Russian Seminary Students Required to Reveal All Information on Social Networking Sites

At the entrance exams of St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, applicants were forced to open their data in their social networks to the selection committee.

All personal data was reviewed by members of the selection committee. Information was gathered on which "groups" the prospective student participated, whether there are [undesirable] "friends", etc. Personal correspondence and comments to groups were opened as well.

It is possible that the actions of the students of theological schools in the social networks [are] already being monitored by the Inspectorate and relevant authorities.

Information:

St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary is known for its free-thinking among students. Not long ago a group of seminary school students tried to prevent the ordination of one of their classmates. They sang "Anaxios" (Unworthy) instead of «Axios» (Worthy). By canonical rules [the ordaining] bishop had to halt the rite. But he did not!

All who participated in the "conspiracy" were expelled from the seminary.

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Bulgaria Recreates Orpheus’s Lyre

BalkanTravellers.com
28 August 2009

The lyre of Orpheus, the string instrument which the Thracian and ancient Greek mythological musician played with mastery, was recreated and will be displayed in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv as part of a project of the Municipal Institute Ancient Plovdiv, its representatives recently announced.

The instrument, which is 40 centimetres long, was made from cycamore tree and a turtle’s hollow. According to national media, although the original idea was to make the instrument from materials that were as close as possible to the authentic ones, it turned out that no animal species existed from which to get 45-centimetre-long horns.

The lyre was recreated as part of a 150,000-euro project between Bulgaria, Spain and Italy.

The model of the instrument will be officially presented on September 12 in Plovdiv’s Ancient Theatre. According to national media, a film which tells the story of the ancient lyre’s recreation is also in the works.

The legendary figure of Orpheus was venerated by the Thracians and ancient Greeks as the most gifted poet and musician and the perfector of the lyre invented by Hermes. According to legend, with his music and singing, Orpheus could charm birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance, and even divert the course of rivers.

Perhaps the best-known myth about Orpheus is his descent into the Underworld and with his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow his dead wife Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. But his anxiety made him look back as soon as he reached the upper world and she vanished forever. Orpheus nevertheless remains one of the handful of Greek heroes to visit the Underworld and return.

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NIV Bible Changes on the Way

Best-Selling Bible Gets a Remake

ERIC GORSKI, AP

(Sept. 2, 2009) - The top-selling Bible in North America will undergo its first revision in 25 years, modernizing the language in some sections and promising to reopen a contentious debate about changing gender terms in the sacred text. The New International Version, the Bible of choice for conservative evangelicals, will be revised to reflect changes in English usage and advances in Biblical scholarship, it was announced Tuesday. The revision is scheduled to be completed late next year and published in 2011.

"We want to reach English speakers across the globe with a Bible that is accurate, accessible and that speaks to its readers in a language they can understand," said Keith Danby, global president and CEO of Biblica, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Christian ministry that holds the NIV copyright.

But past attempts to remake the NIV for contemporary audiences in different editions have been plagued by controversies about gender language that have pitted theological conservatives against each other.

The changes did not make all men "people" or remove male references to God, but instead involved dropping gender-specific terms when translators judged that the original text didn't intend it. So in some verses, references to "sons of God" became "children of God," for example.

Supporters say gender-inclusive changes are more accurate and make the Bible more accessible, but critics contend they twist meaning or smack of political correctness.
Acknowledging past missteps, the NIV's overseers are promising that this time, the revision process will be more transparent and that they will actively promote what they describe as a long-held practice of inviting input from scholars and readers.

The NIV was first published in 1978 and more than 300 million NIV Bibles are in print worldwide; its publishers and distributors say the translation accounts for 30 percent of Bibles sold in North America.

The Committee on Bible Translation, an independent group of conservative scholars and translators formed in 1965 to create and revise the NIV, will oversee the new revision.

An effort earlier this decade to create a separate version of the NIV that used more gender-inclusive language in an attempt to reach a younger audience fell flat with groups that felt it crossed the line.

That edition, Today's New International Version, will cease publication once the new-look NIV is released, said Moe Girkins, president of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Zondervan, its North American publisher.

"Whatever its strengths, the TNIV has become an emblem of division in the evangelical Christian world," Girkins said.

It was the TNIV that ushered in changes from "sons of God" to "children of God," or "brothers" to "brothers and sisters." In Genesis I, God created "human beings" in his own image instead of "man."

Many prominent pastors and scholars endorsed the changes. But critics said masculine terms in the original should not be tampered with. Some warned that changing singular gender references to plural ones alters what the Bible says about God's relationships with individuals.

The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution saying the edition "has gone beyond acceptable translation standards."

"We fell short of the trust that has been placed in us," said Danby, of Biblica. "We failed to make a clear case for the revisions."

Danby said that freezing the NIV in its 1984 state was also a mistake, however. He emphasized that in the revision, about 90 percent of the NIV will be unchanged.
Douglas Moo, a professor at Wheaton College and chairman of the Committee on Bible Translation, said the group is committed to "a complete review of every gender related change."

"I am not sure how it's going to come out," Moo said. "We have a genuine, authentic review process ... Everything is on the table."

One of the most vocal critics of gender-inclusive translations, Randy Stinson of the Louisville, Ky.-based Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, said the group supports updating the NIV. He credited organizers for their openness.

"We're still probably going to differ on the way they handle some of the gender language," Stinson said. "But we're open and anxious to see what they come up with and we're really going to be reserving judgment."

Most changes will have nothing to do with gender inclusivity, Moo said. And the TNIV provides a glimpse of likely changes: In the '84 NIV, Mary is "with child," but in the TNIV she is "pregnant." In the NIV version of Psalm 146:9, "The Lord watches over the alien." The TNIV used "foreigner" instead of "alien."

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XVII International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality

XVII International Ecumenical Conference
on Orthodox Spirituality

THE SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE IN THE ORTHODOX TRADITION

Bose Monastery, Wednesday 9 – Saturday 12 September 2009

In collaboration with the Orthodox Churches

Bose, 2 September 2009

The 17th annual International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality will be held at the Bose Monastery on 9–12 September 2009. Organized in collaboration with the Orthodox Churches, the conference is an important occasion of discussion on fundamental themes of the spiritual life, those where the traditions of Christian East and Christian West intersect the deepest expectation of contemporary man.

This year’s theme, The spiritual struggle in the Orthodox tradition, touches the very center of a problem that is extremely relevant today: what prevents the human heart to love in freedom? How can the phantasms that inhabit it and condition the will be overcome? This is the art of the struggle against “evil thoughts”, as tradition defines those negative images, impulses, inclinations that disturb the “mind” by distracting it from the memory of God and pushing it into sin. To reread today the wisdom of the fathers means also to ask oneself a question still more radical, always present at the bottom of the transformation of modernity: What at its root is sin? What truly renders free or slave man’s conscience?

These questions will from the basis of the dialogue among theologians, scholars, and representatives, at the highest level, of the Orthodox Churches, the Catholic Church, and the Churches of the Reform.

The sessions will begin with an inaugural discourse by the prior of Bose, Enzo Bianchi, and a lecture by metropolitan Filaret of Minsk, patriarchal exarch of Belarus and president of the theological commission of the Patriarchate of Moscow, who will treat of the Biblical and theological foundations of the spiritual struggle. The final day will bring out its ecumenical importance and significance of modern man, in the talks of metropolitans Georges of Mount Lebanon of the Patriarchate of Antioch and Kallistos of Dioklea, delegate of the patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomeos I.

The four days of the conference, thus, hope to rediscover and render eloquent the practice of the spiritual struggle as it is interpreted in the tradition of the fathers and is lived today in the Orthodox Churches. It will thus be an occasion for examining the subject more closely and exchanging views in a fraternal spirit.

On the ecumenical plane especially significant is the presence of official delegations of the Churches of East and West.

As regard the Catholic Church, it is expected that cardinal Roger Etchegaray, vice-dean of the Sacred College, will be present; also archbishop Antonio Mennini, apostolic nuncio to the Russian Federation; mgr. Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the promotion of Christian unity; fr. Milan Žust, S.J., of same Vatican department. Several bishops of the Bishops’ conference of Piedmont, among them its secretary, Arrigo Miglio, bishop of Ivrea, and Gabriele Mana, bishop of Biella and local ordinary, will speak during the sessions.

The Patriarchate of Moscow will be represented by bishop Amvrosij of Gatčina, rector of the Theological Academy of St Petersburg, who will head the official delegation, fr. Dimitrij Ageev and Aleksej Dikarev of the Department of external relations. Archbishop Zosima of Elista and Kalmykija and fr. Pavel Velikanov, representative of the rector of the Theological Academy of Moscow, will participate in the proceedings of the conference.

Among others who will take part there will be: bishop Evlogij of Sumy, archimandrite Kirill (Hovorun), and professor V. Bagrana (Ukrainian Orthodox Church); bishops Porfirije of Jegar (Serbian Orthodox Church) and Mark of Neamț (Romanian Orthodox Church), metropolitan Grigorij of Tărnovo and bishop Kiprian of Traianopol (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), archimandrite Iakovos (Bizaourtis), igumen of the Petraki monastery (Church of Greece), fr. Adam Makaryan (Armenian Apostolic Church), representing the Catholikos of All Armenians, Karekin II, fr. Zaccheus Ohanian (Armenian patriarchate of Constantinople), canon Jonathan Goodall (Church of England), representing the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, Michael Nseir, delegate of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

Among the numerous participants from twenty-one countries, we may note especially fr. Michel Van Parys, fr. Hervé Legrand, and Antonio Rigo of the Scientific Committee, fr. André Louf, fr. Vassilije Grolimund, fr. John Chryssavgis, fr. Andrew Louth; fr. Georgij Kočetkov, Anatolij Krasikov, and Alexej Bodrov from Moscow; Petros Vassiliadis, dean of the theology faculty of the University of Thessalonica; Spyridon Kontoyannis of the University of Athens, Nikitas Aliprandis of the University of Komotini, Gelian Proxorov of the Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg, Kostantin Sigov of Kiev, Vassilis Saroglu of Louvain-le-Neuve, Hugh Wybew of Oxford.

As the presence of numerous monks and nuns of Orthodox monasteries (Greece, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Mount Sinai, Georgia, Armenia), as well as from Catholic and Reformed (Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary) testifies, and as the scientific project of the conference intended, the Ecumenical Conferences on Orthodox spirituality wish to offer a space of brotherly encounter among the various Christian Churches, a space of communion and sharing of their multiform spiritual traditions.

All the items about the
XVII International Ecumenical Conference

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Augustine in Eastern and Western Tradition

Vatican City, 4 September 2009 (VIS) - Made public yesterday afternoon was a Message from Benedict XVI to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and participants in an inter-Christian symposium on St. Augustine being held in Rome from 3 to 5 September.

The symposium has been promoted by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at Rome's Antonianum Pontifical Athenaeum, and by the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Aristotle in Salonika, Greece.

In his Message the Pope notes how the theme chosen for the meeting - "St. Augustine in Western and Eastern Tradition" which is being examined in co- operation with the Augustinianum Patristic Institute in Rome - is of "great interest" and may "promote more profound study of Christian theology and spirituality in East and West".

"The saint of Hippo, a great Father of the Latin Church, is of fundamental importance for the theology and for the very culture of the West", writes the Holy Father, noting how "the reception of his ideas in Orthodox theology has proved to be somewhat problematic. Hence, it is indispensable to understand - with historical objectivity and fraternal cordiality - the doctrinal and spiritual wealth that form the heritage of the Christian East and West, not only to evaluate them better, but also to promote greater mutual appreciation among all Christians".

Benedict XVI concludes his Message by expressing the hope that the symposium may prove fruitful in "discovering common doctrinal and spiritual ground which may help to build the City of God where His children can live in peace and fraternal charity".

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"Signature in the Cell" on C-SPAN's BookTV This Weekend

C-SPAN's BookTV will feature Stephen Meyer's presentation this weekend.

In the program Stephen Meyer argues that our DNA provides evidence of an intelligent designer and helps explain how life began. He spoke at the Seattle Art Museum during an event hosted by the Discovery Institute.

Future Airings
* Saturday, September 5th at 7pm (ET)
* Sunday, September 6th at 7am (ET)
* Monday, September 7th at 12pm (ET)
* Tuesday, September 8th at 12am (ET)

Read a review of the book from American Spectator, here.

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Bulgarian Archaeologists Find Relics of Medieval Saint at Perperikon

September 03, 2009
ANI

A team of Bulgarian archaeologist led by Professor Nikolay Ovcharov has discovered relics of a medieval saint at the fortress of Perperikon in the Rhodoppe Mountains.

According to the Sofia News Agency, the remains of human bones were found inside one of two bronze crosses as the archaeologists were excavating two churches.

One of the crosses is larger and has an life-like image of the crucified Jesus Christ on its front, and an image of Virgin Mary praying on its back. It is dated back to 10-11th century.

The second cross is smaller, with geometrical motives, dated to 5th-7th century AD, and it is inside it that the archaeologists found the remains of human bones.

"These are broken and decayed bones, most definitely of a saint. We will never learn which saint they belonged to, there are no inscriptions or signs whatsoever," Professor Ovcharov said.

He underscored the fact that Perperikon, the ancient Thracian city, had later become one of the most important centers of Christianity in the entire region. One of the two churches discovered at Perperikon is the oldest in the region, dated back to 4th and 5th centuries, the rules of Emperor Arcadius (395-408 AD) in the Eastern Roman Empire, and Emperor Honorius (395-423 AD) in the Western Roman Empire, after the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD.

This coincides with the mission of Bishop Niketa of Remesiana (lived 335-414 AD) who started to convert the population in the Rhodoppes to Christianity in 393-398 AD.

Ovcharov's hypothesis is that the church at Perperikon was the first church of Bishop Niketa in that region.

Ovcharov's team has discovered numerous coins of both above-mentioned emperors, which are a proof about the dynamic development of Perperikon at the time, and believes that it was the seat of a bishop from the 4th to the 14th century, right up to the Ottoman conquest.

The archaeologists have discovered a number of bronze, gold, and silver crosses, as well as a number of seals. The latest seal they found bears the name of Byzantine dignitary Museliy Bakoriani (or Muselius Pakourianos).

The name Bakoriani is connected with the founders of the Bachkovo Monastery, which is located nearby, and is still operating today, and attracting thousands of visitors. The monastery was formally founded in 1083 AD by the brothers Gregory and Abasius Bakoriani. The archaeologists are seeking to discover information about the actual connections between the Bachkovo Monastery and the city of Perperikon in the Middle Ages.

The relics of the unknown saint will be donated to the Assumption of Mary Church in the nearby city of Kardzhali where since 2003 pieces of the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ discovered by archaeologists have been preserved.

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Ukrainian Theologian Threatens Ecumenical Patriarchate With Excommunication

Constantinople Patriarchate Risks Throwing in Their Lot, Ukrainian Theologian Believes

Odessa, Russia
September 4, 2009
Interfax

If the Constantinople Patriarchate accepts schismatics under its omophorion, it will find itself outside the canonical Church, a member of the Moscow Patriarchate Synodal Commission, cleric of the Odessa Diocese Archpriest Andrey Novikov believes.

“If, Lord forbid, Constantinople chooses to commune with Ukrainian schismatics, it will have no canonical authority, as non-canonical interference in “alien diocese” is severely punished by certain canons,” Fr. Andrey says in his article conveyed to Interfax-Religion on Friday.

The priest states that the Constantinople Patriarchate “again after a short repose is ready to take anti-canonical actions and interfere into the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church.” Fr. Andrey believes that is how statements of some Constantinople representatives should be considered as they talk about their readiness to accept schismatics from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in their jurisdiction.

However, the Moscow Patriarchate representative is convinced that such admission will be “illegal and of tiny canonical authority.” In the result, “schismatics will continue to be schismatics,” while clergy of the Constantinople Church “besides interference in alien field penalized by church law, will commit one more church and legal crime and grave sin against church unity as it will have prayer communication with tose excommunicated from the Church and, according to the canons, it is corrected with deposition and excommunication.”

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Nearly 70% of Russians Approve of Introducing Orthodox Religion in Schools

Moscow, Russia
September 4, 2009
Interfax

Russians are supporting the plans to introduce the Foundations of the Orthodox Culture as a new school curriculum subject, a nationwide poll has shown.

Almost 70% of polled Russians approve of the introduction of this subject at schools, with a quarter of them totally supporting this idea and 44% being more supportive than not, the Levada Center, a pollster, told Interfax.

The survey was conducted among 1,600 respondents in 128 towns across 46 Russian regions on August 14-17. One-fifth of them (19%) were against the introduction of the Orthodox religion at Russian schools.

Seventy-two percent of Russians believe that primary schools in Russian republics should teach both in Russian and in the language spoken by a local ethnic group, at parents' choice. Twenty-one percent want subjects to be taught in Russian only, the rest (7%) could not answer the question.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev earlier suggested introducing the foundations of the religious culture, history of religion, and the foundations of the secular ethics as an experiment at schools in the Russian regions.

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Help Save Two Detained Muslim Converts To Christianity

In Iran, 27 year old Meryem Rostampour and 30 year old Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad (see the above photo) will be put to death on charges of having changed their religion.

Since March 2009, both Meryem and Marzieh are being detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. First with 25 women in one (!) cell, then in solitary confinement, where they were interrogated while blindfolded. Their crime? They were Muslims and they converted to Christianity.

The fact that we find particularly worrying is that there is an ongoing investigation against Mariam and Marzieh, for «apostasy».

The provision of Iranian law for cases of abandoning Islam is life imprisonment or the death penalty.

In addition, clause 225.10 of this law foresees for women : «During the five daily prayer times, they must be whipped and their living conditions and the quantity of food, clothing and water must be lowered until they show remorse.»

The 9th of August 2009 was the first day in court. Haddad, the deputy prosecutor insisted with great pressure that the women should renounce their Christian faith, both in writing and verbally. According to secure information, it was a moving sight, how the two women persisted, even with Mr. Haddad, and repeatedly stressed that they did not regret anything and would not recant their faith in Christ.

SOURCE: http://haber.mynet.com/detay/dunya/bu-iki-kadin-idam-edilecek/468288 (in Turkish), http://www.isavelives.be/en/node/3401 and http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/030/2009/en (in English) and the webpage of Sabatina James (in German): http://www.sabatina-ev.de/Botschaft.html

This page includes a form via which you can send protest e-mails to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations (iran@un.int) to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Bruxelles (secretariat@iranembassy.be) and to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the U.K. (info@iran-embassy.org.uk.) It is enough to submit your message ONCE for all three destinations.

If you want to send protest messages to other Iranian embassies, you can find all the embassies of Iran worldwide at: http://www.worldembassyinformation.com/iran-embassy/index.html

Send a form at this link as well: http://agazilos.org/2009/09/02/be-a-muslim-again-or-die/

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The Changing Demographics of the West

I show this video to encourage Orthodox Christians to start having lots and lots of children!



So much for democracy.

Though on a side note, this could be a good thing. Instead of going into Muslim turf to evangelize them, they are coming to us.

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The Human Body — Wired for Extremes: True Stories of Survival

Heather M. Brinson
Answers
October 2009

You never know what unexpected danger might put your life on the line. But God knows, and He has equipped every human with backup systems that are programmed to respond to all sorts of emergencies.

Astronauts shivering in a broken-down spacecraft far from earth. A woman falling off a cliff. A backpacker encountering a furious bear at a bend in the trail. How could these people possibly survive?

Each depended on incredible biological emergency systems to stay alive.

We live in a cursed world where dangers lurk around every corner. Recognizing the potential threats to our lives, God provided our bodies with contingency plans, ready to activate at a moment’s notice. Whatever extra energy or infusion of chemicals our bodies need, whatever quick changes are required for us to make quick decisions or conserve precious resources, the brain is always ready to act.

The beauty of these emergency systems is that we don’t have to learn them. Every person begins life with these abilities, which are passed down through the generations, originating in our first parents, Adam and Eve.

Researchers are learning more and more about how our brain switches operations when thrown into hazardous situations. You may never face life-threatening situations, or you may face them only once, but in any case, God has equipped you to have a better chance of surviving. Consider just three examples.


To Coldly Go

The loud bang was unexpected. At first, the other astronauts thought a crewmember was playing a practical joke. But they soon realized the situation was serious. On April 13, 1970, Apollo 13 radioed home. “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

Over the next few days, NASA’s Mission Control in Texas and the endangered astronauts banded together to solve nearly each problem thrown at them. They figured out how to preserve batteries and water. The NASA teams even managed to design a makeshift air scrubber to reduce the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide in the small spaceship. But one problem couldn’t be solved—the lunar module Aquarius was getting cold, almost freezing (around 38°F).

Initially, the heat given off by the computer systems helped to maintain the temperature in Aquarius, but later they were turned off to preserve the precious power. Three days after the explosion, the cold was nearly unbearable. The astronauts never slept. Fred Haise’s feet, after getting soaked from a leaky water dispenser, were half frozen. Their food turned into blocks of ice.

How did they manage to survive? Their brains were ready with a contingency plan that NASA could never imagine.

One part of the brain, called the hypothalamus, regulates the body’s internal temperature. When we get too hot or too cold, the hypothalamus initiates emergency systems. When the temperature plummeted to a critical low, the astronauts’ hypothalamuses responded immediately.

The first defense was to generate heat. Muscles, like computers, produce heat when working. So the astronauts started shivering involuntarily.

The second defense preserved what heat their bodies still contained. As the temperature continued to drop, their brains stimulated the blood vessels just below the skin’s surface to constrict, keeping the blood deeper and warmer as it circulated.

Still, it got colder, causing slowed heart rates, and digestion. Their brains initiated the next step. In an effort to protect the vital organs, their brains triggered the blood to concentrate around the heart and brain, keeping those key areas warmer and vital systems functioning. Fingers, toes, and other extremities were left to the cold.

As the astronauts’ bodies continued to cool, the nervous systems slowed, and clear thinking was hampered. The astronauts even struggled to understand and remember what Mission Control told them. Their brains were conserving all resources in an effort to survive, and logical thinking was unnecessary for immediate survival.

Finally, the end was in sight. After days of fighting the cold and fear, the astronauts buckled in, ready to restart the engine of the Command Module. Amidst cheers and more than a few tears, they entered earth’s atmosphere. The Apollo 13 mission is commonly known as NASA’s successful failure. The astronauts made it home, thanks, in great part, to the incredible design of their bodies.


Pain, Pain Go Away

Hiking alone through the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California had always been one of Amy Racina’s favorite pastimes. The beauty of the trees, the silence of the hills, and the warm August air filled Amy with peace and joy. Then the unthinkable happened.

Near the edge of a cliff, the ground suddenly crumbled underneath her feet. She tumbled into space with nothing to catch her but a granite slab 60 feet (18 m) below.

When Amy woke up, she waited for pain to overwhelm her. It didn’t. So she sat up and assessed her situation. Her hip was broken in two places, her right kneecap had shattered, and she noticed several other minor fractures, sprains, and dislocations.

Amy knew she was badly hurt, so why wasn’t she overwhelmed with pain?

In extreme emergencies, our brain can block pain. If Amy had felt the full force of the pain from all of her injuries, she would have been unable to bind her wounds and drag herself the mile and a half to the nearest trail. The trail offered the only hope of rescue before she bled to death.

Typically, pain is a good thing. It warns us of injury or sickness. It tells us when to slow down or when we’ve done too much. Few things send us to the doctor faster than intense pain. If we never felt pain, we would rarely notice when we hurt ourselves.

But in life-threatening situations, it’s not always good to feel pain. Soldiers in the midst of battle don’t always have time to treat bullet wounds. Long-term survival may demand their full attention on the enemy, so the brain can temporarily block the pain.

But how can our brains block pain? Scientists are still trying to understand the details, but the gate control theory suggests that the paths between pain-transmitting nerves can be blocked by natural pain killers.1 Normally, nerves at the injured site send signals along a path to a projection neuron (the gate) located in the spine, which then forwards the message to the brain.

However, if the pain must be blocked, a special region in the middle of the brain, called the periaqueductal gray, closes the gate by releasing endorphins, natural pain killers more powerful than morphine. Once the danger has passed, the periaqueductal gray will remove the endorphins, allowing pain through the gate.

Once rescuers arrived to lift Amy by helicopter to a hospital, pain flooded over her. The temporary lull in pain had saved her life. Now it was time for the normal process of rest and healing to begin.


Bear in Mind

Hiking in the middle of the remote forest in the USA’s Yellowstone National Park, 22-year-old Josh Beattie turned the corner and nearly stumbled over a grizzly bear cub at play, blocking his path. But mom was there, too. Suddenly, his heart raced, his breathing increased, and his muscles tensed.

What was happening to Josh?

His brain was preparing to fight or flee. At the first sign of danger, before the problem is fully processed by the logic center, our brain already kicks into gear. In many cases, like touching a hot stove, if we waited until we consciously understood the dangers, our reaction would come too late.

So how does this fight or flight system work?

When danger nears, the hypothalamus (the same part of our brain that regulates body temperature) “flips a switch.” Before we have time to think, our brain speeds ahead of us, ordering the release of appropriate chemicals. Our brain also increases blood flow to the muscles, allowing for quick action. Breathing deepens to elevate oxygen intake. Heart rate and pressure increase to speed oxygen delivery. Many nonvital systems temporarily shut down. Growth, digestion, and the immune system stop functioning so that energy is not wasted on systems not required for immediate survival.

But the brain acts differently if the danger is farther away. According to one study, the distance of the threat relates to the area our brain uses to face it.2 If the angry mother bear appears far away, the part of our brain used for strategy (called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) activates. But as she draws closer, the focus switches to the fight or flight part of our brain, known as the periaqueductal gray (the same part that controls feeling pain). Essentially, the brain seeks to implement an escape plan before momma bear gets too close.

Time is up. Which will you choose, fight or escape? The answer comes down to the individual. Whether we run or fight is not always clear-cut, and the decision depends on our emotions and the situation. But no matter the emergency, God designed the human brain with the specialized capabilities to help us survive, be it day-to-day hassles or perilous threats to life.

The End but not the Limit

At the same time that mankind explores the deep mysteries of the oceans and the awesome glories of the heavens, where the Creator’s genius is clearly seen, we are just as amazed by the intricacies scientists constantly discover in the human brain.

The same God who displays His power in space reminds us about His loving care in our own bodies and minds. From the very beginning, God provided for His children even before such protection was needed. Adam and Eve were well-equipped to survive in a fallen world, and so are we.

Heather M. Brinson is currently earning dual degrees in English and Chemistry from Clemson University. A previously published author, Heather hopes to use her combined abilities in ministry when she graduates.

Footnotes

R. Melzack and P. Wall, “Pain Mechanisms: A New Theory,” Science 19 (November 1965): 971–978.

D. Mobbs et al., “When Fear Is Near: Threat Imminence Elicits Prefrontal-Periaqueductal Gray Shifts in Humans,” Science 24 (August 2007): 1079–1083.

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Saint Anthimos Kourouklis, the Blind Ascetic of Kefallonia and Enlightener of Greece

Saint Anthimos the Blind (Feast Day - September 4)

St. Anthimos, son of Ioannis and Antzouleta Kourouklis, was born on the island of Kefallonia in Lixouri in 1727, with the name Athanasios Kourouklis. At the age of seven he became blind as a result of smallpox, an epidemic in Palliki at the time. His devout mother prayed for his healing, and asked her priest at the Church of the Holy Apostles to serve forty liturgies ("sarantaleitourgo") for her son's healing. At the fortieth Divine Liturgy, as the priest said: "With the fear of God and with faith and love draw near," Athanasius cried out that he could see the priest's vestments and chalice. He had recovered sight in his right eye. He then received his education by Abbot Anthimos at the Monastery of St. Paraskevi in Lepeda.

For a time he followed his father's occupation as a seaman and travelled to Constantinople, but then took up the life of a monk when he was 2o at the Monastery of St. Paraskevi at Lepeda, receiving the name Anthimos in honor of the Abbot. At some point he went blind again, and soon thereafter had a vision: he was praying for the restoration of his sight before an icon of the Theotokos when two young men in radiant garments appeared and led him to the Mother of God herself, who told him, "Depart, for your continual prayer that I restore your sight is not profitable to you." But the two young men pleaded for him, and the Theotokos said, "Anthimos, because of your great piety and many prayers, I will restore your sight in part, but do not forget that, having gained temporal vision, you can lose that which is eternal." Thereafter, though Anthimos was almost completely blind, he could dimly discern the outlines of objects; but in compensation he was granted the gift of spiritual insight,and was able to predict the future and call by name those he had never met.

Saint Anthimos was about twenty when he entered monastic life, and lived on Mount Athos at the Monastery of Iveron for a while where he received the Great Schema in 1747. Despite his blindness, he took up a life of missionary work as a "blind pilgrim monk" that took him throughout the Greek mainland and especially the islands. He decided this after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where he stayed for a time. Traveling from place to place he preached the Gospel, healed the sick, and founded several monasteries. Once he even restored a blind woman's sight by his prayers, though he himself remained blind throughout his life. Throughout his amazing labors he maintained a life of the most severe asceticism by eating little and sleeping on a plank or on the floor. His work was so impressive that P.N. Politis, a professor at the University of Thessaloniki, declares him to be "a splendid human being and one of the most significant men of our Church in the 18th century".


Missionary Journey's

Originally he had returned from the Holy Land to Kefallonia in 1758. He visited Castellorizo and laid the foundations for the fortified Monastery of St. George of the Mountain (Ayios Yeorgios tou Vouniou) on the small, fertile plateau above the island's town. He remained on the island until its construction was complete and the monastery formally consecrated in 1759. It is of special interest that the builder Anthimos used for the monastery's construction was a Rhodian, Hatzikonstandis, who married and settled on Castellorizo. His descendants are the members of the Protomastoros family.*

He spent a year on the island of Chios staying at the Church of St. Matrona (sleeping on its floor). He also spent time on the islands of Siphnos, Paros, Antiparos and Ios. While traveling from Siphnos to Paros he calmed a threatening storm through his prayers. In 1759 he saved the island of Megisti from drought through his prayers.

A significant stopover in his blessed journeys is the island of Astypalaia where in 1760 he founded a magnificent convent dedicated to the Holy Theotokos Portaitissa, complete with sleeping quarters and protective walls, and the miraculous icon he requested be copied from the original on Mount Athos. St. Anthimos stayed here for many years and worked many miracles, including ridding the island of snakes through his prayers.

The devastating earthquake of 1767 in Lixouri, the defamatory campaign against the clergy at the time, combined with his nostalgia for Kefallonia, lead his footsteps back to Lepeda Monastery in 1769 which was by now in ruins. He salvaged and rebuilt it, turning it into a Convent populated by devout nuns.

Following the restoration of both buildings and souls in Kefallonia, he continued his journeys, this time founding the Holy Monasteries dedicated to St. Anthony the Great in Sfakia of Crete in 1770, and St. John the Forerunner in Libadi of Kythera in 1773. At the latter, he dedicated the second throne of the chapel to his spiritual guide and the patron of his homeland, St. Gerasimos. He moved on to Sikinos, founding the Monastery of Zoodohos Pege (Life-giving Spring) in 1775.

He had thus created six "castles" of faith, six safe harbors and lighthouses that emitted the light of the Lord during the especially dark days for the nation. The operation of his monasteries is confirmed by a Patriarchal Decree of Patriarch Ioannikios.

While living a peaceful and ascetic life back at his base at Lepeda, he received three letters from Mani, imploring him to go there and assist in bringing peace to local conflicts. He embarked on this journey aboard a small ship. Following a stopover in the Peloponesean village of Kelbasio, he arrived in Mani where his pious nature and prophetic charisma enabled him to intervene and bring the locals back on the road to salvation.

It is at this point of having achieved the highest state of spirituality, that the Lord informed him that he was to leave this world behind. With this information, he went back to Lepeda, his place of solitude and repentance.

His Repose and Canonization

In 1782, in the course of one of his many sea journeys, he told the sailors to change course for Kefallonia, saying: "God's will is not that I concern myself with it [the mission he had undertaken], but that I go back and die in my monastery." On returning he fell ill with jaundice and called his spiritual children to him, saying: "My children, the hour has come for me to go where the Lord ordains. Death is the common lot of us all and is nothing to be afraid of. It is important rather to do your best to keep your promises and your monastic vows. The one thing necessary in this life is to please God and save your souls." Having said this, he fell asleep in peace, at the age of 54 on September 4th, 1781.

Restitution of his Sacred Remains took place in 1800 by Abbot Ioannis Lepediotis.

In 1920, at the iniative of Amilkas Alevizatos, a Lixourian academic and Government Councilor to the Holy Synod, the Convent at Lepeda was properly recognized and incorporated as part of St. Gerasimos Convent - a status that is upheld to this day.

The devasting earthquakes in August of 1953 destroyed the Convent to the ground. Hermioni Alexandropoulou, the only remaining nun, rebuilt the chapel and part of the nun's quarters with the assistance of the Holy Metropolis and devout locals. She also helped repopulate the monastery.

On March 28th 1973, Prokopios Menoutis, then Metropolitan of Kefallonia, transfered in a litany procession the icon of St. Anthimos from the Church of Pantokratoras in Lixouri, amid celebrations for the Declaration of St. Anthimos into Sainthood, which was issued by Patriarchal and Synodal Decree οn July 30, 1974.


Απολυτίκιον. Ήχος α'. Της ερήμου πολίτης.

Μοναζόντων το κλέος, μετανοίας διδάσκαλε, θαυματουργών επιδείξει, πάντας κατηύγασας. ανέτειλας ως ήλιος ημίν, διώκων των παθών τας προσβολάς. διά τούτο Άνθιμε Όσιε, την θήκην των σων λειψάνων ασπαζόμεθα. Δόξα τω σε δοξάσαντι Χριστώ, δόξα τω σε θαυμαστώσαντι, δόξα τω δωρησαμένω σε ημίν σκέπην και καύχημα.

Apolytikion in Tone Three
The offspring of Palle and Kefallonia's torch, divine builder of the Monastery of Lepedes, we cheerefully praise Anthimos who defeated the adversary with asceticism. Having received the gift of healing from the Lord, fervently intercede for our salvation.

Kontakion in Tone Three
Today, with a grateful spirit, the island of Kefallonia celebrates with the Monastery of Lepedes, and also invites the islands of the Cyclades. The islands rejoice because they received as great treasure your all-holy tomb, Anthimos, companion of the righteous.

Megalynarion
The renowned offspring of Lixouri, the pride of ascetics and the examle of monks, divine builder of the Monastery Lepedes, let us praise the thrice blissful Anthimos.

Note: It is sometimes said that celebrating Divine Liturgies for special intentions is 'not Orthodox.' The example of St Anthimos' mother shows that the practice is both traditional and efficacious.

* The monastery was extended and restored by a local builder, Mastrogeorgis, in 1779. At this time, it featured 15 monks' cells, a residence for the abbot, a dining room and a library. At its centre stood the church (katholikon) dedicated to St George, built in a style characteristic of the region, surrounded by a pebbled courtyard (votsala). Regrettably, the church and the external walling of the monastery are the only remnants of the entire elaborate structure, though plans are underway to restore the monastery to its former grandeur.

Underneath the church, and accessible only via a small trap door, is the so-called 'catacomb' of Saint Haralambos. St. Anthimos dedicated it to St. Haralambos because he is the patron Saint of Lixouri, the town where Anthimos was born. This small shrine was used as a refuge during the early years of the Greek Revolution and, again, during the bombardments from the Turkish coast in the First World War.

The cave of St. Anthimos at Lepeda together with its nuns today are pictured below.

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Dervishes Dance on the Face of Christ: More Evidence of Turkish Intolerance

The picture above comes from a Turkish television commercial from 2006 that depicts swirling dervishes dancing on an enlarged image of Christ as depicted in the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. It continues to be shown on television in many countries.

Do the Turks know no end to their blasphemy and intolerance! As I recall it was just this past May that more than 1,000 Muslims rallied in the city streets of Athens over claims that Greek police allegedly tore up and trampled on the Quran (which was never substantiated). They smashed 75 cars, injured 14 people, overturned trash bins and attacked banks. Left-wing Greeks were seen on Greek TV advocating on behalf of immigrants right to protest, saying: "What happened is a great insult to every Muslim, every immigrant and every Greek who respects democracy." What will these advocates say now that the Turks have added another entry to their long list of hypocrisies. On the one end we have Muslims protesting the Greek government for the trampling on the Quran, and now they go ahead on Turkish TV trampling on the face of Christ to promote their bigoted country.

I wonder how Turks would feel if their Greek neighbors started doing a tsamiko or kalamatiano dance on an image of Muhammed? Or how about a Christian entering the newly built mosque in Athens wearing shoes? Such an act is nothing less than a death sentence.

This is yet more evidence that Turkey is becoming more and more backward in a world that actually honors religious freedom and tolerance.

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Patriarch on Death List, Orthodox Fear Another Pogrom

For Good or Else? Chistian Houses in Turkey Marked

Gates of Vienna
02 September 2009

Our Austrian correspondent ESW has translated a report from Die Presse about ominous new developments in Istanbul that bode ill for Turkey’s few remaining Christians:

Strangers “Marking” Christian Buildings in Istanbul

Buildings inhabited by Christians have been marked with insignias in several districts of Istanbul. The labeling of the buildings are clearly done in concert with increasing harassment of the Christian inhabitants.

Some buildings in the traditionally Christian districts of Feriköy and Kurtulus have recently been labeled with green and red signs. Apparently they were affixed to point to buildings inhabited by Armenians and Greeks. The labels appear to be in conjunction with complaints from Christians about increasing harassment, according to Sehabat Tuncel, a member of parliament asked in a parliamentary questioning.

Besir Atalay, minister of interior, is now forced to answer these allegations. “Who affixed these markings?” is only one of the questions cited by the press. The ministry must also make clear whether the police received orders to take action and investigate.

Patriarch on a Death List

Residing in the Phanar in Istanbul, ecumenical patriarch Bartholomaios I has apparently been added to a death list kept by the nationalist-laicist secret society “Ergenekon”, which is accused of trying to push Turkey into chaos with its assassination attempts.

The EU Commission has repeatedly requested Turkey’s cooperation on effective measures to improve the precarious situation of the non-Muslim population.

Remembering the 1955 Pogrom on Christians

The marking on Christian buildings in Istanbul is a reminder of pogrom against Christian minorities in September 1955. Back then Christian buildings and shops had been marked by nationalist activists. The bloody riots with dozens of dead in Istanbul and Izmir were ostensibly triggered by the Cyprus conflict; however, the true reason was the search for scapegoats at a time of economic recession for Turkey.

A mob of fanatics burned down seventy-two Orthodox churches and more than thirty schools in Istanbul, defaced Christian cemeteries, and destroyed around 3,500 homes and more than 4,000 shops. The police watched the plundering and raping, not lifting a finger. Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who also writes about the Armenian genocide of 1915, describes the blind destruction in his memoirs.

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A Short History of the Illuminati

Sunday, 30 August, 2009
UnexplainedMysteries.com
William B Stoecker

The very word "illuminati" can produce strong reactions among true believers and debunkers alike, and the situation is not helped by the many inaccuracies in the film "Angels and Demons." One little known fact: the word has a very specific meaning. It refers to people who are either spiritually enlightened or who claim to be, and it is perhaps significant that many of today's elites refer to themselves as "wise men," and tend to be intellectually pretentious. Mystics have always believed that, by such means as meditation, people can achieve a higher state of consciousness and a oneness with God and with the entire universe. But they have also warned of the "left hand path" to a dangerous partial enlightenment sought (or settled for) by people seeking the supposed paranormal abilities attained in this state, abilities that can be used to obtain temporal wealth and power. Those who believe in the kundalini energy claim that it rises up the spine from the base chakra all the way to the crown chakra, which is when total enlightenment is achieved. It is perhaps significant that the highest level in freemasonry is supposedly the thirty third degree...and most people have 33 vertebrae. This hints that these Masons may be only partially enlightened.

There really was a historical Illuminati, an actual organization, founded by a Bavarian professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt, a man named Adam Weishaupt. Although of Jewish ancestry, his family had become Catholic, and he had been educated by the Jesuits, a somewhat mysterious order in their own right. He joined the Freemasons, and then created the Illuminati as an organization within an organization, infiltrating numerous Masonic lodges and taking control of them, as well as the universities. He created the order on May 1st 1776, and Mayday is a holiday sacred to ancient pagans, and, interestingly enough, to modern communists, and 1776 was the year of the American Declaration of Independence...and many of its instigators were Masons. He chose "Spartacus" as his code name for himself, after the gladiator who rebelled against Rome, and German communists after WWI referred to themselves as "spartacists." Weishaupt preached revolution against all existing social and political order and the destruction of religion, Judeo-Christian morality, and the nuclear family and the institution of marriage. He advocated a global socialist state. He advised his followers to recruit women by telling them that they were oppressed by men. Note that all of these ideas are preached by modern leftists.

In 1782 Masons and other radicals held a conference at Wilhelmsbad in Germany, where Weishaupt recruited German princes and such French Masons as Count Mirabeau, who spread the order to France, recruiting other Masons such as the Duke of Orleans, Danton, and Marat and taking over the Grand Orient Lodge in Paris, as well as the Jacobin clubs. Note the preponderance of well to do individuals and even members of the aristocracy in this movement...rather like today's billionaire radicals and limousine liberals.

These people fomented the French Revolution in 1789, in a nation whose King, though somewhat weak and inept, was anything but tyrannical, and whose economy, despite past wars and the Little Ice Age, was quite prosperous. The Duke of Orleans bought vast amounts of food, creating a shortage, and hired goons (reminiscent of today's "rent a mobs") to foment the bloody French Revolution, which, like most such revolutions since then, was never a true revolution of the people from the bottom up, but a staged revolution by factions within the elite from the top down. The rebels instigated the Reign of Terror, killing hundreds of thousands, mostly peasants, poor workers, and priests and nuns. Like today's leftists, they were obsessed with reducing the human population, although France was hardly overpopulated, having only a fraction of today's population, and Robespierre advocated the butchery of 15 million. Like today's leftists (and the Illuminati), the French revolutionaries hated Christianity and traditional marriage and morality. Acts of torture, vampirism, and cannibalism became commonplace. They sought the destruction of all existing order and the complete remaking of society. Sound familiar?

Meanwhile the Elector of Bavaria had outlawed the Illuminati in 1785, supposedly destroying the order, but, as we shall see, they were merely driven underground.

The French Revolution really established a fascist state, a very special kind of dictatorship, and the first example of one in the modern world, although ancient Sparta resembled a fascist tyranny, and Plato, perhaps inspired by Sparta, described such a state in his "Republic." It is worth noting that every communist government, although preaching an end to private property and disparities of wealth and the withering away of the state, has, in reality, been fascist, with a small elite living in wealth and luxury and controlling or owning all of the property, while the people are impoverished and enslaved, and mass murder, or democide, is a standard practice. Note that Hitler and Mussolini, often considered "right wing," were in fact socialists; both created socialist economies, and Nazi is the acronym for "National Socialist."

So the Illuminati were a historical reality; George Washington even warned the American people against them. We have, then, two questions: do the Illuminati still exist in some form today, and did Weishaupt really found a new order, or merely make public the resurfacing of an ancient evil?

After the Illuminati were supposedly abolished, there emerged in Germany and elsewhere secret societies advocating the same ideas. In 1788 Baron von Knigge, a surviving follower of Weishaupt's, founded the "German Union," controlling book publishing. After 1815 there appeared a mysterious order called the "League of the Just," who recruited Karl Marx to write the Communist Manifesto. By the 1830s there existed in Germany a club for the wealthy elite called "The Order of Death," whose symbol, appropriately enough, was a skull and crossbones...also an old Masonic symbol. They recruited wealthy American sudents in German universities, who brought the order to the United States, where it became known as Chapter 322 of the order, or "Skull and Bones." Many of America's elite belonged to this charming group of light hearted fraternity brothers, including many in the intelligence agencies, and both the Bushes who occupied the White House. Also, the Illuminati had established "Democratic Societies" in the US during the late eighteenth century. Back in Europe, a radical Italian group called the Carbonari emerged among the Masons, led by such men as Mazzini.

And, of course, the Masons themselves, who first surfaced in Scotland and England in the late seventeenth century, have always been a secret society with a pyramidal, hierarchical structure, secret rituals, and a fondness for occult magical symbols. More secret groups emerged in the US and elsehwere, usually connected with the Masons, including George Bickley's Knights of the Golden Circle, who advocated Southern secession and helped bring about the American Civil War. Supposedly many members of the Confederate Secret Service were members, and, according to author G. Edward Griffin, Jesse James and John Wilkes Booth. After the Civil War, this organization became the Ku Klux Klan.

Various occult societies emerged in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, like the Theosophists. In Germany and Austria, the Order of the New Templars surfaced (I will have more to say about the Templars and their connection with freemasonry later on). The ONT became the German Order, which became the Thule Society, which created the Nazi Party and recruited Adolf Hitler as its leader. Alice Bailey, an English Theosophist, hated Jews and admired Hitler, Mussolini, and Napoleon. She preached that God was a tyrant, and worshipped (her own words) a fallen angel called Lucifer. Moving to the US, she founded the Lucis Trust (Lucifer=Lucis), advocating one world government. This cult and its offshoots include as members such people as Henry Kissinger, and designed and maintain the bizarre meditation room at UN headquarters, with its huge monolith of magnetic ore...resembling similar magnetized monoliths I have personally seen atop an ancient pyramid at Tiahuanaco in Bolivia. Albert Pike, a prominent nineteenth century American Mason, also worshipped Lucifer. Another mysterious cult is San Francisco's Bohemian Club. Sveral people have claimed that at their Bohemian Grove in Sonoma County, its members conduct strange rituals around a stone owl; I have myself seen on the door of their building in San Francisco, a picture of the owl, a crescent moon, and the words "weaving spiders, come not here." Many prominent Americans, including those Bonesmen, the Bushes, are members. And then there are the powerful political organizations, also secret societies, like the Council on Foreign Relations, which does, indeed, control the US, and the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderbergers.

But are these groups (all of which advocate many of the same things advocated by Weishaupt) really branches of the Illuminati? Nineteenth Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli claimed that, above the political parties, there was a secret group who ran everything. American President Woodrow Wilson stated that there was such a group, and said that it was dangerous even to criticize them. And Winston Churchill, in the 1920's, stated that the Illuminati still existed and that they were behind Marxism.

And did the Illuminati exist before Weishaupt supposedly founded them? Could they have been around in ancient, even in prehistoric, Atlantean times? Ancient priesthoods and Greek and Roman Mystery Religions were secret societies, with hierarchical structures and initiation rites. In the early 12th century among Crusaders in the Holy Land, there emerged a secret cult called the Hospitallers, who exist today as the Knights of Malta within the Catholic Church. Shortly after them, also among the Crusaders, nine French knights founded the Templars, using many of the same magical symbols as the Hospitallers. They gained control of the fiat money banking racket, amassing great wealth and power, and were supposedly destroyed by the French King Philippe the Fair, but their fleet escaped capture and most of their treasure was never found. Many joined the Knights of Malta, and those in Spain and Portugal merely changed their name to "Knights of Christ." Robert the Bruce of Scotland owed his victory over the English to a mysterious body of knights who suddenly appeared on the scene...and later, in Scotland, the Masons emerged. To this day, they themselves claim direct descent from the Templars.

So we lack absolute proof of either the antiquity or the continued existence of the Illuminati, but the evidence, while admittedly circumstantial, is compelling.

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Lost Fragment of Codex Sinaiticus Discovered

Fragment From World's Oldest Bible Found Hidden in Egyptian Monastery

Academic stumbles upon previously unseen section of Codex Sinaiticus dating back to 4th century.

By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent
The Independent
September 2, 2009

A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.

Nikolas Sarris spotted a previously unseen section of the Codex Sinaiticus, which dates from about AD 350, as he was trawling through photographs of manuscripts in the library of St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.

The Codex, handwritten in Greek on animal skin, is the earliest known version of the Bible. Leaves from the priceless tome are divided between four institutions, including St Catherine's Monastery and the British Library, which has held the largest section of the ancient Bible since the Soviet Union sold its collection to Britain in 1933.

Academics from Britain, America, Egypt and Russia collaborated to put the entire Codex online this year but new fragments of the book are occasionally rediscovered.

Mr Sarris, 30, chanced upon the fragment as he inspected photographs of a series of book bindings that had been compiled by two monks at the monastery during the 18th century.

Over the centuries, antique parchment was often re-used by St Catherine's monks in book bindings because of its strength and the relative difficulty of finding fresh parchment in such a remote corner of the world.

A Greek student conservator who is studying for his PhD in Britain, Mr Sarris had been involved in the British Library's project to digitise the Codex and quickly recognised the distinct Greek lettering when he saw it poking through a section of the book binding. Speaking from the Greek island of Patmos yesterday, Mr Sarris said: "It was a really exciting moment. Although it is not my area of expertise, I had helped with the online project so the Codex had been heavily imprinted in my memory. I began checking the height of the letters and the columns and quickly realised we were looking at an unseen part of the Codex."

Mr Sarris later emailed Father Justin, the monastery's librarian, to suggest he take a closer look at the book binding. "Even if there is a one-in-a-million possibility that it could be a Sinaiticus fragment that has escaped our attention, I thought it would be best to say it rather than dismiss it."

Only a quarter of the fragment is visible through the book binding but after closer inspection, Father Justin was able to confirm that a previously unseen section of the Codex had indeed been found. The fragment is believed to be the beginning of Joshua, Chapter 1, Verse 10, in which Joshua admonishes the children of Israel as they enter the promised land.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Father Justin said the monastery would use scanners to look more closely at how much of the fragment existed under the newer book binding. "Modern technology should allow us to examine the binding in a non-invasive manner," he said.

Mr Sarris said his find was particularly significant because there were at least 18 other book bindings in the monastery's library that were compiled by the same two monks that had re-used the Codex. "We don't know whether we will find more of the Codex in those books but it would definitely be worth looking," he said.

The library in St Catherine's does not have the laboratory conditions needed to carefully peel away the binding without damaging the parchment underneath but the library is undergoing renovations that might lead to the construction of a lab with the correct equipment to do so.

The Bible: A brief history

Although earlier fragments of the Bible have survived the passage of time, the Codex Sinaiticus is so significant because it is by far the most complete. The full text that has been discovered so far contains virtually all of the New Testament and about half of the Old Testament.

But whenever an ancient version of the holy book is found, it often raises questions about the evolution of the Bible and how close what we read today is to the original words of Christ and his early followers.

The Old Testament was written largely in Hebrew (with the odd Aramaic exception) but it is by no means a homogenous entity. Protestant and more recent Catholic versions of the Bible tend to use the Masoretic Text, a variation of the Hebrew Old Testament that was copied, edited and distributed by Jewish Masorete scholars between the 7th and 11th centuries. Earlier Catholic translations and the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches use the Septuagint, an ancient Greek version of the Hebrew text that was translated between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC.

In studying the early history of the New Testament, historians have about 5,650 handwritten copies in Greek on which they can draw, many of which are distinctly different. As Christianity consolidated its power through the first millennia, the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John came to form the key elements of the New Testament.

But other apocryphal writings were discarded along the way. The Shepherd of Hermas, for instance, is a Christian literary work of the 2nd century which appears in the Codex Sinaiticus and was considered part of the Bible by some early Christians but was later expunged. The most well-known apocryphal gospel is that of Thomas, a collection of 114 numbered sayings attributed to Jesus that was discovered in 1945. As it never refers to Jesus as "Christ", "Lord" or the "Son of Man" (and lacks any mention of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the other gospels) it is perhaps not surprising that it never made it into later versions of the Bible.

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The First Orthodox Monastery of New Zealand

We are pleased to present the location, the first buildings and future plans for the completion of the first Orthodox Christian Monastery in New Zealand.

One can ask, what is the reason for the existence of a monastery?

We Orthodox Christians can very easily answer that such a monastery is necessary, for one is the Holy and Catholic Church which supports, provides spiritual shelter and is the center for every feeble soul. In this idyllic environment Levin, an estate of 104 acres, will serve God first, as THE FIRST holy male monastery of the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and in the name of the Synaxis of the Archangels (9x5) and the adjacent church of St. Basil (6x2.5) will cost about 60,000 euros, or $130,000 N.Z.

We kindly ask you if you can donate whatever you can in this account:

Bank Westpac: Branch, 2 Devon St. East, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Name: Amfilochios Tsoukos
Full account number: 03-1566-0068447-00
Swift code: WPACNZ2W

Thank you for your support. May the Archangels be of help to you and your families and may you have the blessings of Saint Basil, the organizer of Orthodox Monasticism.

Source

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Mount of St. Stephen of Perm

Mountain is Probable to Bear Name of Orthodox Saint First Time in Russia

Arkhangelsk, Russia
September 2, 2009
Interfax

The State Council of Komi conveyed to the Russian government its findings on the question of naming a Subpolar Ural peak “Mount of St. Stephen of Perm.”

The peak is located at a crossroads of touristic routes. If federal authorities back up this initiative, it will be the first Russian mountain named after an Orthodox saint, the Pravoslaviye na Severnoy Zemle website has reported on Wednesday.

The Rossiya Pravoslavnaya public movement and Bishop Pitirim of Syktyvkar and Vorkuta initiated naming the peak after Stephen of Perm.

Earlier in his address to the State Council, Bishop Pitirim stressed that perpetuation of St. Stephen’s name would strengthen historic traditions that were being revived in Komi.

Patriarch Alexy II blessed works on naming the peak in 2007.

Orthodox believers organized an expedition three years ago and climbed the nameless peak to commemorate St. Stephen’s 610th anniversary. Bishop Pitirim blessed to set up a commemorative table with the saint’s name on the top.

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Our father among the saints Stephen of Perm was a fourteenth-century Russian missionary who is known as the Enlightener of Perm and Apostle to the Zyrians for bringing Orthodox Christianity to the Zyriane (Komi) people. To facilitate his missionary activities, he developed an alphabet for the Komi (Permic) language. St. Stephen’s feast day is April 26.

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UOAC Official Request

Saint Andrew's Cathedral of the UAOC

Statement of the Hierarchs of the UAOC Requesting Admission Under the Jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

His All Holiness
Bartholomew
Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome
Ecumenical Patriarch

Your All Holiness!

With filial love and honor, we, bishops of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, turn to your All Holiness with synodal request to extend your labors with healing the church schism in Ukraine.

Realizing the value for the Great Church of Constantinople and the whole of Orthodoxy in general of the preparation of the Great and Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church, we raise our own prayers that this Synod would be convened as soon as possible, and its actions helped to update and consolidate the Orthodox Church. However, we ask your All Holiness, as the good shepherd, do not miss the pastoral care and problems of the multimillion Ukrainian people, who today suffer from a split in their church.

The tragic division of the Ukrainian Church in church consciousness was due to the crisis that broke from the ideal of Christian universality. Heading towards the Ecumenical Orthodox, our Church has condemned ethnic phyletism's [as a] unified ideology and declared the abandonment of ethnic phyletism as a means of church building (Statement of the Bishops' UAOC on August 15, 2006). However, as witnesses and members of religious processes, with sadness we note that without the active participation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate the new universal dimension of Ukrainian Orthodoxy is not completely solved.

Unification of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine can not be formally or mechanically. Achieving unity should be the result of the process of the recovery of consciousness and church life, releasing them from external secular motivations. We strive to gain a complete ecclesiology, aspire to a united Christian Church being the discovery of freedom and universality. With this in mind, we can not accept as the basis of association/(re)union the proposed idea of restoring us to the Russian Orthodox civilization or other secular values.

Your All Holiness! Today, when our church is suffering from separation, we call on you to not only pray for healing the split in Ukraine, but also to provide us with medicines that can heal wounds on the body of the Ukrainian Church.

We call on the Ecumenical Patriarchate to develop and implement a coherent theological church program, which aims to instill in Ukraine a catholic church consciousness. In particular, in our opinion, to improve the consciousness of the church would be extremely important:

a. assigning the leading theologians of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to resolving the Ukrainian church problem;

b. the theologians of the Ecumenical Patriarchate collaborating with leading humanitarian and theological schools in Ukraine;

c. implementation of a publishing program, which would be intended to acquaint the Ukrainian Orthodox Christians with the achievements of theological thought of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in particular in the field of ecclesiology, canon law and the history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate;

d. participation of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in scientific activities in Ukraine closer and active than today, involving senior representative orthodox scholars of Ukraine in scientific and other events held on the initiative or with the assistance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate;

e. opening in Kiev of a Metochion or Information and Cultural Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

On the other hand, the episcopate of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church once again turns to the countenance of the Mother Church, to escape from the artificial canonical isolation, and recovery fellow participation with the World Wide [or Ecumenical/Universal] Orthodox, our church is ready and wants to join the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the rights of autonomy. While gaining autocephaly was and remains the strategic goal of Ukrainian autocephalous movement, to overcome the division we are ready to go for significant concessions, sacrificing their own interests for the greater good of the Church.

Given this, the episcopate of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church appeals to your All Holiness to request to intensify dialogue and to consider possible compromise solutions to the Ukrainian church matters.

With filial love we also ask your All Holiness to pray for our Church, its hierarchy and the God beloved Ukraine, with its pious people

In filial love and obedience,

+ Methodius
Metropolitan of Kiev and Ukraine
Of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

+ ANDREI
Metropolitan of Galicia
Locum tenens, Ivano-Frankivsk Diocese

+ ROMAN
Metropolitan Vinnitsa and Bratslava

+ JOHN
Archbishop of Uman

+ PETER
Archbishop on Krefalda and Bona

+ Makarov
Archbishop of Lviv
Locum tenens Rivne, Volyn and Taurian Diocese

+ Theodosius
Archbishop of Drogobych and Sambir

+ Hilarion
Bishop of Cherkassy Kirovograd

+ Michael
Fastovsky Bishop, Diocesan Vicar of Kyiv,

+ VLADIMIR
Bishop of Zhytomyr and Polessky

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Assyrian Orthodox Community Trying to Preserve Its Identity

Ancient Faith of Their Middle Eastern Fathers

Guardian Weekly
Catherine Ann Lombard
Tuesday September 1st 2009

The morning is hot and sticky, but I have promised Dayrayto Shmuni to help in the monastery kitchen and put on my long-sleeved T-shirt. How the nun manages during the summer months in her long black habit and cowl is a miracle. After a short bike ride through the wooded fields, I walk into the kitchen that is bustling with women and the sounds of Aramaic.

I am on the far eastern border of the Netherlands, but I might as well be in southeastern Turkey. The madrashto, or summer school, is in session at Mor Ephrem, the Syrian Orthodox Monastery, and 45 hungry boys will be lining up after the midday prayer for lunch. My husband works as a teacher for the church and so I volunteered to help.

With only a few words in Aramaic, the ancient language that Jesus spoke, I spend these mornings chopping vegetables and washing pots and pans. It is Wednesday, which is a fasting day, so the menu is simple. Baked potatoes, lentil soup, sesame-covered rolls, fish cakes, pickled vegetables, and melon. No meat, eggs, milk products or sweets.

The boys are all Dutch, learning to read and chant in kthobonoyo, the litur­gical language that only about 300 people in the world speak today. Their parents are immigrants, having fled the Turkish government and Kurds in the 1970s and 80s, leaving their homes and farmlands in Tur Abdin. Others escaped from Iran and Syria, and, recently, from Iraq. They are a complex diaspora community of 300,000 worldwide, only united by their Aramaic dialect and Christian faith. As man in his 30s told me, “We have no land. We have no ­nation. We only have the church. Without it, we are left with no identity.”

One of the women is now humming a chant; the window is open and I can hear some of the boys chanting as they sit outside. I am slicing melon and its juicy sweetness makes my mouth ­water. We women will eat only after all the teachers, priests, monks, boys and archbishop have finished their meal, which is eaten in silence. I steal a piece of melon and hurry to finish my task before the chapel bell rings, calling us to prayer.

Afterwards, I have to remind myself that I am in the Netherlands. What will happen to all this as the newer generations become more European? How will this refuge of ancient Christian life survive in our secular world?

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650 Pilgrims Prevented From Celebrating the Feast of St. Mamas in Morphou

Morphou is located in the northwest side of Cyprus, 30 miles from Nicosia. In 1974 Morphou was invaded by the Turkish troops, who forced its residents away, and since then keep the town under their occupation, forbidding the Greek Cypriots from visiting their houses, their orchards, their churches, and the soil that buries their ancestors.

The Church of St. Mamas is one of the most important Franco-Byzantine churches in Cyprus, and dates to the beginning of the 16th century. It was built on the ruins of two old Christian basilicas, and one Byzantine church. Two festivals were celebrated for St. Mamas, one on September 2, and the other during Palm Sunday. For years Orthodox faithful have been trying to hold services in the Church of St. Mamas in Morphou, yet without success. In 2004 they were finally allowed to hold services. Morphou is expected to be returned to Greek control in a future settlement between Greeks and Turks – indeed, even the 2004 Annan plan envisaged its return.

Today at the Kato Pyrgos-Limnitis checkpoint the Turkish occupation regime refused to allow 650 Cypriot Orthodox pilgrims from the Tylliria and Paphos districts to cross into occupied Morphou and attend services at the Monastery of St Mamas, whose feast day it is today.

The Cypriot government thought it had an agreement with the Turkish side that if it allowed Turks living in occupied Cyprus to cross without checks to the Turkish Cypriot enclave of Kokkina to commemorate the battle that took place there in 1964 (in which Turkish aircraft strafed and dropped napalm on Greek villages to prevent Cypriot forces from overrunning the terrorist TMT stronghold of Kokkina), then Greek Cypriot pilgrims would be allowed, on the same terms, to enter occupied Morphou and attend the St Mamas celebrations.

The Turks made their trip to Kokkina, on 14 August, unimpeded and, up until yesterday, and despite rumours to the contrary, the Christofias government was insisting that the occupation authorities would allow the Morphou crossing to take place without the pilgrims being forced to go through rigourous ID checks.

However, today, as soon as the pilgrims crossed into the occupied areas, the buses in which they were travelling were halted by 'police' from the occupation regime, who proceeded to board the buses and carry out stringent Kafkaesque ID checks, taking several people off the vehicles and declaring they would not be allowed to cross. After three hours of harassment and calculated humiliation – during which time the services at St Mamas had finished – the Greek Cypriot pilgrims felt obliged to abandon the pilgrimage and return to the free areas.

The history of Greek-Turkish relations since 1922 tells us that any agreement the Turks enter into is not worth the paper its written on. For the Turks, an agreement is merely a means to an end, which will be discarded the moment it no longer serves Turkey's purpose. Thus, it was entirely predictable that the 'agreement' reached over Kokkina and St Mamas would not be adhered to and that the 'assurances' given to the Cypriot government were meaningless.

This raises Papadopoulos' question during the debate over the Annan plan: how can the Greek side be sure that Turkey will abide by any commitments it enters into? In fact, it was this question that President Christofias claimed was the deal-breaker for him over Annan, i.e. he was not convinced that the plan provided the mechanisms to ensure Turkey would do what it agreed to do and not even last-minute phone calls from US secretary of state Colin Powell to Christofias assuring him that the USA would insist Turkey honour its commitments managed to persuade Christofias to change his mind.

The Papadopoulos question, therefore, remains of paramount importance. If the Turks cannot be trusted to keep to an agreement on the simple matter of a religious pilgrimage, then how can we expect the Turks to fulfill any obligations it enters into on matters of much greater significance, such as the withdrawal of Turkish troops and settlers from Cyprus, the return of territory and so on?

Source


Life of Saint Mamas (or Mamantos)

Saint Mamas, although he was not a Cypriot local saint, was venerated greatly in Cyprus, especially in the Morphou area. He was from Gaggra of Paflagonia in Cappadocia and was born in prison during 260 A.D. where his Christian parents were held and who ultimately became martyrs during the Roman persecutions. He was given to a good woman, by the name of Ammia, in order to bring him up and it is said that the saint used to call her "mama" (mommy) and thats why he was named Mamas. He died in 275 A.D. at the age of 15 after going through much torture for the faith.

Saint Mamas was the patron saint of the acritic army unit of the Mardaites Τhieves (Apelatai) during Byzantine times. A sub-unit of the Mardaites who came to Cyprus and settled in the area of Morphou introduced the veneration of their patron to Cyprus. Originally a church was built baring his name and later it was replaced by the monastery of the same name in the occupied town of Morphou. It is one of the most important churches of Cyprus, of Franco-Byzantine style, and dates from the early 16th century. The sarcophagus of Saint Mamas is found in a niche situated on the north wall of the church, and has relief decoration. According to a tradition, the remains of the Saint arrived in Cyprus in a sarcophagus, which survives today in the church, from the shores of Asia Minor. The iconostasis was made in the 16th century and during 1945 new buildings were constructed west of the church in which the Bishop of Kyrenia used to reside. Major changes, additions and improvements were made in 1963 and these included a lecture hall, library, etc. In 1973 Morphou acquired its own Bishopric for the first time in its history having as its first Bishop Mr Chrysanthos Sarrigiannis (1973-1996). Today the Bishop of Morphou is Mr Neophytos and the Cathedral church of the Bishopric is that of Saint Mamas. After the Turkish invasion, the Church of Saint Mamas in Morphou was converted into a museum. That's why today it is in good condition. Before the Turkish invasion two festivals used to take place at the monastery, one on September 2 (feast day of Saint Mamas) and one on Palm Sunday.

Source

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At 10:00 AM the Divine Liturgy for the Feast of St. Mamas took place amidst hundred of faithful who were able to enter through other barricades. The Metropolitan of Morphou Neophytos was the celebrant. In his sermon it was his wish that next year all Orthodox Cypriots would be able to celebrate the feast unhindered.

Pictures of the service are below.

Source.

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