated area, so that it would be visible from afar. When I came here, it was difficult to get to the construction site – all the roads were overgrown: you couldn’t get there either buy car or on foot. There were trees growing inside the cathedral itself, and different bushes were growing from the walls. We had to start by cutting all that down. In 1997, His Holiness Patriarch Aleksii visited our monastery. It was he who gave us blessing to resume the construction of the cathedral. We had finished all the work only in 2007, and the cathedral was consecrated in honor All the Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land. The first Divine Liturgy in the cathedral was celebrated by the present Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. Many-many guests took part in the opening of the cathedral and all of them were lovingly welcomed by our sisters. Perhaps there are those from among the pilgrims and lay workers who come to you who are going to stay in your monastery for good? What is your response to the calling of their hearts? First of all I tell them that without a special calling it is very difficult to live in the monastery. And this is exactly what they do: some come to the monastery to live, while others – to be saved. Those are two different things. Those who come here only to live come without a monastic calling. They do not like their cells, the work they have to do out of obedience is too hard for them. They are finicky about everything: even our trapeza (here, monastery food) is not right by them. They lay down other reasons, too. As for those who come to the monastery because of their calling – for the sake of the Lord and salvation of their souls – they will endure everything in the monastery life. They do not complain in any situation: no matter where they are told to go and what to do, no matter in what cell they are told to live and no matter with whom they have to share their cell. Being obedient when assigned to any work, they say only one word: “Bless!” – that’s all. They know the goal of their lives, they know why they have come here and why they want to live in the monastery. In the beginning of our talk you remarked that for three months you are not going to sit on the igumenia’s seat but on a simple chair next to the wonderworking icon of the “Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos”. To the right of that icon there is another wonderworking image – Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. May we hear from you the tradition which is preserved in the monastery about this wonderworking icon? Yes, now it is located in the wooden carved kiot (case) in front of the right kliros (place before the iconostasis where the chanters stand). The icon’s history has to do with the great miracle that took place in the Gornensky Monastery in 1916. That year, the sisters of the monastery started to get sick one by one – it was an outbreak of cholera. One sister got sick and died, then another, and another, and another… Several sisters died the same day. We have a separate “cholera” cemetery where the sisters who had died from that terrible disease found there rest. Everyone in the monastery was grieving, crying and asking Mother of God for help. Since the church was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the sisters began reading the akathist to the Kazan Icon. They read it once, then the second time, then the third – all together they read twelve akathists in a row. Suddenly, during the reading of the twelfth akathist a miracle happened: the icon which was hanging on the wall came down from it and went around the church on its own. The sisters heard the voice saying that all the troubles in the monastery would end and it would be protected from cholera. After that the awful disease left us. Now, on every feast dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, during the All Night Vigil after the First Hour, we read twelve akathists, as a token of gratitude to the Mother of God for deliverance of the monastery sisters from the deadly disease. Feasts of the Kazan Icon are celebrated with great solemnity in our monastery and the sisters take upon themselves a great podvig of prayer. They feel God-given help and the presence of the grace of God coming from this icon. It also helps me to carry my igumenia’s cross. How heavy is your igumenia’s cross in the Holy Land? Of course, it is much heavier here, in the Holy Land, than, let’s say, in Russia, Ukraine or Belorussia where igumen or igumenia are fully in charge of their monasteries. Here we answer to the head of the Russian Ecclesiastic Mission in Jerusalem. Without his blessing I cannot do anything: go anywhere, receive anyone – neither laborers nor pilgrims. We receive decrees from the mission which we have to follow. I carry my Jerusalem cross with God’s help. I also obediently do what the late His Holiness Patriarch Aleksii charged me to do: to lovingly receive the pilgrims. Thanks to God, there are many, very many of them. Of course, in our somewhat old inns, which in the past housed the monastery infirmaries, we do not have the same rooms as in the city. Before, we never had pilgrims staying on the monastery grounds – only sisters lived here. So I have to listen to complaints from both sisters and the pilgrims. You know, igumenia is responsible for everything what goes on in the monastery – for every sister, for laborers and for pilgrims. True, at times I get worried or tired. But the Lord and the Mother of God always help. Glory to God for everything!
Bishop Longin of Saratov: “Christians’ dress should reflect their gender and chastity” Translated from Ruskline.ru
“More and more often today one can hear, not only in the secular, but in the church publications, as well, the discussions whether we need to follow the traditions which have being formed in the church life in the course of centuries. Rather frequently one hears the opinion that most of the traditions were good at some point, but by now they are meaningless and do nothing for us. Modern man feels hurt when he thinks that someone is limiting his rights and denies his freedom. True, church life demands certain restrictions and changes. One topic, which with years has not lost its pointed character, is how a Christian woman should look like. While in church, why is it necessary to cover one's head and wear traditional women's clothes? Why do we need to bring up that apostolic requirement that women have to cover their heads during prayer (1 Cor. 3:16)? Some say it is all but out-dated, together with some other things the Holy Scripture is talking about?” said Bishop Longin of Saratov in his interview to “Orthodoxy Today” website, stressing the importance of adhering to the church traditions when going to church. Vladyka Longin expressed his conviction that “church traditions, including those dealing with the outward appearance of Christians (both men and women), should be followed: they are based on the Holy Scripture and they are logical and meaningful; besides, they are important for building the correct course of our spiritual life”. “But I still believe and this is what I teach the clergy that every person coming into the temple should be approached, first of all, with love. If somebody found a desire in his heart to visit the church on his way to work, even if he is not properly dressed, we should not make remarks about his appearance. Our Lord Himself is calling people to Him. Meeting God is always a mystery wrought in man's heart. Maybe, having once stepped into the church, he is going to remain here forever, he is going to become a wonderful Christian. In time, he is going to understand and accept many things, including not only that this or that doctrinal truth 'makes sense' and is expedient but also the traditions established by the Church. We have no right to demand this from the person right away, because then, having not yet learned what it truly means to live with God, he is going to view the Church as some system of bans: this you cannot do, this you cannot eat, this you cannot watch, this you cannot wear, and so on. These bans (let me say it again: as meaningful as they are) will remain incomprehensible and will result in nothing but irritation”, continued the archpastor. “At the same time there should remain the guidelines. Even in the secularized Europe, one can see on the doors of every Catholic and Protestant church (with all their liberalism) signs with the crossed-out shorts, t-shirts and other beach-related things which have become an everyday attire for many. First and foremost, church is a holy place for a religious person. It is a place where he comes to commune with God and here there are put into practice the specific norms of behavior which are rooted in piety. This shouldn't be hard to understand to any normal person”, Vladyka remarked. Vladyka said that some time ago in the town of Balashovo the rector of the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord placed an announcement in the church in which he stated that women were not allowed to enter the church in pants and he cited the words from the Old Testament: “A woman should not wear men's clothing and man should not wear women's clothing, for abhorrent before the Lord God anyone who does that” (Deut. 22:5). In his zeal, the Father put the question bluntly. Over all, this didn't cause any discontent among the parishioners. However, as it often happens in such situation, there appeared an old woman who became indignant from the mere fact that something was forbidden. She started demanding the announcement to be taken down and she began showing up in church only in pants on purpose”, recalled Vladyka. “Obviously, I asked Father rector to take the announcement down. But at the same time, I cannot consider righteous the old woman's fight for her right to wear pants in church. Her struggle was a testimony that she had completely lost all understanding of what the Church is and what should be our relationship with God. Unfortunately, she purposefully decided to provoke -- I cannot find another word for it – everyone around her, for the majority, i.e. those who follow the traditions, felt uncomfortable witnessing that confrontation. “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak... Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall” (1 Cor. 8:9, 13), Apostle Paul said these words in a more principled situation, speaking about the matters more serious than clothing – about food offered to the idols. The meaning of his words is this: since the meat I have could have been offered to the idols, I, in order not to scandalize my brother, am not going to eat it at all. I am not going to try prove to him that this meat is good, that it has not been offered to the idols. I am just not going to eat it – simply not to scandalize my brother. It is a norm for the Christian to sacrifice his own desires and aspirations for the sake of his neighbor. But if the person thinks that his norm is to make sure that his way prevails, and especially so when this way of his contradicts the universally accepted way, of course it is obvious Christianity is totally alien to this person”, emphasized Vladyka Longin. He believes that “in that situation, the priest was largely right in his demands”. “The only thing I would disagree with was that the format of his statement was unnecessarily imperative. But on the other hand, I cannot side with the woman who demonstrates her opinion in church in a scandalous way. That was wrong”, said Vladyka. “The clothes that the Christian wears, especially so in church, should be appropriate for his or her gender and it should be modest, and this has to do with both men and women. If the person goes to church, partakes of the Mysteries and is serious about church life, I think he is capable of honestly answering the question: is the clothes, we just talked about (pants worn by a woman), modest? I think not”, stressed Bishop Longin. . . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
Rest, O Lord, the soul of the newly-departed innocent sufferer child Victor, who suffered in the hands of the ungodly, and through his holy prayers grant Thy mercy to our souls. London, U.K.: Families have been left distraught after North Somerset Council started to remove wooden crosses from its graveyards, ‘over health and safety fears’. One woman has told how her mother-in-law's grave was targeted after she died of cancer in May. Liz Maggs placed a 26-inch high wooden cross on Rosemary Maggs' burial plot at the Ebdon Road cemetery in Weston-super-Mare. But when Mrs Maggs, 43, returned to visit the grave with her husband Charles and daughters Zoe, 16, and Danielle, 14, just a few days later she found the cross had disappeared. She reported it stolen to cemetery staff but they told her it had been removed because it did not meet council regulations. Mrs Maggs was told if she wanted the cross back she had to go and look in an alleyway at the back of the cemetery where items which had been removed from graves were stored. The fact that the cross had been removed upset Danielle so much that she collapsed. The teenager has been in hospital since September for treatment for a stomach condition and is only allowed out on rare occasions. Mrs Maggs said: 'When I complained to the cemetery staff I was told it was removed as it could pose a health and safety hazard’. Council spokesman Nick Yates said: 'Our staff try to deal with all situations in a sensitive way.'
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. July Bulletin Covers sponsor is Jenny Yacko. 2. Please, bring your rummage sale-worthy item to church for our Rummage Sale in July, We are asking you to price your items. 3. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. In the narthex we have a list of products we need. Please take a look at it and see what you can provide. 4. We would like to thank our faithful who by their very generous donations continue to help us raise money to purchase much-needed vestments for the church. 5. We are anticipating a visit of our ruling hierarch Metropolitan Nicholas on Saturday evening, October 23. His Eminence will be in our church to consecrate and enthrone relics into our Holy Altar Table. As we receive more details we will make them public. 6. On Wednesday, July 7, we have a parish board meeting at 6:30 P.M. 7. Preparing the calendar for July, we didn’t indicate which days were fasting and which were not. This month we fast every Wednesday and Friday, as usual. Next major fasting period, Dormition Fast, begins August 1, since our parish is on the New Calendar.
Bulletin - 6/27/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved When did you receive obedience to labor in the Holy Land? I had to go to Jerusalem on March 27, 1991, following a decree of His Holiness Patriarch Aleksii (at that time Mother Georgia lived in Saint John’s Monastery on the Karpovka River, in St-Petersburg, where she and her fellow nuns found the relics of Righteous John of Kronstadt). That year he happened to call me on the Feast of Nativity: “Now you have to go and work in the Holy Land, in Jerusalem. There you have to restore the Gornensky women’s Monastery. You mission will be to receive pilgrims. Therefore, everything needs to be repaired and restored there.” Right away I said: “Your Holiness, you know I can’t. I am not cut out for it”, and I began giving him the list of other candidates, other matushkas. “Mother Georgia, as of today I have only one candidate – you. Go and stay there as long as you can. Prepare somebody to take over for you when you decide to leave. Your consecration into igumenia will take place in the Elohovsky Cathedral in Moscow on March 24 and in three days we will fly to the Holy Land.” As a nun, I couldn’t refuse the obedience which was bestowed upon me by His Holiness the Patriarch. So, Father Nikolai Guryanov’s prophesy came true regarding your going to Jerusalem?
Igumenia Georgia and Elder Nikolai Yes, it came true, indeed. Even I didn’t know about the obedience His Holiness was going to give me, but several months before that some people brought me two little envelopes from Father. First was addressed “To Igumenia Georgia” and had only a small old cross in it. That was all, no message. In a short while, I received from him another envelope. It contained a few thousand rubles (perhaps at the time equal to a couple hundred dollars). Later I understood that the money was for my trip to the Holy Land. I needed just that much money to go – three thousand. You know, at the time I was a sister-superior in the Karpovka Monastery, not igumenia. But the two envelopes had “To Igumenia Georgia”, not “To Matushka Georgia”, inscribed on them with Father Nikolai Guryanov’s hand. That surprised me. Let me tell you how I said good-bye to dear Father Nikolai Guryanov and what consolation I received from him. Several weeks before my departure to the Holy Land, I visited the Pskov Caves Monastery, being instructed to do so by His Holiness the Patriarch. That winter I was fortunate to go to the Island of Zalit in a wondrous way and to say good-bye to the Father. This is how it happened. On freezing days there were ice-floes on the lake so one couldn’t approach the island by boat. Having learned about my desire, Father Barnabas, who was father ekonomos at the time, made a phone call to a local air force base and arranged for a military helicopter to take seven of us to the Island of Zalit. We took off and were not long in the air. As we were preparing to land, I could see through the porthole that Father was standing on the church steps and welcoming us by waving his hand. Having landed, with tears in my eyes I started telling him everything: that on the Holy Land I would not only have to restore the monastery but be a “diplomat”. I said I was afraid I would have brains for that job. But I heard his words of consolation in response: “Don’t be afraid, my beloved Georgia, you’ll have enough of both: brains and health”. I was telling him one thing, but he was telling me something different: “How happy you are, beloved Georgia! You are going to the Tomb of the Lord and to your saint – George!” He meant Lydda – George the Trophy-bearer’s birthplace. I started telling him that His Holiness promised to me that I was going to stay in the Holy Land only a few years, till I find someone to take over after me. He comforted me: “It would be wonderful, my beloved Georgia, to stay in the Holy Land for ever. As for I, I would love for you to… end your life there!” That was how he comforted me. Before leaving I asked Father to pray for me. Through the prayers of our dear Father Nikolai Guryanov I have always received much help and everything has been turning out right, both in the past and now.
. . . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . . Tehran, Iran: A senior Iranian cleric has decreed dogs are “unclean” and should not be kept as pets — a move aimed at discouraging Western-style dog ownership in the Islamic state. Dogs are considered “unclean” under Islamic tradition but, while relatively rare in Iran, some people do keep them as pets. By issuing a fatwa — a religious ruling — Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi has sent a clear message that this trend must stop. “Friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West,” he was quoted as saying. “There are lots of people in the West who love their dogs more than their wives and children.” Guard dogs and sheep dogs are considered acceptable under Islamic law but Iranians who carry dogs in their cars or take them to public parks can be stopped by police and fined. Grand Rapids, MI: The two largest Calvinist churches officially merged to become the World Communion of Reformed Churches, representing more than 80 million members. Hundreds of delegates from around the world convened for the Uniting General Council, where they signed the constitution. "In these times of division and dissension in so many areas of our lives – including church life – it is highly significant that two global groups of churches … should be willing to come together in a higher level of union than ever before," said Richard van Houten, general secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). The merger between 75 million-member World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the 12 million-member REC was proposed in 2006. The gathering in Grand Rapids concludes June 28. Mogadishu, Somalia: Two Somali football fans have been killed by Muslim militants after being caught watching World Cup matches. The deaths happened near the capital Mogadishu when members of the Hizbul Islam group stormed a house where people were watching Nigeria play Argentina. A further 10 people were arrested by the group, which has imposed Islam in the areas they control in southern and central Somalia. The following night, another 30 people including a 15-year-old boy were arrested as they watched the Germany-Australia game in two private homes. A spokesman for the group, Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros, said the rest of Somalia should respect their ban on the World Cup and focus instead on "pursuing holy jihad". "We are warning all the youth of Somalia not to dare watch these World Cup matches. It is a waste of money and time and they will not benefit anything or get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down," he said. The ban has resulted in people flocking to public cinemas in the few Government-controlled areas of the country.
Metropolitan Amfilohije Podgorica, Montenegro: Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral tied the possibility of returning the Montenegro metropolia the status of autocephaly with the country's return to monarchy and acknowledgement of Orthodox Christianity as the state religion. “Everything can be accomplished with the help of God, but only according to the needs of the Church, not government”, said Metropolitan Amfilohije on June 17, at the Central European Initiative congress in Budve, thus answering Montenegro's Prime Minister Milan Djukanovic, who said that Montenegrin Church autocephaly was abolished illegally by the decree of King Alexander Karageorgievic in 1920. At the same time, Vladyka Amfilohije stressed that “no matter when we are talking about granting autocephaly, we mean autocephaly of Cetinje-Littoral metropolia of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and not the so-called 'Montenegrin Orthodox Church'. The leader of the schismatic 'Montenegrin Orthodox Church' 'metropolitan' Mihailo Dedeic calls upon the Montenegrin government to resume the Montenegrin Church's autocephaly. Tehran, Iran: Iranian police have issued warnings to 62,000 women who were "badly veiled" in the Shiite province of Qom as part of a crackdown on improper dress. Iran is known particularly for summertime crackdowns on improperly dressed women but the issue has sparked debate after the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he "firmly" opposed the crackdown. He said he was "firmly against such actions. It is impossible for such actions to be successful." His remarks have drawn the wrath of fellow hardliners and several top clerics who have criticized him for opposing the police crackdown. Iran's morality police have returned to the streets in past weeks, confiscating cars whose male drivers harass women, local media say, without clarifying what amounts to harassment. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Two senior Saudi clerics issued a fatwa proclaiming Saudi Arabia’s women should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to safeguard the Islamic law that forbids mixing between the sexes. Recently, a fatwa had been issued in the country about adult breast-feeding to establish "maternal relations" and preclude the possibility of sexual contact. Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, had recently said that women who come into regular contact with men, who are not their relatives, should give them their breast milk in order to make them their relatives."The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman. He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing," said Al Obeikan. Obeikan’s remarks were followed by an announcement by another powerful Saudi cleric Abi Ishaq Al Huwaini, who asked women to allow the men to suckle the milk directly from their breast.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. June Bulletin Covers sponsor is Ann Hakos. 2. Please, bring your rummage sale-worthy item to church for our Rummage Sale in July, We are asking you to price your items. 3. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. In the narthex we have a list of products we need. Please take a look at it and see what you can provide. 4. We would like to thank our faithful who by their very generous donations help us to raise money to purchase much-needed vestment for the church.
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Bulletin - 6/20/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved
The Lord blessed me and in the spring of 1949 I came to the Pühtitsa Dormition Monastery. I didn’t come alone – with me was my little cousin Nina who later became nun Arsenia. You came to that monastery with the blessing and through the prayers of Venerable Seraphim of Vyritsa. But the Holy City of Jerusalem was prophesied to you as place of your further labors by priest Nikolai Guryanov?
Pühtitsa Dormition Monastery I loved Pühtitsa Monastery very much. The place where it is located was chosen by the Queen of Heaven Herself and it was built with the blessing of Righteous John of Kronstadt. Even during Soviet times the monastery was never shut down. In the monastery, I was helping Igumenia Barbara, I was a cell-attendant, directed choir, I was a treasurer…
Working for the glory of God in Pühtitsa Monastery Even back in 1980s, the community of the Gornensky Monastery used to be replenished with the nuns from Pühtitsa Monastery. First ten sisters arrived in the Holy Land in 1983. One day, Father Nikolai Guryanov, whom I met back in 1955 in Lithuania, came to us, to Pühtitsa. Matushka Superior gave me a blessing to show him our workshops. And so I was walking in front of our dear guest and showing the workshops to him. One of the sisters told Father that she felt so happy that she was leaving for Jerusalem. And right away she asked him: who was going to be their igumenia there, in the Holy Land (since they hadn’t had igumenia there for five years)? It turned out that he, behind my back, pointed at me and quietly uttered that there was going to be “Igumenia Georgia from Pühtitsa”. I didn’t see and didn’t hear any of that – only later the sisters told me about it.
Standing in front of Elder’s house, from left to right: Igumenia Georgia, Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov and Pühtitsa Igumenia Barbara
Long before 1991, Father Nikolai prophesied my being in the Holy City of Jerusalem. I remember that he more than once in my presence would suddenly start singing quietly “Jerusalem, Jerusalem…” It was also he who, in a unique way, blessed me to wear an igumenia’s cross. I happened to visit him in 1990. From his little house he invited me to go to the temple and pray with him there to the Mother of God. We venerated the Odigitria icon of the Theotokos, but then he took me by the hand and led me, a bit frightened as I was, into the altar. I was surprised: why would he take me into the altar? There was no service at the time, and then again – I was a nun, not monk… But, nevertheless, I took off my shoes, entered the altar, began making signs of the cross over myself, and, when I was making a third bow, he, standing behind me and unseen by me, took a large cross from behind the stove and placed it on my back. I felt I couldn’t get up because it was so heavy. I just froze in bow with that metal cross on my back. Then he took the cross off my back and helped me get up: “Dear Georgia, this is your cross. Jerusalem cross. Carry it. The Lord will help you. Only later did I understand that he meant igumenia’s cross.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Jerusalem, Israel: More than 100,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews took to the streets across Israel for a showdown between religious and secular society over the way the Jewish state runs its education system. The protests brought central Jerusalem to a standstill as a group of religious parents prepared to go to prison for defying a court order demanding their daughters attend classes with girls of different ethnic origin. Ashkenazi Jews do not want their daughters to be educated in the same classroom as Sephardic schoolgirls, claiming that they are not as religious. Toronto, Canada: Just days after a Punjab man was jailed for life for honor killing of his daughter-in-law, a Pakistani father, along with his son, too faces life behind bars for killing his daughter who refused to wear the hijab. 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was strangulated by her father Muhammad Parvez, in the family home in Toronto in December 2007. Appearing in a court on Tuesday, both Parvez and his son Waqas, 29, pleaded guilty. The duo, who were arrested after the sensational murder, admitted before the judge that they killed the 11 grade student by compressing her neck. Just days before she was strangulated, Aqsa had told her school mates that her father had sworn in the Koran to kill her. When questioned by police, the girl's mother admitted that her husband thought his daughter's behavior had brought disgrace to the family. “This is my insult. My community will say you have not been able to control your daughter. This is my insult”, Parvez had told his wife. Washington, D.C.: More than $1 billion in federal funds have gone to abortion advocacy organizations over the past eight years, according to a newly released report. In the first-of-its-kind report, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office details the amount of tax dollars received by six organizations between 2002 and 2009. Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) called the findings “disturbing”: “A majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for groups that promote or perform abortions. Since coming to Congress, I have fought against unnecessary and excessive government spending in all areas. It is disturbing that these organizations spent over a billion dollars over eight years.” He added that tax dollars given to organizations that “offend” most Americans only further shows that such a report is needed. Sochi, Russia: The Vatican ambassador to Russia Archbishop Antonio Mennini suggested that Catholic priests every now and then attend Divine Services in Russian Orthodox churches. The nuncio said it addressing participants in a regular session of Russia's Conference of Catholic Bishops in Sochi. The Conference of Catholic Bishops made a statement regarding abolishing religious symbols in public schools of Europe and pointed out that the cross is one of most important elements of European identity. The bishops mentioned Russia's tragic experience when struggle against religious symbols resulted in prosecutions of believers and moral decay of the society. Sulaimaniya, Iraq: Human Rights Watch urged Kurdistan’s government on Wednesday to ban circumcision of women and girls, a Muslim practice the organization said is widespread and dangerous there. Human Rights Watch, an advocacy organization based in New York, found out that at least 40 percent of girls and women in Iraq’s Kurdistan region had undergone the procedure, which typically is performed with a dirty razor blade. Madrid, Spain: Spain's government on Tuesday said it favors barring the use of burqas in government buildings, joining other European countries considering similar moves on the grounds that such garments are degrading to women. Total body-covering Islamic veils demean women and the restriction will be included in an upcoming bill on religious issues, Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said. Guatemala City, Guatemala: After months of catechetical and pastoral follow-up, Archimandrite Andrew (Vujisić) received over half a million of clergy and faithful of the independent Iglesia Católica Ortodoxa de Guatemala (ICOG) into the Orthodox Church. The former ICOG has 334 churches in Guatemala and southern Mexico, 12 clergymen, 14 seminarians, 250 lay ministers, and 380 catechists. It also has an administrative office on 280 acres, a community college and 2 schools with 12 professors / teachers, and a monastery on 480 acres. Archimandrite Andrew also held meetings with ‘Orthodox seekers’, who represent another 800,000 souls, regarding the straight and narrow path of reception into Orthodoxy.
Archimandrite Andrew ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. June Bulletin Covers sponsor is Ann Hakos. 2. Our Rummage Sale has been postponed till July. This will give us more time to prepare and have the event better organized. We would like to ask you to have all your items priced before you bring them to church. 3. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. In the narthex we have a list of products we need. Please take a look at it and see what you can provide. 4. Next Sunday, please bring non-perishable food items to benefit Hobart Food Pantry.
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Bulletin - 6/13/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved What recollections did you preserve from your meeting with Venerable Seraphim of Vyritsa? The Lord allowed me to visit him twice: in 1948 and in the beginning of 1949, not long before his repose. I remember that during my first trip there were over 20 people waiting by his house to see the Elder. While waiting, everyone was peacefully sitting on the grass: some were reading, others were writing. At that time, the Elder was very weak and couldn’t receive people. This was why we were writing him notes and his cell-attendant Matushka Seraphima would take those messages with our requests into his cell. I was praying and patiently waiting for my turn. I wondered, what should I write to Father? Suddenly, Matushka Seraphima approached me and asked me what I had come to Father for? I was afraid to tell her about the monastery, so I just mumbled that I had a serious question to ask the Elder. Matushka reminded me what she used to say to all visitors: Father wasn’t receiving anyone, and then she left. But she told the Elder about me and he decided to see me right away.
House in Vyritsa where Elder Seraphim lived While the Mother cell-attendant was taking me to the Elder, other people became discontent: why the Elder didn’t want to see them? They were murmuring that some of them had come before me and were waiting since the previous night, whereas others had been there twice as long, trying to see the Elder. So the people started to grumble and one woman reminded Matushka that she had even spent the night on the grass by the Elder’s house.
When I made the sign of the Cross and timidly entered the cell, I saw Father lying in a little bed – he was all white and shining. I knelt before him and began to cry, I couldn’t even say anything. I asked him to pray for me. Father gently stroked me on my head, calmed me down, and then asked me to tell him about myself. So I did. I didn’t even say a word about the monastery. When I was done, Father Seraphim spoke to me: “What else, little one?” Then I quietly said, with tears in my eyes, that I had a strong desire to enter a monastery. It seemed to me then that right away Father grew more animated and supported my decision: “Your path, little one, leads you here. Here is your monastery!” and he pointed with his hand to the photograph hanging on the wall, “Mother of God has chosen you. Go with God!” He even foretold the place where my monastic life would begin – Pühtitsa. On that black and white photo there was a cathedral. I just looked at the photo and right away my eyes filled with tears of joy. I also told him that my auntie didn’t even want to hear about my entering the monastery. Father suggested Auntie Matrona come him and he would have a heart-to-heart talk with her. My auntie’s reaction to the Elder’s suggestion was rejection. She flatly refused to let me go and even threatened to call police. “No, no!” she objected, “I saved you from orphanage and what you are trying to do now? First, you bury me and then go to the monastery. Otherwise, I am not going to let you go anywhere.” They didn’t want to let me go from work, too. In those days, one had to specify the reason for leaving and even inform them what place one was going to and what job he was going to be getting or the school one was going to attend there. I went to see Father Seraphim for the second time. I asked his blessing for my cousin Nina’s entering a monastery. In the end of 1948, her mother Eudokia tragically perished in Leningrad when she was going home after the Vigil in the Transfiguration Cathedral. Suddenly, the streetcar, which she boarded to get home, caught on fire and all the passengers started jumping from the windows while the streetcar was still moving. Nina’s mother died when she crashed on the asphalt and the doctors couldn’t save her life. Father gave both of us his blessing to go to the monastery. One more time I reminded him about my situation and that my Auntie Matrona didn’t want to let me go. Father Seraphim again told me to have my auntie come to him for a talk. When I came home I was crying, and she, by looking at me, understood everything. She also started crying, but that time she decided to go see the Elder. That way the mercy of God was made manifest unto me: when my aunt came back home from visiting Father Seraphim she was different all together – she was soft. Of course, she was crying but she resigned herself to letting me go and she also gave me her blessing to go to the monastery: “What can I do? I am not going to go against the Will of God. If Father Seraphim has given you his blessing, you’d better start getting ready to go, Valya…”
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . New York, NY: Close to 10,000 protesters (although the media reported only 500 to 1,000) gathered in lower Manhattan last Sunday to demonstrate against plans to build a mosque near the site of Ground Zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by Islamists on September 11, 2001. Rally participants came from as far away as Washington State, California, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, South Carolina and Florida. Protest organizer Pamela Geller and her group, "Stop the Islamicization of America," planned the event because: "Building the Ground Zero mosque is not an issue of religious freedom, but an effort to insult the victims of 9/11 and to establish a beachhead for political Islam and Islamic supremacism in New York." The protest was peaceful. Human rights advocates, politicians and families of 9/11 victims addressed the crowd. Geller recently told CNN that no one is telling the mosque's planners they can't build it, but "We're asking them not to. We feel it would be more appropriate maybe to build a center dedicated to expunging the Quranic texts of the violent ideology that inspired jihad, or perhaps a center to the victims of hundreds of years of jihadi wars, enslavements, cultural annihilations and mass slaughter," Geller said.Kiev, Ukraine: On June 6, in the course of his visit to Greece, President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovich made a pilgrimage to the Holy Mount Athos. President prayed at the All-night vigil service and Liturgy in St. Panteleimon Monastery, venerated the relics of Great Martyr and Unmercenary Physician Panteleimon, met with the igumen and spiritual father of the monastery. Also President of Ukraine called to Karyes -administrative center of the monastic republic, where the prayer service was performed at the icon of the Mother of God “It is truly meet”. The pilgrims attended the Iveron Monastery, where they venerated the patroness of the Holy Mount – the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, and also called to the recently opened monastery museum. At the Vatopedi Monastery, the pilgrims from Ukraine venerated the belt of the Mother of God and the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God “Pantanassa”. London, U.K.: 18 new parishes have joined the Dioceses of Sourozh of Britain and Ireland of the Russian Orthodox Church. Four of the new parishes are in Scotland - in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee. Eleven others are in different parts of Britain, including North Humberside, Devon, Hampshire, Essex, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, East Sussex and Dorset. There is an Orthodox parish in Belfast and another in the Isle of Man. Three more Orthodox parishes are in Ireland - in Watford, Galway and Cork. Constantinople, Asia Minor (Turkey): Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople thinks it necessary to advance convening of the All-Orthodox Council with the participation of all local Orthodox Churches. "We decided to facilitate the process of convening the holy and great Council of all Orthodox Churches," Patriarch Bartholomew said in an interview to Russian news agency Vesti 24TV. He referred to the Council as one of the major objectives for the Constantinople Church and stated that the Council and its outcomes would "have the greatest impact on the entire Orthodox world." The event's agenda "has been already set up and is well-known to the Orthodox community," it covers ten major points, including the principles of autocephaly and autonomy of the Orthodox Churches, issue of fasting, and issues related to diptych (the order of mentioning Churches during service). "Our Orthodox Church continuously seeks to keep up with the times avoiding to give up anything of its teaching, but at the same time, respond to the spirit of the time helping believers to stand up to the current real world," Patriarch Bartholomew said. The Council shall decide the problems which have been accumulating within several centuries, from the time of the 7th Ecumenical Council in A.D. 787.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. June Bulletin Covers sponsor is Ann Hakos. 2. Our Rummage Sale has been postponed till July. This will give us more time to prepare and have the event better organized. We would like to ask you to have all your items priced before you bring them to church. 3. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. In the narthex we have a list of products we need. Please take a look at it and see what you can provide. 4. We were deeply touched seeing that some lover of God had donated much money for the new vestments. It is not often that one witnesses such a love for the House of God and desire to sacrifice for Him from one’s own means. May Our Lord look mercifully upon the benefactors and grant them and their families health and peace. We still need at least $200.00 to purchase the vestments. 5. In the first part of this week, Fr Sergii is going to travel to be in Johnstown, PA, for the diocesan council. In case of extreme emergency, call Michael Petyo and he will contact Fr Sergii.
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Bulletin - 6/6/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved
Elder Archimandrite Kirill (Smirnov) with spiritual children. Future Igumenia Georgia is sitting first from the left, Elder’s hand resting on her head
Many of my friends found husbands for themselves from among the seminarians. As for me, I was standing by the icon and praying: “My dear God, I do not need anything. All I want is to go to the monastery...” I made my choice after our fathers' profound sermons which I listened to in the churches. Of course, one needs to have a calling to the monastic life and to know the goal of why one goes into the monastery: he goes there for the sake of the salvation of his soul and the future life. Here, on this Earth, everything is going to pass: joys, sorrows, grief. But there, in heaven, one is going to live forever. What you earn here you are going to receive there. Therefore, my heart then grew all aflame: “O Lord, I love You with all my heart! I long to be with You, O dear God, take me to the monastery!” After the war, we didn't have any monasteries in our country. Only later I found out about one of them: Pühtitsa Monastery which is in Estonia. It happened after Igumenia Rafaila from Pühtitsa visited our city. There were many women who were working at the cathedrals of Kazan Icon and Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God who knew me. They also knew about my secret desire. Once, the women who were helping during the services reported to me joyfully: “Valya, Igumenia Rafaila from Pühtitsa is here. Now you go, bow low before her, talk to her with humility and ask to be accepted into her monastery”. A little bit later I found out that the women even before I talked to the igumenia had already petitioned her on my behalf. Matushka Rafaila asked me a few questions, inquired about my life and I answered all her questions in detail. She, obviously, started telling me that Pühtitsa Monastery is a holy place, that it was created with the blessing of Righteous John of Kronstadt, but that the monastic life was very difficult there: sisters were few and I would be expected to do any, even most backbreaking, work: scything, plowing, splitting and sawing the wood, working on the animal farm... That didn't scare me and I told her: “Matushka, I am going to do everything as holy obedience. Take me with you to the monastery”. Our conversation ended by matushka's suggesting I submit a leave notice at work and come to the monastery. All inspired, I came home and laid it all out in my conversation with my Aunt Matrona. She didn't approve of my going to the monastery: “You are still so weak and almost a child. Who is going to look after me in my old age, who is going to help Lydia to get on her own feet? First, you grow up a little bit, become stronger and then we will talk about it. In the monastery, as you know, one has to work hard and do all sorts of work, even those one doesn't like”. Before you entered the monastery, did you have any work experience or you were still in school? During those difficult times I couldn't finish the school. Of course, I didn't have any degree, but I did have a job I liked to do. Before I entered the monastery, I had, not for a long time, worked in the Central Archives where they hired me as a restorer. I liked that job because it was something I could handle and I could accomplish my tasks. Before the Archives, I had worked briefly as a helper at a canteen. Well, I didn't work there for long and I wasn't even officially hired there because I was not yet of age. I did all kinds of errands in the kitchen and was a server. At the time there was shortage of cooked food. However, they allowed me not only to eat there, but even to take some food home. I have to admit, my superior had me give short weight up to an ounce. That was hard for me. I knew that it was wrong, so I quit working at the canteen. So, your religious Auntie Matrona, the one who asked you to read the spiritual books to her, didn't want to hear about your entering the monastery? Yes, first she objected, but then she, nonetheless, gave me her blessing to enter the monastic life. I remember how after the akathist before the “She Who is quick to hear” icon of the Mother of God I prayed with tears for everything to turn out right in my monastic life. I prayerfully asked the Mother of God to grant me my desire and to soften Auntie Matrona's heart. With tears still in my eyes I told everything to Father Nicholas Fomichov, the rector of the church on the Ohta, and he also gave me a blessing to go to the monastery. Knowing my desire, some priests suggested I went to Vyritsa, to Elder Seraphim, so that he would tell me the Will of God. To Be Continued
. . . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . . New York, NY: The first Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs in North and Central America (which replaces SCOBA) was convened on Thursday, May 27, by Archbishop Demetrios (Greek Archdiocese) in New York City. This Assembly is the result of the decision of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference, which met in Chambesy, Switzerland, in June of 2009. The assembly, one of twelve that will be convened around the world in regions where there is no single Orthodox presence, consisted of the active canonical bishops who reside in North and Central America. The assembly, which took place behind closed, was attended by 56 bishops. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had asked Archbishop Demetrios not to invite OCA ruling hierarch Metropolitan Jonah because OCA’s autocephaly (the Orthodox term for churches that are self-ruled) is not recognized by the Patriarchate. Archbishop Demetrios declined the Patriarch’s request, but a compromise was agreed upon where the Metropolitan could participate as a bishop representing no jurisdiction, which created some thorny technical problems about his authority. Moreover, Ukrainian Church in the US and Canada, a body of schismatic groups which were received by the Ecumenical Patriarchate without proper investigation of their canonical status, is not recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Archbishop Demetrios was particularly worried ahead of the assembly, fearing possible alliances and surprises from the bishops attending the proceedings - especially in regards to the issue of the Orthodox Diaspora and autocephaly. Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Orthodox Church openly questioned the existence of an Orthodox Diaspora and expressed reservations about the role of the assembly. The assembly began with an invocation delivered by Archbishop Demetrios, followed by his keynote address, in which he was especially careful in his language regarding ecclesiastical unity and the cultural differences that exist between the different Orthodox Churches in America. "We strive for unity because the Lord asked of us to be one, but diversity and differentiation are not to be feared. They are gifts that are to be used for the glory of God," he noted. In addition, he added that "our unity cannot exist to destroy such differentiation; rather, our unity is meant to flourish as a result of our natural diversity, be it linguistic, cultural or ethnic," and asked himself "Is this not exactly the condition of our universal Orthodoxy today?" In regards to the issue of the Diaspora, Archbishop Demetrios explained that "The word 'Diaspora' is not being used in any pejorative sense; rather it is merely a description of places where no single Autonomous or Autocephalous Church governs all the Orthodox who live therein." Constantinople, Asia Minor (Turkey): Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople urged Ukrainian schismatics to repent and join the canonic Russian Orthodox Church. "Let them (the schismatics) not hesitate, but join the canonic Orthodox Church which is a ship of salvation," Patriarch Bartholomew said. Chisnau, Moldavia: About 15,000 people rallied in Moldavia’s capital on Saturday to demand that schools add religion to the curriculum. “We want to bring religion back to school after it was excluded by the totalitarian Soviet regime,” Metropolitan Vladimir, head of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, told supporters. In Moldova, more than 95 percent of believers are Eastern Orthodox. The Moldavian Orthodox Church, an autonomous church of the Moscow Patriarchate, is the country’s main church with around 1,300 parishes. Vatican City: Italian prosecutors are investigating the Vatican bank on suspicion of involvement in money laundering, La Repubblica reported on Tuesday. The Institute of Religious Works (IOR) and 10 Italian banks were the target of the investigation. The hypothesis of the investigators is that subjects with their fiscal residence in Italy are using the IOR as a 'screen' to hide different dealings, such as fraud or tax evasion. The IOR manages bank accounts for religious orders and Catholic associations and benefits from Vatican offshore status. Tehran, Iran: Well-known journalist Camille Eid paints a bleak picture of the life of Christians in Iran: “the picture of the Ayatollah is even on the cover of the catechism books … and maybe it is a way to show that the Christians are under the protection of the regime and are considered dhimmis (protected people) in the Islamic Sharia.” The government forbids the celebration of the Divine Services in Farsi, the nation’s principal language, and conversion from Islam to Christianity entails death. “There is a real risk of the disappearance, of an extinction of Christianity in Iran,” concludes Eid, coauthor of 111 Questions on Islam. London, U.K.: Christian Vision for Men (CVM) claims that 49 per cent of all males under the age of 30 have left congregations over the past 20 years. In order to entice them back into the pews, the campaign group is asking vicars to show the World Cup on big screens above the pulpit and even serve beer while the football tournament is on. Carl Beech, General Director of the CVM and a Baptist minister, said: “The World Cup is when pretty much every bloke in the country bonds over a common goal. Why can that not be done in a church? The problem has become male culture versus church culture. Too many sermons talk about Jesus’ love, compassion and grace which are great but not male concepts”.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. June Bulletin Covers sponsor is Ann Hakos. 2. Our Rummage Sale has been postponed till July. This will give us more time to prepare and have the event better organized. We would like to ask you to have all your items priced before you bring them to church. 3. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. A good number of our faithful have already pitched in and helped by purchasing the brats for the event. We would like to thank all of them and ask the rest of us to look forward to any upcoming announcements about the needed supplies. 4. Please, do not forget that we are collecting funds to purchase a new set of white vestments. July 11 is the deadline. 5. Next Sunday the usual collection will be taken for the Mission Fund. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 5/30/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved
I chose the monastic way of salvation in my teens. The Lord brought me to that choice when I was 14 years old. All our relatives, especially all my seven aunts were religious. Besides the sisters, my mother also had two brothers. Of course, we all lived in difficult times: the authorities were persecuting for faith in God. All our big family was religious. Some of my aunts had also have a desire to become nuns, but there was always something in the way: either the revolution, or war, or some other unforeseen events. At home, my Aunt Matrona had a Bible, Gospel, Psalter and other books. On Sunday, after the Liturgy, her friends would come to her house. After the war, the people lived modestly: they drank tea with bread and eggplant spread. The adults would get together and ask me: “Valya, please read to us. Today is a such and such feast...” My aunt, besides the Bible, had several books of “Lives of the Saints”, by Holy Hierarch Dimitrii of Rostov. And I was reading little by little those Lives and other spiritual books for them out loud. My aunt was very careful and did everything so that her neighbors and other uninvolved people wouldn't know or see that she had church books. During those difficult years one not only couldn't keep holy things at home, but one couldn't even freely go to church. One was persecuted for any manifestation of his faith. As for me, I visited the churches in our city and now with gratitude I remember all the priests who took care of our souls in those years. I liked going to Saint Nicholas Church, to the churches of the Kazan Icon and Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, but especially to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. I tried to go to any church where they were reading akathists. All the priests seemed to know me, although I was very young, yet. I had a rudimentary voice and an ear for music, so they would ask me to sing the akathist in this or that church. That was how I began singing akathists.
In 1948, they opened the seminary in our city. There they had a revered “Sign” Icon of the Mother of God. On Wednesdays, they were always reading akathists there, so every week I was looking forward to going there, too. I felt very good being in all the churches. In the seminary, Father Alexander Osipov was giving remarkable homilies. Father Michael Gundyaev, father of our Patriarch His Holiness Kirill, was a wonderful preacher. One could lose himself during his homilies. I also remember Father Alexander Medvedskii, Father Basil Ermakov and others. Their homilies had a profound effect on many souls. I remember how I once came to the seminary for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. After the Divine Liturgy, Father Alexander Osipov said a homily which I remembered for the rest of my life: “Brothers and sisters! What a great and joyful feast we are celebrating today! The Lord Himself became incarnate and came to Earth. He was born in Bethlehem and was lying in the humble manger. And who kept Him warm with their breath? Animals, lambs. There wasn't even a room at the inn for the Mother of God, but the magi brought gifts to the Divine Infant. But what gifts can you and me bring to Our Lord?...” I was standing in the temple and I thought to myself: “O Lord, what can I bring You? I am such a sinful person. I have nothing which would be worthy to be given to You. My beloved God, I will give You all of me – that is going to be my gift. O Lord, take me as a sacrifice”. To Be Continued
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
Belgorod, Russia: Belgorod authorities banned concerts of the bands playing the so-called ‘heavy metal’ music. Director of the consumer department of the city administration Vladimir Shatilo addressed the owners of the local clubs, cafés and restaurants with the request “not to offer their venues to performers of ‘heavy metal rock’ music”. In his letter, Vladimir Shatilo cites a directive issued by the Belgorod Governor Eugene Savchenko and the plan of activities aimed at “establishing spiritual safety in the Belgorod region in 2010”. A representative of the regional department for the cooperation with the religious organization said: “We have results of the scientific research which proves that the ‘heavy metal rock’ has destructive influence of its listeners”. Archpriest John Monarshek, dean of the churches of the Pushkino deanery of the Moscow diocese, wholly agrees with the ban: “It is an evil, demonic music. They are still trying to corrupt our people. People are going mad. Seems like we live in hell. Evil is everywhere, there is no love among the people: if somebody is upset — they pull a gun right away”. According to Fr John, “‘Heavy metal’ is a disease which we do not need”. Maywood, CA: Satanists broke into and ransacked St. Rose of Lima parish school in Maywood, a small city in Los Angeles County, scrawling “666” on walls and driving a knife into the face of a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Maywood-Cudahy Police Department reports. Police gave no estimate of damages, but did provide additional details of the extent and nature of the vandalism. “Further investigation revealed that some of the vandalism was of a heinous nature, and in fact, consistent with a ‘hate crime,’" said the police statement. “The suspect(s) defecated in the auditorium (adjacent to the kitchen area) and wrote ‘666’ on areas of the kitchen, and a cross was displayed in a sacrilegious manner,” police said. Photos posted by police showed ransacked cabinet drawers strewn across the floor along with their contents, and what appeared to be food splattered against the back of a stove area, where a cross had been placed upside down atop the stove. The incident in Maywood is the latest in a series of attacks against churches in California over the last few years.
Washington, DC:
How does building a giant mosque at Ground Zero address the problem
of moderate Muslims not speaking out against terrorism? How does
this mosque honor those who were brutally murdered on September 11?
Whom does a mosque really honor: the Americans who lost their lives,
or the jihadis who murdered them? A massive fifteen-story mosque and
Islamic Center going up in what was once the shadow of the
World
Trade Center claims to offer "the opposite statement to what
happened on 9/11." The Center organizers, the America Society for
Muslim Advancement (ASMA), have worked hard in the media to show
that they are working for peace on the exact spot where their
coreligionists perpetrated murder and mayhem in the name of their
religion. But the words and deeds of the leader of the effort, the
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, suggests a more ominous reality: Abdul Rauf
is a master of deceptive, Orwellian use of language, manifesting a
deep contempt for non-Muslims and full accord with the supremacist
goals of the 9/11 hijackers. So anxious was ASMA to secure the
location at Ground Zero that a Muslim real estate company paid $4.85
million in cash for the building, with part coming from Abdul Rauf's
other Islamic group, the Cordoba Initiative. It is unnerving - the
deliberate speed and anxiousness that the leader of ASMA has
demonstrated in working to open a mosque at the gaping wound of
Ground Zero. He claims that it will heal that wound. But how will it
do that? How will a mosque, the place where jihadis go for spiritual
sustenance, at Ground Zero help stop jihad terrorism? Even the name
of the initiative - Cordoba - speaks volumes. While Islamic Spain is
held up today as a proto-multi-culturalist paradise, in reality
non-Muslims there suffered under the discrimination prescribed in
Islamic law for dhimmis, non-believers who were subjugated as
inferiors and denied equality of rights.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. May Bulletin Covers sponsors are Yacko family. 2. If you would like panihidas chanted at your family graves and have the graves blessed, make arrangements with the priest. 3. Our Rummage Sale has been postponed till July. This will give us more time to prepare and have the event better organized. We would like to ask you to have all your items priced before you bring them to church. 4. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. Since we are going to need to purchase various supplies (pork, brats, buns, cabbage, etc.), we are accepting cash donations. Your donations and any suggestions or questions should be addressed to Michael Petyo. 5. On Friday, June 4, at 6:00 P.M. Mattias Kunch will be baptized. His parents, Christopher and Marjorie, invite all of our faithful to attend the celebration and the festive meal afterwards. ++++++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 5/23/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved
What did you find out about her later fate? While in hospital, in 1942-1943, I had no idea where my mother was. After I met her again I found out that she together with my sister Lydia had been evacuated to the Krasnodar Krai, to the Kuban, where they also were checked into a hospital, for they were very emaciated. Divine Will and His Providence were everywhere – I felt it constantly. I remember, once the doctor in charge of the hospital came to our ward and said that the next day forty survivors of the Leningrad Blockade would be discharged. I started to cry. I was in distress: where they were going to send me? I just had to go find my mother, but where she was – nobody knew. Then, all of a sudden, the very same night there arrived to the hospital a letter from my mother in which she was asking if a girl, named Valentina Shchukina, were alive. (My name in the holy baptism was Valentina). If the answer were positive, my mother asked for me to be sent to her to the address on the envelope. But the address on the envelope was wrong... It took me two weeks to finally find my mother. While I was looking for her, many people whom I met on my journey wanted to help me: many of them cried seeing me – how I was limping (my leg was still bandaged up and was hurting). People on the street would give me bread. It was summer and the sun was shining but I still had a winter hat on my head and a valenok (a felt boot) on my left leg. The Lord sent me a woman who agreed to help me – an emaciated and thin as a reed girl that I was – to find the place where my mother was staying. I could tell you a lot of how I, for two weeks, was looking for my mother and then finally found her. That was a very moving and joyful reunion. But soon our joy was changed to sorrow and suffering. The area where we lived with my mother was occupied by the Nazi army and we had to hide in the basement. When the enemy forces withdrew, there broke out a typhus epidemic. Among many other people, that dreadful disease claimed our mother – she was only 35 years old. There, in the Kuban area, we buried our mother. To Be Continued
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Belgrade, Serbia: Serbia continues to reap the bitter fruits of 1999 bombing and NATO air force's use of depleted uranium in their ammunition. Children born without eyes and numerous cases of cancer are the results of the NATO bombing. 11 years after NATO bombing, cancer incidences in Serbia have drastically increased, writes daily VEČERNJE NOVOSTI. The percentage of certain types of cancer has grown by 60% and genetic mutations will emerge even in the 60th generation. It is still unknown how many projectiles with depleted uranium were thrown in Kosovo, southern Serbia and the Luštica peninsula in Montenegro. According to NATO, the number is 31,000, according to the Serbian Army, 50,000, and according to outside sources, as many as 90,000! At issue are 112 locations and the area where the US Bonsteel military base is located is the only one where not a single depleted uranium projectile was thrown. Health Ministry data show that, since the bombing in 1999, cancer incidences have dramatically increased – by 21.8% among men and by 16.8% among women. Prostate cancer incidences among men have grown by 60.3% and large intestine and rectum cancer incidences among women have grown by almost one fourth. According to Dr Radomir Kovačević, a specialist in toxicology, in the affected areas, the number of miscarriages has incrased, children weigh less at birth and some strange genetic mutations have appeared. In the urine of the majority of people, including children and old people, three years after the bombing, traces of uranium could be found. As many as ten years ago, the Italian senate discussed the case of Italian soldiers serving in Kosovo that had fallen ill with the so-called Balkan syndrome. The latest official data show that 174 Italian soldiers have died of illnesses caused by depleted uranium in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan and 2,534 have fallen ill with various types of cancer. Bogotá, Colombia: Colombia’s Attorney General, Alejandro Ordonez Maldonado, recently called on the country’s Constitutional Court to protect the fundamental rights of Dr. German Arango Rojas, who was suspended for refusing to kill an unborn child on a minor with a disability despite the demands of her parents. Maldonado warned that the doctor’s fundamental rights to fair justice, equality and due process were violated. After Rojas refused to perform the abortion, the National Medical Ethics Tribunal suspended him and ordered him to pay damages to the girl's family. Colombia’s Public Ministry announced it has taken measures to protect the fundamental rights of the girl and her child who has since been adopted.
Anton and Rimma Salonen
Helsinki, Finland: The Finnish guardianship authorities have left in force the ban that was imposed on the son of the Russian citizen Rimma Salonen, which means that he is not allowed to speak Russian, to pray and to wear an Orthodox cross (as an infant, Anton was baptized in the Pühtitsa Orthodox Monastery in Estonia). This is the continuation of the dramatic story of the Russian mother, which began in 2008, when the Anton was kidnapped by Finnish diplomats and taken over the border in the trunk of a diplomat's car. The conduct of the Finnish authorities is unlawful. This is a gross violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the civilized world in 1989, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and the Director of the Russian Centre of Practical Psychology Sergei Klyuchnikov says: "All what is happening to Rimma Salonen causes nothing but regret. It’s very bad when a child is becoming an object of barter trade between his parents. Since now he is living in Finland and the situation has become stabilized somewhat, from the point of view of the Finnish social workers: they decided to place a ban on the child’s right to speak and pray in Russian. They believe that praying may have a negative impact on the child’s psyche. And it is rather doubtful that all these bans, which, by the way, run counter not only to the Finnish but also to international legislation, were invented by social workers themselves". Finnish social workers warned Rimma Salonen at her last meeting with her son that she was not allowed to pray together with Anton, cross herself or talk to him about religion. "The boy may meet his mother only twice a month for two hours in a child-care institution. They are both put under surveillance. They used to pray before meals. But now they are not allowed to do that, the boy's cross given by his mother was taken away from him, and she is not allowed to give him a new one," Johan Beckman, a representative of Rimma Salonen, told Interfax. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Now, Saudi firefighters are allowed to save women and girls from fire. Department of Education gave specific orders to all schools and security officers to all emergency vehicles on the schools’ grounds. It has been 8 years since 15girls lost their lives and dozens of others were injured in a fire at their school in Mecca on 11 March 2002, after the religious police (Mutawa'een) prevented them from escaping from the fire because they were not wearing headscarves and their male relatives were not there to receive them. An eye witness said: "Whenever the girls got out through the main gate, these people [Mutawa'een] forced them to return via another",..."instead of extending a helping hand for the rescue work, they were using their hands to beat the girls and force them back into the burning building". New York, NY: President Barack Obama’s overall approval rating stood at 49 percent for the most recent three-day period, and at 50 percent for the week ending May 8, but it would be lower than that if America consisted exclusively of people who attend church with some regularity. Non-church goers form the base of Obama’s support, according to Gallup polling data. Gallup reports the breakouts from its presidential approval survey for three different types of church-goers: people who attend church weekly, people who attend church nearly weekly or monthly, and people who seldom or never attend church. Among these three groups, Obama’s approval rating tops 50 percent only among those who seldom or never attend church. In fact, among this group it was at 56 percent for the week ending May 8. Obama’s approval rating among people who attend church weekly was only 43 percent during that week; and among those who attend church nearly weekly or monthly it was 47 percent. The last time a majority of Americans who attend church weekly gave Obama a positive approval rating was last year in the week that ended on July 19, 2009. That week, weekly church-goers gave him a 51 percent approval rating. Obama’s approval rating dropped to a low of 38 percent among weekly church-goers in the week that ended on April 4. By contrast, Obama’s presidential approval rating has never dropped below 50 percent among those who seldom or never go to church.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. May Bulletin Covers sponsors are Yacko family. 2. Next Sunday we collect non-perishable food items for Hobart Food Pantry. Please, do not forget! 3. Memorial Day is approaching. If you did not have your family graves blessed yet, make arrangements with the priest. Panihidas can be chanted at the graves at any time. 4. We are planning to have a parish-wide rummage sale in the first part of June. Bring your rummage items to church and ask John Springman where to put them. We would like to ask you to have all your items priced before you bring them to church. 5. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. Since we are going to need to purchase various supplies (pork, brats, buns, cabbage, etc.), we are accepting cash donations. Your donations and any suggestions or questions should be addressed to Michael Petyo. 6. Our church needs a set of white priestly vestments. Price for a most modest set of vestments usually starts at $400.00. If you would like to donate please give your contributions to Fr Sergii or add it to your Sunday offering, earmarked ‘vestments’. ++++++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 5/16/10
Some Come to the Monastery to Live, Others – to be
Saved
Matushka Georgia, on the day of our interview Most Holy Theotokos is considered the Igumenia of the monastery and you — Her aide, sitting on a simple chair next to the wonderworking icon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. What tradition and what event is it based on?
In our monastery, every year we celebrate the great and joyful feast
of the Kissing, or Meeting of the Mother of God and Righteous
Elizabeth. This feast brings our sisters endless joy because on this
feast the Mother of God Herself comes to us. Our monastery is
located on the same land where Righteous Zachariah and Elizabeth –
parents of John the Baptist – lived. In 1871, Archimandrite Antonin
(Kapustin) founded our monastery on the spot where the Most Holy
Theotokos visited Her relative – Righteous Elizabeth. Here, “to the
city of Judah”, or to hill country (Luke 1:39), the Most Pure One
came after hearing the archangel's annunciation in Nazareth. She
shared with her close relative the heavenly mystery which was
revealed to her about the future birth of the Divine Infant. Mother
of God lived here, in the hill country, three months.
On this feast, we all welcome Most Holy Theotokos by the holy spring where She often went with the Righteous Elizabeth to draw water. We cover the path from the spring to our Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Church with grass and flowers. Usually, the festivities take place on the sixth day after Annunciation. Since this year the Annunciation was during the Bright Week, we transferred the feast of Kissing to Saturday, April 10. From the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, they brought us the wonderworking icon of the Annunciation of the Mother of God. In procession, accompanied by ringing of the bells, we all went to our monastery. This procession symbolizes the journey that the Mother of God made from Nazareth to the city in the hills. The day before, our sisters had decorated the icons with the flowers and spread the flower carpets around the temple of the Kazan Icon. My igumenia seat was removed from the temple and a very common little chair was prepared for me. And now the Mother of God is standing in our temple all three months clothed in a very beautiful vesture all the way to the ground. The sisters skillfully sewed it in the likeness of the monastic mantle. The icon is going to be here three months – till the feast of the Nativity of John the Forerunner.
All this time, the Mother of God is the Igumenia of our monastery. Everyone asks Her blessing first, and only then they come to me, a sinner. We all feel as if the Most Pure One were standing here among us. I am always by the icon and I ask Her: “Mother of God, help us! Help the sisters who are working in the monastery and those whose health is weak and enlighten those who need correction...” Many pilgrims also need consolation. The Mother of God is a Helper to all of us.
Matushka, when you were but a school girl in the post-war Leningrad you loved to read and sing the akathists to the Mother of God. You were telling the pilgrims from St Petersburg that when you were a teenage girl you lived in the besieged Leningrad and that you mother believed you were dead? My memory preserved everything what we endured in the besieged Leningrad. I was 10, when our family was evacuated in 1942... By that time my step-father had died. My mother was also very weak and the people thought she was hopeless. One day, my mother's close friend came over and secretly took our ration cards. So our four ration cards were gone and we had only child's card, which entitled our family to 4 oz. of bread a day. In the family I was the oldest daughter. My youngest sister Lydia lives in St Petersburg, whereas Nina died. With the help of God, we managed to cross over the Ladoga Lake. Then we were put into old railway cars and we began our journey. On every station, doctors and nurses would visit the cars to take to the nursing stations those who were very weak or almost helpless to try at least give them some help. They would also remove the bodies of those who died en route. My sister Nina and I were taken away with the dead. According to my mother, we, girls, were lying still and our bodies were severely frostbitten. I was unconscious and didn't know what was going on. So they took us away with the rest of the dead. I don't know how I came to and how they realized I was not dead. Maybe I stirred, or something... My sister Nina didn't survive – she was buried in a common grave. I came to in the hospital where I spent three months. My hands and feet were frostbitten, but the Lord arranged for my hands to heal, whereas the surgeons amputated the toes on my right foot. First I moved about in the wheelchair, then I started to walk a little on my own. In the hospital, all my thoughts were about my mother: was she alive, and if so – where was she? I longed to be with her. (To Be Continued)
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
Athens, Greece: “Papal ‘primacy’ has no theological foundation, no legitimacy from the Holy Spirit and no ecclesiological legitimacy. It is clearly based on a worldly understanding of authority.” This was the conclusion of the theological conference which was organized by the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus on 28 April 2010. The conference was also honored by the presence of His Beatitude Hieronymos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece. Also present were: Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira, Metropolitan Pavlos of Glyfada; and Bishop Melito of Marathon. According to the “Confession of Faith” of the Synod of Constantinople of 1727, “No other head whatsoever is accepted in this Eastern Church, save only Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the Father given to the whole Church, and her foundation.” In the Church of the first millennium there was no papal primacy “by divine right” in jurisdiction or authority over the whole Church. On the contrary, the Church had the right to make decisions about its administration without the Pope, even in spite of his strong opposition, and these decisions were universally valid. After the schism of 1054, the increasing claim of the popes for primacy of authority over the whole Church completely subverted the structure of the mystical body of the Church inspired by the Holy Spirit. It makes conciliarity (as a function of this body inspired by the Holy Spirit) relative – practically abolishing it – and introduces the worldly mindset to it. It nullifies the equality of bishops, misappropriates the complete administrative authority of the whole Church, essentially setting aside the God-Man and making a man the visible head of the Church. In this way the ancestral sin is repeated in this institution. True unity takes place when there is unity in faith, in worship, and administration. This is the model of unity in the ancient Church, which the universal Orthodox Church continues unchanged. As the host of the conference Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus emphasized in his introduction, “Due to the heretical and blasphemous doctrine of the primacy of the bishop of Rome and the spiritual ramifications which come from it (such as the “infallibility” of the Pope and his autocratic-monarchic despotism over the whole body of the religious community under him), Papism has developed into an autocratic-monarchic system of mystic ideology and perversion of the meaning of the Church. It has proven to be modern Roman-Frankish ethnicism in a spiritual disguise, has taken away the mystical freedom in Christ of each of the Church's members and has turned out to be the inevitable and fateful cause of the falling away from the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church into hundreds of different heresies, and an insurmountable obstacle to their possible return.” At the assessment of the participants of the current theological dialogue between Orthodox and Roman-Catholics, its attempt at the restoration of ecclesiastical communion must somehow – beyond the elimination of the heretical teachings of Rome (Filioque, created grace, infallibility, purgatory, etc.) – aim also at the definite elimination of papal primacy and not at some commonly acceptable interpretation of it. Finally, the syncretistic framework of “unity in diversity” is considered unacceptable and cannot become acceptable as “a model for the restoration of full communion.”
Archpriest Aleksii Kiselevich
Shanghai, China: On May 9, 2010 for the first time after half a century, Orthodox divine service was celebrated in St. Nicholas church in the heart of Shanghai. In the small temple, for the first time in many years were heard church hymns, gathered dozens of Orthodox believers living in the metropolis. Many of them came with children. Following the Divine Liturgy, Fr Aleksii Kiselevich, spiritual leader of Orthodox flock in Shanghai, served a thanksgiving moleben to mark Victory Day, and then a panihida for fallen soldiers. The resumption of worship in the temple, closed during the “Cultural Revolution”, was made possible thanks to the zeal of many people – members of the Orthodox community, the staff of the Consulate General of Russia and members of the Russian Club in Shanghai who for many years were trying to first evict from the church places of entertainment, and then were working hard to have the services resumed. St. Nicholas Memorial Church, a masterpiece of architecture and one of the major attractions of Shanghai, was built by the Russian emigrants in 1934. Its construction was done in record time — 15 months. In 1965, after the death of the last Orthodox bishop of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church, Bishop Simeon (Du) of Shanghai, all Orthodox churches in Shanghai were closed by Chinese authorities, the church buildings were nationalized. They were subsequently transferred for commercial use. (For example, the Cathedral of Shanghai in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Surety of sinners” for over 20 years was used as a warehouse. In the cathedral narthex a restaurant was opened, while in the cathedral itself a stock exchange was established and later also a restaurant and nightclub.) St. Nicholas Church for a long time has been used as a warehouse; during the “Cultural Revolution” in China it housed a laundry. The survival of the church during the excesses of the hongweibing was helped by a portrait of Mao Zedong placed on the front of the bell tower. Since the late 1990’s an Italian restaurant was located inside the temple. In 2002, the Russian Club in Shanghai with the support of the Consulate General of Russia organized the collection of signatures requesting the eviction of entertainment establishments from the premises of the two Orthodox churches in Shanghai. The request was partially satisfied: the nightclub was removed from the cathedral, the cathedral itself after the restoration was transformed into an exhibition space. In 2005, in Shanghai, an Orthodox community was established and regular services were conducted, which were headed by Archpriest Aleksii Kiselevich. Following the November 2009 visit to China of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the Orthodox of Shanghai collected hundreds of signatures requesting that the church be provided for Orthodox services. “Previously, Orthodox services in mainland China were only on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Beijing and the Consulate General in Shanghai”, reported Archpriest Aleksii Kiselevich, “This year, for the first time it was possible to reach an agreement with the Shanghai Administration to resume divine services in St. Nicholas church during the time of the Shanghai World Expo for collective worship for foreigners.” St. Nicholas Church is leased from the Chinese government. Funds to pay for it come in the form of donations from parishioners. The temple will be open on Sundays and public holidays for all Orthodox guests of the World Expo in Shanghai in the period from May to November 2010. Nairobi, Kenya: “We repeat our advice to the people of Kenya to reject this proposed Constitution of Kenya,” affirmed the Bishops of Kenya in their press statement issued today, May 11. The bishops observed, "We do not believe that a document that is fundamentally flawed should be passed only with a very vague hope that it will be amended later, especially when the process of amendment is more difficult after than before." There are two objections that Christians have to the new draft of the Constitution. The first concerns the clause that shifts the beginning of life from conception to birth. This proposal is seen as paving the way for the legalization of abortion. The second objection concerns the recognition of the Muslim civil courts, the Kadhi Courts. The new draft of the Constitution will be approved by a referendum. Zagreb, Croatia: In the past week several churches of the Diocese of Gornji Karlovci were broken into. The church bell from a church of St. Petka in Gornja Chemernica was stolen. Burglars did not stop at this but also have invaded the altar of the church and stole two lampadas from the Precious Cross. One bell was also stolen from the church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Komogovina. The same thing happened last year in the church of St. Petka in Glavaci near Otochac before a consecration of this church. In Karlovac a bell was stolen from the place where all bells were deposited for safekeeping after blowing up the church of St. Nicholas. The same situation is in the Diocese of Dalmatia where everyday there are unfortunate scenes. St. John Church in Baljci has been recently broken into. Vandals in last three years broke into the church of St. George in Knin five time. These actions and misdeeds towards churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia appear to be sponsored by pro-ustashi and pro-fascist groups with ties to the Croatian government. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Many know that having the New Testament in one's possession is a capital offense in a number of Muslim countries. But few know there are cities in the Muslim world where non-Muslims are not allowed to enter. Non-Muslims can never live in Mecca or Medina, as only Muslims are allowed to enter them. But this is about to change when the new "smart city" being built in Medina is completed. Knowledge Economic City, Saudi Arabia’s first “smart city” – its buildings are all connected via voice, data and video links – will open its doors to non-Muslims as the city is planned to be a window into the world of Islam. Sami Baroum, the managing director of Savola group, the largest private owner in the project, said that one-third of the new city, which will be developed on an area of 4.8 million square meters, will be outside of the forbidden area known as the Haram. It is expected to open in five years. “For the first time, non-Muslims will be able to experience living within a Muslim holy city,” Mr. Baroum said. “They will not live inside the Haram area, but they will be very close to it as they can see the lights of the Prophet Mohammed’s Mosque.”
Warsaw, Poland: May 7-9, 2010, Orthodox youth of Poland took part in the 31st Youth Paschal Pilgrimage at Polish sanctuary of the Holy Mount Grabarka. It started with the vespers and blessing of the water at the base of the Holy Mountain. It was celebrated by Metropolitan Sava. In the evening bishop George consecrated the pilgrims’ cross and it was placed by the Transfiguration Church. After the consecration of the cross bishop George lit the fire, around which young people sang devotional song. The second day of the pilgrimage started with the Divine Liturgy. It was celebrated by Metropolitan Sava and bishops Jakub and George. Then, after breakfast pilgrims participated in various physical and theological competitions. At 12 o’ clock bishops and clergy answered countless questions of the pilgrims. In the afternoon pilgrims had an opportunity to learn more about Orthodoxy as they could attend discussion groups, among them about prayer and the 300th Anniversary of the miracle at the Holy Mountain. Then they participated in the vespers and panihida for the late Archbishop Miron and igumenia Barbara. Pilgrims had an opportunity to make a confession at night and receive Communion on Sunday. Tel-Aviv, Israel: Israelis officials say a decade of overfishing has left the aquatic population of the Sea of Galilee in danger. The fishing ban will be in effect for two years. Scientists who study the freshwater lake hope the ban will allow the population of St. Peter's fish, a local breed of tilapia popular with locals and tourists, as well as other species to regenerate their numbers. Scientist Ilia Ostrovsky, who studies the lake and serves on the committee overseeing aquatic populations, said the fishermen of the Galilee began using nets with smaller and smaller mesh over the years, catching more small fish to match the tonnage of big fish they caught in decades past. "The fishermen ... are sawing off the branch they are sitting on," he said. The ban will bolster the population of fish in the lake, Ostrovsky said, but cautioned that it must be followed by more stringent enforcement of fishing laws. The ban will put 200 licensed fisherman out of work, but tourism is unlikely to be affected. Athens, Greece: Orthodox Church of Greece is going to help “the suffering people of Greece” during the ongoing economic crisis, said Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, during his meeting with the Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou. “We know that the effect of the EU harsh measures are going to be felt the worst after the summer, therefore we are training priests to properly handle the situation”, said priest Gabriel Papanikolaou. “We also plan to deliver food supplies, clothing and other necessities, as well as aid the people who might be losing their jobs – we will be providing pastoral and psychological help. The Church is going to help the people – the way it has always been”. It is worth remembering that before entering EU, Greeks lived a simple life when only one person had to work to provide a comfortable living for the rest of the family. Therefore, all the criticism, aimed at Greece in the world media and picturing the country as a welfare state where nobody does anything is but another lie of western propaganda. Damascus, Syria: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has awarded the Order of Friendship to Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All Orient, Ignatius IV. The ceremony took place at the patriarch’s residence in the old part of Damascus. Ignatius IV gave a warm welcome to President Medvedev, saying the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Antioch and the Russian Orthodox Church have an ancient relationship and cooperation. The two Churches have always stood together in all the circumstances, the patriarch said, adding that he is honored of being a bridge between the two sister Churches and nations. Ignatius IV indicated he has had personal acquaintance of all the four patriarchs of the Russian Church during his service in the position of the Patriarch of Antioch. Ignatius IV also thanked the President for Russia’s continuing the search for peace and for doing this in cooperation with Syria. In his turn, President Medvedev congratulated the Patriarch on the occasion of the forthcoming feast of Ascension of the Lord. “Sisterly relations exist between our two Churches and this tradition has deep-going roots,” he said.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. May Bulletin Covers sponsors are Yacko family. 2. Next Sunday we collect non-perishable food items for Hobart Food Pantry. Please, do not forget! 3. Memorial Day is approaching. If you did not have your family graves blessed yet, make arrangements with the priest. Panihidas can be chanted at the graves at any time. 4. We are planning to have a parish-wide rummage sale in the first part of June. Bring your rummage items to church and ask John Springman where to put them. 5. Our parish will participate in the annual Hobart Lake Front Fest August 19 - 22. Since we are going to need to purchase various supplies (pork, brats, buns, cabbage, etc.), we are accepting cash donations. Your donations and any suggestions or questions should be addressed to Michael Petyo. 6. Our church needs a set of white priestly vestments. Price for a most modest set of vestments usually starts at $400.00. If you would like to donate please give your contributions to Fr Sergii or add it to your Sunday offering, earmarked ‘vestments’.
Bulletin - 5/9/10
On Spiritual Life 29 The Elder said about our times: “Time of Noah is here. God is calling us to enter His Ark, the Church. Let us be very careful. Chaff is starting to separate from the wheat. Our time is a furnace purifying gold. The longer the gold is in the furnace, the smaller it gets”. 30 The Elder said: “Life is no picnic – it has both joys and sorrows. We have no right to forget God”. 31 To prove existence of soul the Elder used the following example: “When we rejoice or suffer then it is our soul, not our body, that rejoices or suffers. When we cut ourselves or bump into something then we feel it right away. But when we are dead, no matter how long they may beat us, our body doesn't feel it because our soul is not there anymore”. 32 The Elder said to one of his visitors: “If you start thinking that everything around you is worthless – you will benefit and receive spiritual help”. 33 The Elder often stressed the following: “Let us not praise the modern times. If we returned to the old times with its horse-drawn wagons, we would be better off”. 34 When both husband and wife work, then there problems appear. The Elder said that only one spouse should work and that they should be content with few material possessions. 35 To the question, what he thought about the external threats which Greece was facing, the Elder answered: “If God left the fate of Greece and Orthodoxy in our hands, then the former and the latter would perish. God allows for the dangers to come so that we would wake up from our slumber. Now we are passing our exams”. 36 The Elder told one of his visitors the following concerning the power of fervent prayer: “There was a youth whose father was an unbeliever and that was causing a constant sorrow for the young man. But he prayed and prayed for God to grant his father repentance. Then the father got sick and his son took him to Athens to Evangelismos (Annunciation, in Greek) hospital. Once there, he again tried to convince his father to confess, but all in vain. Then he continued to pray. During a medical exam, his father died. The hospital staff – nurses and doctors – confirmed his death and ordered him taken to a morgue. But the youth continued to pray, as if nothing had happened. “My God, grant my father repentance”, he kept saying over and over again. While the father was being transferred to the morgue, he came back to life. Do you understand what happened? That man lived three more years and departed this life fully repentant. This is what faith and prayer do”. 37 To the question of how can one bring to faith a person who doesn't listen to anything one tells him, the Elder replied: “Words alone are not enough. Before, to whitewash a wall they used not only the whitewash itself, but they first applied straw and then added goat hair to the whitewash for a better binding effect. So, besides the words, good example is needed. And everything should be encompassed with prayer which binds our efforts”. Another time, the Elder said: “Help a sinner to tune to another frequency”. 38 To a visitor, whose child was chronically ill, the Elder said: “Patience. You are going to need fewer points to get to Heaven”. To another person, who had a different problem, he said: “Be patient. You have a right for everything to be well”. 39 To someone who worried a lot, the Elder said: “Don't dwell constantly on the winter cold, otherwise you are going to be freezing even in August”.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
London, U.K.: Rev Mark Binney, vicar of St Andrew’s Church, Hampton, Worcestershire, said he had been told he needed permission if he wanted to fly a flag “advertising Christianity”. The flag was put up outside the church in the week preceding Easter displaying the words 'This is Holy Week' and an image of Jesus on the Cross. Mr Binney said the warning was “appalling”, and he felt it was part of a gradual erosion of Christianity in Britain. A local magistrate spokesman said flags other than national flags, county flags, or flags for patron saints, required advertisement consent. He said the council would consider allowing the flag to be flown for a week in future if it was approached by the church. How is the church banner different from the cross on the cupola of the church? Are the times coming when the Anglican Church, as well as the rest of the Churches in the United Kingdom, are going to be charged some special tax for ‘advertising’ their faith? Perhaps, it is coming to it. Helsinki, Finland: Finnish social workers forbade 7-year-old Anton, son of the Russian citizen Rimma Salonen, to pray, to make a sign of cross and took an Orthodox cross off him. "I had a meeting with my son this week. Social workers told me I shouldn't pray with him before lunch as we used to do, we shouldn't make a sign of cross and they also said they had taken off Anton's cross," said Salonen. In 2008, after divorcing Finn Paavo Salonen, Rimma Salonen took their 5-year old son Anton to Russia. Several people, including the boy's father, kidnapped the child from Rimma on April 12, 2009. With the help of a Finnish general consulate official in Petersburg, the child was driven from Russia in the trunk of a Finnish diplomat’s car.
Nuns with the icon of Venerable Justin of Ćelije Belgrade, Serbia: Holy Synod of Serbian Orthodox Church on session in April 29, 2010, proclaimed two new saints of the Serbian Orthodox Church: Venerable Justin of Ćelije and Symeon of Dajbabe. Venerable Justin will be commemorated on June 1st/14th, and Venerable Symeon on March 19th/April 1st. Parma, OH: On Sunday, April 5/18, 2010, during Divine Liturgy, the relics of St Sergii of Radonezh located in the Cathedral dedicated to the saint in Parma, OH, appeared to exude an oily substance consistent with what the Holy Church has historically called myrrh (a fragrant oil). The parishioners of the Cathedral noticed a strong fragrance which they reported to the Dean of the Cathedral, Priest Ilia Marzev. The relics are located in a reliquary and have not yet been examined by the Diocesan Administrator, His Grace Bishop Peter of Cleveland. After reviewing the report, Vladyka will examine the relics. In the interim the faithful are urged by Bishop Peter to pray to St Sergii that he will entreat the Lord’s mercy and guide this process to a spiritually profitable conclusion. The faithful are asked not to travel to Cleveland or otherwise consider this incident to be a manifestation of God’s Grace until the accepted process has been concluded. This is not to say that this is not a manifestation of God’s Grace, but rather that all things should be done “decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40) in this and every other facet of the Church’s life. London, U.K.: We live in the world where sin is promoted and Christianity is persecuted. Militant political correctness is picking up strength. Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God. Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships. The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God. Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act. Mr McAlpine, who was taken to the police station in the back of a marked van and locked in a cell for seven hours on April 20, said the incident was among the worst experiences of his life. Mr McAlpine was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments, when a woman came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith. During the exchange, he says he quietly listed homosexuality among a number of sins referred to in 1 Corinthians 6:9, including blasphemy, fornication, adultery and drunkenness. After the woman walked away, she was approached by a PCSO who spoke with her briefly and then walked over to Mr McAlpine and told him a complaint had been made, and that he could be arrested for using racist or homophobic language. The street preacher said he told the PCSO: “I am not homophobic but sometimes I do say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator”. At the station, he was told to empty his pockets and his mobile telephone, belt and shoes were confiscated. Police took fingerprints, a palm print, a retina scan and a DNA swab. He was later released on bail on the condition that he did not preach in public. Mr McAlpine pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing on Friday at Wokingham magistrates court and is now awaiting a trial date. The Public Order Act, which outlaws the unreasonable use of abusive language likely to cause distress, has been used to arrest religious people in a number of similar cases. Harry Hammond, a pensioner, was convicted in 2002 for holding up a sign saying “Stop immorality. Stop Homosexuality. Stop Lesbianism. Jesus is Lord” while preaching in Bournemouth. Stephen Green was arrested and charged in 2006 for handing out religious leaflets at a Gay Pride festival in Cardiff. The case against him was later dropped.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. May Bulletin Covers sponsors are Yacko family. 2. Our Parish Board meeting is this Monday, 6:30 P.M. 3. Memorial Day is approaching. If you did not have your family graves blessed yet, make arrangements with the priest. Panihidas can be chanted at the graves at any time. 4. We ask our faithful who cannot come to church on any given Sunday to please send in their Sunday offering to the church. May our debts to God be as few as possible. ++++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 5/2/10
I Didn’t Even Need A Passport! By Archpriest Michael Oleksa Reprinted from LitSite Alaska My first visit to St. Vladimir's Seminary in the New York suburbs brought me in contact with a man who said he was destined for Alaska. I was visiting his dormitory room and he had a huge wall map of the state covered with pins. I asked what's this? Why Alaska? What do all these pins mean? And he said "Well, these are the Eskimo parishes, and these are the Aleut parishes, and these are the Athabascan Indian parishes, these are the Tlingit parishes, and this is where we have clergy and this is where we don't, and when I graduate, I'm going to Alaska." I said, "You mean there are Eastern Orthodox Christians in Alaska?" And he said "Yeah, remember ... Alaska was part of the Russian Empire until 1867." Well, I kind of vaguely remembered that … and I decided then and there that Alaska was for me. Here were the two most passionate interests of my whole life and they actually overlapped on American soil. I didn't even need a passport to get there! By the end of my first year in seminary, which was 1969-1970, I was determined to get to Alaska. On top of all of that, the first canonization of an Orthodox saint in the new world was going to happen on August 9, 1970, in Kodiak — all the more reason to make the summer of 1970 my first Alaskan summer. I wrote letters — desperately — to anybody and anything I could get an address for in Alaska, trying to get some kind of job. I had no money and no means of getting there. There was a recession in progress. The state even had an information booth at the Seattle airport discouraging people from going up there to look for work. There were no jobs. I didn't have any success finding a summer job in Alaska by long distance correspondence. In fact, most of the times, I got no answer at all. With great disappointment, I gave up my hope for going to Alaska that summer … then a letter came to the seminary from Old Harbor on Kodiak Island. They had been looking for a priest. The last resident priest, they told me, had died in 1837. These were very patient people! They'd been looking for a resident pastor to recruit to their village for some time, but hadn't been able to find one. So they finally wrote to the Bishop and said, "If you can't send a priest to our village, how about a seminarian?" The letter was forwarded to my school, I volunteered, and two weeks later, I was in Alaska! I did get to attend the canonization of St. Herman. I spent the whole summer on Kodiak Island, visited Sitka on my way back, and when I returned to the east coast in August of 1970, I was totally committed and enthusiastic about Alaska and the beauty and the history and the cultures that were there. From that point on, it was certainly understood by the faculty and students at my school that I was not only going to finish there as quickly as possible, but return to Alaska immediately thereafter — which is pretty much what happened. They even started calling me "Michael of Alaska" at school by the time I graduated. It was close enough to Oleksa for that word play to come into its place. I came immediately following graduation in 1973. I taught at the newly opened Pastoral School in Kenai. I returned to Kwethluk where I had spent the summer of 1972 and met my wife — out on the tundra. We were married in April of 1974, and I was ordained in August and sent to Dillingham with responsibility for 14 villages in the Dillingham-Bristol Bay-Iliamna Lake region. I had a parish that covered a larger territory than most states of the union! It gave me the opportunity to become familiar, not only with the Yup'ik Eskimos of the Kuskokwin Delta, the culture into which I had married, but also to become familiar with Athabascan people. I had spent a year also in Sitka among Tlingit folks in Angoon and Hoonah. And while I was living at the cathedral in Sitka, I was also working at Mt. Edgecomb High School, so I had some experience with a broad range of Alaskan Native cultures by this time.
After several
years in Dillingham, I was, at my own request, transferred back to
Old Harbor, my original Alaskan home where my first son was born. My
daughters were both born in Dillingham, and then my older son was
born in Old Harbor on Kodiak. I became involved there in bilingual
education. Actually, that started with Yup'ik language in Dillingham
and continued in Alutiiq language in Kodiak. Then, (among many other things) because I'd been in the state more than a decade and had spent almost all that time in villages, I was invited by Alaska Pacific University to teach cross-cultural communications, Yup'ik language, Alaska history, and some courses in their Religious Studies Program. So we went to Anchorage for a couple of years, and from there, because I'd already been doing in-services and summer school at Fairbanks, the University of Alaska recruited me to leave APU and migrate north to Fairbanks, where we lived for another five years. By the time I came to Juneau in 1990, I had lived in 10 different cities of the state and had become quite familiar with Athabascan, Yup'ik, Aleut, Alutiiq and Tlingit cultures. I was teaching Alaska history and Alaska Native cultures and languages regularly as part of an orientation program for new teachers. I still do this every summer. I teach Alaska history and an Alaskan Studies course called Alaska Alive for new professionals in Alaska. I teach for almost every agency, state and federal, that has intimate contact with rural Native Alaskans, offering insight and tips on how to better communicate and get along with that constituency.
Ringing the Church Bell, Nondalton, 1981, by Rie Munoz “‘Ringing the Church Bell’ shows how ingenious village people can be. Nondalton, an Athapascan village near Lake Iliamna, has a Russian Orthodox church but no belfry. The Russian priest salvaged a prop from a plane that had crashed nearby and, using a hammer as a clapper, summons his parishioners. The prop works very well and has a wonderful tone” ------------------------------------- Because of this, they invited me to the Governor's Mansion to honor me during the State of the State address! After 30 years of being involved in rural Alaska, I was suddenly showered with honors, awards and plaques. I was Alaskan of the Year last April. After 30 years of almost thinking nobody's really paying much attention or noticing, I've been honored and recognized beyond anything I would ever have imagined. . . . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . . .
Erie, PA:
On the morning of April 26, 2010, at the age of 79, His Grace Bishop
Daniel of Erie, who ministered to the Old Believer Community,
reposed in the Lord.
London, U.K.: Paddy Power, the Irish bookmakers, has paid £10,000 to have its name on the confessional in a Catholic church in the racing town of Newmarket, Suffolk. The Dublin-based bookmakers, which has 200 betting offices in Ireland and almost 100 in Britain, and a turnover of £2 bn, said it was “delighted” with the arrangement. “It's a great fit and perhaps over time confessing your sins in a Paddy Power confession box will become a tradition for race-goers," said a spokesman. Fr Michael Griffin, the priest, said: "It was suggested by a parishioner that we should ask Paddy Power for help because of its horse-racing connections. We were very pleased when they generously agreed. We were happy to put a plaque up on the side of the box, which we refer to as a reconciliation room, and I have mentioned Paddy Power in a sermon.” The confession box has green curtains branded in the corporate logo of the bookmaker and the words "Sin Bin" on the outside. Paris, France: The STOXX Europe Christian Index, which comprises 533 European companies honoring Christian values, was launched Monday, echoing surging demand for ethical stocks, the Financial Times reported Monday. Available in price and net return versions, and calculated in euros and US dollars, the STOXX Europe Christian Index is a new benchmark among all stocks in the STOXX Europe 600 Index set up by STOXX, a global index provider.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. May Bulletin Covers sponsors are Yacko family. 2. Camp Nazareth Family Day raffle tickets are available at $20 a piece. The drawing is on the Family Day at the Camp, June 6. For those interested, Matushka has the tickets. 3. Last week, Richard Sulich and Michael Petyo removed the crumbled and rotted fascia and soffits from the northern side of the church and installed new ones. They have rendered the church a very good service! It was one of the projects to be completed during the warmer months of the year.
4.
We would like to express our gratitude to those of our parishioners
who check on the rectory and either do some minor repairs, purchase
things necessary for the parish house or give valuable ideas. Our
faithful are always welcome to come for a visit!
++++++++++++++++++ Bulletin - 4/25/10 Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life
29 The Elder said: “He who labors for the benefit of his neighbor out of pure love, to him this labor brings enjoyment and rest. Whereas he who loves himself and is lazy – grows tired from sitting”. 30 The Elder said: “Instead of being tortured all your lives by your unclean conscience, it is better to be killed once”. 31 The devil tries hard to recruit his followers from every walk of life. The Elder often said to his visitors: “The devil has three tentacles: for the poor it is communism, for the believers it is ecumenism, and for the rich it is freemasonry”. 32 To the visitors, who don't go regularly to church and justify themselves that once in church they are tired and doze off during the service anyway, or that they on account of the multitude of people cannot concentrate on prayer, the Elder said: “Church is like a ship. You board the ship and then you can daydream, doze off and fall asleep, but the ship still will cross to the other side with you on board. You just have to get aboard.” 33 The Elder said: “May say: 'First, I am going to get settled, solve my problems and then I will start going to church'. This is an excuse. In the church you receive a blessing. Do not postpone the reception of the blessing till you solve all your problems. First, receive the blessing and only then go and organize your affairs.” 34 Another time the Elder said: “Some say they do not go to church because there are too many people there. So they think it is just as well to stop at a chapel and light a candle there. They forget that in the Kingdom of Heaven there will be many people. As well. Does it mean that we shouldn't go there, too?” 35 The Elder said: “Do not worry for the people with soft hearts – Christ will reward them. Grieve over the hardhearted people”. 36 The Elder said about the people who sin and have no fear of God: “God doesn't kill evil. Evil kills itself. God doesn't kill an evil person, but his evil acts lead him to death”. 37 The Elder said: “Good shines. The good person is seen from afar and everyone agrees with that. There comes a moment when even those who used to laugh at him or despise him are look for him. The drunks and those who play cards when they need a person who would solve their problems – for example, would measure out their farm land or do some other work for them – look for a good person. The same is done by those who want to marry their children: they do not go visiting bars looking for the future husband or wife for their child. They look for good people”. 38 Addressing parents, the Elder said: “Do not pressure your children unreasonably. Growing tomatoes, I tie the vines to the stakes with cloth strips. If I tied them with pieces of wire the vines would get cut. Discernment is necessary here”. “Nowadays, children have powerful engines but square wheels. Therefore, to get moving they need help”.
Holy Hiero-martyr Gregory V, Patriarch of Constantinople
Orthodox people are celebrating the Paschal season, the time of renewal and new life. Many Greeks and others remember Pascha of 1821, when the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory, fell to a Turkish lynch mob, an act that kicked off a racial genocide campaign against white Christians in Anatolia. The Ottomans divided their subjects into millets (minorities), racial and religious groups subject to specific tax and legal codes. By 1821 the Ottoman Empire was already “the sick man of Europe,” overextended and ripe for rebellion by the teeming millions of oppressed on its European fringe. Ever since that dark day in 1453 when Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire fell to the Turkish hordes and lost its ecumenical status, the Patriarch of Constantinople served as the legal representative, or Ethnarch, of the Greek millet in what was by now Turkey. The Greek revolution of 1821 threw off the Ottoman yoke, the first in what would become a series of successful uprisings that would eventually drive the Turks out of the Balkans. Needless to say, Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II was shamed and infuriated by the success of the Hellenes, and took out his frustration on those helpless Greeks still within his grasp. On Pascha Sunday, 1821, Ottoman officials working on the orders of the Sultan marched Patriarch Gregory out of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Constantinople shortly after the end of the Paschal service. Still clad in his holy vestments, Gregory was strung up and hanged on the gate of the cathedral. The body remained hanging for three days, after which it was cut down and sold by the Turks to the triumphant Jews of Constantinople, who dragged the body through the streets to the Bosphorus (the strait dividing Europe and Asia) where it was dumped. Shortly after murdering the Patriarch, Turks went on a looting, killing and raping rampage through the Greek quarter of the city that once was the Greeks’ own capital and the jewel of the Western world.
By Divine mercy, the Patriarch’s body was not lost — it was found by a Greek captain and brought within a month to Russia. Once there, the relics, which were already exuding fragrance, were put with great honors to rest in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Odessa. In 50 years, the holy relics were transferred back to Patriarch Gregory’s Motherland where they were placed in a magnificent reliquary in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens, where they remain to this day.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Athens, Greece: Thursday 15 April 2010, in an atmosphere of devotion and excitement, the fathers of the Holy Monastery of Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite received back the holy relic which was stolen on 15 March 2010. The man who stole the holy relic saw the Saint on four occasions, who said to him: "My child, bring me back to my house from which you took me; you have troubled me enough." Shocked, the man ran and found a priest nearby at the Metropolis, to whom he confessed with sobs and tears, saying, "I have sinned, Father, I have become sacrilegious", as he handed over the relic. The priest took the holy relic and excitedly returned it to the Holy Monastery of Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite. It should be noted that the repentant thief said he will visit the abbot of the monastery soon to ask his forgiveness. Washington, D.C.: The Obama administration plans to appeal a district judge's ruling declaring unconstitutional the annual National Day of Prayer. The Justice Department on Thursday filed a formal notice with the U.S. District Court for western Wisconsin that it plans to appeal a ruling earlier this month by federal Judge Barbara Crabb, which found fault with the annual presidential proclamation as established by Congress. The Justice Department's notice didn't explain any specific reason for the appeal by President Barack Obama, who is named as defendant in the 2008 lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group, which represents agnostics, atheists and others in favor of the separation of church and state, argues that the National Day of Prayer violates the First Amendment's clause barring the establishment of a religion. The White House has argued that the proclamation simply recognizes the traditional role of religion in the U.S. Judge Crabb, in her ruling, said Congress's prayer declaration "goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context." The White House said the president still intends to issue the annual proclamation on May 6 as current law requires. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, applauded the Justice Department filing, saying "setting aside a day to honor a religious practice of many Americans throughout history is in no way unconstitutional. Every American is free to either enjoy it or ignore it." Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion, expressed disappointment at the White House's appeal: "We have a constitutional scholar in the White House who is disregarding the secular underpinnings of our government". Reykjavik, Iceland: Russian Orthodox parish in Reykjavik regularly prays for fair weather at a time of volcanic eruption in Iceland. "We pray for ‘healthful seasons’ every day. Thanks to the eruption, this ancient prayer for good weather has become especially comprehensible and close to all of us," says the parish rector Fr. Timothy Zolotuskii. According to the priest, the volcanic eruption hasn't changed the way of parochial life, "if not for the lack of candles that should have been delivered to Iceland from ‘big earth.’” The priest hopes that increased interest to Iceland caused by the volcanic eruption will help fundraise for the country's first Orthodox church. Divine services have been celebrated in the parish since 2005. The Russian Orthodox community has increased three-fold to become the fastest growing religious organization in Iceland. Today the parish unites over 360 immigrants from all over the Orthodox world and other countries, as well as Iceland natives.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. April Bulletin Covers sponsors are Petyo family — Wedding Anniversary. 2. Camp Nazareth Family Day raffle tickets are available at $20 a piece. The drawing is on the Family Day at the Camp, June 6. For those interested, Matushka has the tickets. 3. Paschal season continues but our paschal flowers have all withered away. Please remember to bring flowers to church — we have a sign-up sheet in the narthex to indicate who brings flowers the coming week. And as always, flowers from your garden are always the best choice.
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Bulletin - 4/18/10 Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life
24 The Elder said: “The best undertaking there can be is opening of a manufacturing facility which would be producing good thoughts”. Another time he added to that thought: “One pious thought equals a whole Athonite vigil”. 25 It is with the good thoughts that we have to treat those who ask alms on the bus stops, on the roads and in many other places. The Elder said that we have to help them all without discretion. He himself once helped a woman by giving her five hundred drachmas (at the time five hundred drachmas were about three US dollars) and he asked her forgiveness that he couldn't give her more. He also gave her his address so that she would send him hers. And he promised her that once he was back on Mt Athos he would send her more money. In a little while, the woman sent him a letter in which she inserted five hundred drachmas and she asked forgiveness for inconveniencing the Elder. Therefore, the Elder would stress that “God looks at man's heart and gives everyone according to His Divine justice”. 26 The Elder said: “Divine Providence especially favors families with many children. Look at caviar inside the fish: God provided every baby fish with a little sack so that it could feed on its own till it grows up a little bit. If God provides for the fish, He definitely will provide for the children in large families”. He continued: “There was a man with seven children and they didn't have a home. He was making only as much as to barely get by and he couldn't find anything he would be able to afford to rent. He was run out from everywhere. So, one day, while he was waiting for a bus, he bought a lottery ticket from a man who was hocking them at the bus stop. The father of the seven children bought the ticket not because he wanted to but because he felt sorry for the man who was hocking the tickets. The ticket he had bought turned out to be a winner. With the money he had received he bought a house and thus his problem was solved. His compassion towards the poor man who was making his meager living by hard work of hocking the lottery tickets moved the Divine Providence to help him and his family”. 27 The Elder said: “Today, the children are not satiated with the maternal love, because their parents desire to be satiated with the material goods. They cannot even learn their mother's tongue because she is at work all day long. Once they brought a child to me thinking that he was demon-possessed. He didn't speak Greek but was uttering some incoherent sounds. I asked the parents what they did for living and they said that both of them had two jobs. They left for work early in the morning and returned home late at night. The child was looked after by some woman who, wanting to be left alone, would turn on some foreign channels on the TV. This is why the child was saying incoherent foreign words. I told the mother to leave her job and spend time with her child so that he would feel her love and learn his mother's tongue. 28 Another time the Elder said: “When something is wrong with the children there is a reason for it. May be the blame is to be put on the example we set for our children? May be the blame is to be put on the inappropriate entertainment, mean actions and dirty words that the children witness in our homes? In any case, piety is instilled with the mother's milk, not with the solid food. At times, we are to instill piety by strictness and command, but first and foremost – by our own example”.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
New York, NY: A husband shocked a Manhattan court by giving his wife's murderer a Bible and encouraging him to save his soul, the New York Post reported Tuesday. "God is going to be with you," Noel Pumarejo sobbed, his hand on a boxed bible and his eyes on David Andrango, 32, who stabbed his wife to death over $10,000 in missing gold when they worked together at an Upper East Side boutique three years ago. "Just read this Bible, and come to Him (Jesus), and save your soul. God bless you, David," he told the convicted killer. The judge showed less mercy — sentencing illegal immigrant Andrango, originally from Ecuador, to 25-years-to-life imprisonment. The store where Sandra Pumarejo worked as a bookkeeper fired Andrango after he swiped $10,000 in raw gold, but she promised not to call the cops if he would pay it back, and even helped him work out a restitution schedule. Andrango stabbed her to death days later, after paying only $400 back. "I know that nothing will bring her back," Andrango said, when given his own chance to speak. "I didn't think very well before acting," he said, through a Spanish interpreter. "I've lost my family, my children. But I will keep you in my prayers forever, all of you," he told Noel Pumarejo. "I can't look you very straight in the face. I am ashamed. Thank you for the Bible. I will take it with me all of the time. I will always read it," he added. Stockholm, Sweden: A suicidal man's nighttime call to a helpline in Sweden was met with a snoring pastor. Around 2 a.m. Friday, a distraught man called emergency services and said he felt "psychologically unstable." He was then referred to the pastor on duty, The Local reported. After speaking with the Church of Sweden pastor, the 44-year-old man felt as though he was talking to himself: "I thought maybe he was taking notes, so I asked: 'Are you taking notes?' I could hear his heavy breathing." After another 5 minutes with no answer, the man hung up. He called again but was placed on hold. After waiting for 10 minutes, he hung up – feeling angry, rather than depressed. The man said he stopped thinking about suicide. A spokeswoman for Church of Sweden expressed regret over the incident. The spokeswoman said there would be an investigation, and any pastor who falls asleep while on the job would be relieved of duty. Warsaw, Poland: Poland's Catholic primate has urged fellow citizens to see the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in a weekend air disaster as a "dramatic challenge" to build "a fuller community" at the national level and with neighboring states. "We are all asking ourselves the same painful question — how was this possible?" said Archbishop Henryk Muszynski of Gniezno. "Why has a new drama been added to the greatest drama of the last war in the innocent deaths of our nation's political and religious elites?" he asked. "We can expect the causes of this tragic accident to be explained directly in the future. But the wider question will no doubt stay unanswered, along with the pain and sadness not just of close families but also of all Poles." The plane carrying Kaczynski, top government and military officials and religious leaders crashed in heavy fog April 10 while attempting to land at the Russian airport of Smolensk. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom's Senior Ulema Council has resolved one of the most important and controversial questions by defining "terrorism" and criminalizing its financing. The Council considered its criminalization of terrorism applicable to all terrorist actions worldwide and not just Saudi Arabia. The council's decision stipulates the "criminalization of the financing of terrorism" and it stressed its dangers, considering the financer "a partner" in crime, as the Sharia texts make it clear. The Sharia fatwa reached by the Senior Ulema Council is considered "important and unprecedented" as it criminalizes terrorism and refers to "fighting and criminalizing terrorism in all its forms and kinds, including its financing" according to the text of the decision that sources have reported to Asharq Al-Awsat. The decision did not include a specific penalty for the financers of terrorism and left it to the judiciary to determine the penalty under Sharia law. The Senior Ulema Council's decision included a definition of terrorism which was confined to descriptions, saying that these include "targeting public resources, spreading corruption, hijacking planes, and bombing buildings." It stressed that the opinion it has concluded concerning the definition of terrorism and the criminalization of its action and financing does not concern Saudi Arabia alone but includes the Muslim countries and other countries of the world. By making this decision, the Senior Ulema Council has reached a definition which criminalizes all the terrorist actions by Al-Qaeda organization in Saudi territories since 12 May 2003. The 9/11 events when 19 Al-Qaeda members hijacked three civilian planes are considered "criminal" according to the Saudi ulema's decision. Rabat, Morocco: 7,000 Moroccan ulemas (Islamic scholars) denounced in a common message the Christian proselytism in their country and considered it a "moral rape" and "religious terrorism" that "tries to divert Moroccan children from their faith". The text released is the last episode of the campaign by the authorities against foreign Christians who settled in Morocco. Throughout March, about 70 Christians have been forced to flee the country, as calculated by the different churches, but the Moroccan Interior Ministry acknowledged only the expulsion of 16 who ran a small orphanage in the Atlas Mountains. The Christian victims of the decision are all Protestants except a Franciscan. It is the first Catholic ever expelled from northern Morocco. The message of the ulema referred to the orphanage run by the Christians as "a moral violation, a form of religious terrorism and is equivalent to the abduction of innocent children." At least two governments, the U.S. and the Netherlands, have criticized the measures taken by the Moroccan authorities, but not the Spanish that is currently chairing the European Union. The bulk of the expulsions were carried during the first weekend in March when the first summit between Morocco and the EU was held in Granada.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. April Bulletin Covers sponsors are Petyo family — Wedding Anniversary. 2. Camp Nazareth Family Day raffle tickets are available at $20 a piece. The drawing is on the Family Day at the Camp, June 6. For those interested, Matushka has the tickets. 3. Next Sunday we collect non-perishable food items for Hobart Food Pantry. In the last two months we have increased our support of the Hobart Food Pantry — our donations box was full. Let us keep up the good work. 4. Yesterday we had a fundraiser during which we tried to sell the rest of the nut rolls which were left over from previous Soup Sales. But even after yesterday’s sale we still have nut rolls and stuffed cabbage left, as well as the soups and cabbage and noodle which were made last week. So, if you need to purchase some nut rolls or stuffed cabbage — know that they available at the church. 5. Last Tuesday, the feast of Radonitsa, when we gather in the church and go to the cemeteries to pray for the departed for the first time after Pascha, our memorial service was very well attended. Our departed loved ones need our prayer for them, especially more so on the days when the entire Church with one voice prays for their blessed repose. Please, do not neglect the ancient Christian traditions and help the souls of the departed who can no longer help themselves. Civil customs of the land encourage us to visit the graves on the Memorial Day. Our Christian identity, however, should come first. Nevertheless, if you have missed Radonitsa and didn’t have panihida served by the graves on that day — ask the priest to visit the graves with you on Memorial Day.
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Bulletin - 4/11/10
Pascha - The Brightest Night
(Photos used for this article were taken on the night of Pascha at
the Protection of the Mother of God Cathedral in Des Plaines, IL)
. . . . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of
The Earth . . . . . . . . . .
Warsaw, Poland: In a sight familiar in some west European countries but new to Poland, protesters demonstrated in Warsaw last week against the construction of a mosque. Some 150 people protested at the half-finished building site, a 30-minute drive from the city centre, where what will be only the country's fifth mosque is built. "Such centres are very often sources of radicalisation," said one protester. He brandished a banner depicting minarets as missiles that resembled a stark image used in a Swiss referendum when electors voted last year to ban new minarets. Others chanted: "Let's not repeat Europe's mistakes" and "Blind tolerance kills common sense," and demanded that Muslim countries respect women's rights and religious freedom. "Look at what's happening in Europe, I don't want my daughter to be forced to wear a burka in the future," a protester said. "I live in Poland where we have churches, synagogues and mosques and that is fine. But if I go to Saudi Arabia, I cannot wear my medallion and churches where I could pray are banned," said a woman demonstrator. Recently, European countries have seen an influx of Muslims, making Islam the second faith in many. The Muslim population in Europe is estimated at 15-18 million, roughly one-third in France. Nicosia, Cyprus: Cypriot security authorities are examining information received about the presence of defenders of Orthodoxy, believed to be planning demonstrations against the Pope when he visits on June 4. According to Phileleftheros newspaper, special concerns were raised about the planned visit to the Saint Kyriakos Church in Paphos because a number of the zealots oppose dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Vatican. The concerns follow a series of anti-Catholic protests by local faithful in October last year. Around 100 Orthodox believers, including monks, protested against an inter-faith conference. In one instance, a Catholic Priest was chased out of an Orthodox church in Chlorakas, while he attempted to marry a Catholic couple. When police arrived some protesters were arrested. The police have received information about known zealots from Greece, who will be in Cyprus at the same time as the Pope. One Greek Orthodox organisation which opposes the dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Pope has expressed its opposition.
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bishop Vasilije of Zvornik and
Tuzla asked of the Inter-Religious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina
to strongly condemn the recent invitation to the Serbs and the
Orthodox clergy in Maglaj to convert to Islam. Such invitations,
sent prior to Pascha, are shocking and represent the culmination of
evil and threatening, said Bishop Vasilije. He pointed that the
Serbian people and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the B-H Federation
are constantly exposed to discomfort, pressure and provocations of
Bosniaks. Early last week, several Serb returnees and the Serbian
Orthodox Church priest in Maglaj received an invitation to attend a
public discussion about the conversion of Christians to Islam, which
has caused great anxiety among the Serbian population in this
municipality.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bulletin - 4/4/10
Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life 22 Someone asked how we should pray. The Elder said: “With the feeling that you are a little child, and that God is Your Father. After that, begin asking from Him. If what you are asking for turns out to be foolish – do not be sad, the Lord won't be upset with you. He looks at your heart and gives you what you need what is best for you. The same happens with the child who asks his father to buy him a moped because he thinks he has grown up. But his father is afraid his son will hurt himself, so he will put off buying the moped only to buy him a car later. 23 Quality of person's thoughts plays a significant role in his spiritual life. The Elder would always stress the need for a Christian to have good thoughts about all people and all deeds, to see everything in the positive light, to begin with love and finish with love. Although it is very difficult, it is necessary. Christian shouldn't be in a hurry in coming to conclusions or in passing judgment. When considering the actions of others, we should not be objective and cold, but we should look at them with a brotherly disposition and hope that tomorrow they are going to become better. The Elder also emphasized the responsibility of the spiritual fathers to correct people's bad thoughts, not to excuse them. It should be the goal of the spiritual father – to nurture good thoughts in people. We shouldn't also forget that the bad thoughts are planted in us by the devil, that these thoughts are always full of lies and make us come to erroneous conclusions and misunderstandings. The following story told by the Elder and which happened to him illustrates this point very well. In this story, we are amazed by the Elder's disposition and happiness he found in asceticism which distinguished his monastic life. If we carefully listen to the Elder’s words, we will receive useful instructions for our spiritual life and help in formation of our Orthodox mindset. This help is going to be not theoretical but most practical, pertaining to our everyday life in all its details. “Once there came to me a youth who had no good thoughts and asked me to take him as a novice. I explained to him: — I have no novices now. Firstly, because, due to the great influx of the visitors, they would be waiters, not monks who heed their spiritual life. Secondly, I have been a monk for many years and have acquired many good things, but I also have some weaknesses which I was not yet able to get rid of. Therefore, if you come here you might hurt yourself by the good I have (fasting, vigils, prayer) because you won’t be able to endure. This is why I cannot accept you. At last, he left me and went to visit different monasteries. In several days, when I was sitting in front of my cell and eating two cut-up tomatoes without oil on a plate and some dried bread, I was contemplating the good which God had done unto me. I was thinking that God had given me such a good little hut in such a beautiful place and that many rich people, who would want to spend the summer here, would envy me. I was also thinking that that was my house and I didn’t need to pay for it any rent — the problem which causes much trouble to many people. I could see that every day I had food for which I didn’t have to labor in a factory, that I was in a place where brethren were so nice… And those thoughts produced a sweet regret for my unthankfulness for the good which God had done to me and I began to cry, being unable to eat any more. And it was then when I was in such a state of soul that there, behind the fence, appeared the same youth who several days before was asking to receive him as a novice. Right away, so that he would not see me crying, I entered my cell, put down the plate, washed and wiped my face. After that I went and opened the gate for him. He, being tempted, said to me: — Is this how it is? You who pretend to be such an ascetic! You just been eating meat but, on seeing me, you hid yourself so that I would see that. Now I understand who you truly are. I smiled and didn’t explain to him anything. I was only amazed at the way he thought and how well he took care of his bad thoughts”.
WE AWAIT THE PASCHAL SERVICE ALL YEAR... By Father Dimitrii Turkin Adopted from Pravmir.com
Author, Priest Dimitrii Turkin
At the end of the eighties, I had not yet been baptized, and I was just beginning to turn to faith and go to church. An acquaintance of mine from the institute was a believer who attended the Church of the Resurrection Slovuschee. It was under her guidance that I took my first steps towards the Church. I remember my first Pascha. Nearly all beginning Christians find church service to be a serious labor. This service was very long and, due to my ignorance, mostly incomprehensible. With great difficulty I managed to stand until the end of the Paschal Matins, and then it “turned out” that there was still the Liturgy ahead. It was a real trial! During the Paschal Liturgy, as is customary in many old churches, they read the Gospel in several languages, none of which I knew at all. I stood there trying very hard to penetrate the meaning of what was going on. It is surprising that, having neither experience of prayer nor understanding of the church service, I was profoundly and deeply impressed. One could say that this was just a new “cultural discovery” for me. But, however new a cultural event may be, it is still a run of the mill thing for a secular man. One cannot experience one and the same work of art all one’s life; one way or another the impression pales beside later cultural developments. The impression from my first nocturnal Paschal service has stayed with me forever (although, to be honest, I must confess that I stepped into the church yard a few times to rest a little). It is so bright that if I close my eyes I can still see Metropolitan Pitirim standing on the cathedra and the distinguished priests reading the Gospel in various languages. It seems to me that one’s first impression from a Paschal or any other festal service is very important for one who has just started going to church, because it provides a supply of spiritual energy for many years to come. It is human nature to grow used to things, and this is why it becomes ever more difficult to preserve the same heartfelt, prayerful feeling during an ordinary everyday or Sunday service as one had had at the beginning of one’s conversion. However, we have only ourselves to blame if what goes on in church becomes routine: we are unable constantly to urge ourselves to concentrate and pray warmly. If a person has ever had a lofty spiritual feeling during a church service, this recollection helps him to return to the soul’s needs during his day-to-day routine. In the course of time I started attending another church, the Church of All Saints in Krasnoe Selo. I was a regular parishioner for about five years, and it was mainly there that I acquired my experience of the spiritual life. I went to this very church for all the Paschal services. Characteristic of the services there was, first of all, that they were very long. The Paschal Liturgy ended toward the morning — we went home around seven in the morning. It seemed to me then that it could only be this way; but, naturally, I had to get used to it, to train myself, and this was no easy matter, because of my unchurched past. I still live on the spiritual energy supply I received then. The service was done entirely according to the Typikon. The canon was sung in this way: the canon verses were repeated several times. Some were skeptical: why repeat the same thing over and over again, during the Paschal service and then every day? The service according to the Typikon shows why the repeating elements of the service are necessary. The repetitions make the divine truths, the content of the divine service, remain firmly in the mind of the worshipper, captivating his mind and feelings, becoming a part of his being. Then the content of the service becomes understandable, inherently your own, something not imposed on you, but innate
For a beginning Christian, if he is young and healthy, one simply needs to try to humble oneself, to bear the pain in one’s feet, the fatigue. In time it will all become natural and easy. It goes without saying that it is more difficult for a more mature or elderly person. These church services were, for me then, not only filled with spiritual content, but they were also educating me. You can simply stand for an hour or two during a normal service, but when it lasts for three, four hours and more, you are already no longer waiting for it to end. Like it or not, you get involved in what is going on. Although a simple worshipping parishioner does not normally sing or perform anything, if he pays close attention to the service he becomes a participant. This is one of the main tasks of a parishioner during the Liturgy or any Divine Service in general. The Paschal service is special; there is no doubt about that. It is always distressing that this service can pass by in a single moment, as quick as lightning. The Paschal service appears on our life’s horizons quickly, illuminating our mind and feelings, and then disappears from sight. Then once again we await Pascha. We await it all year round, and all Great Lent. All the waiting is condensed in the moment they start singing the stichera in the Altar: “Angels in the heavens, O Christ our Savior, praise Thy Resurrection with hymns…” The Paschal service starts, and it will be over in just a few hours, and then once again we wait for it to happen again. May God grant that this very waiting be the most important one for us, and not the tormented expectation of something earthly and transitory, but rather the expectation of Christ’s Pascha as a clear witness of that for which we all strive: the Kingdom of Heaven.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Rome, Italy: Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin detailed preparations for a public exposition of the Shroud of Turin during a March 25 press conference at the Vatican. More than 1.3 million people have already reserved tickets for the exposition, he said, and 4,000 volunteers have been enlisted to help pilgrims during "the first exposition of the new millennium." The exposition will take place in Turin from April 10 through May 23. Admission will be free, but reservations are required in order to control the orderly flow of pilgrims. Pope Benedict XVI will make a visit and venerate the Shroud on May 2. Representatives from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople are also expected to visit. Moscow, Russia: Militants in the North Caucasus have recently changed the way of recruiting suicide bombers. "As far as I know, now it is done more cynically - a woman is just raped. After it, she becomes a social outcast, she is despised. Then they suggest her the only way to return respect – to become a warrior of Allah," criminal psychiatrist Michael Vinogradov was cited by the Metro paper. According to him, usually they do not refuse as "there are no other options." Then "very serious ideological indoctrination and drugs" are applied and women "are zombied." "Those women who have chosen the "shahid" way can't give it up. It is based on religious and national specifics of the region. They have absolutely different understanding of family, duty and faith," the expert said. Schools of "shahids" in the North Caucasus are always replenished with the girls sold to militants by their relatives. "To recruit women in shahids is even easier than to enlist men," President of the Alpha anti-terror division veterans association Sergei Goncharov said as cited by the Trud paper on Tuesday. According to him, some Muslim families in the North Caucasus sell girls to militants for 2-3 thousand US dollars. As the paper learned from a source in the Russian special services, not less than 15 suicide bombers were driven to various places of the country since the year started. They have recently started pumping suicide bombers with psychotropic substances and drugs. Experts confirmed that the easiest way to turn a person in "a living bomb" is to use specially selected medical drugs. Belgrade, Serbia: The consequences of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Metohija are most apparent in the cities where the remaining Serb population can be counted with the fingers. This is also true of the ancient city of (Emperor) Dušan, Prizren, once proud of its multi-ethnic life, bringing together Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Goranis and Croats. Of the approximately ten thousand who lived here until 1999, today there are only 17 Serbs left in Priština, and only one child, five-year old Milica. During the March 2004 Pogrom, everything belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in Prizren was torched. Flames devoured Potkaljaje, the most beautiful and the oldest part of Prizren, where Serbs lived, adorned by Christ the Saviour Church from the 14th century, the Bishop's Residence, the Seminary, and in the city itself, St. George Orthodox Cathedral and Bogorodica Ljeviška (Holy Virgin of Lyevish) Church. Prizren without Serbs is not the same city. Many people say that Prizren is the most beautiful city in Kosovo, unique architecture, climate, but without Serbs, they say, it is not the same city. Jerusalem: The day of Holy Saturday with the ceremony of the Holy Fire is in the cycle of feasts of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem as one of the holiest, most emotionally moving and consequently, most participated in by numerous pilgrims. On this day from the early hours of dawn the pilgrims from every direction, eagerly arrive in crowds in front of the gates of the Church of Resurrection, which are closed until 10:30 am. In avoiding dangerous congestion or trampling accidents from the crowd, the Israeli Police take strict measures for crowd control which not only makes movement of the people difficult but indeed also for the clergy, even for those responsible for the ceremonial order of the Holy Fire. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem considering the care of its guests and pilgrims, and taking into serious consideration the complaints made by them and the tourist agents, repeatedly over the past years, including this one, held meetings with the Israeli Police to petition for the free access of pilgrims to the Patriarchate Road, to the Christian Road and to the Convent church of the Brotherhood namely that of Saints Constantine and Helen, and for the removal of Police iron-railing barriers. The Police replied explaining that if these facilitations were implemented, the lives of pilgrims would be at risk and would deem the descent of His Beatitude to the Church of Resurrection on Holy Saturday for the ceremony of the Holy Fire, as impossible. From the proposals put forth by the Patriarchate, the Police finally agreed to allow free access into the Patriarchate premises only for those who wear a cassock and a limited number of lay pilgrims. Police, despite the recommendations of the Patriarchate, will not allow the movement of pilgrims along the Christian Road, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Road nor the arrival at the Holy Sepulchre from the Brotherhood's Convent (the Patriarchate) through the Cathedral Church of Saint James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem. The Patriarchate has done whatever possible in appealing to the Israeli Police to facilitate devout pilgrims. The Patriarchate publishes this on its official website, and through the Travel Agencies to inform the pilgrims and make their access easier to the Church of Resurrection and their participation at the ceremony of the Holy Fire on the day of Holy Saturday. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: The invitations sent to Serbs in Maglaj to attend a public panel on conversion to Islam caused fear and concern among the few Serb returnees in that municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation, Republika Srpska media announced. A priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Maglaj, Dalibor Đekić, said such an invitation had appeared on the door of the parochial home. This is the culmination of evil and threats sent to Serbian Orthodox Church believers, who are very concerned and do not know what to do – whether to move, to leave the town again – it is written in a letter of the Orthodox bishop of Zvornik and Tuzla, Vasilije, to the head of Maglaj Municipality, Mehmed Mustajbasic. Bishop Vasilije asked Mustajbasic to take steps in order for the organizers to be found, the more so as this is happening on the eve of the most joyous Christian festival – Pascha. ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. April Bulletin Covers sponsors are Petyo family — Wedding Anniversary. 2. Today, the Feast of Pascha, April 4, the two votive candles on the Holy Altar Table are offered by Ann Hakos in memory of all the departed members of her family. May their memory be eternal! 3. On Great and Holy Monday last week a small group of our faithful came to church to prepare the House of God for the Feast of Christ’s Holy Resurrection. We would like to express our most sincere gratitude to all of them, who, at times on their hands and knees, worked tirelessly to prepare the church for all of us to celebrate the Lord’s Pascha in. 4. Next Sunday, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, a plate will be held to receive our donations for the Mission Fund. 5. We have just received a pack of Camp Nazareth Family Day raffle tickets. The tickets are $20 a piece. The drawing is on the Family Day at the Camp, June 6. For those interested, Matushka has the tickets. 6. Below, we are delighted to present to you the best what Loraine Petyo’s camera could do to preserve for posterity our Lenten Mission two weeks ago. These pictures are not only the best but they are the only ones which turned out decent, while others which were taken during the service are way too dark. Nevertheless, we are thankful to Loraine for being the sole chronicler of the event. (Alas, Fr Gregory Allard (St Alexis Church in Lafayette) is not on any of the photos).
Bulletin - 3/28/10
Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life 19 To the question of one visitor, if it were right to pray to the Mother of God for our salvation, since we know that only Christ saves, the Elder answered: “Christ is our only Saviour. He offered Himself as a sacrifice for us. But now listen. If you were a person of great importance and you came with your mother to a city where all the people were waiting for you, they would give a big welcome to you and to your mother. They would address her with most wonderful words, even if they didn't know her. You, hearing those words, would rejoice and be glad that your mother is so greatly esteemed. So also Christ rejoices and is pleased when He hears that we speak good words about her. Think, if some poor woman would come to your mother and ask her to talk to you so that you would give her good job and you would give her good job because your mother asked you, then that woman, although you gave her the job, would be saying that your mother saved her. This is why we say that the Mother of God saved us, although all power belongs to Her Son Who is humble and rejoices when He hears our good words about His Mother”. 20 The Elder said: “All our prayers go to God. We pray to the Mother of God and to the saints, that is we ask them to bring our prayers to the Lord, so that our prayer was of great power”. 21 To the question: “Bowing before the icons, do we bow before idols?”, the Elder replied: “I will give one example. Mother, whose son was sent to war, is worried and greatly distressed about him day and night. Unexpectedly, she receives from him a letter with his photo in it. What does she do when she looks at the picture? She takes it in her hands and kisses it, she presses it to herself, to her very heart. And what do you think? Does this mother, who has such a fiery love for her son, think that she kisses a picture? She believes that she kisses her son himself. The same believed by him who has a fiery love for the Mother of God and for the saint whose icon he venerates. We venerate the icons not because they are icons, but because there are saints depicted on them; and we honor the saints not simply because they exist, but because they struggled for the sake of Christ.
Why Spin the Pedals? Adopted from Pravmir.com
Author, Vitaly Kaplan
Writing about fasting is, in general, daunting. First, so much has already been written about it that one is sure to repeat commonplaces. Second, I have nothing much of which to boast; I am no great faster, although I could have achieved more in the seventeen years of my church life. But perhaps the reader might be interested not only in the experience of ascetics, but in that of outsiders, as well. As is well known, one learns best from the mistakes of others. I fasted best of all in the beginning of the nineties, when my church life had just begun. Neophyte ardor is well known, the desire to jump to the very top of the stairs at once... It goes without saying that one concentrates on the food side of fasting; other facets are more difficult, but here everything is concrete: what one can eat and what one cannot. My spiritual father, it is true, cooled my zeal by saying: “For you, Vitaly, the main principle of fasting is not to create extra problems for those close to you.” It amuses me now to recall that then I would really puzzle over the question of whether one was allowed to eat pasta if the label says that it contains egg powder. When I asked my spiritual father, he answered that I was straining out a gnat, and swallowing a camel. Nevertheless, notwithstanding my inexperience (to put it mildly!), that was real fasting. Not because I did not eat something, did not watch certain things, did not go to certain places – but because my attention was concentrated on the state of my soul. I scrutinized myself – and, deeply disliking what I saw, I rushed to Confession as one with acute pain rushes to the dentist. But the years went by, and the neophyte ardor cooled down imperceptibly. I learnt much about fasting, read intelligent, profound books and my mother no longer referred to fasting as “starvation” – but something had changed. I had gotten used to fasting. It is nothing especially difficult. You don’t eat certain things, you don’t drink certain things, you stay away from certain entertainments, you pray more, you visit church more often, and receive Communion more often. One can do this automatically; no special will-power is even necessary – if, of course, you do not exhaust yourself by keeping to the full strictness of the Typikon (which is not required of a layman anyway). But what is the point of such automatism? But this automatism is characteristic of very many church people. Fasting exerts little essential change on their lives. The food rules go without saying. What else? They’d visit church on Sunday even outside the fast, they’d receive Communion once every two or three weeks, but now they’re receiving it weekly (which is a real difference, true.) Before they watched almost no television, and now they are not watching any at all. And they quit visiting those who do not lead a church life, not to be tempted by burgers. And performing good deeds? If one is already accustomed, then the time of the fast is no different from any other; and if one does good to people only during the fast, then serious questions about its good arise. This is why in the Orthodox blogosphere, many ask the question: why fast? We are all literate, we can give entire lectures on the meaning of fasting to non-believers. But if we are honest, does fasting really bring us believers so much closer to God? For the time being, people keep such questions to themselves as they find them inappropriate – but sooner or later, thoughts hidden in the depths of one’s soul come out into the open. Naturally, it gives rise to heated discussions, sometimes meaningless and pitiless ones (for instance, whether shrimp and calamari are fasting fare, whether one is allowed to polish one’s fingernails during the fast, and what the “two cups of wine” allowed on Saturday and Sunday equal) – but whatever direction the polemics go, the starting question always remains the same, and is addressed to each one of us. What does fasting mean to us? A change in the habitual way of life – or “corrective work” you perform upon your own soul? Sometimes this question is waved away in simplicity, reducing it all to ecclesiastical discipline. If you are a member of the Church, you must obey the rules without any arguments. It is funny that I have heard the same line of argument from Orthodox Jews as far as kashrut is concerned: one is not to seek the logic in it; it is written this way and one must obey; and the one who doubts is of little faith. There is some truth to this approach (the Church's discipline is not there for nothing; if people are allowed to act “according to the wind in their heads” – it will all break to pieces). But there is a lie in this approach, as well. The lie is that the thoughtless obeying of rules leads to their soulless fulfillment. But what is the sense in performing such rules if it turns one into a robot? We understand very well that the meaning of asceticism is not in external limitations, but in the reconstruction of the soul marred by sin; limitations are but tools for this task. They have no value in and of themselves. That is why each of us needs to consider seriously and frankly why we submit to the Church's Typikon, why we observe the fast with our bodies and limit ourselves in this and that. This kind of intellectual work is, in my opinion, a necessary preparation for fasting. I know the answer for myself, and the answer is very simple. Fifteen years ago I had the opportunity to speak with a well-meaning atheist. “Alright,” he said, perplexed, “I can understand that you have come to believe in God, decided to save your soul and so on. But why would sausage bother God? Why do you have to fast?” Then I told him: “To demonstrate that I am serious in my intentions.” Only much later did I understand that this is really the case. I have come to believe in God. What does that mean? That I am in an unceasing dialogue with God, contemplate the uncreated light, and perceive floods of grace? No, of course not. My faith is weak, and my will is weak. But do I want my faith to be stronger? Yes, I do. Do I understand that my love for God is weak? I do. Do I want to love Him more? I do. And I realize perfectly well that love grows only if it is reflected in something. As long as it remains in the sphere of vague feelings and thoughts, love has not yet developed. Love needs to be embodied in something external, in actions demanding some effort of will. Let it be the temporary rejection of sausage. It is not something God wants, but something that I want. If I eat sausage during the fast, God will not love me any less for this. Will I love Him less? If I am not ready to limit myself in anything at all for His sake, do I need Him? I’ve read in spiritual literature that the refusal of meat and dairy products is useful for one’s soul in itself, because it is easier to pray without eating meat and fewer sinful ideas appear and so on. But I do not know. Perhaps this is the case for the higher stages of asceticism, but I am far from attaining such heights and personally have never felt any correlation. For me, it is quite enough that I restrict myself for His sake. Not out of fear that some believers would frown upon me; not blindly obeying the Church's discipline, but in order to demonstrate – not to Him, but to myself – that my faith is not shallow, not a mind game, but the true direction of my life. Perhaps such a demonstration may seem childish and naïve. Like, in the third grade, hopping on one leg home from school for a girl’s sake. But for me, it is serious. Whatever requires an effort of will is always serious. I take the Church’s fasting regulations not as a “military order,” but as a useful tool. I personally find it useful, and let others decide for themselves. Here is one more analogy I thought of during the first year of my church life (at the time, spent much time bicycling during the summer). Spiritual life is never uniform. Like a road, it goes uphill and downhill. If you do not pedal intensively now and then, you will go slower at first, and then you will fall down altogether. Fasting is going uphill, which means one has to make an effort.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
Belgrade, Serbia: The Diocese of Raška-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija expresses its serious concern due to KFOR's intent to transfer protection of the memorial at Gazimestan to the jurisdiction of the Kosovo Police. Earlier this month (March 2) during a meeting between Bishop Atanasije and Bishop's Deputy Teodosije with the KFOR commander, German General Bentler, in Gračanica Monastery, it was clearly said that it is unacceptable for this Diocese and the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija that holy shrines and buildings protected by KFOR be transferred to the protection of the Albanian Muslims. Especially worrisome is that this intention is again coming up on the anniversary of the March Pogrom against the Serbs and the Serbian Church six years ago. Kosovo Police does not inspire confidence in either the Church or the Serbian community in this southern province of Serbia. The Holy Synod of Bishops for this very reason recently sent a delegation headed by Bishop Teodosije, which visited Berlin and Paris in order to present the concern of the SOC and her faithful following the decision to reduce KFOR forces to the political representatives of Germany and France, and to point out dangers that may destabilize the situation in this region. Hartford, CT: Muslims who want to become imams in the U.S. can now train at an institution founded in the 18th century by members of the Congregationalist denomination to prepare pastors and other Christian ministers for service. Hartford Seminary is launching a new "Graduate Certificate in Imam Education" program this spring, with help from the seminary's Duncan Black MacDonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the Fairfax Institute and the Fairfax Institute's parent, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, or the IIIT. The Hudson Institute's Hillel Fradkin says he's concerned about the move, because the IIIT is a front group of the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned most of the leading terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Hamas. "If the Hartford Seminary program is being done through the IIIT, that is rather worrisome," said Fradkin, senior fellow of the D.C.-based think tank's Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World. Christopher Holton of the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington agreed the IIIT represents a radical version of Islam. "IIIT is a Wahhabi organization. The Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam is among the most intolerant, hateful and aggressive religious cults in the entire world. The Hartford Seminary has been snowed due to their apparent ignorance, and this is a disservice to America, as well as peaceful and tolerant people of all faiths," he said. He called the move "an unfortunate continuation of a disturbing pattern of misguided American Christian leaders choosing to do interfaith outreach with jihadist Muslim Brotherhood organizations." Lvov, Ukraine: Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk urged Lvov authorities to help the Lvov Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church get a cathedral. At the meeting with head of the Lvov regional administration Nikolay Kmit Metropolitan Hilarion expressed his indignation with the fact that the diocese did not have a cathedral. The Metropolitan called the situation "grievous" as believers of the canonical Church for many years could not obtain permission for building a cathedral and had to pray in a small St. George Church. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia during his last summer visit to Ukraine said that the fact that the Orthodox Church did not have a cathedral of its own in Lvov "only enhances the sense of hostility." Zagreb, Croatia: News of the re-establishment by the Croatian government of the so-called "Croatian Orthodox Church" (HOC) caused anxiety among the Orthodox in Croatia. It is known that the HOC was formed in 1942 in the time of the fascist and Ustashe regime of Ante Pavelic in the NDH (Independent State of Croatia). Then the Pavelic's regime committed genocide against the Serbian, Jewish and Roma people in the NDH, and the goal of the phantom HOC was to destroy every trace of existence of the Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Serbs in this region. The Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people have been living for centuries in the region of Dalmatia, as it is evident and confirmed the best by its parish churches and monasteries, which were built between XIII to XV century and represent a significant cultural heritage. During the announcement of the forming "Croatian Orthodox community" it became obvious that this group identify itself and has organically links itself with the Ustashe regime from the time of Ante Pavelic and the so-called HOC. It is, as one indivisible whole, had genocidal program of destruction and extinction of all non-Croats in the time of the criminal NDH, thus the formation of this community clearly causes human fear of the possibility of restoring of its program. We sincerely hope that this Community, which is associated with the darkest period of the recent history of Croatia, because of its openly militant and pro-Ustashe character, will not be able to be registered at the competent institutions of today's Croatia which is at the door of entry into the European Union. Our clergy and the faithful in pastoral care and responsibility, we recommend to reinforce their fasting and prayer to God, which is the only Lord and Judge of the world and the guardian of our martyr Church for centuries and still crucified Dalmatia, not to be afraid and do not accept these fake pastors and preachers, "who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7:15), but to save their world Orthodox church and their faith, their Patron Saint's (slava) and their Dalmatian shrines, which have preserved and kept it throughout history”, stated by the Info service of Diocese of Dalmatia. Washington, D.C.: The White House hosted the Annual Greek Independence Day Celebration for the 24th consecutive year honoring the 189th Anniversary of the start of the Greek War for Independence of March 25th, 1821. This year’s celebration coincided with the official visit to Washington of the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic Mr. George Papandreou. Mr. Papandreou, who earlier in the day had an official meeting with President Obama, was the first to address the more than 350 guests in the East Room of the White House. In his comments, the Prime Minister praised Archbishop Demetrios “for his commitment and his very important work as the spiritual leader of the Greek Americans.” Archbishop Demetrios said that “we pay homage to those who fought the Greek War of Independence and we honor their universal legacy for freedom, democracy and independence,” he said the heroes of 1821 succeeded because they had “souls filled with unwavering faith, hearts filled with enormous courage, and minds shining with brilliance…” The Archbishop asked the President’s assistance on the issues of interest to the Greek American Orthodox Community and said: “We repeat our plea expressed to you in last year’s celebration, for your needed intervention in the still pending issues of the unification of Cyprus, and of the appropriate name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Our plea for these issues is accompanied by our warm prayers for the leaders and people of Greece, the land which gave Democracy and universal values to the world.” President Barack Obama spoke last, in a warm and upbeat atmosphere, highlighted by the previous speakers and an earlier announcement from the Department of Homeland Security about the designation of Greece as a member of the Visa Waiver Program. The President in his remarks noted how fitting it was to have Mr. Papandreou present in this year’s Greek Independence Day celebration, thanked and praised Archbishop Demetrios, and acknowledged the contributions of the Greek American Community and its leaders. At the conclusion of the program President Obama greeted many of the attendees including Metropolitans Iakovos of Chicago, Methodios of Boston, Evangelos of New Jersey, Bishop Savas of Troas, members of the Greek government, diplomats, numerous members of Congress present at the event and Alexi Giannoulias who is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. Islamabad, Pakistan: A Christian was burnt alive and his wife was raped for refusing to convert to Islam. Arshed Masih and his family of five lived in the servant quarters of Sheikh Mohammad Sultan - a Muslim businessman of Rawalpindi. Arshed worked as a driver for the sheikh since 2005 while his wife was working as a maid. Their three children are students. His eldest daughter Mary is 12 years old, son Nasir Masih is 10 years old and the youngest daughter Neha is 7 years old. In January, local religious leaders along with Sheikh Sultan demanded that Arshed convert to Islam along with his whole family. After Arshed talked to his wife about this, she asked him to quit his job. After 10 days, the same group came again and asked him to convert or he would have to face dire consequences. When Arshed told the sheikh that he was prepared to quit, the sheikh became furious and threatened to have him killed. Arshed Masih informed his family and friends about the threat and Christian religious leaders tried to intervene. The sheikh said he will not let Arshed and his family leave his house. On March 14, Shiekh Sultan`s house was allegedly burglarized and he filed a case of theft against Arshed’s wife. Arshed was also assaulted by the police. However, the police report of the theft did not name Arshed. On March 16, the sheikh offered conversion to Islam to Arshed and his wife in exchange for desisting in the case. Even so, the sheikh said that to the contrary they would not see their children again. When Arshed refused, he was burnt alive and his wife was raped. Even while Arshed suffered severe burns over 80 percent of his body, he remains alive at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, as is his wife. The local police superintendent has been notified, but no arrests have yet been made. Arshed’s children witnessed their mother’s rape and father’s torture and are currently homeless. Belgrade, Serbia: All over Serbia and in the Serbian diaspora, Day of Remembrance of Victims of the NATO aggression against Serbia is being marked. Some 3,500 persons were killed, more than 12,500 were wounded and thousands of infrastructural facilities, hospitals, schools, buildings and other civilian targets were leveled to the ground or damaged in the NATO bombing, which began on 24 March 1999. On that occasion, commemorative gatherings have been held, homage was paid to victims and wreaths were laid on monuments. Serbian Patriarch Irinej held a memorial service to all the victims of the NATO aggression in St Mark’s Church in Belgrade. The aggression ended with the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement and the withdrawal of Yugoslav Army and Serbian Interior Ministry forces from Kosovo and Metohija, after which UN peace forces arrived in the southern Serbian province. Ever since the arrival of the international forces, more than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have been expelled from Kosovo and Metohija.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. March bulletin covers sponsor is Dorothy Mastronicola. 2. On the Feast of Pascha, April 4, the two votive candles on the Holy Altar Table are offered by Ann Hakos in memory of all the departed members of her family. May their memory be eternal! 3. This week, the week of the Passion of Christ, we have many Divine Services. Try to attend and benefit from as many services as possible. Please be mindful of the fact that on Friday night and Saturday night there will be processions around the church. These services are the most important services of the year. We ask all our men to make themselves available for caring banners, icons and lanterns during the processions. Our parish board president will be in charge of distributing the holy items for you to carry. We would like for as many of us as possible to participate in these processions. Only a few people need to stay in the church during the procession to prepare and decorate the Tomb on Friday night and to move the Tomb to the side on the Saturday night. At the end of the service on Friday night and before the beginning of the service on Saturday night — the church will be somewhat dark. On Saturday, please have the candles in your hand at the beginning of the service. So when the priest comes out from the Altar and says “Come receive the Light” you will be ready to receive the light from the priest’s candle. Please, try to be on your feet, if you can, during the Resurrection Matins, especially when the priest walks through the church and exclaims Paschal greetings. The table for the Paschal baskets will be set up in the front of the church, as we did last few years. As you come back into the church after the procession, you can light the candles in your baskets to avoid the usual delay. 4. Tomorrow, on Great and Holy Monday, March 29, we are going to clean the church in preparation to Pascha. We have two shifts: morning and evening. Most of us come in the morning and Janet Petyo is usually by herself in the evening. If you are planning to come in the evening, please let Janet know. 5. Next Sunday we collect non-perishable food items for Hobart Food Pantry. 6. We have just received a pack of Camp Nazareth Family Day raffle tickets. The tickets are $20 a piece. The drawing is on the Family Day at the Camp, June 6. For those interested, Matushka has the tickets.
++++++++++++++ Bulletin - 3/21/10
Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life 17
People easily forget about their responsibility to
pray, because they are daily occupied with diverse activities and
fill their minds with all sorts of rubbish. It comes to the point
when should they want to pray – they can't. They squander their time
on inferior things and live without the mystical union with God. The
Elder worried about this state of the contemporary Christians in the
world, and at times even of monastics. Therefore, he would often
denounce them in order to awaken them spiritually so that their
prayer would be more regular and purer. He used to say: “We waste
our time on worthless things instead of being in constant union with
God. Take, for example, women. If they prayed with the prayer rope,
they would acquire the Divine Grace and work miracles in this world.
But what do they do? Let's say they have a carafe. One says that she
doesn't like the green leaves painted on the carafe and that she
would like to have red flowers instead. Another woman says that if
one went to such and such a store one could get a much better
carafe. What is that? This one is a carafe and that one is a carafe.
Isn't that the same thing? Leave alone those carafes and bend your
knees in prayer. A similar thing one can see here, on the Holy
Mountain. Once I came to one cell and saw a monk shaking out some
bed covers. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was shaking
out his lace. Then I said: “Have you come to Athos to shake out your
lace? Leave it alone. Get down on your knees, pray and weep – for
this is what we are supposed to be doing here: praying and only
praying.
18
Here is what Elder Paisios said about the results of
prayer: “When I lived in the Stomiou Monastery in Konitsa, a field
keeper from a neighboring village used to come every Saturday for
the evening service at the monastery. The man, who had many
children, always asked me to let him light the lampadas in the
temple. I allowed him overlooking the fact that he would always
spill oil. When he would leave the monastery, he, having walked
awhile, would fire his shotgun. This always puzzled me, and once I
secretly followed him. Having lit the lampadas, he oiled his gun
with the oil from the lampada hanging in front of the icon of the
Mother of God and, kneeling before it, he asked Her for a little bit
of meat for his children. When he left the monastery, a wild
nanny-goat was waiting for him with her head bowed. He made one
shot, killed the goat and that way he got meat for his children.
This was how the Mother of God, listening to his simple prayer,
would give him the best meat for his very large family”.
. . . . . . . . .
News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . .
Constantinople, Turkey: Turkish government plans to resume work of an Orthodox
Theological seminary on the Island of Halki after it remained shut
for several decades. "I personally and the government are determined
to re-start education in the seminary," said Turkish Vice Prime
Minister Bülent Arınç. As was reported in February, PACE deputies
urged Turkish authorities to let Constantinople Patriarch re-open
the theological school on Halki and register it as a branch of
theological faculty of the Galatasaray University. Patriarch Kirill
of Moscow and All Russia after his meeting with Turkey's head for
Religious Affairs Ali Bardakoglu in Ankara in 2009 said that "to
re-open the Halki theological school would be a right step to take."
Turkish government closed the Halki theological school in the
1970-s, when it was the only seminary of the Constantinople Orthodox
Church.
New York, NY:
A majority of bishops of the Episcopal Church have approved the
election of the church’s second openly homosexual ‘bishop’, the Rev.
Mary D. Glasspool, a decision likely to increase the tension with
fellow Anglican churches which do not approve of the sin which the
Bible so strongly condemns. ‘Bishop’ Glasspool, 56, is to be
consecrated as one of two new assistant ‘bishops’ in Los Angeles on
May 15. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the leader of
the Church of England and spiritual head of the Anglican Communion,
issued a warning in December that ‘Bishop’ Glasspool’s election
“raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and
its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a
whole.”
Ottawa, Canada:
Leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada have sent a petition to
the Vatican asking for full communion with the Roman Catholic
Church. In the letter, the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church
of Canada, which is a member of the Traditional Anglican Communion,
expressed gratitude for the Vatican's "positive response of December
16, 2009 to our letter to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith of October 5, 2007."
London, U.K.:
A Catholic adoption society has unexpectedly won a High Court battle
against legislation forcing it to consider homosexual couples as
parents. The adoption society wins court battle over gay rights
exemption.
Catholic Care
had said it would have to give up its
work finding homes for children if it was made to comply with the
new anti-discrimination legislation. The Charity Commission had
rejected its plea to an exemption under the Sexual Orientation
Regulations but a High Court judge allowed the adoption charity's
appeal. Mr Justice Briggs, sitting in London, ordered the commission
to reconsider the case in the light of the principles set out in his
judgment.
Catholic Care
was the last Catholic adoption charity to continue its fight against
the equality legislation.
Santiago, Chile:
Recently, Chile has been hit by a powerful earthquake which
changed the lives of many, including the Orthodox Christians there.
Here is the letter received from Fr Alexii Aedo of St Nectarios
Church in Santiago. "An affectionate greeting from Santiago. We are
well into the midst of a major disaster, the Lord has saved our
family. We have already celebrated Divine Liturgy in our Community
of St. Nectarios, it was very intimate and beautiful and we felt a
strong spiritual communion. The Lord’s words, human and spiritual
closeness has been a great comfort to us and has brought feelings of
relief and gratitude. I felt very strong love for my dear church.
First came the earthquake, then every day for 15 to 20 aftershocks,
then looting and robbery, now a health emergency. I need to be close
to the sick in hospitals, Concepcion looks like a city after a war
... We just got electricity, water and the first steps to open trade
and public offices. A great area has been devastated … We need to
wait in line several hours to buy anything. Fortunately, we haven’t
heard of any deaths of our faithful. The most difficult situation
that we face is lack of financial resources for the coming months as
our source of work was destroyed. God bless you abundantly. Fr.
Alexii Aedo". According to deacon Roberto Leon from Santiago, the
parish of St. Nektarios in Santiago held an emergency session to
decide on how best to help Fr. Alexii, who seems to have suffered
the most damage in the quake, having lost his possessions and his
job. "Father Alexii's place of work, the "Valle Central Institute"
is almost completely destroyed. It is almost sure that he won't have
any work for a while, hopefully not very long time, but in the
current situation nothing can be predicted", wrote Fr. Roberto in an
email. "Because of that, we feel that the optimal way for helping is
sending to Father Alexii a monthly fee, just an amount for
subsistence of a 6 members family (Fr. Alexii, Matushka, and four
children) considering rent of house, feeding and eventual urgent
medical
expenses."
Father Alexii
Aedo
Hartford, CT:
Latino population growth over the past two decades has boosted
numbers in the Catholic Church, but a new, in-depth analysis shows
Latinos' allegiance to Catholicism is waning as some move toward
other Christian denominations or claim no religion at all. A report
by researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., finds Latino
religious identification increasingly diverse and more
"Americanized." "What you see is growing diversity — away from
Catholicism and splitting between those who join evangelical or
Protestant groups or no religion," says report co-author Barry
Kosmin. As Latinos or any other ethnic group assimilates to American
culture, they pick up its values and are somewhat less likely to
identify with the religious identification of their parents or
grandparents.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.
March bulletin covers sponsor is Dorothy Mastronicola.
2.
This Sunday. The two votive candles on the Holy Altar Table and the
Eternal Light are offered by Anne Springman, Madge Petri and Helen
Urban in memory of their sister Mary and their brother Lt. Joseph
Feryo. May Our Lord rest their souls with the righteous and make
their memory eternal!
3.
Yesterday, we had our last Soup Sale this season. Our faithful
labored hard and had a great variety of soups and baked goods
prepared, besides our staple items: stuffed cabbage and nut rolls.
Almost every family contributed to the success of this fundraiser.
We thank all our faithful for contributing to our fundraisers
throughout the season. May the Lord reward all of you and bring you
much needed consolation and health to your families!
4.
In the narthex, we have a new sign-up sheet for those who would like
to bring flowers to church.
5.
On Great and Holy Monday, March 29, we are going to clean the church
in preparation to Pascha. We have two shifts: morning and evening.
Most of us come in the morning and Janet Petyo is usually by herself
in the evening. If you are planning to come in the evening, please
let Janet know.
6.
Yesterday, our parish hosted Chicago Deanery Lenten Mission. All who
were present, both our faithful and our guests, have undoubtedly
derived a great benefit from the talk on Prison Ministry, from the
Akathist to the Divine Passion of Christ, from confession and from
the Lenten meal. For the talk, we thank Peter Bylen, a parishioner
of Holy Resurrection Church in Hobart and a member of the Prison
Ministry team led by Fr Phillip Drennan, we should be thankful to
God for hearing our prayer and our confessions, and we are thankful
to all our faithful who prepared the most lavish and gorgeous Lenten
meal. It is good that we had a chance to open the doors of our
church to the faithful of other parishes and provide them with
nourishment, both for their souls and their bodies. We are grateful
to all who prepared the church hall, cooked the meal, set the
tables, waited on our guests and then worked hard to clean the
place.
7.
Next Sunday we collect non-perishable food items for Hobart Food
Pantry.
8.
We have just received a pack of Camp Nazareth Family Day raffle
tickets. The tickets are $20 a piece. The drawing is on the Family
Day at the Camp, June 6. For those interested, Matushka has the
tickets.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 3/14/10
. . . . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of
The Earth . . . . . . . . . .
ANNOUNCEMENTS
+++++++++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 3/7/10 ORTHODOX IRELAND By Vladimir De Beer
Part IV Irish Saints: Saint Bridget
The best-loved Irish female saint, St Bridget, lived in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. Her veneration would become so popular that it rivaled that of St Patrick until the eighth century, when Armagh achieved pre-eminence among the Churches in Ireland. She founded her monastery in an oak grove at Kildare (‘church of the oak grove' in Gaelic), where a sacred fire would be kept perpetually alight for nearly a thousand years after her death. It was a mixed monastery for men and women, headed by an abbot and abbess respectively. Such was the saint's stature that the diocese of Kildare during her lifetime was known as ‘a see at once episcopal and virginal'. Bridget passed into eternity around the year 525. Her feast is celebrated on 1/14 February, one day before the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord.
Irish Saints: Saint Enda Another pioneer of Irish monasticism was St Enda, who was educated at Whithorn in Scotland. On his return to Ireland, he established monasteries in the Boyne Valley, and around 484 he moved to the far west in order to found a monastery on Inishmore in the Aran Islands. Here he received later saints such as Cieran and Brendan for instruction and advice. Enda reposed on Inishmore in 530. Feast day: 21 March/April 3.
Irish Saints: Saint Fridolin
One of the earliest Irish missionaries to the Continent was St Fridolin (Fridolt). At first he was a bishop, who around 500 went via Scotland to Aquitania in Gaul. There Fridolin founded a monastery at Poitiers and converted the bishop and people from Arianism to the Orthodox belief in the Trinity. From Poitiers he went under royal protection to the Vosges and founded the monastery of St Avold. Further monasteries were founded by Fridolin at Chur in Rhaetia and Säckingen in Germany. Everywhere he converted the heathens to the Christian Faith. He is venerated as the Enlightener of the Upper Rhine, his feast day being 6/19 March.
Irish Saints: Saint Finian
A Leinsterman, St Finian was destined to become one of the great developers of Irish monasticism. He was born late in the 5th century and went to live in monasticism in Wales. Upon his return to Ireland he founded two monasteries, and then around 520 the famous one in Clonard. At Clonard, over the following centuries, thousands of monks would read the Scriptures, the Church Fathers and live monasticism before setting out on their missionary journeys. Finian also drew up the first Irish penitentiary, thereby influencing St Columban in his better-known one. He reposed during an attack of the yellow plague in Ireland in 549. Feast day: 12/25 December.
Irish Saints: Saint Brendan Around 489 a man was born near Tralee on the south-western coast of Ireland who would become famous as St Brendan the Voyager. He established a number of monasteries, of which the one at Clonfert (founded in 559) became the most known. After receiving advice from St Ita of Limerick and St Enda of Inishmore, he set sail in the Atlantic with a number of companions. For seven years they sailed the ocean to the west of their homeland, revisiting the same islands each year for the main feasts of the Church. There is a possibility that Brendan and his companions ventured as far as the North and Central American coast. He reposed around 575. Feast day: 16/29 May. Irish Saints: Saint Ciaran
St Ciaran (Kieran) was born in the western province of Connaught and educated like so many other monks at Clonard. He went to live at St Enda's monastery at Inishmore, where he stayed for seven years and was ordained a priest. From the Aran Islands he went to Lough Ree, where he founded his own monastery on an island. After another seven years Ciaran founded his most famous monastery at Clonmacnoise on the west bank of the River Shannon, in 548. In the following year, at the age of only 33, Ciaran succumbed to the plague that also claimed the life of St Finian. By the 8th century Clonmacnoise had become perhaps the largest monastery in Ireland, possessing a school, writing room, and numerous churches. It was also famed for its large number of high crosses, most of which were destroyed by the Vikings. As if this was not enough, the Clonmacnoise Cathedral was looted and desecrated by Protestants in 1552. St Ciaran's feast day is on 9/22 September. Irish Saints: Saint Ita
Together with St Brigid the most popular woman saint of Ireland is St Ita, who lived some 50 years later. She established her monastery near Limerick, where many of the Irish saints would come to be taught by her. This included St Brendan the Voyager, who was told by Ita that God loved three things: a pure heart, a simple life, and generous charity. She reposed around 570. In Alcuin's poem on the saints of Ireland, Ita is described as ‘the foster mother of all the saints of Ireland.' Feast day: 15/28 January. Irish Saints: Saint Kenneth
St Kenneth (Canice) was born around 516 in Ulster, and was educated first at Clonard and later in Wales. In 562 he went to Scotland and founded a monastery on the island now known as Inch Kenneth, to the north of Iona. From there he undertook missionary journeys to the Picts in Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides. Later Kenneth also founded a monastery at Aghaboe (now Kilkenny, which means ‘church of Kenneth' in Gaelic) in Ireland, where he gained renown as a scribe. His work includes commentaries on the Four Gospels, known as the Chain of Canice. He was a close friend of St Columcille, and several incidents of what we now call 'telepathic' communication between them have been recorded. He reposed around 600. Feast day: 11/24 October. Irish Saints: Saint Comgall
After studying under Fintan of Cluain-Edrech, St Comgall became a hermit on the shores of Lough Erne in the west of Ireland. This period of asceticism and contemplation prepared him for his major task of founding the monastery at Bangor, on the coast to the east of Belfast, in 559. There he instituted a harsh regime that would nonetheless over the next centuries be followed by around 30,000 monks. Bangor would become one of Ireland's most prestigious monasteries, from where St Columban and St Gall set out on their great missionary journey to the Continent, and from where St Moluag went to Scotland to found the monastery on Lismore Island. According to tradition Comgall visited St Columcille on Iona, and accompanied him on his journey to the Pictish king. Comgall reposed as abbot of Bangor around the year 599. Feast day: 11/24 May. To Be Continued
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Amsterdam, Netherlands: Hundreds of Dutch homosexuals have walked out of a Mass in protest at a traditional Christian practice of denying communion to practicing homosexuals. On this occasion, the church, in 's-Hertogenbosch, had already decided not to serve communion, so the protesters left, shouting and singing. The dispute began earlier this month when a priest in a nearby town refused communion to an openly gay man. The Netherlands was the first country to introduce gay marriage in 2001. Most Dutch people do not see sickness in homosexuality, but the Gospel teaches that homosexual activity is sinful. This dispute began during Dutch pre-lenten celebrations earlier in February, when the man chosen to be carnival prince in nearby Reusel was refused communion because of his open homosexuality. The refusal offended many in the local community. The Sint-Jan church in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, also known as Den Bosch, was prepared for the protest and so decided not to give out Holy Communion during Sunday Mass. Several hundred demonstrators, dressed in pink wigs and clothes, left the church in protest. The man at the centre of the row has said he just wants equal treatment - if he is regarded as a sinner, he wants the priest to refuse communion to all other sinners too. The poor man failed to understand that communion is given to the repentant sinners, not those parade their sin. Berlin, Germany: Over the weekend, the head of the Protestant church in Germany was caught drunk driving with three times the legal blood alcohol limit on Saturday night in Hanover. While German commentators condemned Margot Kässmann's actions, most did not feel that she should lose her job. Nevertheless on Wednesday it became clear that the ‘bishop’ felt her position was untenable and she announced her resignation.
Feodor Konyukhov
Munich, Germany: According to a recent public opinion poll conducted by the Omniguest Institute, the Roman Catholic Church lost the trust of the German people after numerous cases of sexual child abuse by the clergy and lay workers were made public, reports Deutsche Welle. Only 30.3% Germans consider the Roman Catholic Church honest, while 32.8% trust the Vatican. The Catholic Church has for decades protected pedophile priests and clerics who sexually abused children from judiciary prosecution, according to German theologians, law experts, and internal church documents. The Roman Catholic hierarchy's complicity was confirmed recently through thousands of denouncements against numerous priests in Germany. In practically all the cases, the abusers were only transferred from one diocese to another and never legally prosecuted. Similar cases of sexual abuse of children within Catholic schools and other institutions, with impunity for the abusers, have been documented in such countries as Austria, Australia, France, Italy, the Philippines, Spain, and the US. Belgrade, Serbia: Renowned Serbian film director Emir Kusturica regrets modern-day humanity’s loss of spirituality. "High-tech pagans have invaded the world today. This paganism doesn't do any good to a human-being. A person today lives under permanent technological control… However, the worst is that the modern people lost spiritual orientation. Uniqueness of a human being as God's image is brought down in the world today," the film director said in his interview to the Spas TV channel. According to him, "today a high-tech person is more disposed to biological life rather than spiritual. He is interested only in material values and is a pagan of technologies. And today this pagan opposes the man of God of whom Feodor Dostoevsky so often spoke about. "Today a high-tech pagan is a consumer who doesn't ask eternal existential questions. He is losing his identity and becomes a part of controlled crowd. He doesn’t' have a soul, he is ready only to consume. Unfortunately, today I often see that majority of Serbs and Russians are turned in such pagans. They live with all their technologies in a spiritual vacuum," Kusturica said. Atheism "destroys a soul and turns us in usual biological mechanisms consuming products imposed by ad industry," the film director believes. According to him, it leads to imitation of western culture samples and "not the best of them. You know, there's a lot of high quality cultural events in the West too, but youth chooses only the worst – paganism of technologies."
Emir Kusturica Dublin, Ireland: An Irish cleric's congregation has increased tenfold in a week — thanks to a quickie Mass. Fr Michael Kenny started his 15-minute Mass as nothing more than an experiment at the start of Lent. And he attributes the speed of the service to foregoing a sermon — and having the help of a Eucharistic minister for communion. The regular morning Mass at 9am had been drawing an attendance of just three or four up to the start of his no-frills experiment. Fr Kenny decided to bring the time back to 7.30am and guarantee he would keep parishioners no longer than a quarter of a hour. Attendances at the small north Galway parish church have now soared to between 30 and 40, with Mass-goers walking out the door by 7.45am.
Plovdiv, Bulgaria: His Eminence Nikolai, Metropolitan of Plovdiv, made statement commenting on the recent interview of pop-singer Elton John to the American “Parade” magazine, where the singer said: “"I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems”. “Elton John's statement is sacrilegious. It is a provocation and temptation for the Christians around the world, especially today, during the first week of Great Lent, when all believers repent and wash their souls clean. It is disgusting that this person parades his sin and even ascribes it not to another man, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, “Who has no sin” (1 John 3:5). The fact that the world mass-media spread such perverted thoughts shows how deeply the modern world have sunk in sin and departed from the Divine Truth. If cohabitation is a sin, homosexuality is a much graver sin. 'Do not be deceived: neither fornicators (i.e. those who cohabitate while not married), … no homosexuals, … will inherit the Kingdom of God' (1 Cor. 6:9-10)”, concluded Metropolitan Nikolai of Plovdiv. At the same time, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, Greece, asked Queen Elizabeth II to raise her voice against the militant sodomite and blasphemer Elton John and to deprive him of knighthood.
Portland, Oregon: The Northwest's Jesuits filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Portland, citing civil lawsuits resulting from allegations of clergy sex abuse. Formally known as the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, the Roman Catholic order declared assets of $4.8 million and liabilities of nearly $62 million, according to the 123-page filing posted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon. The five-state Jesuit province is listed as a defendant in nine active lawsuits in Alaska, Idaho and Washington. The suits were brought by plaintiffs alleging sexual abuse by priests. "Our decision to file Chapter 11 was not an easy one, but with approximately 200 additional claims pending or threatened, it is the only way we believe that all claimants can be offered a fair financial settlement within the limited resources of the province," said Oregon's provincial the Rev. Patrick J. Lee.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. March bulletin covers sponsor is Dorothy Mastronicola. 2. Please be mindful that the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on this Wednesday is in the morning, at 9:30 A.M., so that those who try to avoid driving at night can attend the service. 3. In the narthex, we have a sign-up sheet for those who would like do donate for Paschal flowers. 4. On Great and Holy Monday, March 29, we are going to clean the church in preparation to Pascha. Let us, as usually, have two shifts: morning and evening. Most of us come to clean the church in the morning and Janet Petyo is usually by herself in the evening. If you are planning to come in the evening, please let Janet know. 5. On Saturday, March 20, at 2 P.M., our parish will host Chicago Deanery Lenten Mission. Please, mark this day in your calendars and make sure that we are in church that afternoon. We will be serving the Akathist to the Divine Passions of Christ. After the service, all present priests will be available for confessions. After the confession a Lenten meal will be offered. Please think what you can bring to contribute to the meal. In the narthex, we have a list of things we could come up with. Please put your name by the dish you can bring. If you would like to bring something else — please write it also on the list. The main course will be potatoes baked with onions and carrots and halushki (cabbage and noodle). Please keep in mind that the food is to be made without meat, dairy, eggs or fish. 6. On Friday, March 12, we are making halubki (stuffed cabbage) in church hall. We have been told that some of the young ladies who worked on this project in the past are not going to be able to come. So we need help. Work starts at about 9:00 A.M. 7. Palm Sunday is just a couple of weeks away. We are asking our faithful who have pussy willows in their yards to please cut the branches and bring them to church. 8. We have no sponsors for the bulletin covers for the month of December, yet. Once all the months are ‘taken’ we will be able to remove the list from the stand. ++++++++++++++++ Bulletin - 2/28/10
Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life 14 Elder told a hieromonk: “Our soul must be always in readiness and sobriety and be connected to the Spiritual Headquarters, i.e. to God. Only then she will feel confidence, hope and joy. When I was in the army and fought together with the partisans, I was a signaler. I saw that when we could get in touch with the headquarters in Merarhia every hour, we felt safe. When we could contact the headquarters only every two hours, we felt some insecurity. But when – although this was not often – we could get a signal only in the morning and in the evening, then we felt bad, we felt cut off. The same is true for prayer. The more often you pray, the more spiritually confident you feel”.
Elder Paisios surrounded by visitors
15 People living among the abundance of the material goods easily forget God and never feel a need to thank Him. This is most dangerous for our spiritual life. One can realize this captivity of soul only with difficulty and with even greater difficulty one can free himself from its bonds. The Elder used to stress this for the monastics and laity who visited him. He wanted to show them that the material possessions do not lead to salvation, therefore man has to despise them. For survival, man has to use only what is indispensable and put his trust in the Divine Providence. Elder's following story from his experience is especially useful as well as timely for the contemporary Christians who often fall into the nets of the utterly unjustifiable acquisition of the material goods. As a result, they stop caring for their spiritual state and for the way they live. In other words, they begin to resemble the vessels which have Christian labels on them but are empty inside. So, the Elder said: “I see that the spiritual catastrophe with the humanity happens when it has material possessions in abundance. Then it is hard for people to feel the presence of God and His care for us. Do you want to distance somebody from God? Continuously provide him with the material goods in abundance and he is going to forget about God. I came to this realization when I was younger. When was on Sinai, in the place where I lived there was no water. I had to walk for about two hours to reach the rock from which the water was trickling. I would put my jug down and sit for an hour, waiting for the water to fill up the jug, and then I would go back. Because of this water, trickling from the rock, my soul was experiencing the following: everyday I worried if there would be water from the rock that day? I prayed that God would continue giving me water from the rock. On my way there, I was worried and I would pray. Spotting the rock from afar, and seeing the water glistening in the sun, I would joyfully glorify God and return to my cell giving thanks and glory to God for the water He gave me. The limited amount of water coming from the rock made me, first, to constantly pray to God so that He would continue giving me water and, second, to give thanks and glorify God – the sole Provider of all good things. When I left Sinai and came to the Iveron Skete on Mt Athos, they had no problem with water there. Water was there in abundance. It was measured in cubic meters which was uselessly wasted. But one day I noticed that a change was slowly occurring in me. I realized that during all the time I was living in the Skete I had not said even once: “Glory to Thee, O God”. At the time when on Sinai the lack of water was a cause of prayer and glorification of God, the abundance of water in the Skete drove me to forget that water is a gift of God for which we have to thank Him. This can happen with anything”. 16 The Elder said: “In all circumstances in our life prayer provides us with the most real help”.
Fasting for the First Time? Orthodox priests gave their recommendations to those who are going to keep the Fast for the first time
Archpriest Dimitrii Smirnov “If the person is too young or, vice versa, too advanced in years, I would suggest, for the first time, to do without meat products, at least. It would be good to start with that, if you decided to keep the Great Lent for the first time in your life”, said Mitraphor archpriest Dimitrii Smirnov, rector of St Metrophane of Voronezh Church in Moscow. “If the person is healthy and young, i.e. let's say he is about thirty, I would surely suggest that during the Great Lent he abstains from meat and dairy products. I believe he is quite capable of this”, added the priest. Archpriest Sergii Mahonin, rector of the Descent of the Holy Spirit Church in the Pervomaiskii township in the Moscow district, director of the Saint John the Theologian Orthodox gymnasium in Moscow, advised those who begin their first Great Lent to stock up on patience, humility and love. “This is most important. Lent, first of all, is inner self-restraint. It would be good for those who have any bad habits to renounce them, at least for the duration of the Great Lent. I would stress this for the beginners”, he said. “As for the abstinence pertaining to body and food, it would be wonderful to follow those, too. But this is, after all, not most important. The most important is to learn 'not to eat people'”, stressed Fr Sergii.
Archpriest Boris Mihailov Archpriest Boris Mihailov, rector of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos Church in Phili, made an emphasis on the need, at the beginning of any journey, of any important undertaking, for an instructor. “For him who is entering the Church, such instructor should be a priest. But here one has to be motivated. First of all, he should be looking for the priest who would be an instructor whose advise he would be ready to follow”, said Fr Boris. “To begin with, he has to come to church, talk to the priest there and tell him how it is: 'I desire to join the Ark of salvation – the Church. What should I do? How do I learn to live the righteous life in Christ? Guide me and teach me'. The priest will surely help him what to begin with, including how to begin fasting”, suggested Fr Boris. Archpriest Oleg Steniaev, a cleric of the Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner Church in Sokol'niki, remarked that Lent is an aspect of the Church life. “To the people who have decided to keep the Great Lent for the first time, I would suggest first of all to go to the nearest Orthodox temple and ask a priest for a blessing to keep the fast. He who begins his first Lent does not yet know whether he has enough strength to do it or not. But priest's blessing will definitely encourage him and give him strength to fast”, said Fr Oleg. ORTHODOX IRELAND By Vladimir De Beer Part III Irish Saints: Saint Patrick
It is remarkable that little historical evidence has remained about the saint who is venerated as Apostle to the Irish, while legends surrounding him abound. The only documentary sources regarding his life that are recognised as authentic are his Confession and an Epistle to a Northumbrian chieftain called Coroticus. According to these sources Patrick was born in western Britain, probably in Cumbria, as the son of a Roman official who was a Christian. At the age of 16, he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave into Ireland, where he worked as cattle-herd for his master in County Antrim for six years. There he lived among Christians, which further shows that Christianity was introduced into Ireland before Patrick. He eventually escaped and landed in an uninhabited land, possibly Brittany. Years later, he returned to Britain, but he was called in a vision to return to the country of his enslavement for the sake of the Gospel. According to legendary sources, while Patrick was in Gaul he visited the island monastery at Lérins, a famous centre of Orthodoxy in the West. Before returning to Ireland, he was ordained at Auxerre, either by St Germanus or his predecessor St Amator. Patrick landed in Ireland in 432 at Saball near Wicklow and founded a church above Strangford Lough, where on Holy Saturday of 433 he lit a Paschal fire. After seven years of missionary travels over Ireland, he spent the whole of Lent on a mountain in County Mayo, now known as Croagh Patrick. According to one tradition, Patrick became the first bishop of Armagh, which by the eighth century had become the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland. He reposed at Saball in 461 and was buried in Downpatrick, according to a legend. His feast day is 17/30 of March, and the earliest mention of its celebration dates from 670.
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Kishinyov, Moldavia: “After the collapse of the totalitarian ideologies of the past century, tolerance became the dominant ideology. Exalting, left and right, those who worship this new idol, the new ideology has gained its own rights and power to mercilessly judge all who oppose it”, said the well-known priest Alexander Shargunov at the international theological conference “Trial of faith – between tolerance and love” in Kishinyov, Moldavia. “In today's world, tolerance, while stipulating that faith is a strictly private matter, demands submission to the society's promoted norm. In fact, it is nothing but a triumph of what existed at the time of the terrible persecution of the Church in the Roman Empire. Just place a kernel of incense before the statue of the Emperor and you are free to go and believe in whomever you please – Christ or Antichrist”, remarked the priest. But if any belief is lawful and “equally guaranteed by the spiritual emptiness of the political power”, continued the priest, this means that very notion of faith is relevant: “It must be relegated to the periphery and a priori labeled negative. Then, from beginning to end, the faith is considered negative from the point of view of the triumphant evil, when skepticism becomes a virtue, a guarantee of the common peace and liberty. In other words, weakening of the faith is always going to be desirable, since it (weakening of faith) promotes democratic co-existence of a great variety of ideas. Can a Christian agree with this? Everything within us opposes this concept”, stressed Fr Alexander. “It is suggested that we should be ready to review and change any precepts of our faith and that we shouldn’t insist that they are absolute. In the real life, contemporary skepticism is usually a denial of the existence of the absolute truth. The ideology of tolerance is trying to convince us that every person's value, no matter what it might be, should be treated with equal respect. But if all faiths are only partially true or/and, therefore, of equal measure of truthfulness, if the very idea of truth is a misunderstanding, if good and evil are subject to everybody's own interpretation, then the notion of the absolute truth is meaningless. If this is the case then the horror of Gulag and Auschwitz is simply a result of purely historical circumstances. In other words, if Hitler won the war, we woudn't think of it as we do now. If communism wouldn't have collapsed, then the main communists wouldn't become the main anti-communists but would continue to preach the “bright future” for all. Insanity! Today tolerance gathers its supporters for the final battle against the truth, offering everyone, instead of one ultimate Truth, a faith according to his own tastes and whims. We witness the prophecy of Apostle Paul fulfilled: ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they choose for themselves teachers who would flatter their hearing; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables’ (II Timothy 4:3-4). Therefore, it is not surprising that everywhere now we see the temporal is being placed before the eternal, and earthly — before the heavenly”, continued the priest. “When the world is trying to prove inadequacy of the ‘traditional thought’, there is only one path — most profound and genuine partaking of the ancient but always new culture of complete self-denial of oneself, even if through martyrdom, in the Paschal life. Only then the word of truth will take on flesh. Only then a hope can be born that not everything is lost for the perishing world. Only in this sense can we talk about the necessity of tolerance — Church’s tolerant attitude to the misconceptions of the world, the tolerance which can have place only in the light of faithfulness to the Cross of Christ”, stressed Fr Alexander. “Only when there is no compromise with the evil reigning today in the world we will be able to pray even for those who kill us”. “The Christians are called not to tolerance of evil or to indifferent acceptance of it, but to the steadfast standing up against evil even until our death — for the sake of love towards those who hate us and who kill us and for the sake of salvation of all who need salvation. Our duty, especially in the difficult times, is to keep our souls with such patience, according to the word of Christ, that nothing would confuse, nothing would relax or even ruin them. Patience is not merely an ability to endure everything, but rather to turn everything into the power of Christ and His glory. What was it that would always impressed pagans in the times of persecutions? It was that whenever martyrs died they went to their death with joy, as to a feast, as to the Divine Liturgy…”, concluded Archpriest Alexander Shergunov.
Archpriest Alexander Shergunov
Sevastopol, Crimea (Ukraine): For several years a Crimean retiree Vladimir Golub has been building an Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the village of Mezhgorie all by himself. To dig the foundation he used his savings which originally he had planned to buy a car with. Here is how the Golub family lives: from the two pensions – his own and his wife's – he carves out whatever is necessary for the upkeep of the house and basic groceries, the rest goes for the construction of the church. He himself makes trips to the abandoned stone quarry and extracts stone of the needed size which he then pulls on his cart to the construction site. Then he makes his cement and lays stone. All by himself. This is not the first example when a person or a family of very limited means build a church with their own hands. Is there another way? Yes, take a mortgages. London, U.K.: The Methodist Church is expected to move towards the consecration of bishops next month, marking the culmination of nearly 50 years of debate. This would pave the way for full unity with the Church of England. It could even lead to unity between Methodists and Anglicans worldwide. The US Methodist Church is immensely influential, counting President Bush and Bill Clinton as members. A combined Anglican-Methodist church would create a church of at least 150 million, making it the third largest, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Methodist churches in most countries outside Britain already have bishops, but they are not consecrated in the unbroken line of apostolic succession — as the proposed bishops would be. Methodism broke with this tradition when John Wesley began ordaining ministers for service in the US. For Methodist bishops to be part of the apostolic succession, they would have to be consecrated by a bishop or archbishop from another church that has remained inside the apostolic succession. Oklahoma City, OK: Immunologist Mahmoud Suhail is hoping to open a new chapter in the history of frankincense. Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is. "Cancer starts when the DNA code within the cell's nucleus becomes corrupted," he says. "It seems frankincense has a re-set function. It can tell the cell what the right DNA code should be. "Frankincense separates the 'brain' of the cancerous cell - the nucleus - from the 'body' - the cytoplasm, and closes down the nucleus to stop it reproducing corrupted DNA codes." Working with frankincense could revolutionise the treatment of cancer. Currently, with chemotherapy, doctors blast the area around a tumour to kill the cancer, but that also kills healthy cells, and weakens the patient. Treatment with frankincense could eradicate the cancerous cells alone and let the others live. The task now is to isolate the agent within frankincense which, apparently, works this wonder. Dr Suhail (who is originally from Iraq) has teamed up with medical scientists from the University of Oklahoma for the task. In his laboratory, he extracts the essential oil from locally produced frankincense. Then, he separates the oil into its constituent agents, such as Boswellic acid. "There are 17 active agents in frankincense essential oil," says Dr Suhail. "We are using a process of elimination. We have cancer sufferers - for example, a horse in South Africa - and we are giving them tiny doses of each agent until we find the one which works." "Some scientists think Boswellic acid is the key ingredient. But I think this is wrong. Many other essential oils - like oil from sandalwood - contain Boswellic acid, but they don't have this effect on cancer cells. So we are starting afresh." The trials will take months to conduct and whatever results come out of them will take longer still to be verified. Berlin, Germany: Roman Catholic Church in Germany is not much different from other Vatican branches throughout the globe. The Catholic Church in Germany has been shaken in recent days by revelations of a series of sexual abuse cases. Close to 100 priests and members of the laity have been suspected of abuse in recent years. After years of suppression, the wall of silence appears to be crumbling, reports SPIEGEL. This is what it looks like, the document of a conspiracy: 24 pages, with appendix, in Latin, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. A confidential set of guidelines for all bishops, who were required to keep it a secret for all eternity. The guidelines, issued in 1962, address a sensitive subject, which the Vatican doesn't put directly, preferring to use more guarded terminology to describe what happens when a priest provokes a penitent "toward impure and obscene matters" through "words or signs or nods of the head (or) by touch." Marrakesh, Morocco: A large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakesh two weeks ago, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a U.S. citizen. Approximately 60 officers from the Moroccan security services on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 4) raided the home of a Christian in Amizmiz, a picturesque city of 10,000 mainly Berber people 35 miles southeast of Marrakesh. A church Bible study was in progress at the home with visitors from western and southern Morocco Paris, France: French philosopher Descartes was killed by arsenic-laced holy communion wafer after airing 'heretic' views, says academic Theodor Ebert. For more than three and a half centuries, the death of René Descartes one winter's day in Stockholm has been attributed to the ravages of pneumonia on a body unused to the Scandinavian chill. But in a book released after years spent combing the archives of Paris and the Swedish capital, one Cartesian expert has a more sinister theory about how the French philosopher came to his end. According to Theodor Ebert, an academic at the University of Erlangen, Descartes died not through natural causes but from an arsenic-laced communion wafer given to him by a Catholic priest. Ebert believes that Jacques Viogué, a missionary working in Stockholm, administered the poison because he feared Descartes's radical theological ideas would derail an expected conversion to Catholicism by the monarch of protestant Sweden. "Viogué knew of Queen Christina's Catholic tendencies. It is very likely that he saw in Descartes an obstacle to the Queen's conversion to the Catholic faith," Ebert told Le Nouvel Observateur newspaper. Though raised as a Catholic, Descartes, who had been summoned in 1649 to tutor Queen Christina, was regarded with suspicion by many of his theological coreligionists. His theories were viewed as incompatible with the Roman Catholic belief of transubstantiation, in which the bread and wine served during the Eucharist turn into the flesh and blood of Christ and have nothing to do with the original bread and wine any longer. (One of the points on which the Orthodox teaching differs from the Roman Catholic theology). "Viogué was convinced that … his metaphysics were more in line with Calvinist 'heresy'," said Ebert. The theory of foul play has been greeted with caution by scholars. Since Descartes's death on 11 February 1650, pneumonia has been blamed for robbing the world of the so-called father of modern philosophy. Ebert rejects this as incompatible with the facts. In a letter written after his patient's death, Descartes's doctor, Van Wullen, described having found something wrong – which Ebert believes to be blood – in the philosopher's urine. "That is not a symptom of pneumonia; it is a symptom of poisoning, chiefly of arsenic," said Ebert, adding that Descartes asked his doctor to prescribe an emetic. "What conclusion is to be drawn other than the philosopher, who was well-acquainted with the medicine of his day, believed he had been poisoned?"
Washington, D.C.: The largest Protestant denominations in the US has reported a decline in membership for the second year in a row, according to the National Council of Churches’ 2010 yearbook of churches. The Catholic Church, meanwhile, rebounded from last year’s reported membership loss with a 1.49 percent growth, joining the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ as the few large US denominations with reported growth. Also reporting growth in NCC’s 78th annual Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches were the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses – though a significant number of the two organizations’ core beliefs are considered by Bible scholars as contradictory to historic orthodox Christianity. In her remarks on this year’s stats – which are actually from 2008 due to the reporting delay – Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, editor of the annual yearbook since 1998, acknowledged the continued loss of membership in the largest mainline denominations. This year, church bodies reporting the highest membership losses were the Presbyterian Church (USA), down 3.28 percent to 2,941,412; American Baptist Churches in the USA, down 2 percent to 1,358,351; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, down 1.92 percent to 4,709,956 members. Though she noted that many observers have attributed accelerated membership decline of some churches to "an increasing secularization of American postmodern society, and its disproportionate impact on liberal religious groups," Lindner advised caution in assessing the causes of decline. She also said statistics in the yearbook actually reflect "continued high overall church participation, and account for the religious affiliation of over 163 million Americans. American society as a whole has not experienced the kind and rate of secularization so clearly demonstrated during the last quarter century in Western Europe," she added. Lindner also noted that the largest plurality of immigrants to the United States in the last 50 years have been Christian in their religious affiliation. "In an era in which we have come to expect the inevitable advance of secularism in the U.S., the influx of robust Christian communities among new immigrants once again amends the topographical map," she reported. So while a number of denominations have reported losses, overall, the Church in the America is growing. Total church membership reported in the 2010 Yearbook was 147,384,631 members, up 0.49 percent over 2009. That figure has been rising every year since 2006, when the overall membership total dropped for a second straight year following a record high 161 million. The yearbook doesn’t take into consideration the multitude of non-denominational churches scattered across America. Brussels, Belgium: Freemasons are keen to open a bureau in Brussels to lobby against the rising influence of religious organisations in the EU institutions. "The masonic orders should practice politics in the positive sense of the term: So that despite their own partisan divisions, they speak out on the side of secularism and voice their disagreement with this or that governmental or European decision," Jean-Michel Quillardet, the former Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France, told Belgian daily Le Soir in an interview out on Wednesday (17 February). He said that masonic lodges in Europe remain divided on the subject, with some more "shy" than others of attracting publicity by opening an office in the EU capital. But he added that practical problems are more important than the divisions and sketched out an agenda for the future outfit. "I think we will one day manage to create a general masonic delegation, for the sake of free-thinking in the European institutions," Mr Quillardet explained. The mason said that the Brussels bureau's first task would be to promote the idea of citizenship: "It is necessary to impose the universal idea of the Enlightenment, which consists of the notion that people are citizens and European citizens before being Jewish, black, Maghreb, homosexual, heterosexual." Mr Quillardet explained that the Grand Orient de France has already created a cell which attempts to bring together all the lodges in Europe. In 2007 it organised a pan-European masonic congress in Strasbourg, with subsequent meetings in 2008 and 2009 in Greece and Turkey. The 2010 event is to be in Portugal. He added that in 2008 European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso for the first time met with delegates from a group of lodges including his own and in the same year wrote a letter to the international congress in Athens. "We told him that apart from its Christian roots, Europe owed much to Greek and Roman philosophy, Renaissance humanism and the Enlightenment. We obtained representation for masonic orders and for groups which defend secularism in Bepa," he said, in reference to the Bureau of European Policy Advisers, a high-level policy analysis unit in the EU commission. The Barroso letter was "for us a recognition on the intellectual landscape," Mr Quillardet explained.
London, U.K.: A Christian teacher said that he was hounded out of his job for trying to stop Muslim children praising the 9/11 hijackers and saying in class they hated Jews and Christians. The Daily Express quoted Nicholas Kafouris, 40, as saying that children as young as eight talked of killing Jews and Christians. He said youngsters at the predominantly Muslim school, where he taught for 12 years, openly praised Islamic extremists, hailed the 9/11 terrorists as "martyrs" and branded Jews their enemies. Berlin, Germany: 115 former students have come forward with charges of sexual abuse at schools run by Germany's Jesuit order. Attorney Ursula Raue said Thursday victims had named 12 priests and several women among the attackers. She said there were some reported rapes. Most of the victims were former students of one of Germany's most prestigious high schools, Berlin's private Catholic Canisius Kolleg. Raue accused the Jesuits of taking care of the priests involved while ignoring the welfare of the children. The order hired Raue to help it work through the scandal. Raue said many victims are relieved to be able to tell their stories. Others are seeking compensation or an apology. Amsterdam, Netherlands: A self-proclaimed atheist can continue to serve as a pastor in the Netherlands, and no longer faces disciplinary action. A special assembly of Zierikzee, a regional church body tasked with investigating the theological statements of Pastor Klaas Hendrikse, has said its work is, "completed". The 3 February 2010 decision to allow Hendrikse to continue working as a pastor followed the advice of a regional supervisory panel that the statements by Hendrikse, "are not of sufficient weight to damage the foundations of the church". "The ideas of Hendrikse are in keeping with the liberal tradition that is an integral part of our church," the special panel concluded. Hendrikse said he was, "very satisfied with the result", the Dutch news service Ikon Kerknieuws reported. In 2007, Hendrikse hit the headlines with the publication, in Dutch, of his book titled "Believing in a God that does not exist: the manifesto of an atheist pastor" (Geloven in een God die niet bestaat - manifest van een atheïstische dominee). In the book, Hendrikse distinguishes between believing in God, which he affirms, and believing in the existence of God, which he rejects. Instead, he refers to God as, "happening". In this context, the general synod in November 2010 will consider [the issue of] 'talking about God'. The board looks forward to this discussion." Protestant Church spokesperson Jan-Gerd Heetderks said the synod discussion would be "broader than, 'Does God exist or not?'" the regional newspaper Friesch Dagblad reported. A research published recently found that one in six clergy of the Protestant Church are either not sure about or do not believe in the existence of God. The survey also found that clergy aged 35 years or younger tend to be the most certain of God’s existence, while clergy aged between 55 and 65 years are the most unsure. "Overall, the survey indicated that the younger generation is more pious than older generations," the research report said. ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. February bulletin covers sponsors are Robert and Maryann Polomchak — Wedding Anniversary. 2. New Coffee hour schedule is in the narthex. Our Coffee-Cake Socials are usually on the third Sunday of the moth. 3. We would like to express our most sincere gratitude to our new parishioner Paul Kaderabek for his donation of $1,700.00 to help us pay for the new furnace for downstairs. With Paul’s donation we pronounce the new furnace paid off. (It is good not to have this bill menacingly hanging over our heads). We would like to welcome Paul Kaderabek into our parish family and are looking forward to having him as our neighbor — Paul has purchased the house adjacent to the church parking lot and he is planning to move in before Pascha. Also, we would like to thank all our faithful who have donated towards the new furnace. May Our Lord reward all of you for your generosity and care for His House. 4. On Saturday, March 20, at 2 P.M., our parish will host Chicago Deanery Lenten Mission. Please, mark this day in your calendars and make sure that we are in church that afternoon. We will be serving the Akathist to the Divine Passions of Christ. After the service all present priests will be available for confessions. After/during the confession a Lenten meal will be offered. Please think what you can bring to contribute to the meal. Doing that, please keep in mind that the food should have no meat, dairy, eggs or fish in it. Bulletin - 2/21/10 Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain On Spiritual Life 13 In 1975, Elder Paisios wrote the following which was the answer to one man's question about prayer: “I would like to direct you to one simple method of the unceasing prayer which you, if you desire, can use. Probably it is most effective for the simple people who cannot perceive the depth of thought of the Holy Fathers and who are in danger of falling into prelest (spiritual delusion). Some do not set for themselves a goal of rejecting their 'old man', that is they do not set as their goal humility, repentance and podvig (ascetic struggles), which is what we should do for the sanctification of our souls (the rest is done by God), they do not strive to truly face their sinfulness and that which is the result of this realization – all encompassing hunger for God's mercy and for the frequent prayer 'O Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me'. This prayer is uttered with pain from the heart (then the person would fell in his heart the sweetness of the Sweetest Jesus' Divine consolation). Unfortunately, often they begin with the 'dry' asceticism and strive for the God-given bliss, the Uncreated Light, they constantly increase the number of prayers and in their own eyes they become saints. They calculate the great number of their prayers and come to the conclusion that they must be holy. They make benches precisely according to the measurements and many other things, they make sure that their heads are lowers at the right angle towards the heart, they slow down their breathing and do everything what Saints Kallistos and Gregory, those who achieve much with silence, write in the Philokalia. Then they delight in the false thought – that they must have reached the measure of those saints. Once they believe this thought, right away a demon comes and turns on for them a TV with fantasies. Then there follow the demonic prophesies and everything else which are associated with prelest. The only safe thing is repentance. Any spiritual structure must be built on it. We ceaselessly ask God for repentance and for nothing else. We shouldn't ask for light, miracles, prophesies and other gifts, but repentance. Repentance brings humility, and humility will bring grace of God, because it is a law: grace of God always comes to the humble. Therefore, humility is a must for our salvation. When we have acquired it then the grace of God will come and it will teach us what we should be doing for our salvation and for those close to us. When we begin to feel the great need in God's mercy, then we are going to say the prayer many times from our whole heart and feel in our heart the sweetness of the Divine consolation of the Sweetest Jesus. Then our heart will embrace our mind and our whole being. If we do all this, then our prayer is not going to make us tired. When we perceive the true essence of prayer then it brings us rest and don't have to force ourselves to pray. But we are compelled by our conscience which imparts to our heart spiritual courage and spiritual wings and then in the hour of prayer our heart, no matter how hardened it is, is torn apart from crying and produces abundant tears. Man feels the need for prayer just like a child who, when he opens his mouth and hastens to his mother's embrace to cling to her breast, feels hunger and, at the same time, safety and maternal love. There is no doubt that the enemy is going to try, through distraction of your thoughts, to offer a fight. But when the prayer is preceded by the reading from the Holy Fathers (Evergetinos or Paterikon), then both minor and major difficulties and cares of the day subside, you will be surrounded by the spiritual atmosphere and your prayer will be focused. If the enemy decides to attack you with lustful thoughts (according to his usual malice and envy) – don't be put off by it, but use the demon for your own benefit, saying: “It is good that you have brought me these thought – now I am encouraged to pray, otherwise I keep forgetting to pray unceasingly”. Right away the enemy will retreat for he is used to doing only evil. I told you about it because the enemy usually brings corrupting thoughts to the sensitive people, in order to make them more sensitive, confuse their thoughts and interrupt their prayer. Especially this is true for those who pridefully keep extremely long vigils beyond their strength, for they are exhausted and have no strength to drive away the corrupt thoughts. They think that the corrupt thoughts are their own and therefore they suffer for something which is not their fault but the enemy's. Therefore it is necessary for the young men to pray with humility and discernment, not to be overcome by the cares of the day, but occupy themselves with spiritual reading, eat a little bit of simple food which also helps (and as far as possible the food should be without salt to prevent abundant intake of water, because retention of water impede prayer). It helps if the evening meal, no matter how light, is taken at 4 P.M. After that – reading of the Holy Fathers or something else for about three hours. It would help if bows or prostrations were made in-between the activities, after every round of the prayer rope – to warm up oil in the engine. When the young men are tired let them sit and do the prayer, calling to mind their wretchedness and all the good things the good God has done to them. Then the mind will focus in the heart and the person asks, without any effort, for God' mercy with his all his heart, all his soul and all his mind. Of great benefit are the three hours after the sunset, when they are preceded by reading from the Holy Fathers, as well as, by the way, the hours from the midnight till the sunrise. It is best for the youth to go to bed an hour after the sunset and to get up early in the morning, in order to escape the morning's sensual dreams. Of course, discernment and guidance of the spiritual father (whom one has to have) is necessary”.
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The following letter is published by the request of our ruling hierarch Metropolitan Nicholas of Amissos
Now to Him Who by the power at work within us is able
February 21, 2010 To all the Clergy and the Laity of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We, the Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, greet you on the Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy with words of the Holy Apostle Paul that were selected by the Primates of the worldwide Orthodox Church to close their Message proclaimed on October 12, 2008. Indeed, we glory in our God whose love for us exceeds every thought or imagining that could enter our minds or hearts. As the Apostle Paul says in another place: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him (I Cor. 2:9). In the historic Synaxis and in the Message that was declared by it, the Primates of worldwide Orthodox Christianity proclaimed the following with one voice and one heart: As the Primates and the Representatives of the Most Holy Orthodox Churches, fully aware of the gravity of the aforementioned problems, and laboring to confront them directly as "servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries" (1 Cor. 4:1), we proclaim from this See of the First-throne among the Churches and we re-affirm: ... our desire for the swift healing of every canonical anomaly that has arisen from historical circumstances and pastoral requirements, such as in the so-called Orthodox Diaspora, with a view to overcoming every possible influence that is foreign to Orthodox ecclesiology. In this respect we welcome the proposal by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to convene Pan-Orthodox Consultations within the coming year 2009 on this subject, as well as for the continuation of preparations for the Holy and Great Council. In accordance with the standing order and practice of the Pan-Orthodox Consultations in Rhodes (beginning in 1960), all Autocephalous Churches will be invited. With this common declaration, and the subsequent consensus achieved at the Pan-Orthodox Consultations that took place last year in June and December in Chambésy, Switzerland, the way forward to Orthodox canonical order and unity in the Western Hemisphere has been mapped out in a substantive way. This should be a cause for joy among all the faithful, as it demonstrates the kind of progress that SCOBA has always looked for, but by itself, never could achieve. SCOBA has had great accomplishments in its fifty-year history, and the growth of Pan-Orthodox Agencies and ministries shows the willingness and the need to work together. Nevertheless, SCOBA has always been an organization without the mechanism and authority to forge a comprehensive way forward. Now we have arrived at a truly watershed moment in the life of the Church in the Western Hemisphere. In the week in which we celebrate the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the glorious Feast of Pentecost, the canonical Orthodox Bishops who live in North and Central America will gather in order to proceed with the roadmap that has been agreed to by world-wide Orthodox Christianity (see material at http://www.scoba.us/chambesy.html). The issues are many and complex, but SCOBA is fully committed to the process that will form a successor body, an Assembly of Bishops of the Holy Orthodox Church in the Americas that will have both the authority and methodology to effectuate real progress in the establishment of canonical Church order in the Americas. This Sunday of Orthodoxy, as we gather throughout our communities and parishes, let us with fervent prayer entreat the Lord of all to grant us His grace and His wisdom. Let us pray for this coming Assembly of Orthodox Christian Bishops, that it will bring forth the fruits of unity and Orthodox faithfulness. Let us pray for the pious and Orthodox Christians everywhere, and for our unity in Christ, power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. With paternal blessings and love in Christ,
+Archbishop DEMETRIOS, Chairman
+Metropolitan PHILIP, Vice Chairman
+Metropolitan CHRISTOPHER, Secretary
+Archbishop NICOLAE
+Metropolitan JOSEPH
+Metropolitan JONAH
+Metropolitan CONSTANTINE
+Archpriest Alexander Abramov +Bishop ILIA of Philomelion Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Kishinyov, Moldavia: “After the collapse of the totalitarian ideologies of the past century, tolerance became the dominant ideology. Exalting, left and right, those who worship this new idol, the new ideology has gained its own rights and power to mercilessly judge all who oppose it”, said the well-known priest Alexander Shargunov at the international theological conference “Trial of faith – between tolerance and love” in Kishinyov, Moldavia. “In today's world, tolerance, while stipulating that faith is a strictly private matter, demands submission to the society's promoted norm. In fact, it is nothing but a triumph of what existed at the time of the terrible persecution of the Church in the Roman Empire. Just place a kernel of incense before the statue of the Emperor and you are free to go and believe in whomever you please – Christ or Antichrist”, remarked the priest. But if any belief is lawful and “equally guaranteed by the spiritual emptiness of the political power”, continued the priest, this means that very notion of faith is relevant: “It must be relegated to the periphery and a priori labeled negative. Then, from beginning to end, the faith is considered negative from the point of view of the triumphant evil, when skepticism becomes a virtue, a guarantee of the common peace and liberty. In other words, weakening of the faith is always going to be desirable, since it (weakening of faith) promotes democratic co-existence of a great variety of ideas. Can a Christian agree with this? Everything within us opposes this concept”, stressed Fr Alexander. “It is suggested that we should be ready to review and change any precepts of our faith and that we shouldn’t insist that they are absolute. In the real life, contemporary skepticism is usually a denial of the existence of the absolute truth. The ideology of tolerance is trying to convince us that every person's value, no matter what it might be, should be treated with equal respect. But if all faiths are only partially true or/and, therefore, of equal measure of truthfulness, if the very idea of truth is a misunderstanding, if good and evil are subject to everybody's own interpretation, then the notion of the absolute truth is meaningless. If this is the case then the horror of Gulag and Auschwitz is simply a result of purely historical circumstances. In other words, if Hitler won the war, we woudn't think of it as we do now. If communism wouldn't have collapsed, then the main communists wouldn't become the main anti-communists but would continue to preach the “bright future” for all. Insanity! Today tolerance gathers its supporters for the final battle against the truth, offering everyone, instead of one ultimate Truth, a faith according to his own tastes and whims. We witness the prophecy of Apostle Paul fulfilled: ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they choose for themselves teachers who would flatter their hearing; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables’ (II Timothy 4:3-4). Therefore, it is not surprising that everywhere now we see the temporal is being placed before the eternal, and earthly — before the heavenly”, continued the priest. “When the world is trying to prove inadequacy of the ‘traditional thought’, there is only one path — most profound and genuine partaking of the ancient but always new culture of complete self-denial of oneself, even if through martyrdom, in the Paschal life. Only then the word of truth will take on flesh. Only then a hope can be born that not everything is lost for the perishing world. Only in this sense can we talk about the necessity of tolerance — Church’s tolerant attitude to the misconceptions of the world, the tolerance which can have place only in the light of faithfulness to the Cross of Christ”, stressed Fr Alexander. “Only when there is no compromise with the evil reigning today in the world we will be able to pray even for those who kill us”. “The Christians are called not to tolerance of evil or to indifferent acceptance of it, but to the steadfast standing up against evil even until our death — for the sake of love towards those who hate us and who kill us and for the sake of salvation of all who need salvation. Our duty, especially in the difficult times, is to keep our souls with such patience, according to the word of Christ, that nothing would confuse, nothing would relax or even ruin them. Patience is not merely an ability to endure everything, but rather to turn everything into the power of Christ and His glory. What was it that would always impressed pagans in the times of persecutions? It was that whenever martyrs died they went to their death with joy, as to a feast, as to the Divine Liturgy…”, concluded Archpriest Alexander Shergunov
Archpriest Alexander Shergunov
Sevastopol, Crimea (Ukraine): For several years a Crimean retiree Vladimir Golub has been building an Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the village of Mezhgorie all by himself. To dig the foundation he used his savings which originally he had planned to buy a car with. Here is how the Golub family lives: from the two pensions – his own and his wife's – he carves out what ever is necessary for the upkeep of the house and basic groceries, the rest goes for the construction of the church. He himself makes trips to the abandoned stone quarry and extracts stone of the needed size which he then pulls on his cart to the construction site. Then he makes his cement and lays stone. All by himself. This is not the first example when a person or a family of very limited means build a church with their own hands. Is there another way? Yes, take a mortgages. London, U.K.: The Methodist Church is expected to move towards the consecration of bishops next month, marking the culmination of nearly 50 years of debate. This would pave the way for full unity with the Church of England. It could even lead to unity between Methodists and Anglicans worldwide. The US Methodist Church is immensely influential, counting President Bush and Bill Clinton as members. A combined Anglican-Methodist church would create a church of at least 150 million, making it the third largest, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Methodist churches in most countries outside Britain already have bishops, but they are not consecrated in the unbroken line of apostolic succession — as the proposed bishops would be. Methodism broke with this tradition when John Wesley began ordaining ministers for service in the US. For Methodist bishops to be part of the apostolic succession, they would have to be consecrated by a bishop or archbishop from another church that has remained inside the apostolic succession. Oklahoma City, OK: Immunologist Mahmoud Suhail is hoping to open a new chapter in the history of frankincense. Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is. "Cancer starts when the DNA code within the cell's nucleus becomes corrupted," he says. "It seems frankincense has a re-set function. It can tell the cell what the right DNA code should be. "Frankincense separates the 'brain' of the cancerous cell - the nucleus - from the 'body' - the cytoplasm, and closes down the nucleus to stop it reproducing corrupted DNA codes." Working with frankincense could revolutionise the treatment of cancer. Currently, with chemotherapy, doctors blast the area around a tumour to kill the cancer, but that also kills healthy cells, and weakens the patient. Treatment with frankincense could eradicate the cancerous cells alone and let the others live. The task now is to isolate the agent within frankincense which, apparently, works this wonder. Dr Suhail (who is originally from Iraq) has teamed up with medical scientists from the University of Oklahoma for the task. In his laboratory, he extracts the essential oil from locally produced frankincense. Then, he separates the oil into its constituent agents, such as Boswellic acid. "There are 17 active agents in frankincense essential oil," says Dr Suhail. "We are using a process of elimination. We have cancer sufferers - for example, a horse in South Africa - and we are giving them tiny doses of each agent until we find the one which works." "Some scientists think Boswellic acid is the key ingredient. But I think this is wrong. Many other essential oils - like oil from sandalwood - contain Boswellic acid, but they don't have this effect on cancer cells. So we are starting afresh." The trials will take months to conduct and whatever results come out of them will take longer still to be verified. Berlin, Germany: Roman Catholic Church in Germany is not much different from other Vatican branches throughout the globe. The Catholic Church in Germany has been shaken in recent days by revelations of a series of sexual abuse cases. Close to 100 priests and members of the laity have been suspected of abuse in recent years. After years of suppression, the wall of silence appears to be crumbling, reports SPIEGEL. This is what it looks like, the document of a conspiracy: 24 pages, with appendix, in Latin, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. A confidential set of guidelines for all bishops, who were required to keep it a secret for all eternity. The guidelines, issued in 1962, address a sensitive subject, which the Vatican doesn't put directly, preferring to use more guarded terminology to describe what happens when a priest provokes a penitent "toward impure and obscene matters" through "words or signs or nods of the head (or) by touch." Marrakesh, Morocco: A large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakesh two weeks ago, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a U.S. citizen. Approximately 60 officers from the Moroccan security services on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 4) raided the home of a Christian in Amizmiz, a picturesque city of 10,000 mainly Berber people 35 miles southeast of Marrakesh. A church Bible study was in progress at the home with visitors from western and southern Morocco. Five of the 18 people held for 14 hours were small children, two of them infants no more than 6 months old. The other small children ranged from 20 months to 4 years old, and also detained was the visiting 16-year-old nephew of one of the participants. The Christian leaders said authorities interrogated participants in the Bible study for 14 hours. The leader of the Christian group said the raiding party was unusually large. It included an accompaniment of 15 vehicles led by a colonel and two captains. "It's the first time in our current Moroccan history that the Moroccan government used this size of a legion to attack a small Christian meeting," he said. "All the time they kept repeating that this was ordered personally by the new Moroccan Justice Minister and by the highest level General of the Gendarmerie." Quoting a statement by the Interior Ministry, the state-run Maghreb Arabe Presse news agency reported that the raid took place "following information on the organization of a secret meeting to initiate people into Christianity, which would shake Muslims' faith and undermine the Kingdom's religious values." The U.S. citizen was deported immediately after interrogation. Visiting Moroccans were sent back to their homes in western and southern Morocco. Authorities seized Bibles, books, two laptops, a digital camera and one cell phone. Moroccan Penal Code criminalizes any attempt to induce a Muslim to convert to another religion.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. February bulletin covers sponsors are Robert and Maryann Polomchak — Wedding Anniversary. 2. Next Sunday, February 28th, we collect non-perishable food items for Hobart Food Pantry. As always, we ask to bring at least one such item per family member. 3. We have begun the Great Lent. We had services every day the first week of Lent. The services were well-attended and prayerful. To help us pray, we try to limit the usage of the electrical light during the services. It is very important that we pray, whereas reading along is secondary. If you desire to follow the services in your book, take a candle (usually we have a few half-burned candles on the table by the books at the back of the church for this purpose), light it and illumine your book with the light. For some of us this might seem unusual but it is the way we served molebens during the week for quite some time. 4. On Saturday, March 20, at 2 P.M., our parish will host Chicago Deanery Lenten Mission. Please, mark this day in your calendars and make sure that we are in church that afternoon. 5. Yesterday, we had our Soup Sale for the month of February. First, let us repeat ourselves: when we ask for everybody’s input in preparation for the Soup Sale we mean it. Yesterday, most of our product was gone in the first 15-30 minutes. No, we didn’t have little, but, on the other hand, again, we could have sold more. Please remember for the next month: anything you can make can benefit the church. Secondly and lastly, thanks to all who participated in this fundraiser, the parish made 1,214.00. We ask all our workers accept our profound gratitude for their untiring labor for their church and for the glory of God. 6. In the narthex, we have new ACRY Annuals available at $15.00 a book. 7. Please, be informed that Rosaline Malinich is at the Dementia Unit of Chicagoland Christian Village, 6685 E 117th Avenue, Crown Point, IN 46307 +++++++++++++++
Bulletin - 2/14/10
ORTHODOX IRELAND By Vladimir De Beer Part II A major divergence between Ireland and Rome lay in the former's older, and actually incorrect, method of calculating the date of Pascha, in which the Irish Church used a 84-year cycle based on the lunar calendar. In contrast, the Roman Church, like the rest of the Universal Church, used a calendar based on the calculation of the movements of both the sun and the moon (known now as Julian Calendar) and ensured that Pascha never fell on the same day as the Jewish Passover. This aspect would eventually become the main bone of contention between Rome and the Celts, with Rome winning the conflict at the Synod of Whitby held in 664. (To this day the Orthodox Church still calculates the date of Pascha according to ancient Universal custom, so that the Non-Orthodox Easter falls one to five weeks before the correct Orthodox Christian Pascha). Different rites were employed by the Irish and Roman churches in the sacraments of baptism and episcopal confirmation. Also in the tonsuring of monks a divergence occurred: while the Roman tonsure involved shaving the top of the head, the Irish shaved across the forehead from ear to ear. These methods were ascribed to St Peter and St John, respectively. Old Irish customs such as storing water for the feast of the Epiphany (January 6/19) and lighting Paschal fires to let them burn throughout the year (for example at Kildare) were also unique. Naturally, on the early Irish crosses Christ is pictured as the conqueror of death rather than as crucified – another parallel with the Universal Orthodox practice of Old Rome and elsewhere, according to which the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ takes precedence over that of His death, with Pascha as the main feast of the Church year. The practice only changed from the late eleventh century on, when heterodoxy began to portray 'the suffering Jesus' in his human nature as a victim, not as the Victor. In addition, the study of Greek was undertaken in Irish monasteries at least until the ninth century, together with that of Latin and Hebrew. It is interesting to note that in some of the Irish monastic settlements not only monks and nuns were to be found, but also married couples and families. This is a further parallel between Irish and Universal Orthodox practice, with married priests being the norm in the Orthodox Church to this day, without in any way diminishing the vital importance of the monastic vocation in the Church. The very organization of the Irish Church was of a monastic nature, with the abbot or abbess being the highest authority in a given area. This was in contrast to the diocesan structure of the rest of the Church, in which the bishop is the highest authority.
In addition to the monastery at Lérins that served as an important link between the Irish and Eastern Churches, Poitiers in France was a further conduit of Orthodoxy to the West. This was the final abode of St Hilary (300-367), a bishop who was banished to Phrygia by Emperor Constantius II when the saint raised his voice in defense of the Orthodox Christians persecuted by the Arians. Hilary went from Phrygia to Poitiers where he wrote a book dedicated to the ‘Irish bishops'. This implies contact between the Greek-speaking and Irish churches via France during the fourth century already. Early in the 6th century, a monastery would be founded at Poitiers by the Irish missionary St Fridolin.
Iona Monastery
Another affinity that the Irish shared with the Orthodox practice was its own form of the liturgy. Over the centuries the Orthodox Church has maintained a variety of liturgies, all of ancient origin, such as the liturgies of St John Chrysostom, St James the Apostle and St Basil the Great. Evidence of a pre-Roman liturgy of the Irish Church can be found in manuscripts such as the Antiphonary of Bangor, a collection of hymns and prayers dating from around 680. These texts radiate a Christian view of the world that echoes the Psalms in praise of God's creation, as in the writings of the Church Fathers. All of creation is viewed as a vast whole, without the dualism of spirit and matter that would become the dominant post-Patristic medieval Western heterodox cosmology. It is pertinent to note that the metaphysical system expounded by the Irish philosopher John Scottus Eriugena would also reflect this awareness of the unity of all creation. This reinforces our view that Irish Christianity was a holistic, Patristic faith. Irish missionary activity From their base in Ireland, missionaries spread out over Britain and continental Europe, proclaiming the Gospel, baptizing the people, and establishing places of worship and instruction. They often wandered about in groups of seven, or more often twelve, plus a leader, following the example of Christ and His twelve apostles. According to a 1966 study by Georges and Bernadette Cerbelaud-Salagnac, nearly 300 Irish missionaries went to Britain and the Continent. An even larger number set out from the monastery at Luxeuil (which was founded by St Columban in Belgium around 591) to the surrounding lands.
The major figures in this enormous Irish missionary activity were St Columcille, who founded the monastery on Iona and evangelized the Scots and Picts; St Aidan, who founded the monastery on Lindisfarne and evangelized the Northumbrians; St Fridolin, who founded monasteries in France and Germany; St Fursey, who founded monasteries in East Anglia and Gaul; St Kilian, who did missionary work among the East Franks and the Thuringians, and suffered martyrdom; St Gall, the Enlightener of Switzerland; and St Columban, who founded monasteries in Belgium, Switzerland and Italy against fierce opposition. We will look at their lives further on in this essay. Apart from a major impact that was made in Britain, the German lands and as far south as Italy, the Irish missionaries also ventured into the North Atlantic and Scandinavia. The notable contribution made by St Brendan the Voyager will be discussed further on. According to Dicuil, an Irish scholar at the court of Charlemagne, Irish settlers had been living in the Faeroe Islands for several centuries by the year 800. We may safely assume that this would have included missionary activity, given the close link between religion and everyday life in Celtic Christianity. Old Irish parchments, bells and bishops' staffs were found on Iceland, predating the Viking era. Furthermore, the ornamentation of Norwegian stave churches showed Irish influence as late as the thirteenth century. There must therefore have been some Irish contribution to the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity, although further historical evidence is lacking. The end of the Irish Church From 795 Ireland was subjected to the constant threat of Viking raids, the first recorded one taking place on Lambay Island near Dublin. For the next 40 years these raids would occur randomly, but from the late 830's the Vikings began to use Ireland as a permanent base. The Norwegian and Danish invasions of Ireland during the 9th and 10th centuries almost destroyed the monastic life of the country. Great monastic centres such as Armagh, Bangor, Clonfert and Clonmacnoise were plundered by the Vikings, with many monks being killed by the heathen invaders. Even the famous island monastery of Iona had to be abandoned by 830. An interesting architectural legacy of these raids and invasions is the round towers found in Ireland and also in Viking-beset East Anglia in England. These imposing structures served as places of security for people and treasures, with a fair number having survived both the Vikings and the radical Protestants. At times the Irish kingdoms fought back, for instance when the Viking chieftain Thorgest, who had desecrated Clonmacnoise and put his wife on the high altar, was captured and drowned by the king of the O'Neill dynasty. On the positive side, the Vikings founded major Irish towns such as Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, from where they traded with both the Irish and their fellow Norsemen in the Hebrides, Man and elsewhere. As so often happens in human history, God brings good even out of the most disastrous events. Most of the ancient Irish manuscripts were lost in this stormy period, the surviving ones often being taken to the Continent by monks. Early in the 11th century King Brian of Munster sent messengers to the Continent to buy back some of the ancient manuscripts. This monastic vacuum opened the door for the Roman Church to obtain a foothold in Ireland, with large numbers of Augustinian and Benedictine monasteries eventually replacing the lost native ones. The migration of Irish monks to the Continent was brought about not only by the negative aspect of Viking invasions, but also by the positive aspect of the attraction of the Carolingian court in France, who welcomed intellectuals from other parts of Western Europe. This explains the presence of notable Irish scholars such as Martin Hiberniensis, Sedulius Scotus and John Scottus Eriugena at the Frankish centres of learning during the ninth century. Through their educational work on the Continent the Irish monks brought about the end of the Dark Ages there. Most of Western Europe followed Rome in its breach with the multinational East, formalized by mutual excommunications in 1054 and sealed by the sacking of Constantinople by Roman Catholic Crusaders in 1204. For Western Christianity this severance from its Middle Eastern and Greek roots would prove to be disastrous from every point of view – theological, moral, cultural, and socio-political. However, the Irish Church remained for all practical purposes an autonomous Church, even though it was not formally in communion with the Orthodox Church in the Middle East, the Eastern Roman Empire and Kievan Rus. The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, first under Strongbow in 1170 and a year later under the Anglo-Norman King Henry II, was therefore encouraged by Pope Adrian IV, the first and only Englishman to occupy the pontifical throne, in order to bring the Irish Church into the Roman fold. Already in 1154 Adrian had issued a papal bull calling for a Norman invasion of Ireland, so that ‘the true Christian religion’ (i.e. Roman Catholicism) could be planted in Ireland. The first step in the Roman takeover of the Irish Church in its home base was taken when the Norman-imposed Italian Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury claimed superiority over the Irish Church in 1072. Early in the twelfth century Armagh in the north and Cashel in the south were raised to the status of Roman Archdioceses, with Armagh soon to become the Metropolia for the whole of the Irish Church. Before long Dublin and Tuam would also become archdioceses, thereby weakening the hold of Canterbury over the Irish Church, without diminishing Roman hegemony. Over the centuries Armagh has retained its pre-eminent status in both the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, both Cathedrals there being dedicated to St Patrick.
To Be Continued
. . . . . . . . . News From All The Ends Of The Earth . . . . . . . . Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey: Deputies of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly urged Turkish government to allow the Patriarch of Constantinople the right to include adjective “Ecumenical” in his title. This request is contained in Resolution 1704 “Freedom of religion and other human rights of non-Muslim minorities in Turkey and the Muslim minority in Thrace”. The original text of the resolution, prepared by French deputy Michel Hunault, used the phrase “Greek Patriarch in Istanbul” for the Patriarch of Constantinople. However, after the intervention of the Bulgarian deputy Latchezar Toshev, who declared that usage false and unhistorical, PACE changed the word “Greek” to “Ecumenical”, and urged the Turkish government to recognise this as the title of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Turkey has been refusing to recognize Bartholomew I as the spiritual leader of Greek Diaspora for many years and reduced his status to the head of the local Greek Orthodox community. On the other hand, the Orthodox insisted that the title ’Ecumenical’ is founded in the Church canons and Church tradition. The title “Ecumenical”, as the Patriarch of Constantinople uses it, is the historical legacy of the Byzantine Empire, the borders of which were identified with the boundaries “of the civilised world”. This title was given to the Patriarch of Constantinople since the city was the capital of a Christian empire (which Constantinople enjoyed till 1453, when it passed its status to Moscow), but it never meant that the Ecumenical Patriarch had any authority over any other Local Church. | ||||||||
In a statement published on the official website of the Diocese of
Eastern America and New York, His Grace Vicar Bishop Jerome of
Manhattan called upon the clergymen and laity to lift their prayers
for the repose of Vladyka Daniel.
From that moment on, for forty days, until
the day of the Ascension, this triumphant hymn will sound
ceaselessly in all Orthodox churches in the world. The church doors
open, and a host of people, a host of human hearts warmed and
illumined by the Resurrection, fills the bright and joyful temple.
The whole character of the service is changed: except for the
exclamations of the priest and the words of the Holy Scriptures,
reading stops in the church for a whole week. Everything is sung,
and this very fact fully testifies to the joy of the greatest holy
day. Even the rhythm of the singing is changed: it is full of joy,
triumph and holy-day feeling. The matins end with the reading of the
one of the most remarkable Christian sermons: the Paschal
Catechetical Address of St. John Chrysostom. But all this is only a
majestically growing crescendo leading to the service which is
undoubtedly the center and apotheosis of the Holy Pascha: the
Paschal Divine Liturgy. Here is that Table of which St. John
Chrysostom is speaking in his Paschal address. No matter how
wonderful the holiday tables may be in our homes, they cannot
compare with this table of Eternal Life. It is the final realization
of everything we have witnessed during the great days of the Passion
Week. Here is the Lamb, slain for our salvation, Who was the Victim
and Who now offers Himself to us, for our nourishment into life
eternal. It is impossible for an Orthodox Christian not to
participate in this service. And to participate is to receive the
Gift, Gift of the Body and Blood of Christ, offered to us by the
hands of Him Who has just suffered and risen for our sake. Amen.
After
finishing school, Zyryanov practiced as an extrasensory expert and
opened his own ESP office. In 1990s he started visiting gatherings
of the Good News Protestant Church trying to find new clients and
considering Christ "a great extrasensory expert." Zyryanov was going
around villages as a missionary and delivered about four thousand
sermons. However, he soon was disappointed with Protestantism, he
considered Protestant communities "pieces, fragments of the Church,
as if it were a church, but damaged, without plenitude," and he
could not find "a Church with capital "c." Several years of reading
Holy Fathers and talking to Orthodox priests, who "dramatically
differed with their humility and kindness from Protestant pastors
filled with pride", led Zyryanov to a decision to convert to
Orthodoxy.
