Glorification of Saint Philaret of Chernigov

For pictures and information about the glorification of St. Philaret, see here.

Short Biography of Saint Philaret Humilevsky of Chernigov

Finally, one of the great Orthodox Fathers and Teachers living in the 19th century was glorified a saint, Philaret (Humilevsky), Archbishop of Chernihiv (whose feastday will be August 22nd).

St Philaret belonged to the “group of the three Holy Philarets” of that time which included St Philaret Metropolitan of Kyiv and St Philaret Metropolitan of Moscow.

Born Dmitry Hrihorievich Humilevsky in 1805 as a son of a priest, he received his surname (in truth, his real family name was “Konobeiv”) in theseminary as a play on the word “humility” owing to his short stature and humble character. Having completed his seminary studies with the highest possible scholarly acclamations, he was tonsured a monk as “Philaret” and was appointed Theology and History professor. Since he read widely, he could teach numerous theological and secular subjects and was not only an accomplished historian but also an archaeologist.

He founded the academic journal The Writings of the Holy Fathers: Translated From the Ancient Languages. In 1841, he was consecrated as Bishop of Riga in Latvia.

While in the Baltic countries, he was sympathetic to the desire of the Latvians and Estonians to have spiritual literature available to them in their own national languages. Philaret the scholar then went back to his study desk and soon mastered those languages himself. He also expected Orthodox priests working in Latvia and Estonia to be fluent in all three Baltic languages and began translating and publishing religious literature for his Baltic flock.

In 1848, St Philaret was transferred to Kharkiv in Ukraine and in 1857 he was consecrated as Archbishop and assigned to Chernihiv where he continued to upgrade the theological and cultural education and development of his flock.

It was in Chernihiv that the Holy Hierarch Philaret produced his Orthodox Dogmatic Theology and his History of the Church of Rus’ as well as a volume on literature.

A great practitioner of the Jesus Prayer and reader of Holy Scripture, St Philaret was an ascetic in the best traditions of Orthodox Patristic spirituality. His great devotion to study earned him the respect of both religious and secular scholars of his day. And he came by his new surname quite naturally.

His deeply moving spirituality and humility can be seen in his eyes in the pictures of him that are extant. Covered in the robes of his high Archiepiscopal office with Crosses and Panaghias hanging from his shoulders with many books and papers in his hands, St Philaret’s “heart-piercing” piety made a great spiritual impression on his flock throughout Eastern Europe.

No wonder tens of thousands lined the streets and roads to pay their last respects to their great Pastor during his funeral and begin his local veneration that has continued to this day, culminating in his formal Glorification as a new Hierarch-Saint of our Church on October 25, 2009!

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Vatican Cross Given By Emperor Justin II Restored

The restored cross. According to experts, it is the oldest known reliquary containing the purported fragments of the true cross on which Jesus was crucified.

Golden Cross in Vatican’s Collection Gets New Look

By The Associated Press
Saturday, November 21, 2009

VATICAN CITY (AP) — One of the gems of the Vatican’s priceless religious art collection — a 6th century reliquary containing what is revered as fragments of the cross on which Jesus was crucified — has been restored to its Byzantine-era glory.

The Vatican on Thursday unveiled the restored Crux Vaticana, a foot-high jewel-encrusted golden cross containing what tradition holds are shards of Jesus’ cross inside.

The Associated Press was given an early look at the piece, and Byzantine art experts said the restoration rendered the cross much closer to what it would have looked like at the time the Byzantine Emperor Justin II gave it to the people of Rome.

Most significantly, the restoration corrected a botched 19th century restoration that threatened to corrode the piece. And it replaced the brightly colored gems that were added in previous centuries with the large, imperfect pearls that are emblematic of Byzantine-era imperial masterpieces, said restorer Sante Guido.

A circle of 12 pearls now surrounds the relic, and pearls around the cross’ edge now alternate with emeralds and sapphires — the two other gems most often associated with Byzantine emperors, he said.

While there are purported fragments of Christ’s cross in churches around the world — including at Paris’ Notre Dame and even across town at Rome’s Holy Cross basilica — the Crux Vaticana is considered the oldest reliquary of the cross. It is the crown in the Vatican’s Treasury of St. Peter’s collection of religious and historic artifacts.

In addition to the relic inside, the cross itself is an important piece of early Christian art. Measuring 15.75 inches by 11.81 inches, it’s a rare example of an imperial gift and an expression of the emperor’s Christian faith. Across the piece is written in Latin: “With the wood with which Christ conquered man’s enemy, Justin gives his help to Rome and his wife offers the ornamentation.”

“It’s the most important reliquary of the ‘true cross’ that we have,” Guido told the AP. “It’s particularly important because it’s the only reliquary that came from an emperor, so there are various levels of religious and historic significance.”

For centuries, the cross was used in the Vatican’s most solemn ceremonies at Christmas and Easter. But 1,500 years of candle wax and smoke had dulled the gems and the cross’ warm golden hue — grime that has been removed following a two-year restoration.

The work was paid for by an anonymous donor who didn’t want the pricetag to be made public, officials said.

Ioli Kalavrezou, a Byzantine art history professor at Harvard University who has taught classes on the cross, said the restoration clearly rendered the cross closer to what it would have looked like when it was presented to Romans sometime between 565-578.

“I can’t say it’s exactly as it would’ve been, but it comes much closer to what an object like that would’ve looked like,” she said in a phone interview.

The exact circumstances of why Justin gave Rome the relic are unclear. Guido noted that even though the eastern Byzantine Empire gained prominence in Constantinople after the 476 fall of the Roman Empire, Rome remained a religious capital because it was the “city of martyrs” — where Saints Peter and Paul were buried.

Emperor Justin clearly wanted to give the pope and people of Rome “a recognition of Rome as a city of Christianity,” Guido said. At the time, most parts of Christ’s cross were in the hands of the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople after being moved from Jerusalem in the 4th century, Kalavrezou noted.

“This is one of the earliest examples of this imperial gift, where he (Justin) shows the power he has in his hands — to control the most important relic in Christiandom and to have the luxury to make a gift of that,” she said from Washington, where she is a visiting scholar at the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine research library.

The cross will be on public display inside St. Peter’s Basilica through April 12.

The front of the Crux Vaticana (Vatican Cross) before restoration.

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The Letter of the Law Can Be Quite Deadly

by Elder Paisios the Athonite

I once asked someone: "What type of warrior do you consider yourself to be? Christ's warrior or temptation's warrior? Are you aware that the evil of temptation also has its own warriors?"

A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for and be sensitive towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm.

I met a theologian who was extremely pious, but had the habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a very blunt manner; his method penetrated the listener so deeply that it shook them severely. He told me once: "During a gathering, I said such and such a thing to a lady." But the way that he said it, he crushed her. "Look," I said to him, "you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads, not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones as well."

Let's not stone our fellow-man in a so-called "Christian manner." The person who — in the presence of others — checks someone for having sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person) is not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.

The way of the Church is love; it differs from the way of the legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.

I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their piety is a good thing, as is their predisposition for good; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow mindedness or strong headedness. Someone who is truly in a spiritual state must possess and exemplify spiritual discernment; otherwise he will forever remain attached to the "letter of the Law," and the letter of the Law can be quite deadly.

A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he listens, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he responds like a student. He who believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.

A person that begins to do something with a good intention and eventually reaches an extreme point lacks true discernment. His actions exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this behavior; he is unaware of it, because he does not know himself that well, which is why he goes to extremes.

Quite often, people begin with good intentions, but look where they may find themselves! Ihis was the case with the "icon-worshippers" and the "icon-combatters" in the past: both cases were extremes! The former had reached the point of scraping icons of Christ and placing the scrapings into the Holy Chalice in order to "improve" Holy Communion; the latter, on the other hand, burnt and totally discarded all icons. That is why the Church was obliged to place icons in higher places, out of reach, and, when the dispute was over, lowered them so that we can venerate them and thus confer the appropriate honor to the persons portrayed therein.

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On the Entrance of the Virgin Mary Into the Temple

For an animation about this Feast, see here.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Today is the prelude of God's pleasure and the proclamation of man's salvation. The Virgin is clearly made manifest in the temple of God and foretells Christ to all. Let us also cry out to her with mighty voice, "Hail, fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation."

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Today, the most pure temple of the Savior, the precious bridal chamber and Virgin, the sacred treasure of God, enters the house of the Lord, bringing the grace of the Divine Spirit. The Angels of God praise her. She is the heavenly tabernacle.


About the Festival

The Feast of the Entrance of the Virgin in the Temple is believed to be not among the most ancient festivals of the Church. However, indications that the Feast was observed in the first centuries of Christianity are found in the traditions of Palestinian Christians, which say that the holy Empress Helen (May 21) built a church in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the fourth century, also mentions this Feast, along with Sts. Jerome and Epiphanius. St. Andrew of Crete ( c. 660-740) had known about it and his hymns are found throughout the Service books for this Feast. Saint Germanos I, Patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730, wrote two homilies for the Feast. Saint Tarasios (+ 806), the Patriarch, introduced it at Constantinople a century later as an official Feast, though it had already been celebrated. St. George of Nicomedia (9th cent.) wrote three sermons on the subject which address every detail of the Feast, including a beautiful homily which addresses rhetorically the temple itself.

The festival blossomed forth from the Tradition of the Church, which made use of the second century apocryphal source, the Protoevangelium, in order to emphasize the fulfillment of the economy of the Creator and the self-consecration of the chosen Virgin to a life in the service of God. The Church breaks the silence of the canonical Gospels that we may behold the incomprehensible ways of Providence which prepare Mary, the receptacle of the Word and the Mother predetermined before the ages. She who was preached by the prophets is now introduced into the Holy of Holies, like a hidden treasure of the glory of God. "God has sanctified all things by her entry and has made godlike the fallen nature of mortal men" (Vespers Sticheron).

DISCOURSE ON THE FEAST OF THE ENTRY OF OUR MOST PURE LADY THEOTOKOS INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES

by Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica

If a tree is known by its fruit, and a good tree bears good fruit (Mt. 7:17; Luke 6:44), then is not the Mother of Goodness Itself, She who bore the Eternal Beauty, incomparably more excellent than every good, whether in this world or the world above? Therefore, the coeternal and identical Image of Goodness, Pre-eternal, transcending all being, He Who is the pre-existing and good Word of the Father, moved by His unutterable love for mankind and compassion for us, put on our image, that He might reclaim for Himself our nature which had been dragged down to uttermost Hades, so as to renew this corrupted nature and raise it to the heights of Heaven. For this purpose, He had to assume a flesh that was both new and ours, that He might refashion us from out of ourselves. Now He finds a Handmaiden perfectly suited to these needs, the supplier of Her own unsullied nature, the Ever-Virgin now hymned by us, and Whose miraculous Entrance into the Temple, into the Holy of Holies, we now celebrate. God predestined Her before the ages for the salvation and reclaiming of our kind. She was chosen, not just from the crowd, but from the ranks of the chosen of all ages, renowned for piety and understanding, and for their God-pleasing words and deeds.

In the beginning, there was one who rose up against us: the author of evil, the serpent, who dragged us into the abyss. Many reasons impelled him to rise up against us, and there are many ways by which he enslaved our nature: envy, rivalry, hatred, injustice, treachery, slyness, and so forth. In addition to all this, he also has within him the power of bringing death, which he himself engendered, being the first to fall away from true life.

The author of evil was jealous of Adam, when he saw him being led from earth to heaven, from which he was justly cast down. Filled with envy, he pounced upon Adam with a terrible ferocity, and even wished to clothe him with the garb of death. Envy is not only the begetter of hatred, but also of murder, which this truly man-hating serpent brought about in us. For he wanted to be master over the earth-born for the ruin of that which was created in the image and likeness of God. Since he was not bold enough to make a face to face attack, he resorted to cunning and deceit. This truly terrible and malicious plotter pretended to be a friend and useful adviser by assuming the physical form of a serpent, and stealthily took their position. By his God-opposing advice, he instills in man his own death-bearing power, like a venomous poison.

If Adam had been sufficiently strong to keep the divine commandment, then he would have shown himself the vanquisher of his enemy, and withstood his deathly attack. But since he voluntarily gave in to sin, he was defeated and was made a sinner. Since he is the root of our race, he has produced us as death-bearing shoots. So, it was necessary for us, if he were to fight back against his defeat and to claim victory, to rid himself of the death-bearing venomous poison in his soul and body, and to absorb life, eternal and indestructible life.

It was necessary for us to have a new root for our race, a new Adam, not just one Who would be sinless and invincible, but one Who also would be able to forgive sins and set free from punishment those subject to it. And not only would He have life in Himself, but also the capacity to restore to life, so that He could grant to those who cleave to Him and are related to Him by race both life and the forgiveness of their sins, restoring to life not only those who came after Him, but also those who already had died before Him. Therefore, St Paul, that great trumpet of the Holy Spirit, exclaims, "the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).

Except for God, there is no one who is without sin, or life-creating, or able to remit sin. Therefore, the new Adam must be not only Man, but also God. He is at the same time Life, Wisdom, Truth, Love, and Mercy, and every other good thing, so that He might renew the old Adam and restore him to life through mercy, wisdom and righteousness. These are the opposites of the things which the author of evil used to bring about our aging and death.

As the slayer of mankind raised himself against us with envy and hatred, so the Source of life was lifted up [on the Cross] because of His immeasurable goodness and love for mankind. He intensely desired the salvation of His creature, i.e., that His creature would be restored by Himself. In contrast to this, the author of evil wanted to bring God's creature to ruin, and thereby put mankind under his own power, and tyrannically to afflict us. And just as he achieved the conquest and the fall of mankind by means of injustice and cunning, by deceit and his trickery, so has the Liberator brought about the defeat of the author of evil, and the restoration of His own creature with truth, justice and wisdom.

It was a deed of perfect justice that our nature, which was voluntarily enslaved and struck down, should again enter the struggle for victory and cast off its voluntary enslavement. Therefore, God deigned to receive our nature from us, hypostatically uniting with it in a marvelous way. But it was impossible to unite that Most High Nature, Whose purity is incomprehensible for human reason, to a sinful nature before it had been purified. Therefore, for the conception and birth of the Bestower of purity, a perfectly spotless and Most Pure Virgin was required.

Today we celebrate the memory of those things that contributed, if only once, to the Incarnation. He Who is God by nature, the Co-unoriginate and Co-eternal Word and Son of the Transcendent Father, becomes the Son of Man, the Son of the Ever-Virgin. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8), immutable in His divinity and blameless in His humanity, He alone, as the Prophet Isaiah prophesied, "practiced no iniquity, nor deceit with His lips" (Is. 53: 9). He alone was not brought forth in iniquity, nor was He conceived in sin, in contrast to what the Prophet David says concerning himself and every other man (Ps. 50/51: 5). Even in what He assumes, He is perfectly pure and has no need to be cleansed Himself. But for our sake, He accepted purification, suffering, death and resurrection, that He might transmit them to us.

God is born of the spotless and Holy Virgin, or better to say, of the Most Pure and All-Holy Virgin. She is above every fleshly defilement, and even above every impure thought. Her conceiving resulted not from fleshly lust, but by the overshadowing of the Most Holy Spirit. Such desire being utterly alien to Her, it is through prayer and spiritual readiness that She declared to the angel: "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto Me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38), and that She conceived and gave birth. So, in order to render the Virgin worthy of this sublime purpose, God marked this ever-virgin Daughter now praised by us, from before the ages, and from eternity, choosing Her from out of His elect.

Turn your attention then, to where this choice began. From the sons of Adam God chose the wondrous Seth, who showed himself a living heaven through his becoming behavior, and through the beauty of his virtues. That is why he was chosen, and from whom the Virgin would blossom as the divinely fitting chariot of God. She was needed to give birth and to summon the earth-born to heavenly sonship. For this reason also all the lineage of Seth were called "sons of God" (Gen. 6), because from this lineage a son of man would be born as the Son of God. The name Seth signifies a rising or resurrection, or more specifically, it signifies the Lord, Who promises and gives immortal life to all who believe in Him.

And how precisely exact is this parallel! Seth was born of Eve, as she herself said, in place of Abel, whom Cain killed through jealousy (Gen. 4:25); and Christ, the Son of the Virgin, was born for us in place of Adam, whom the author of evil also killed through jealousy. But Seth did not resurrect Abel, since he was only a type of the resurrection. But our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected Adam, since He is the very Life and the Resurrection of the earth-born, for whose sake the descendents of Seth are granted divine adoption through hope, and are called the children of God. It was because of this hope that they were called sons of God, as is evident from the one who was first called so, the successor in the choice. This was Enoch, the son of Seth, who as Moses wrote, first hoped to call on the Name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26).

In this manner, the choice of the future Mother of God, beginning with the very sons of Adam and proceeding through all the generations of time, through the Providence of God, passes to the Prophet-King David and the successors of his kingdom and lineage. When the chosen time had come, then from the house and posterity of David, Joachim and Anna are chosen by God. Though they were childless, they were by their virtuous life and good disposition the finest of all those descended from the line of David. And when in prayer they besought God to deliver them from their childlessness, and promised to dedicate their child to God from its infancy, by God Himself, the Mother of God was proclaimed and given to them as a child, so that from such virtuous parents the all-virtuous child would be raised. So in this manner, chastity joined with prayer came to fruition by producing the Mother of virginity, giving birth in the flesh to Him Who was born of God the Father before the ages.

Now, when Righteous Joachim and Anna saw that they had been granted their wish, and that the divine promise to them was realized in fact, then they on their part, as true lovers of God, hastened to fulfill their vow given to God as soon as the child had been weaned from milk. They have now led this truly sanctified child of God, now the Mother of God, this Virgin, into the Temple of God. And She, being filled with Divine gifts even at such a tender age, ... She, rather than others, determined what was being done over Her. In Her manner She showed that She was not so much presented into the Temple, but that She Herself entered into the service of God of her own accord, as if she had wings, striving towards this sacred and divine love. She considered it desirable and fitting that she should enter into the Temple and dwell in the Holy of Holies.

Therefore, the High Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone else, had divine grace within Her, wished to set Her within the Holy of Holies. He convinced everyone present to welcome this, since God had advanced it and approved it. Through His angel, God assisted the Virgin and sent Her mystical food, with which She was strengthened in nature, while in body She was brought to maturity and was made purer and more exalted than the angels, having the Heavenly spirits as servants. She was led into the Holy of Holies not just once, but was accepted by God to dwell there with Him during Her youth, so that through Her, the Heavenly Abodes might be opened and given for an eternal habitation to those who believe in Her miraculous birthgiving.

So it is, and this is why She, from the beginning of time, was chosen from among the chosen. She Who is manifest as the Holy of Holies, Who has a body even purer than the spirits purified by virtue, is capable of receiving ... the Hypostatic Word of the Unoriginate Father. Today the Ever-Virgin Mary, like a Treasure of God, is stored in the Holy of Holies, so that in due time, (as it later came to pass) She would serve for the enrichment of, and an ornament for, all the world. Therefore, Christ God also glorifies His Mother, both before, and also after His birth.

We who understand the salvation begun for our sake through the Most Holy Virgin, give Her thanks and praise according to our ability. And truly, if the grateful woman (of whom the Gospel tells us), after hearing the saving words of the Lord, blessed and thanked His Mother, raising her voice above the din of the crowd and saying to Christ, "Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps Thou hast sucked" (Luke 11:27), then we who have the words of eternal life written out for us, and not only the words, but also the miracles and the Passion, and the raising of our nature from death, and its ascent from earth to Heaven, and the promise of immortal life and unfailing salvation, then how shall we not unceasingly hymn and bless the Mother of the Author of our Salvation and the Giver of Life, celebrating Her conception and birth, and now Her Entry into the Holy of Holies?

Now, brethren, let us remove ourselves from earthly to celestial things. Let us change our path from the flesh to the spirit. Let us change our desire from temporal things to those that endure. Let us scorn fleshly delights, which serve as allurements for the soul and soon pass away. Let us desire spiritual gifts, which remain undiminished. Let us turn our reason and our attention from earthly concerns and raise them to the inaccessible places of Heaven, to the Holy of Holies, where the Mother of God now resides.

Therefore, in such manner our songs and prayers to Her will gain entry, and thus through her mediation, we shall be heirs of the everlasting blessings to come, through the grace and love for mankind of Him Who was born of Her for our sake, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory, honor and worship, together with His Unoriginate Father and His Coeternal and Life-Creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

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Orthodox Priest Murdered in Moscow for His Anti-Muslim Stance

November 20, 2009
Pravda.Ru

Orthodox Priest Daniil Sysoyev was assassinated in Moscow on the night of November 19. The crime was most likely committed for religious reasons. The priest might have fallen victim to Islamic radicals or sectarians, investigators say.

The unidentified assassin was wearing a doctor’s mask when he attacked the priest, Interfax reports. The criminal entered Holy Apostle Thomas Church in the south of Moscow on Thursday night, at about 10:40 p.m. It was a well-built tall man, eye-witnesses said. The eyewitnesses said that the man was of the Caucasian origin, although it is not clear yet how they could come to such a conclusion.

The man rushed into the church and shouted: “Who is Sysoyev here?” The 35-year-old priest came forward, the attacker pulled out a gun with a silencer, and shot him in the neck and in the head. The assassin left the crime scene walking – he was not running.

Father Daniil died at hospital about an hour later. The priest had a wife and three children.

Daniil Sysoyev was born on January 12, 1974 in Moscow. He graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy. The priest was mostly dealing with missionary activities. He particularly founded a school for street preachers in Moscow.

Sysoyev also was an active opponent of Islam. For example, he conducted two public disputes with former Orthodox priest Vyacheslav Polosin, who converted to Islam. Sysoyev published a book “Marriage with a Muslim” in which he wrote that God and the Church condemned marriages conducted with Christians and non-Christians.

Radical religious groups started threatening Daniil Sysoyev four years ago. They were sending emails threatening him to “cut his head off and let his guts out”. It was also reported that Islamic groups had sentenced the Orthodox priest to death. Last year, a Muslim man called the church in which Sysoyev was serving, and said that the priest would be killed if he continued to publicly express his negative attitude to Islam.

Sysoyev was forced to address this to Russia’s Federal Security Bureau twice, asking for help.

In addition to disputes with Muslims, Daniil Sysoyev was struggling against sectarians. He was communicating with those who had suffered from sects. The priest was an active member of the center for the rehabilitation of the victims of totalitarian sects and pseudo-religious movements.

One of the most controversial assassinations of Russian clergymen was committed on September 9, 1990 when Alexander Men was killed. Father Alexander wrote dozens of books (including his magnum opus Son of Man, which served as the introduction to Christ to thousands of citizens in the Soviet Union); baptized hundreds if not thousands; founded an Orthodox Open University; opened one of the first Sunday Schools in Russia as well as a Charity Group at the Russian Children's Hospital. His influence is still widely felt and his legacy continues to grow among Christians both in Russia and abroad. He was murdered early on Sunday morning, 9 September 1990 by an ax-wielding assailant just outside his home of Semkhoz, Russia.


Russian Orthodox Priest Critical of Islam Shot Dead

November 20, 2009

MOSCOW (AFP) - An Russian Orthodox priest who was an outspoken critic of both Islam and ultra-nationalist groups was shot dead in his Moscow church by a masked assassin, investigators said Friday.

Daniil Sysoyev, a well known figure who appeared on television talk shows and published a blog, had received threats over his extensive missionary work among Muslims in what was a highly unusual activity for a Russian priest.

"An unknown man in a mask walked in and fired no less than four shots at the priest of the church," the investigative committee of prosecutors said in a statement.

The killer also wounded the choirmaster, named as Vladimir Strelbitsky. The priest died of his wounds in the ambulance after the shooting late on Thursday, the investigative committee said.

The man walked into Saint Thomas's church in southern Moscow and asked for Sysoyev by name, the head of the investigators' Moscow branch Anatoly Bagmet told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The murder was most likely committed for religious reasons, Bagmet added.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in a statement warned against placing the blame on any group while the investigation continues.

Kirill described Sysoyev as "a zealous pastor who worked hard in the field of enlightenment and devoted himself to the end to serving God and people."

Sysoyev received several threats from Muslims, said a statement on the web site of the missionary training centre he founded.

"Father Daniil said several times that he received threats from Muslims, but the word of Christ was more important to him," the statement said.

Sysoyev, who was criticized by Muslim organizations for his statements on Islam, had contacted the federal security services several times over threats, Interfax reported, citing a security source.

Russia is estimated to have a population of more than 20 million Muslims and observance of the religion has grown stronger since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Last year, a Muslim journalist, Khalida Khamidullina, asked the Moscow prosecutors to investigate Sysoyev for extremism, saying he insulted Islam and allegedly called it a "green plague." The case ended in nothing, experts said.

In 2007, the co-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Nafigulla Ashirov, called Sysoyev "a Russian Salman Rushdie" after he wrote a book called "Marriage to a Muslim Man" that criticized the treatment of women.

The head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin, condemned the killing, saying that "the murder of an Orthodox priest is a terrible sin."

Experts said that Sysoyev had broken a tacit rule among Russia's main religious confessions not to carry out missionary activity among the adherents of another religion.

Roman Lunkin, an expert from the Slavic Legal Center for Law and Justice, said that Sysoyev began missionary activity among Muslims from 2001.

"He felt that he had to preach actively among Muslims. In that respect, he was an exception," Lunkin said. "He wasn't politically correct in that way, he didn't respect the canonical territories."

"In our country, it's accepted that among the main religions, people don't preach in each other's circle of influence," said Alexander Verkhovsky of the Sova Centre. "It's a political practice."

Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid posted a video on Friday showing Sysoyev's missionaries preaching to Central Asian street cleaners. It quoted Sysoyev as saying that he had baptised more than 80 Muslims over the last two years.

Sysoyev also worked with former members of religious sects and wrote a book on Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovahs' Witnesses.

He also spoke out against nationalists and Stalinists, whom he criticized on his blog for ignoring the murder of innocent people.

A prominent Orthodox theologian, Father Andrei Kurayev, told the Echo of Moscow radio station that "Father Daniil's fiery, polemic character increased the circle of his opponents, which included pagans and radical Muslims and even some chest-beating Russian patriots."

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Ray Comfort Reproduces 'Origin of Species' with Alternative Introduction

The Examiner
June 23, 2009
Jake Jones

Read the entire 50 page introduction here.

According to a recent survey, more than a third of professors at the top fifty universities describe themselves as atheist or agnostic. Among biology professors, it's a whopping 61%. It's no surprise then that belief in atheism has doubled in the college age bracket in the last 20 years. Best selling author, Ray Comfort, says, "Keeping intelligent design out of schools, is a hill to die on for evolutionists, so when I found that Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was available in the public domain, I had an idea that would get the truth onto college campuses. We are therefore reproducing Origin of Species in an abridged form (280 pages) with an added 'Special Introduction.'"

The introduction gives a time line of Darwin's life, and his thoughts on the existence of God. It lists the theories of many hoaxes, exposes the unscientific belief that nothing created everything, points to the incredible structure of DNA, and notes the absence of any undisputed transitional forms.

To show the dangerous fruit of evolution, it also mentions Hitler's undeniable connections to the theory, Darwin's racism, and his disdain for women. In addition, it counters the claim that creationists are "anti-science" by citing numerous scientists who believed that God created the universe -- scientists such as Einstein, Newton, Copernicus, Bacon, Faraday, Pasteur, and Kepler.

This special edition includes many original graphics and (as it says on the back cover) is designed for use in schools, colleges, and prestigious learning institutions. Its release is timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Darwin's book, initially published in November 1859 as On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.

The back cover lists the above information as well as saying the book contains "Information on Intelligent Design vs Evolution." The publication, which has already pre-sold over 20,000 copies, is already getting raving reviews from evolutionists.

Comfort said: "People that feel strongly about this issue can simply stand on the sidewalk at the main entrance of any college or university with a sign that says: 'Free 150th year anniversary editions of Origin of Species.' Having an indication of how many want the book will greatly help us with our print-run quantity. We want to get one million copies into the hands of students and professors in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Let's see if they try to ban Darwin's Origin of Species. That would be interesting.

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Funeral of Patriarch Pavle (video footage)

Funeral Service of His Holiness, Patriarch Pavle of Serbia

Posted 11/19

BELGRADE, SERBIA [www.st-catherine.ru] -- On Thursday, November 19, 2009, with the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, His Grace, Bishop Irenee of Quebec City and Auxiliary to His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim of Canada, together with Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate, participated in the Divine Liturgy and Funeral Service for His Holiness, Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, officially representing the Orthodox Church in America at the event.

The day began with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 7:30 a.m., led by His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, together with His Eminence, Metropolitan Amphilochije of Montenegro and theCoastlands and Locum Tenens of the Serbian Orthodox Church; His Beatitude, Archbishop Daniel of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrudgea, Locum Tenens of the throne of Caesarea of Cappadocia, Patriarch of Romania; His Beatitude, Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durres, and All Albania; and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Christopher, Primate of the Church of the Czech lands and Slovakia. Also concelebrating were the official representatives of all 15 Autocephalous Orthodox Churches at Belgrade's Archangel Michael Cathedral, across from the Patriarchate's official Chancery.

After the conclusion of the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Bartholomew, together with the other Primates of the Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches and the concelebrating hierarchs and clergy, processed to the Memorial Church of Saint Sava of Serbia, where the funeral service was celebrated in the open air before the church's main entrance. In attendance at the funeral was the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, who offered words at an appropriate time, following sermons by Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan Amphilochije on the life and legacy of the newly departed and ever memorable Serbian Patriarch. Also in attendance were other members of the Serbian government, foreign ambassadors and official representatives of numerous sovereign nations, inter-faith religious leaders, and over one million Serbian Orthodox faithful.

Bishop Irenee of Quebec City and Archimandrite Zacchaeus participated in the memorial meal following the funeral, attended by the concelebrating Patriarchs, hierarchs and clergy. There, they conveyed condolences to the Serbian Orthodox Church, through their hierarchs, on behalf of Metropolitan Jonah, the Holy Synod of Bishops, and the clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America.

Earlier in the week, Metropolitan Jonah concelebrated a Memorial Litiya for Patrairch Pavle with His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outsie [SIC] of Russia, at Saint Sergius of Radonezh Chapel at the OCA Chancery.

May Patriarch Pavle's memory be eternal!

Click here to view the photo gallery accompanying this release:
http://ocaphoto.oca.org/PhotoViewer.asp?EID=1768

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Researcher Says Text Proves Shroud of Turin Real

By ARIEL DAVID
Associated Press
November 20, 2009

ROME – A Vatican researcher claims a nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves the authenticity of the artifact revered as Jesus' burial cloth.

The claim made in a new book by historian Barbara Frale drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery.

Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the shroud.

She asserts the words include the name "Jesus Nazarene" in Greek, proving the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have labeled Jesus a Nazarene without referring to his divinity.

The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.

The fragile artifact, owned by the Vatican, is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin's cathedral and is rarely shown.

Skeptics point out that radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 determined it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

While faint letters scattered around the face on the shroud were seen decades ago, serious researchers dismissed them due to the test's results, Frale told The Associated Press.

But when she cut out the words from photos of the shroud and showed them to experts they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century — Jesus' time.

She believes the text was written on a document by a clerk and glued to the shroud over the face so the body could be identified by relatives and buried properly. Metals in the ink used at the time may have allowed the writing to transfer to the linen, Frale claimed.

Frale claimed the text also partially confirms the Gospels' account of Jesus' final moments. A fragment in Greek that can be read as "removed at the ninth hour" may refer to Christ's time of death reported in the holy texts, she said.

On an enhanced image studied by Frale, at least seven words can be seen, fragmented and scattered on and around Jesus' face, crisscrossing the cloth vertically and horizontally. One short sequence of Aramaic letters has not been translated. Another Latin fragment — "iber" — may refer to Emperor Tiberius, who reigned at the time of Jesus' crucifixion, Frale said.

"I tried to be objective and leave religious issue aside," Frale told The AP. "What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place."

Frale is noted in Italy for her research on the medieval order of the Knights Templar and her discovery of unpublished documents on the group in the Vatican's archives.

Earlier this year she published a study claiming the Templars at one time had the shroud in their possession. That raised eyebrows because the order was abolished in the early 14th century and the shroud is first recorded in history around 1360 in the hands of a French knight.

But her latest book, titled "The Shroud of Jesus Nazarene" in Italian, raised even doubts among some experts.

"People work on grainy photos and think they see things," said Antonio Lombatti, a church historian who has written books about the shroud. "It's all the result of imagination and computer software."

Lombatti said that artifacts bearing Greek and Aramaic texts were found in Jewish burials from the first century, but the use of Latin is unheard of.

He also rejected the idea that authorities would officially return the body of a crucified man to relatives after filling out some paperwork. Victims of the most cruel punishment used by the Romans would usually be left on the cross or were disposed of in a dump to add to the execution's deterring effect.

Lombatti said "the message was that you won't even have a tomb to cry over."

Unusual sightings in the shroud are common and are often proved false, said Luigi Garlaschelli, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia.

Garlaschelli recently led a team of experts that reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, proof, they said, that it could have been made by a human hand in the Middle Ages.

Decades ago entire studies were published on coins that were purportedly seen on Jesus' closed eyes, but when high-definition images were taken during a 2002 restoration the artifacts were nowhere to be seen and the theory was dropped, Garlaschelli said.

He said any theory about ink and metals would have to checked by analysis of the shroud itself.

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Remarks of Patriarch Kyrill Regarding Seminarians

Below is a small portion from Patriarch Kirill's report presented before an assembly of rectors of Russian Orthodox theological schools. See the full report here.

We constantly speak about obedience in our theological schools. But does not this mask a desire to obtain totally obedient and intimidated individuals incapable of speaking up before authorities under any circumstances? Do we not, along with obedience, inoculate them to act like toadies and cow-towing hypocrites? Can such a person be a spiritually unimpeded and a responsible pastor, a true leader of their flock? We both know too well that often, behind a noble external facade, there lurks hypocrisy, pretense and cynicism. I am now reading some of your reports asking about canonical procedures for coping with certain clerics. I also read correspondence from the laity. I sometimes wonder what kind of priests some of these people are... I read all this with a heavy heart. Somewhere and somehow these priests received their formation. They didn't drop from the heavens. The majority of these are seminary graduates; some even finished an academy. We both know what hypocrisy and cynicism can be found in Church circles.

We must prepare and educate neither slaves nor rebels, but free and, at the same time, responsible people. Freedom does not mean a lack of discipline. Freedom must primarily be an internal freedom, a freedom in Christ. We must be convinced that all restrictions and burdens placed by sacred ministers are accepted by them consciously and voluntarily. This recognition of the voluntary acceptance of the burden of the Cross must be a characteristic of every priest since, the taking up of the Cross is inherent in the very desire to be a priest.

Discipline must first of all be self-discipline, and obedience to the hierarchy must not be motivated by fear but by a firm and conscious adherence to tradition as a preservation of the Divinely established structure of the Church. This canonical discipline and obedience is not something dreamed up by the present hierarchy. This is a principle from the Lord Himself. It lies in the foundation of Church life and every priest must understand this clearly. Every seminarian must understand this before his ordination, that he is entering upon a path of obedience.

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Myths of the First Ecumenical Synod ( Council of Nicaea - 325 AD)

In these videos are explored and debunked a few of the common myths surrounding the Council of Nicaea (First Ecumenical Synod), as propagated by books like The Da Vinci Code; movies like Zeitgeist, The Movie; groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons; and pseudo-scholars like Bart Ehrmann and Elaine Pagels.

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What Shines in "Twilight"?

Looking at four key ideas of the vampire saga that stand out for Christ followers.

Stacey Lingle
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Christianity Today

It's your typical romance. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Obstacles keep them apart. They overcome the obstacles. Happily ever after.

Except for the vampires. And werewolves.

OK, so maybe the Twilight saga isn't so typical after all. Especially considering the four-book saga has become one of the hottest pop culture phenomena since Harry Potter, prompting midnight release parties and vampire proms. Typical teen romances don't cause that type of response. There's something decidedly different about Twilight.

I picked up the first book out of curiosity, mostly to see what my friends were raving about. And, to be honest, I'm always looking for a good story.

If you haven't read it, Twilight is the story of teenage Bella who falls in love with Edward, a 108-year-old vampire frozen at age 17. Edward and his family have chosen to not feed on humans, hunting only animals. Bella and Edward, throughout the series, are torn between their feelings for each other and the inevitable problems that arise from a human-vampire romance.

After reading all four books—Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn—I started to think back. What was I taking away from them? What do these books say about God, about life, and about love? In over 2,300 pages of reading, there's a lot to digest. What are the key ideas and attitudes in the Twilight saga? A few stood out to me as a Christian.

Love

Bella and Edward show us a type of romantic love that's powerful, passionate, and perfect. They are ready to sacrifice anything for each other. They always try to act in the other's best interest. They are thrilled to simply be in each other's presence. Their biggest conflict is whether or not Bella should become a vampire: She wants to spend eternity with Edward, but he doesn't want her to forfeit her humanity for him. Pretty different from the fights between most young couples.

Bella and Edward's relationship actually exemplifies a lot of what the Bible says love should be. Think about the Bible's description: "Love is patient, love is kind." (1 Corinthians 13:4); "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Of course, no real couple can be this perfect all the time. But these passages, and stories like Bella and Edward's, remind us of the perfect love that God has for us. God intends for romantic love to reflect his deep desire for an intimate relationship with each of us. The Bible even calls us his bride! (Isaiah 62:5) While there may not be an Edward or Bella in our lives, God's love is a perfect love that never ends and never fails.

Temptation

Temptation provides a lot of the compelling tension in the Twilight world. The vampire in Edward is tempted by Bella's scent—it's all he can do to not devour her at first. And then as their relationship progresses, they face a different physical temptation: sex.

Yet the characters show an impressive mastery of temptation. Edward makes up his mind that he will not eat Bella, no matter how hungry he feels or how good she smells to him. He decides that something is more important than his hunger: Bella's life. And when Bella pressures Edward to have sex with her, he explains his belief that sex is for marriage, and it's important to him that they wait. Even though he wants her just as much as she does him, Edward decides that doing the right thing is more important than doing what feels good.

If you're like me, you face temptation about 100 times a day. It may be the temptation to lie, to cheat, to envy, or slack off when we should be working. Temptation affects everybody, even Jesus. The Bible describes how, after fasting for 40 days, Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Satan tried to use food, power, and pride to cause Jesus to sin. Yet Jesus didn't sin, even though he was tempted.

How can we, in our day-to-day life, respond to temptation without sinning? Well, for starters, we take a cue from Jesus and, yes, even Edward.

First, think about Jesus' temptation and check out Matthew 4:1-11. Every time Satan presented a temptation to Jesus, Jesus responded by quoting Scripture. He knew the Scripture so well it overflowed from him, even when he was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. God's Word gives us all the truth we need to detect Satan's lies and empty promises.

Second, set thoughtful boundaries to avoid temptation in the first place. In Twilight, Edward sets limits for himself. He takes temptation seriously. He knows actions have consequences and that if he gives himself one tiny inch, he could lose control. He recognizes, like Paul, that "nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out" (Romans 7:18, NIV). Because of that, Edward has to be very careful about what situations he puts himself in. When he wants to eat Bella, he doesn't let himself get too close to her. And when he wants to sleep with Bella, he doesn't let their physical relationship go past kissing. This is a decent example of the Christian life. He understands that sin is often a slippery slope. For us, this might mean setting boundaries for the types of movies we see, or the kind of conversations we participate in, or the way we interact with the opposite sex.

Spirituality

Some of my Christian friends are concerned about these books centering on "demonic" creatures. Aren't vampires evil? Shouldn't we stay away from anything Satanic? These are good questions, and it's so crucial to be careful about what we feed our minds.

As I read the Twilight books, I found that the vampires in these books don't fit the classic vampire mold. No protruding fangs, no coffins, and they're not repelled by garlic or crosses. They have no dark mission, demonic connection, or contact with the spiritual underworld. They aren't "spiritual beings," but are more like humans with a horrible contagious disease. The only thing "vampiric" about them is that they feed on blood—which of course is forbidden by the Bible. Other than their thirst for blood, these vampires operate very like human beings. They have free will. They can choose to do good or to do evil. Edward and his family choose to do good because they believe that even vampires are not exempt from ethical standards. Unlike most vampires, this clan doesn't feed on humans, but they do drink the blood of animals because they must to live. Edward's father, Carlisle, even believes that they have souls and an afterlife. To me, it seems the vampires in these books are not demonic at all, but are metaphors for the human experience. These vampires' darks sides represent the very real monsters inside each of us. They are fighting against the temptation to do evil, which is what we as humans have to do everyday.

Nevertheless, spirituality is certainly relevant to the reading of Twilight. After all, part of the allure of the Twilight series is that it is "other-worldly." It's a fantasy. Sorry ladies, but there aren't really gorgeous, shimmering, chivalrous vampires and werewolves out there waiting to complete your life and mine. Yet the idea of them is captivating. Why? Because we are, essentially, spiritual beings. We know this world is not all there is, and we long for more. But fantasies like Twilight can become a distraction to our faith when we allow them to become a replacement for what we should be "fantasizing" about—spending eternity in the presence of God.

Bella is a clear example of someone who has misplaced her affections in this way. In her whirlwind romance with Edward, she directs all her love and desire toward Edward. She is so single-minded that the she doesn't even blink at the thought of giving up her soul (which is what would happen if she became a vampire so that she could be with Edward forever). This should strike us Christians as seriously wrong. She is choosing romantic love over her soul? As Jesus said: "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26, NIV) Now Jesus wasn't talking about becoming a vampire, but he was saying that our soul is the most important thing about us. Our soul, and our relationship with God, should be something we treasure and nurture, not willingly damage or discard for an earthly high.

One last spiritual note: The books don't have a great amount of God content (no major characters are believers), but the stories also don't discourage or deny God's existence. In fact, the characters live in a world—like that of most vampire fiction—where God is present. For instance, Carlisle, the respected leader of Edward's vampire family, mentions at one point that it wasn't his choice to become a vampire and lose his soul. For most vampires it isn't and so he hopes there's a way they can be saved and enjoy an afterlife.

Leaving Twilight

So, now that all four books are neatly lined up on my shelf, and I have left the world of Twilight, a couple questions remain. Was it worth it? Did my time reading this series profit me in anyway? It's a mixed bag. Was it entertaining? You betcha. I definitely got swept up in the heady romance of Bella and Edward. Was it encouraging and uplifting? Kinda. I saw good win out over evil, and was reminded of the power of love. Was it filled with a Christian worldview? Definitely not. The saga of Bella and Edward contains some elements that I know aren't part of the Christian life. When I weigh things presented as true in the books to the Truth of the Bible, they don't measure up. For instance, I cannot agree with Bella's attitudes towards spirituality or sex.

(As with all things, it's important to use discernment in choosing what you read. This series does contain scenes of kissing and references to married sex. It has some language and violence. And there is a pretty gory scene in the final book. If you do read Twilight, talk about it with your parent or youth leader.)

But on the whole, I believe there were some valuable lessons tucked in those 2,300 pages. Love. Sacrifice. Good triumphing over evil. Those are things that I, as a Christian, can appreciate.

Now What?

Some discussion/reflection questions from the Twilight saga.

The only two openly Christian characters in the books are Carlisle's father (a minister who led vampire hunts in the 16th century) and Angela Weber (Bella's classmate). How do these characters portray Christianity differently? Who is portrayed as being more Christ-like and in what way?

On p. 307 of Twilight, Edward says "You see, just because we've been dealt a certain hand … it doesn't mean that we can't choose to rise above … to try to retain whatever essential humanity we can." He is talking about his choice to not drink human blood. How could his words apply to the Christian life? What does he mean by "essential humanity"?

Edward expresses his belief that God created vampires alongside humans, in a predator/prey relationship. How do you react to this? Does this fit the character of the God that you know?

In New Moon, Edward explains he doesn't want to have sex with Bella because he doesn't want to ruin her chances of going to heaven. Is this a Christian perspective? Why or why not? What do you think of Bella's stance on sexuality?

Breaking Dawn, the fourth book, features an unplanned and dangerous pregnancy. Some characters advise abortion to protect the life of the mother, yet the mother chooses to deliver her child regardless of the cost to her own life. What did you think of this plot point? What did you think of the arguments for and against from various characters? Is such self-sacrifice biblical? Can you think of examples from the Bible when someone suffered for the sake of another? What is the Bible's take on this?

Many people have reacted negatively to Breaking Dawn because it positively portrays "teenagers" getting married and having a baby. Why do some feel this is a dangerous message? Do you feel it is inappropriate? How were you able to relate to such character developments?

(For the opinion of the Vatican, see here.)

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Book Reveiew: "Atheist Delusions"

Reframing Human History

How we got into the atheism culture war in the first place. A review of David Bentley Hart's Atheist Delusions.

Kate Kirkpatrick posted 9/23/2009
Christianity Today

Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies
By David Bentley Hart
Yale University Press, April 2009

Upon seeing the title Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (Yale University Press), I confess to having suspected it would follow the formula of other debunkings of the "Bright brigade," decrying the illogic and inaccuracy of the New Atheists' arguments. Instead, I found someone (in this case, theologian David Bentley Hart) taking a step back from the carnage of the current (pop) culture war to ask bigger questions about how we ended up here in the first place.

Hart, a visiting professor of theology at Providence College, begins by looking at the New Atheist phenomenon, lambasting Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett et al. for their carelessness with and rhetorical manipulation of philosophy, theology, and history. But that is quickly left behind; in the book's second half, we begin to see the Orthodox theologian's real intent: to offer a counter-narrative of religion's role in human history.

The New Atheists trade in "fruitless abstractions of religion," Hart writes, and reduce Christianity to its history's "bloodthirsty crusaders and sadistic inquisitors"—in other words, to its worst constituent parts. But far from being an obstacle to human flourishing and fulfilment, Hart asserts, Christianity gave birth to the idea of humanity as we know it. Never before the 2,000-year-old religion were slave and free, man and woman, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile welcomed in equal measure and with immeasurable love.

Much of Atheist Delusions reminds readers of the importance of remembering what Christianity has done for us—not just for the believer in personal salvation, but also for the nonbeliever in human history. Would we have had medieval leper hospitals if not for Christ's teachings of kindness and his charge to seek the good of those less fortunate? Would almshouses, orphanages, and hospitals have come into existence without the Christian message that God dwells in "the least of these"? Hart finds no precursor in pagan society that shows that Christ's message was anything but revolutionary.

He also refutes many of the New Atheists' unjustified charges regarding witch hunts, the Inquisition, wars of religion, the destruction of the Alexandrian Library (which supposedly symbolizes Christians' antipathy toward learning), and so forth. You might think, as I did, that saying that much of Christian history has been distorted in this debate is hardly revelatory. But Hart goes further, asserting that itself has a mythology of its own, according to which the Age of Reason came to birth during the Enlightenment (Genesis), scientists such as Galileo have been sacrificed (as martyrs) for the cause, and the superstitions of religion (evil) must be fought in order for science and reason (good) to prevail. Modernity has rewritten the past, editing out the role of the church, the cradle of many triumphs of scientific inquiry.

A good deal of the modernists' mythology parades in the name of education; science and religion are presented as polar opposites, while misinformation about this battle, such as the belief that Galileo suffered at the hands of the church, prevails. Galileo's own irascible character, in fact, was the source of much of his misfortune. This is not to say that science and religion have always existed harmoniously, but where such tensions existed, they were often internal; many conflicts arose because so much early science was done in the church's pursuit of learning.

The New Atheists often dismiss the faith of leading scientists as irrelevant with the line, "everyone believed in God back then." But they forget, as Hart claims, that "we have no real rational warrant for deploring the 'credulity' of the peoples of previous centuries toward the common basic assumptions of their times while implicitly celebrating ourselves for our own largely uncritical obedience to the common basic assumptions of our own." In sum, the modernist mythology needs to be dismantled.

A Hope Beyond Ourselves

Hart describes our world as "post-Christian," stressing that even unbelievers are, for good or for ill, post-Christian. We all have inherited the consequences of Christianity and, most importantly for Hart, its morality and definition of human life. For him, post-Christian culture precariously stands on the brink of being post-human. The God-free Age of Reason promised to usher in a new cultural reality in which liberty, justice, and equality would be protected by rulers who in reality saw human lives as expendable in achieving their ends. For all its "enlightenment," secular society has come with unprecedented violence in the form of revolutions, imperialism, chattel slavery, and ideologically inspired mass murder (one need only think of Stalin and Pol Pot).

Meanwhile, the freedom of the will has become a god unto itself, transcending the Christian "superstition" that every life is of immeasurable value. And with the will so exalted, it is choice itself, not what we choose, Hart writes, that now matters. We see this in many of today's ethical debates—abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, economics, and censorship—where choice is invoked frequently and seems to exercise "an almost mystical supremacy over all other concerns."

Hart concludes by asserting that we need a re-education of what it means to be human. We must learn more about the story that we Christians have inherited. In doing so, we must also face the uncomfortable fact that Christianity is not shaping civilization today as much as it once did. "Innumerable forces are vying for the future, and Christianity may prove considerably weaker than its rivals," Hart warns.

But Hart's message is not as disempowering as it may seem: it is a call to action, for learning more of our history better equips us to fight the battle to reclaim it. If Hart is correct that "Christianity has been the single most creative cultural, ethical, aesthetic, social, political, or spiritual force in the history of the West," then we must ask ourselves: Why? Christian hands are by no means free of blood and wrongdoing. As Hart writes repeatedly, "human beings frequently disappoint." We are corrupt and callous, and the temptations of power and conquest have snuffed out the holiness of many. But through the darkness, a glimmer of hope shines, for unlike atheism, Christianity offers hope—a hope of transformation from beyond ourselves.

As we survey modernity's rewriting of history, we must remember this hope as we look to shape the future. For it is the life and death of Jesus Christ that has transcended the ages: for Christians, faith is not merely "a cultural logic but a cosmic truth."

Atheist Delusions is a stimulating and challenging contribution to the New Atheist debate, and is recommended for any believer who wants to confront modern misconceptions about Christianity and its history. I say believer because I think that, although Hart prefaces the work by saying that his prejudices are "transparent and unreserved," occasionally his historical analysis is laced with the rhetorical flourishes of a preacher. His argument is strong, but some "prejudices" might be seen to beg questions. I would not expect a non-Christian to be won over on the neutral grounds of abstract argument. But if "we used to produce better atheists, atheists who had a better arsenal of arguments to make"—that is no reason not to better furnish our own.

Kate Kirkpatrick, an editor with Lion Hudson in Oxford, England

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When Atheists Believe

The confounding attraction of the Christian worldview.

Chuck Colson with Catherine Larson
10/22/2009
Christianity Today

In recent years Great Britain's chief export to the U.S. has been a payload of books by atheist authors such as evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and literary critic Christopher Hitchens. They contend that faith is irrational in the face of modern science. Other prominent British atheists seem to be having second thoughts. Is there some revival sweeping England? No; they are examining the rationality of Christianity, the very beliefs Dawkins and others are so profitably engaging, but are coming to opposite conclusions.

Well-known scholar Antony Flew was the first, saying he had to go "where the evidence [led]." Evolutionary theory, he concluded, has no reasonable explanation for the origin of life. When I met with Flew in Oxford, he told me that while he had not come to believe in the biblical God, he had concluded that atheism is not logically sustainable.

More recently, A. N. Wilson, once thought to be the next C. S. Lewis who then renounced his faith and spent years mocking Christianity, returned to faith. The reason, he said in an interview with New Statesman, was that atheists "are missing out on some very basic experiences of life." Listening to Bach and reading the works of religious authors, he realized that their worldview or "perception of life was deeper, wiser, and more rounded than my own."

He noticed that the people who insist we are "simply anthropoid apes" cannot account for things as basic as language, love, and music. That, along with the "even stronger argument" of how the "Christian faith transforms individual lives," convinced Wilson that "the religion of the incarnation … is simply true."

Likewise, Matthew Parris, another well-known British atheist, made the mistake of visiting Christian aid workers in Malawi, where he saw the power of the gospel transforming them and others. Concerned with what he saw, he wrote that it "confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my worldview, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God." While Parris is unwilling to follow where his observations lead, he is obviously wrestling with how Christianity makes better sense of the world than other worldviews.

Could this signal a trend? Well, not yet. But it does illustrate something I have been teaching for years: Faith and reason are not enemies. We are given reason as a gift. And while we can't reason our way to God (only the power of God can transform fallen men—I've seen that in prisons for over 32 years), I have long believed that Christianity is the most rational explanation of reality. And that fact, winsomely explained, can powerfully influence thinking people to consider Christ's claims.

A strong empirical case can be made to show that Christianity is the only rational explanation of life. For the past six years, I've been teaching students in the Centurions Program to draw a grid listing the four basic questions that most people ask about life: Where did I come from? What's my purpose? Why is there sin and suffering? Is redemption possible? Then, on the other side of the matrix, we list the various philosophies and prominent world religions. By examining how each view answers the four questions, we can determine which worldviews conform to the way things really are. This is the correspondence theory of truth—a thoroughly rational test.

Students quickly see that only Christianity teaches that humans are created in the image of God, thus protecting their dignity. It's no coincidence that Christians have waged most of the great human rights campaigns.

Or take the question of sin. If people are good, as French political philosopher Rousseau argued, problems can be solved by creating a utopian state. Yet all of history's utopian schemes have ended in tyranny. Meanwhile, Eastern religions see life as an endless cycle of suffering. There's no way for sin to be forgiven. And grace is an unknown concept in Islam.

This is nothing particularly novel. A long history of prominent atheists, interestingly concentrated in Britain, have traveled back to faith. These doubters began to examine the rationality of Christianity's claims. Whether in the Victorian era, with Thomas Cooper, George Sexton, and Joseph Barker, or in the 20th century, with T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and C. S. Lewis, all of them concluded that the Bible speaks most accurately to the human condition—the very definition of a rational choice. It is rational to choose the worldview that provides the best choice for living, consistent with the way life works.

What does this tell us? People today have a caricatured view of Christians, seeing us as followers, often hypocritical and judgmental, of an outdated book of mere illusions. But if we can explain why Christianity is so reasonable, our faith becomes a very winsome proposition, which will at least open the mind, if not the heart, of many a doubter.

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The Wall Street Broker Who Became A Monk

Wall Street Broker Dons Cassock and Sandals

NICK SQUIRES
October 4, 2008
Telegraph

A FORMER Wall Street broker has swapped Manhattan for a monastery in Bulgaria to become an Orthodox monk.

Hristo Mishkov, 32, had a successful career as a broker on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York until he decided to give it all up to return to his native Bulgaria.

Exchanging tailored suits and expensive shoes for a cassock and sandals, Brother Nikanor, as he is now known, believes Wall Street and the City deserve all they get as the credit crunch bites deeper and the global financial system goes into meltdown.

"It is right to see people who consume more than they deserve shattered by a financial crisis from time to time, to suffer so that they can become more reasonable," he said.

The collapse of banks and investment firms was a necessary correction because they had grown greedy, he said.

Brother Nikanor wakes at dawn to attend to a herd of buffalo in the 12th-century Tsurnogorski monastery, 50 kilometres west of the capital, Sofia. But he has not entirely turned his back on his past. When he became a monk five years ago, he retained one luxury, a mobile phone, and has used it to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from former colleagues to rebuild the monastery.


Broker Turned Monk Offers Home Truths to Needy

Oct 01, 2008
Tsurnogorski Monastery (Bulgaria)
Indian Express

Brother Nikanor, a Nasdaq broker turned monk, advises former colleagues to put a jar with soil on their desks to remind them where we are all heading and what matters in life.

As western banks fold into each other like crumpled tickets and commentators portray the current crisis as the last gasp of modern capitalism, Hristo Mishkov, 32, shares the pain -- and offers home truths.

His story partly resembles that of Brother Ty, the monk-tycoon protagonist of the 1998 satire "God is my Broker" by U.S. writers Christopher Buckley and John Tierney -- he failed on Wall Street and became a monk.

But 10 years later, the similarities are superficial: the Bulgarian had a successful broking career, does not write self-help manuals and aims to get happy, not rich.

His interest in financial markets began under communism in the 1980s when he and other children created their own play stock exchange in their apartment block's basement in Sofia.

Five years ago, after failing to find happiness in the life he lived, the Christian Orthodox who hadn't practiced as a child quit the New York-based market for a dilapidated Bulgarian monastery that once served as a communist labor camp.

Retaining one luxury -- a mobile phone, which connects him with both potential donors and former trading colleagues -- he has brought the rigor of his broking experience to his faith.

He has helped to raise hundreds of thousands of levs (dollars) to rebuild the monastery -- a hard task in a country where charity is not part of the mentality and building shopping malls and golf courses is a priority.

"Many people... in the world do not realize that they have not earned the food they eat, that they take without giving," Mishkov said. "But if someone consumes more than they have earned, it means someone else is starving.

"It is right to see people who consume more than they deserve shattered by a financial crisis from time to time, to suffer so that they can become more reasonable."

Being a trader has seldom been more traumatic: placing bets on political decisions about billion-dollar bank bailouts which, if they fail, could mean much more than a bad day for yourself or colleagues, but also jeopardize livelihoods.

Some have found solace in religion, others in humor, but a few fall. Surveys show traders reporting more stress and every news report of a trader suicide is accompanied by suggestions the pressure may have been too much.

HAPPINESS

"We always search for happiness in the outside world, in material things, which makes us constantly unsatisfied, angry with ourselves and the world," said Mishkov, who exudes a sense of tranquility, intelligence, and humor.

Greed and the marketization of our lives have reached the point where people have been turned into a commodity -- even their health can be traded like a stock, he said.

"We have so quickly lost our human appearance, we have become beasts ... There's no-one to count on and say 'hey neighbor come help me.' He will come but demand a payment."

His monastery, tucked among hills 50 km (31 miles) west of Sofia, was founded in the 12th century. The communist regime which banned religion turned it into a labor camp, then a children's pioneer camp and a livestock farm.

Now Mishkov works hard every day milking buffalo cows and building stone walls. He says he is not against rich people but can only respect those who contribute to the good of society -- pointing to Microsoft founder Bill Gates as an example.

As a younger man working for more than two years for Karoll, one of Bulgaria's leading brokerages, Mishkov was good at his job, former colleagues say.

"He was a religious person and that annoyed me sometimes," said Alexander Nikolov, head of international capital markets at Karoll. "There were occasions when he would not show up at work because of some religious holiday."

His colleagues were stunned when he decided to become a monk, but Mishkov felt the time had come to look after people's souls.

"Everybody can be a good broker but this does not bring much benefit for the world," he said. Religion can help people cope in today's stressful times and find answers, Mishkov added.

Churches in New York's financial district reported last month increased attendance at lunchtime meetings, with many more people in business attire than usual, when some of the world's biggest investment banks collapsed.

Steven Bell, chief economist of London hedge fund GLC, said keeping a sense of reality is what traders needed.

"It is very important to just remind yourself that there is a real world out there. In any job but particularly in financial markets, you need to try and keep your feet on the ground," Bell told Reuters by phone.

Mishkov says the crash should also help correct a dangerous global trend of an excessive outflow of labor to the service sectors, by people attracted by high pay and an easy life.

"Milk is not produced by computers, bread doesn't come from a good company PR. It is necessary to plow, sow and harvest before that," says the monk.

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Serbs Bid Emotional Farewell To Patriarch Pavle

Hundreds Of Thousands Bid Farewell To Patriarch Pavle, Late Leader Of Serbian Orthodox Church

Nov. 19, 2009
CBS News

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of people joined a somber funeral procession Thursday for Patriarch Pavle, who led the Serbian Orthodox Church through its post-Communist revival and the Balkans' bloody ethnic wars in the 1990s.

Pavle, a highly popular patriarch known for his modesty and humility, died over the weekend at age 95 after being hospitalized for two years with heart and lung problems. He had led the 7 million-member church since 1990.

White-robed church elders held funeral prayers in Belgrade's Saborna Church, where Pavle's body, covered by a green-and-gold embroidered cloth, lay surrounded by flickering candles in an open casket.

The casket was placed on a caisson as crowds joined Serbian leaders and clergy in a procession to the white-marbled St. Sava Temple, the biggest Orthodox Christian church in the Balkans.

Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I - the spiritual leader of world's Orthodox Christians - led a liturgy in front of the masses gathered outside the church.

Bartholomew described Pavle as a "great spiritual leader" during the turbulent era for the nation.

"His face and appearance were radiant with holiness and righteousness," he said. "He was a true monk, a man of endless prayers, kind and calm but also a fighter who does not back down and is ready for any sacrifice when needed."

Serbia's President Boris Tadic, who attended the prayers, thanked the late patriarch "for having been there for us with his deeds and message that we should always be human and never respond to the evil in the others with the evil within us."

State television estimated that about half a million Orthodox believers, many from neighboring Bosnia and Montenegro, attended the funeral procession through downtown Belgrade as bells tolled from churches.

Pavle is to be buried later Thursday at a monastery in a Belgrade suburb in a private ceremony attended only by church leaders and Serbian officials.


"I come to bid last farewell to the best man who ever lived," said Gojko Ljubovic, 53-year-old teacher from the southern town of Vranje. "He has done so much for the Serbian nation."

The frail-looking Pavle, known here as "the walking saint," had called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan wars. But critics say he had failed to openly condemn the extreme Serb nationalism of former President Slobodan Milosevic, which triggered the clashes with Catholic Croats and Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

There have been reports of an internal struggle over who will succeed Pavle. The election cannot be held until at least 40 days after Pavle's death. The favorite is influential Bishop Amfilohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and ultranationalist stances, who served as the acting head of church during Pavle's hospitalization.

After the liturgy, Amfilohije described Pavle as a "modest and quiet man who is now a beacon of light that shines on us from the sky."

"People have poured like a river only to touch him," Amfilohije said of the large crowds who have come to the Saborna Church to pay their last respects to Pavle since Sunday.

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Frank Schaeffer Responds to Evangelical Death Threats Against Obama

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Rachel Maddow, Frank Schaeffer Discuss The Latest In Thinly-Veiled Evangelical Christian Obama Death Threats

11-18-09
The Huffington Post
By Jason Linkins

Apparently, the latest thing in "Debasing The Institutions You Pretend To Hold Dear In Order To Suggest That President Barack Obama Should Be Murdered Without Actually Coming Right Out And Saying So" goes by a shorter name: Psalm 109:8.

And Psalm 109:8 is just straight up memetastic, appearing on bumper stickers and T-shirts, all of which carry the benign sounding message, "Pray For Obama." But, as Gawker's John Cook points out, this is just one more in a "long line of cheekily coded Obama death threats." The verse in question reads: "May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership." That leads fairly naturally into the Psalm 109:9, "May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow." You know, in case you miss the point.

Rachel Maddow took up this issue last night, inviting Patience With God author and Huffington Post blogger Frank Schaeffer to explain whether or not the citation of this Biblical text "means something less threatening to people hearing this in a Biblical context."

SCHAEFFER: "No. Actually, it means something more threatening. I think that the situation that I find genuinely frightening right now is that you have a ramping up of Biblical language, language from the anti-abortion movement for instance, death panels and this sort of thing, and what it's coalescing into is branding Obama as Hitler, as they have already called him. And something foreign to our shores, we're reminded of that, he's born in Kenya. As brown, as black, above all, as not us. He is Sarah Palin's "not a real American." But now, it turns out, he joins the ranks of the unjust kings of ancient Israel, unjust rulers to which all these Biblical allusions are directed who should be slaughtered, if not by God, then by just men. So there's a parallel here with Timothy McVeigh's t-shirt on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. He said the tree of liberty had to be watered by the blood of tyrants. That quote, we saw at a meeting where Obama was present carried on a placard by someone with a loaded weapon.

"What we're looking at right now is two things going on. We see the evangelical groups I talked about in my new book, Patience With God, enthralled by an apocalyptic vision that I go into in some detail there. They represent the millions of people who have turned the Left Behind series into best sellers. Most of them are not crazy, they're just deluded. But there is a crazy fringe to whom all these little messages that have been pouring out of Fox News, now on a bumper sticker, talking about doing away with Obama, asking God to kill him. Really, this is trolling for assassins. This is serious business.

"It's un-American. It's unpatriotic. And it goes to show that the religious right, the Republican far right have coalesced into a group who truly want American revolution. If it turns out to be blood in the streets and death, so be it. It's not funny stuff anymore. They cannot be dismissed as just crazies on the fringe. It only takes one. You know, look at the Boston Globe article from a few weeks ago that says the threat level faced by the Secret Service has gone up 400%, higher than any other time in 52 years, for any president, Democrat or Republican. These are no jokes."

Schaeffer added, "Look, this is the American version of the Taliban... this is the Old Testament Biblical equivalent of calling for holy war."

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