Cheesefare Saturday: The Ascetic Fathers and Mothers

Commemoration of the Holy Ascetic Fathers and Mothers (Feast Day - Cheesefare Saturday)

On this day, we commemorate all the righteous and God-bearing Fathers and Mothers, both known and unknown, who shone forth in asceticism. With these two weeks of Meatfare and Cheesefare, the Church gradually eases us into the full fasting which begins on Monday.

The holy acetics are virtuous men and women who contended against the devil and their own passions. By examining their lives and their struggles against the Enemy, we take courage from the victory they have achieved, and are inspired to imitate their God-pleasing conduct. They also teach us that fasting is not merely abstinence from food, but involves refraining from inappropriate speech and unseemly actions.

Since these holy ascetics share the same human nature that we have, their example is an encouragement to us as we embark on our own spiritual struggles Their lives are a model for us to follow as we seek to acquire and practice the various virtues and to turn away from everything evil. If we undertake these same struggles of prayer, fasting, and good works, we shall receive from God the same reward they did.

Most of the holy ascetics commemorated today have their own separate Feast Day during the year, while some are remembered only on this day.

- From OCA Website

The God-bearing Fathers, after preparing us through the preceding feasts for the stadium of spiritual struggles, now set before us the men and women who have passed their lives in a manner pleasing to God, so that by their example they might make us more eager in the work of virtue and more courageous against the passions. And as experienced generals, when they prepare their soldiers for battle, urge their soldiers on by recalling for them the heroic exploits of excellent men, so that the soldiers take courage and charge wholeheartedly against the enemy; even so the God-bearing Fathers do for our sakes now, by appointing this day as a common memorial and feast of all those Saints who by many labours overcame the passions and became well-pleasing to God; so that we too, looking to the life of the righteous, might imitate them as far as possible in contending courageously against the passions and accomplishing the virtues, having it always in mind that the Saints were of the same nature and of like passions with us.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
As preachers of true piety who silenced all impiety, Lord, Thou hast made the whole host of God-bearing Saints shine forth with splendour on the world. By their prayers and entreaties, keep all them that extol and sincerely magnify Thee in perfect peace, to chant and to sing to Thee: Alleluia.

- From the Synaxarion of Holy Transfiguration Monastery

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Saints Martinian the Righteous, With Zoe and Photine

Saint Martinian the Righteous, Together with Zoe and Photine (Feast Day - February 13)

Saint Martinian, who was from Caesarea of Palestine, flourished about the beginning of the fifth century. He struggled in the wilderness from his youth. After he had passed twenty-five years in asceticism, the devil brought a temptation upon him through a harlot [Zoe], who when she heard the Saint praised for his virtue, determined to try his virtue, or rather, to undo it. Coming to his cell by night as it rained, and saying she had lost her way, she begged with pitiful cries to be admitted in for the night, lest she fall prey to wild beasts. Moved with compassion, and not wishing to be guilty of her death should anything befall her, he allowed her to enter. When she began to seduce him, and the fire of desire began to burn in his heart, he kindled a fire and stepped into it, burning his body, but saving his soul from the fire of Gehenna. And she, brought to her senses by this, repented, and, following his counsel, went to Bethlehem to a certain virgin named Paula, with whom she lived in fasting and prayer; before her death, she was deemed worthy of the gift of wonder-working. Saint Martinian, when he recovered from the burning, resolved to go to some more solitary place, and took a ship to a certain island, where he struggled in solitude for a number of years. Then a young maiden [Photine] who had suffered a shipwreck came ashore on his island. Not wishing to fall into temptation again, he departed after helping her, and passed his remaining time as a wanderer, coming to the end of his life in Athens.

This occurred around the year 422.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Thou didst quench the flame of temptation with the streams of thy tears, O blessed Martinian; and having checked the waves of the sea and the attacks of wild beasts, thou didst cry out: Most glorious art Thou, O Almighty One, Who hast saved me from fire and tempest.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
As is meet, let us praise with hymns the ever-venerable Martinian as a tried ascetic that struggled for piety, as an honorable athlete by deliberate choice, and a resolute citizen and inhabitant of the desert; for he hath trodden upon the serpent.

(From the Synaxarion of Holy Transfiguration Monastery)

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Saint Symeon the Myrrhgusher of Serbia

St. Symeon the Myrrhbearer (Feast Day - February 13)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Stefan Nemanja [Nehemiah], the great ruler [Great Zupan] of the Serbian people, the consolidator of Serbian lands, creator of the independent Serbian state, defender of Orthodoxy and exterminator of heresy.

At first, he was baptized in the Latin Church but later left this Church and embraced the Orthodox Church. In the beginning, he was dependent on the Greeks with regard to the State, but later he freed himself from this dependence and became completely autonomous. When Stefan consolidated the State and the Orthodox Faith in the State, then, following the example of his son Savva, received the monastic tonsure in Studenica Monastery in the year 1195 A.D., and received the name Symeon. His wife Anna withdrew to a convent, embraced the monastic tonsure and received the name Anastasia.

After two years as a monk in Studenica, Symeon traveled to Athos, the Holy Mountain. There he took up residence in the Monastery Vatopaidi together with his son Savva. Father and son spent their days and nights in prayer. There, they built six chapels dedicated to: the Savior, the Unmercenary Saints, St. George, St. Theodore, The Forerunner and St. Nicholas.

They purchased the ruins of Hilandari and erected a glorious monastery in which Symeon lived only eight months and then died. When Symeon was on his deathbed, Savva, according to his father's wishes, placed him on a simple mat. With eyes directed toward the icon of the Mother of God and the Savior, the blessed elder spoke these last words: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." (Psalm 150:6), and took up habitation with the Lord on February 13, 1200 A.D.

More on the Repose of St. Symeon

The great Stefan Nemanja, whose authorative words everyone unconditionally heeded to and at whom people and emperors trembled, became a monk and served the monks of the Holy Mountain [Athos] as an ideal example of meekness, humility, goodness and piety.

Even his death was the death of a truly godly man and spiritual director. He became bedridden on February 7. He summoned St. Savva, placed his hands on him and blessed him saying: "My beloved child, the light of my eyes, comfort and protector in my old age! Behold the time of our separation has arrived. Behold the Lord is releasing me in peace. But you, my child, do not mourn because of our separation. For parting is the common cup of all and everyone; here we part from one another but we will meet there where there is no separation."

On February 12, St. Symeon asked Savva to clothe him in a burial cassock, to spread a mat on the ground, lay him there and place a stone under his head. He then summoned all the monks and asked their forgiveness. At dawn, on February 13, while the monks were chanting the Office of Matins in church and the voices were reaching the cell of the dying one, St. Symeon, once more his face radiated and he gave up his soul to his God.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
Illumined by divine grace, even after death thou dost make manifest the radiance of thy life; for thou pourest forth fragrant myrrh for them that have recourse to the shrine of the relics. Thou didst also guide thy people to the light of the knowledge of God. O our Father Symeon, entreat Christ God that we be granted great mercy.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Second Tone
Living the angelic life on this earth, thou didst abandon the world and worldly dominion and didst follow Christ by fasting, O Symeon. In an apostolic manner, thou didst guide unto Christ them that loved thee and didst cry: Love ye the Lord even as He hath loved you.

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Life Lessons from a Pencil

A pencil maker told the pencil 5 important lessons:

1.) Everything you do will always leave a mark.

2.) You can always correct the mistakes you make.

3.) What is important is what is inside you.

4.) In life, you will undergo painful sharpenings, which will make you a better person.

5.) To be the best pencil, you must allow yourself to be held and guided by the hand that holds you.

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Priest Suspected of Thefts at Monasteries

February 13, 2010
Kathimerini

Police in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, believe they are on the trail of a gang that has been stealing religious icons and other valuables from monasteries in the area after arresting a priest who is alleged to have played a major role in the thefts.

The cleric, who was not named, was found to be in possession of 48 stolen icons, wood carvings and various books. It is believed that some of the items were stolen from a monastery in Ioannina last year.

After arresting the priest, officers took another two men into custody. They also searched a monastery in the Pamvotida municipality and the two suspects’ homes, where they found more relics, a handgun and some 500 bullets.

The other two suspects were not named and the police said that the value of the stolen items was as yet unknown.

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More Russians to Observe Great Lent

Growing Number of Russians Find Their Way Into Great Lent

Moscow, Russia
February 12, 2010
Interfax

Almost one third of Russians are going to observe Great Lent this year, while others do not want to restrict themselves, the poll says.

In spite of the fact that majority of Russians still ignore food limitations during Great Lent, this year their number has decreased from 83 percent to 62 percent if compared to 2008, sociologists of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center told Interfax on Friday summing up results of All-Russian poll held in February.

According to it, among those who refuse fasting are respondents aged under 34 (67-71 percent) and atheists (87 percent).

However, the number of those who are going to observe Lent has increased from 16 percent to 32 percent for the recent two years.

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Heartfelt Appeal to All Romanian Orthodox Abroad

APPEAL TO UNITY AND ROMANIAN DIGNITY

At the beginning of the year 2010, proclaimed by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as Anniversary Year of the Orthodox Creed and of Romanian Autocephaly, in the context of the 125th anniversary of the moment when the Romanian Orthodox Church became autocephalous and of the 85th anniversary of the elevation to the rank of Patriarchate, the hierarchs of the Holy Synod are reaching out and addressing a Heartfelt appeal to all Romanian Orthodox clerics and faithful abroad, who are, without blessing, in other sister Orthodox Churches or in non-canonical church structures, to restore their direct communion with their Mother Church, under the canonical jurisdiction of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The realization of this desideratum is the fulfillment of the provisions of the Bylaw for the Organization and Functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which mentions that the Romanian Orthodox Church is the Church of the Romanian people and encompasses all Orthodox Christians in Romania and the Romanian Orthodox Christians abroad (article 5), and the canonical and pastoral organization of the Romanian Orthodox faithful outside Romania is ensured by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church (article 8). This principle is in full accordance with the decision of the Panorthodox Preconciliar Conference of Chambésy-Switzerland (June 6-13, 2009), which specifies that each autocephalous Church has the right to shepherd its own diaspora.

The above-mentioned principles are expressing the duty of the Romanian Orthodox Church and are based upon the 16th Canon of the 1st Ecumenical Council (325), which contains the principle that no diocese is allowed to receive under its jurisdiction Orthodox clerics and faithful, without the blessing of the Church (diocese) to which they belong.

To this end, we are mentioning that the process of returning of the clergy and faithful of different nationalities to their Mother Churches (such as in the Moscow Patriarchate and the Serbian Patriarchate) has already started for a long time and has shown that, through shared responsibility and ethnic Orthodox solidarity, the conjunctural historical feuds, based on past political motives, can be overcome.

Now, when 20 years have passed since the fall of the Communist regime in Eastern Europe, when Romania is a member of the European Union and of NATO and in the context of an unprecedented activity of the Romanian Orthodox Church abroad, through the reorganization and foundation of numerous dioceses across the world, we think that there are no more real reasons to reject the call of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church to unity and Romanian Orthodox communion.

We are confident that this attitude of Romanian Orthodox resurrection and reconciliation will consolidate and intensify the pastoral-missionary, social-philanthropic and cultural-educational ministry of the Romanian Orthodox Church everywhere, strengthening at the same time the Romanian Orthodox dignity, through the liberation of some Romanian Orthodox from considering themselves 'searchers of canonical shadows' among strangers.

We are regretting that, for several reasons, some of our Romanian Orthodox brothers have sought other Orthodox jurisdictions, during Communism, but what was understandable in the past has become unreasonable and regrettable in present times, amounting to estrangement of Romanians from one another, up to their church division.

Being confident that our appeal to unity and Romanian Orthodox dignity will be received with joy and responsibility, as a desire for communion and brotherly cooperation, we are sharing with everyone our utmost respect and fatherly blessing.

Bucharest, February 11, 2010

THE PRESIDENT OF THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH,
† D A N I E L
Archbishop of Bucharest,
Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrudgea, Locum Tenens of the Throne of Caesarea Cappadocia and
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church


† Teofan
Archbishop of Iasi and Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina

† Laurenţiu
Archbishop of Sibiu and Metropolitan Transylvania

† Bartolomeu
Archbishop of Vad, Feleac and Cluj
Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crisana and Maramures

† Irineu
Archbishop of Craiova and Metropolitan of Oltenia

† Nicolae
Archbishop of Timisoara and Metropolitan of Banat

† Petru
Archbishop Chisinau, Metropolitan of Basarabia and Exarch of the Plains

† Serafim
Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Germany, Austria and Luxembourg
and Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Germany, Central and Northern Europe

† Iosif
Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Western Europe and
Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe

† Nifon
Honorary Metropolitan, Archbishop of Targoviste and Patriarchal Exarch

† Teodosie
Archbishop of Tomis

† Pimen
Archbishop of Suceava and Radauti

† Andrei
Archbishop of Alba Iulia

† Gherasim
Archbishop of Ramnic

† Eftimie
Archbishop of Roman and Bacau

† Epifanie
Archbishop of Buzau and Vrancea

† Calinic
Archbishop of Arges and Muscel

† Casian
Archbishop of Lower Danube

† Timotei
Archbishop of Arad

† Nicolae
Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of the Americas

† Justinian
Honorary Archbishop, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Maramures and Satu Mare

† Ioan
Honorary Archbishop, Bishop of Covasna and Harghita

† Corneliu
Bishop of Husi

† Lucian
Bishop of Caransebes

† Sofronie
Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Oradea

† Nicodim
Bishop of Severin and Strehaia

† Vincenţiu
Bishop of Slobozia and Calarasi

† Galaction
Bishop of Alexandria and Teleorman

† Ambrozie
Bishop of Giurgiu

† Sebastian
Bishop of Slatina Romanati

† Visarion
Bishop of Tulcea

† Petroniu
Bishop of Salaj

† Gurie
Bishop of Deva and Hunedoara

† Daniil
Locum Tenens (Administrator) of
the Diocese of Dacia Felix

† Siluan
Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Hungary

† Siluan
Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Italy

† Timotei
Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Spain and Portugal

† Macarie
Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Northern Europe

† Mihail
Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Australia and New Zealand

† Ciprian Câmpineanul
Patriarchal Vicar Bishop

† Varlaam Ploieşteanul
Patriarchal Vicar Bishop

† Varsanufie Prahoveanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Bucharest Archdiocese

† Calinic Botoşăneanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Iasi Archdiocese

† Andrei Făgărăşeanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Sibiu Archdiocese

† Irineu Bistriţeanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj

† Vasile Someşeanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj

† Paisie Lugojeanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Timisoara Archdiocese

† Emilian Lovişteanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Ramnic Archdiocese

† Ioachim Băcăuanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman and Bacau Archdiocese

† Sofian Braşoveanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese
of Germany, Austria and Luxembourg

† Marc Nemţeanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese
of Western Europe

† Ioan Casian de Vicina
Auxiliary Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese
of the Americas

† Iustin Sigheteanul
Auxiliary Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese
of Maramures and Satu Mare

THE PRESS OFFICE OF THE ROMANIAN PATRIARCHATE

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Rehabilitating the Memory of Saint Valentine

by Father John Bockman

Around 1928, when I was in the second grade, a good part of the winter was spent constructing what I recall as a fantastic make-believe classroom post office so that we little ones could draw, write, and mail valentines to one another, have them posted, sorted, and finally delivered by one another to mailboxes just as we learned occurred in the regular postal service. I remember that the protracted activity was huge, exciting fun, especially when I took my turn as postmaster, collecting and disbursing play stamps and play money.

Even then, seventy years ago, Saint Valentine's Day was a big event in the life of a child, but I don't recollect that there was any commercialization of the holiday in our out-of-the-way town. No radio or TV there, no neon lights, hype, or advertising downtown that I can remember. Kids made their own valentines to send, usually had no money to buy them, and therefore the entire extended drawing, writing, mailing, posting, and delivery concept seems to me even now to have been a worthwhile educational experience.

Winter life in northern Idaho could be gloomy in those days — cloudy days, three to four feet of snow, ice, and miserable weather keeping kids indoors most of the time. Very few people operated automobiles — there was nowhere to go anyway — and most business transportation took place on sleighs. Besides, it was bitter cold, there were no school buses, and when you walked, as you had to, you risked frostbite. Children arrived at school crying from the severe wind and chill.

Today the weather is warmer, automobiles abound, and the holiday has grown into an exaggerated commercial frenzy, overcapitalizing on romantic love and on boy-girl relationships at an ever earlier age. It feeds the sentimentalism and excessive sexual awareness, even perhaps the promiscuity, that categorize modern American society. This direction of things has pretty much eliminated the "Saint" in "Saint Valentine's Day," and it is usually identified as simple "Valentines Day."

Yes, Virginia, there was and is a real Saint Valentine who as an early Christian martyr, who has taken his place in the heavenly mansions prepared by the Savior for those who love Him. He lived in Rome and so long ago when persecutions racked the Church of Christ, that virtually nothing is known of his earthly life. He is said to have been the Bishop of Terni (Interamna) in Italy, which we can accept as accurate. The Orthodox Church recognizes Saint Valentine (Valentinus) as a hieromartyr and celebrates his name day on July 30. In the West his name day was celebrated on February 14, now Valentines Day, with or without religious significance. The word "valentine", of course, denotes a card or letter expressing one's love and affection for a person of the opposite sex, regardless of the quality of that love and affection. Sending a valentine may also involve flowers, candy, and other gifts.

Since Saint Valentine was a real person and a real martyr for the faith, the Orthodox Church recognizes at least two Saint Valentines (although they may be doublets): Saint Valentinus of Terni (Interamna) in Italy, bishop and hieromartyr, celebrated on July 30, and Saint Valentinus, an unidentified martyr, celebrated October 24. It should be noted that the Roman Catholic Church has lost confidence in the existence of hosts of early saints, including the great wonderworker, Saint Nicholas, and a few years ago decided to drop them from their official calendar. (This upset a lot of people.) Since the Saint Valentine's lived and died during the Roman persecution of the second century, no details of their lives have come down to us. Although the Saint Valentine's were western saints and not particularly popular in the east, "Valentine" is or was a fairly common name among the Russians. Orthodoxy has always recognized them as true martyrs for the Faith.

Nothing about these saints provides grounds for associating them with the romantic love expressed in cards and letters adorned with hearts and sent to loved ones on February 14, a widespread practice which now characterizes this holiday. It has been suggested that it is an aberration of a saint's feast that originated either in some earlier pagan love ritual or, in later centuries, the observation that birds pair off around February 14, the saint's western name day.

As Father Metalinos, who is a spokesman for the Church of Greece, is quoted in the Serbian newspaper Pravoslavije as saying, that the commercialized feast of Saint Valentine has invaded Greece as a "holy day of love" on February 14, and is regarded as a definitely unwelcome foreign import. The Romanian Archbishop Andrew reports in the same newspaper that the cult of Saint Valentine and the "festival of love" associated with his name, which is foreign to Romanian spirituality, is spreading in Romania, also as an unwelcome import.

Nevertheless, the memory of the real Saint Valentine deserves to be held in honor in recognition of the hieromartyr that he is. Given that his name has unfortunately also been conferred upon tokens and practices that are being abused by people today, it seems important that we attempt to discover some overriding element of spiritual truth in the legend about him that has come down to us.

Legends, we should understand first of all, are sometimes unjustifiably equated with untruths or very unlikely truths. The word, coming from Latin, simply means "that which is to be read." Therefore, legends were originally found in books and records written some time after the actual events took place. Some legends probably contain some truth, others may be apocryphal and unverifiable, and still others are undoubtedly fabrications.

The Saint Valentine legend is one that strikes this writer as possessing at least a few grains of truth. It is easy to appreciate how the events described could have taken place. Valentinus, the hero of the legend, lived in the time of Claudius Caesar, Emperor of Rome in the second century A.D. Claudius had ordered the entire Roman population to worship twelve pagan gods, and made it a capital crime to associate with Christians. Since Valentinus would not stop practicing his faith, he was arrested and thrown into prison.

Roman prisons were not exactly like modern prisons. Prisoners often had some freedom. The jailer in this case recognized that Valentinus was an honorable man and a learned one too. Therefore he inquired of Valentinus if he would instruct his blind daughter, Julia, who was young and anxious to learn.

Valentine read stories of Rome to her and described the world of nature which surrounded her. We can be sure, too, that he told her about God. Julia began to see the world through the eyes of Valentinus and found spiritual comfort in his spiritual strength.

Julia wondered if God really hears our prayers, and Valentinus assured her that He does, provided it is for our greater spiritual good. She said she was now praying every morning and night that she might see everything that Valentinus had told her about the world. Then one day as they sat together praying, a brilliant light flashed in Valentinus's cell. Julia shouted, "Valentinus, I can see! I can see!".

On the eve of his martyrdom, Valentinus wrote a letter to his pupil, urging her to stay close to God in prayer. Without any further expression of affection he signed it, "From your Valentinus."

Valentinus, the martyr, gave up his spirit the next day, February 14, 270 A.D., near the gate that was later named Porta Valentini (The Gate of Valentine). His relics were buried in what is now the Church of Praxedes in Rome.

Valentinus had written a letter to Julia committing her to Christ. In return, Julia herself is said to have planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his resting place. Today the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship, and the valentine remains a token of affection, love, and devotion.

The legend is charming, and it seems likely that as a good archpastor Saint Valentine would have been delighted to instruct a child in the faith and love of Christ. If the jailer really did bring his blind daughter to him for instruction, Saint Valentine would have taught her gladly in the tradition followed by all good teachers before and since.

Glory be to God for all good teachers of all times!

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Who Said Orthodox Don't Know How To Party...

[Of course I'm only joking. A somewhat amusing piece below, though sad when you consider this is about the church secretary and a Sunday school teacher. - J.S.]

Church Fined for Over-Serving Booze to Women

By Elizabeth Dinan
Seacoastonline.com
February 12, 2010

PORTSMOUTH — The St. Nicholas Greek Church was penalized by the state Liquor Commission for a July incident when one woman attending a party at the church was hospitalized for intoxication and a second was taken into police custody, also for intoxication.

The church was penalized by the Liquor Commission's Bureau of Enforcement for two counts of serving alcohol to an intoxicated person on July 12, 2009. At its Feb. 6 meeting, the Bureau imposed a $1,000 fine, with half suspended for one year pending no like infractions. The church's “caterer-on-site license” to sell alcoholic beverages was also suspended for three days, with two day held in abeyance pending the same year of no similar infractions.

Liquor Enforcement Chief Eddie Edwards said the incident was brought to his attention by Portsmouth police.

According to a report by Liquor Commission Sgt. Christopher Hutchins, three Portsmouth police officers responded to the Andrew Jarvis Drive church on July 12 at 1:32 a.m. for a complaint about “an intoxicated and belligerent female.” When the officers arrived, they found an “unresponsive” and “uncooperative” woman at the church function hall, who was later identified as a church secretary, according to Hutchins' report.

A witness said the woman consumed “several shots” of liquor at a church party and was transported by ambulance to Portsmouth Regional Hospital “due to her level of intoxication,” according to the report.

A second woman, later identified as a Sunday school teacher, was taken into protective custody for intoxication after police observed her “swaying, stumbling” and “uncooperative,” according to the report. At police headquarters she was “disruptive” and a breath test showed her blood alcohol concentration was .2, according to the report.

She was later released to a sober friend, according to the Liquor Commission.

A supplemental report by the Liquor Commission officer says church leader Father Angelo Pappas was contacted, said he was “shocked” at hearing the Sunday school teacher's BAC, said he would cooperate with the investigation “and understood the concern regarding alcohol service that evening.”

As a result of the Feb. 6 Liquor Commission meeting, all persons “designated to handle alcohol for any purpose” under the church caterer's license are mandated to complete a state course entitled Total Education in Alcohol Management within 30 days.

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Greece is NWO Test Ground

"All men of power here, get their power from plundering the Greek people, or having connections with those that do it."

February 11, 2010
henrymakow.com
by Christos

I am 26 years old and live in Greece. I am writing this letter in order to let you know about a new law in Greece announced yesterday.

The financial minister of Greece announced yesterday that from 1/1/2011 all financial transactions of sums above 1500 euros in cash, will be banned. For any transaction above 1500 euros, only credit cards and checks will be legal. The formal explanation for this law is it will combat those who do not pay taxes. But we all know this is not the case...

It seems the new world order wants to make Greece a testing ground for their new laws. For the past months, Greece have been attacked without mercy. We have been called liars, frauds, cheaters, thieves. They are threatening us constantly with banning from the euro zone and default. [These charges are] not true. ... The problem is, based on their accusations and (the virtual) bad situation of Greek finances, they will pass their experimental laws of their new world order.

The fairly new Government of the socialist party, elected 4 months ago, forgot all its promises, and is determined to pass laws giving citizenship to illegal immigrants after 5 years, without any trade-off. We are 10 million Greeks here, and almost 3 million mostly illegal immigrants, who will obtain Greek nationality and will gain the right to bring their families here too... In Pakistan there are even ads saying "for 5000 euros we get you to Greece, to study free, work, make families, and obtain EU passports"...

And now this... The previous government created a new ID card, to collect data from people since childbirth. This government will ban transactions in cash over 1500 euros, in order to make all of us have credit cards. The obvious first step is to ban all cash transactions, then merge this new ID card with the credit system, then, well.... insert this merged ID card into our bodies...

Our peoples' morale is low, society is disorganized because of immigration and propaganda, and we will not fight those laws. You people living in the Western World, be prepared because they are planning the same for you!

BACKGROUND

I will try to give you my personal view of the conditions in Greece.

First of all, there is no trust in politicians. Most people distrust them and know they are scum, but continue to vote for the same people in every election. This happens because they promise privileges in order to get votes. Most politicians are members of secret societies, and have close ties to USA and European elites. Our current prime minister is even an American citizen...

A young man living in Greece and having no connections, is hopeless. Without connections, he will have major difficulties if he wants to join a good University(or complete his studies without bribes), if he wants to find a job, or create his own. He will be forced to join the army while privileged young men with connections will illegally avoid it.

And there is no point discussing finding love... Of course pretty women will pick wealthier men, but in Greece even women of moderate appearance prefer men with deep pockets. They prefer sharing the top men than having a man only for themselves.

And the top men in Greece are all frauds. Greece, apart from some natural resources and its tourism industry, produces nothing of value. Corruption is so big, that all productive forces are drowned. So all men of power here, get their power from plundering the Greek people, or having connections with those that do it. Women (and their families) of course are not concerned about that. As long as someone is wealthy, he is desirable, and value as a person is irrelevant.

Despite poor economic condition (but not so desperate as to warrant dire measures), people in power take pleasure in attacking traditional customs, Orthodox Christianity, and traditional Greek patriots. They protect illegal immigrants, and silence their crimes. They attack Christianity, in the media, at schools etc. They are removing all Christian symbols from public places.

MEDIA

Greek media are a pile of garbage. For the biggest part of the day, most major TV networks will show shows discussing Greek "VIP's" lifestyle, sexual relations etc. There are few "political" shows and news shows, all trying to cover the truth and turn the attention of the people at matters of trivial importance. Propaganda is blatant. The previous government was literally destroyed by TV networks. They promoted heavily the current government, so strongly that previous prime minister was forced to make new elections despite being only for 2 years in government.

Current prime minister made promises, NONE of which kept after being elected. Only a few days after election, he went on with the plans of New World Order. He created an artificially dire financial situation, in order to be able to pass whatever laws he wanted, plus giving his friends some money... He "cooked" our budget, by moving payments of 2010 in 2009 and incomes from 2009 to 2010, in order to both make our deficit bigger and be able to claim in 2010 that he "improved" our economy... This doesn't mean that our previous prime minister wasn't a puppet, just that he wasn't able to fulfill New World Order directions like the new government.

Huge economic scandals are discovered every day, and buried by Greek propaganda media. And most honest people are so concerned with working 2 and 3 jobs in order to feed their families, that cannot fight this corruption. Greek people work on average many more hours weekly than other EU countries, get much less pay, and pay more for the same products. And because of the traitors in government, EU newspapers and media call our people lazy. They say we need to work even more and receive even less... Of course this is not true. The plunder of Greek people has been made with their assistance. But this is a long subject and I wont go on with it.

CONCLUSION

In a few words... Life in Greece sucks. Since I am a computer programmer, I have many times thought about leaving for a better country and make my living there. But I do not want to abandon my home... yet. I would be willing to fight this system, but I see no point since the system is so well entrenched it cannot be tackled by a few men alone.

The reason I wrote you my previous letter is because this new law of banning cash transactions above 1500 euros is just another step towards cashless society, and is being implemented in Greece as a testing phase. I strongly believe it is a matter of time before most western nations see similar laws.

See also:

The Greek Tragedy That Changed Europe

A Greek Crisis Is Coming To America

Greece Turns On EU Critics

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Trivialization Nation: Are We Devaluing Our Values?

by Linton Weeks
February 12, 2010
NPR

A roll of U.S. Constitution toilet paper sells for $7.95 online. Certain TV shows arrange marriages. Other shows brush aside the horrors of serial killers or treat torture as a curiosity.

It makes you wonder — have we become Trivialization Nation? Perhaps we've downsized the meaning of everything: Love. Death. Sex. Religion. Education. Civil rights.

How sacred is life when in a recent episode of the widely watched and revered Oprah, a murderer on death row appears via satellite to speak with the children of his victims? How lifted up is love when a houseful of men and women vie on MTV's A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila for the favors of the self-promoting Web celeb?

The Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002, will be the subject of a conference this month called "The 7-Year Itch — Renewing the Commitment." That's right. Bright, creative people plan to discuss the supersober topic of national security in this era of incredible danger — and they name the confab for a 1955 Marilyn Monroe movie about marital ennui.

Witty, yes. Weighty, not so much.

There was a time not too long ago when the Dead Kennedys, same-sex kissing, Judy Blume books, RuPaul and politicians' affairs still had shock value. People had to actually practice practice practice the guitar before becoming a rock band musician. Relationships were not reduced to friending and unfriending.

Not too long ago we wondered if this gray-flannel country had a sense of humor. As recently as 1990, Madonna was exhorting America to "lighten up!" Now, 20 years later — thanks in part to Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Howard Stern, Sacha Baron Cohen, Wanda Sykes and a parade of snarkers who routinely reduce important matters to punch lines — a more appropriate question might be: Does this country have a sense of what is important?

It's As Old As The Hills

"Our culture, or at least our nation, is becoming more trivial, less concerned with what matters, by the hour," says Gary Hardcastle, a philosophy professor at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania and co-editor of Bullshit and Philosophy.

To be fair, Hardcastle continues, civilization trivialization is as old as the hills. He refers to Hesiod — a poet who railed against the devaluation of values in society in 750 B.C.

Writer Norman Corwin, who will turn 100 in May, has been waging a battle against banality for more than half a century. In 1983, he published a social critique titled Trivializing America: The Triumph of Mediocrity.

Discounting significant aspects of our society "is a national tendency," Corwin now says from his home in Los Angeles. "It's easier to think loosely about unimportant matters. People tend to think about football, the news, the weather and their budgets before they think of the important things."

Corwin and other cultural critics see the contemporary United States on a particularly steep downward slope.

Talk show maestro Charlie Rose recently asked Drew Faust, president of Harvard, if she is worried about the dumbing down of the culture. "I worry about attention span," Faust said, "because people will not listen to more than a couple of sentences or read more than a couple of sentences. Does everything have to be a sound bite? Is everything to be digested into something brief? And aren't there complicated ideas that we ought to have the patience to give our attention to?"

Faust continued, "I worry about dumbing down in terms of speed and in terms of reflection. Do we sit back and think about things hard or do we always have to go on to the next sound bite, the next stimulus?"

The floodwaters of trivialization seep throughout our culture, from Hollywood to the White House. Frank Schaeffer, writing in The Huffington Post, laments that Barack Obama has lowered lofty presidential standards. The lowest point occurred in August, according to Schaeffer, when Obama invited Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to the White House to share a beer with the Cambridge, Mass., cop who arrested Gates at his home.

"Is a Joe the Plumber consult next?" Schaeffer writes. "How small time and silly does the President want to look?"

Modern-Day Hesiods

The widespread trivialization of meaningful things is indisputable. Sound bites and silliness reign supreme. Reducing life-and-death questions to bumper stickers, such as "People Like You Make Me Pro-Choice," or vast education initiatives to a simple buzz phrase, such as No Child Left Behind, enables us to get a toehold on steep issues. But it can also cheapen the complexities.

Perhaps the tendency to trivialize is born of bandwagonism or laziness. Idiomatically speaking: It's easier to tear down than to build up. Or maybe we devalue valuable things because, as Herbert Marcuse observed, of society's tilt toward repressive desublimation. In Marcuse's mind, our capitalist culture renders a strong, often threatening urge into something weak and nonthreatening. For instance, marketers learn to satisfy our desire to be closer to nature by selling us Patagonia fleece jackets that we wear in our all-terrain Land Rovers driving to the mall.

This desublimation is repressive, Marcuse asserted, because it muffles social criticism and supports addictive consumerism. Consequently, contemporary society is spiritually and intellectually stagnant.

Plus, trivializing large ideals is easier than living up to them. And it's less scary.

"In an ideal democracy," says Richard Hanley, a philosophy professor at the University of Delaware, "the populace is interested, rational, and informed; and although reasonable people can disagree, so that not everyone gets what they want, a free marketplace of ideas would see the cream tend to rise to the top."

He adds, "In a real democracy like the United States, the populace is for the most part interested, somewhat less rational, and scandalously uninformed. ... Most people, on many important issues, do not know what to think about, and don't know how to think about it anyway."

So trivialization is an inevitable outgrowth of this confusion.

In fact, says Hardcastle, it's normal. "I'm inclined to think of a culture, even one as unwieldy as ours, as a body, and like all bodies it needs to be kept in balance. One part of it craves the mundane, the trivial, the stupid. Another pulls in the opposite direction, toward the profound, the subtle, the glorious. Either extreme is stultifying, but the balance between them is healthy in the sense that it can be sustained."

And so, he says, "we should we redouble our efforts to call out the trivialization, the slide toward banality."

By citing what's trite, Hardcastle observes, "we're doing our part to keep civilization on track. We're not going to eradicate the trivial, nor should we think things are any worse than they've ever been. But for all that our role is crucial."

Hardcastle reaches back through the history of cultural criticism and concludes: "We are modern-day Hesiods."

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Septuagint vs. Masoretic: Which Is More Authentic?

Guns, Lies and Forgeries: A Bible Story

By Robert E. Reis

Once upon a time there was a tribe living in the Middle East that had a collection of sacred texts written in Hebrew, Chaldean and Aramaic. It is the nature of sacred texts to be venerated and transmitted from generation to generation unaltered.

As time passed members of this tribe emigrated to areas where Hebrew and Aramaic and Chaldean were not spoken. A large community settled and prospered in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Greek replaced their tribal language. They needed an accurate translation of their venerated documents into Greek.

Around 250 B.C. seventy rabbis translated the sacred texts into Greek. This translation was not a bootleg edition. The project was approved by the High Priest and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. The Septuagint, the translation of the seventy, was an official document.

A Hebrew Bible exists today. It is used by Jews everywhere. It is called the Masoretic text. It was compiled around 700 A.D. It is almost one thousand years newer than the Septuagint. The rabbis who compiled the Masoretic text were not accountable to the High Priest in Jerusalem. There no longer was a High Priest. The rabbis who compiled the Masoretic text were not accountable to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. There no longer was a Sanhedrin.

The Septuagint predates the first appearance of the Masoretic text by almost ten centuries. The Septuagint is based upon Hebrew texts at least twelve centuries older than the texts upon which the Masoretic version is based. .Yet, modern Christian translations of the Old Testament rely on the Masoretic Text, not the Septuagint.

Where is the problem?

Most of the quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament used the Septuagint as their primary source. The integrity and truthfulness of the Septuagint is completely dependant on the Septuagint being a truthful translation. Discredit the Septuagint and there is no New Testament.

There was no controversy about the integrity of the Septuagint from 250 B.C. until 135 A. D.

What had happened to provoke dissatisfaction with the Septuagint among the Jews?

Annas and Caiphas and the Sanhedrin had rejected the messianic claims of Jesus. The New Testament documents had been written and were circulating by A.D. 70. The Jews knew that the credibility of the Christian Gospels depended on the credibility of the Septuagint. Something had to be done.

Around 95 A.D. Rabbi Akiva, who later proclaimed Bar Kochba as the messiah, hired a man named Aquila to translate a Hebrew to Greek version of the Old Testament that would undermine the messianic claims of Jesus found in the Septuagint. Some scholars believe that the Masoretic text was based in part on this tendentious translation by Aquila.

How is the Masoretic text different from the Septuagint?

Psalm 22:16 the word “pierced” has been replaced by “lion”.

Psalm 145: 13 omitted entirely.

Isaiah 53:11 the word “light” is omitted.

On 134 occasions the Tetragrammaton, the name of God, has been replaced by “Adonai”.

Psalm 151 was omitted entirely. (It is now omitted by almost all Christian Bibles!)

Exodus 1: The number 75 replaced by 70

Genesis 10:24 some generations removed.

Deuteronomy 32:8 “Angels Of Elohim” replaced with “children of Israel.”

Jeremiah 10 verses 6 and 7 have been added in the Masoretic.

Psalm 96:10 “Say among the nations, YHWH reigns from the wood” omitted.

Isaiah 19:18 “city of righteousness” changed to the “city of the sun” or in some versions “the city of destruction.”

The Masoretic scribes purposely and willfully rearranged the original chapter order in the prophetic Book of Daniel, so that the chapters make no sense chronologically.

Isaiah 61:1 “recovery of sight to the blind.”. Omitted.

In Psalm 40:6 “a body you have prepared for me” was replaced by “you opened my ears.”

Deuteronomy 32:43 ‘Let all the messengers of Elohim worship him.’” Omitted.

Genesis 4:8: “Let us go into the field” is omitted.

Deuteronomy 32:43. Moses’ song is shortened.

Isaiah 53 contains 10 spelling differences, 4 stylistic changes and 3 missing letters for light in verse 11, for a total of 17 differences.

Isaiah 7:14. “Virgin” replaced by “young woman.”

(When Aquila made his Greek translation of the Old Testament at the behest of Rabbi Akiva, he changed the Septuagint’s “virgin” into “young woman”. The Masoretic compilers may have followed his lead.)

The Masoretic text differs from the Septuagint in hundreds of places.

How do we know which text is accurate?

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered just after World War II.

According to carbon dating, textual analysis, and handwriting analysis the documents were written at various times between the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. There are fragments from all of the books of the Hebrew Bible fragments except the Book of Esther and the Book of Nehemiah.

In addition an independent Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible exists, the Peshitta.

Control of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a military objective of Israelis. It was achieved by their victory in the Six Days War.

The publication of the scrolls slowed to a trickle.

After 1971, the international team even refused to allow the publication of photographs of the material. They excluded scholars who wanted to make independent evaluations.

The embargo was not broken until 1991.

An addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars can use the Peshitta to decide between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint.

I have given examples above of some of the places the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Peshitta, and the Septuagint agree.

The Masoretic Text is part of a tradition that began with Rabbi Akiva. Rabbis rewrote the Jewish Bible to destroy the credibility of the New Testament.

The Hebrew versions of the Old Testament have been used to proclaim scores of “messiahs” . The Septuagint was only used once.

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Monotheism and the Origin of Religion

by Alden Bass

The God of the Bible is God over the whole Earth — Jew and Gentile, Christian and pagan, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and atheist. He created the world and everything in it, and all of man’s history traces back to that singular event. Christians assert this as an absolute truth, though not everyone agrees. Evolutionists and atheists have long struggled to solve the problem of the origin of religion, specifically of monotheism — the belief that God is One. According to David Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia, approximately 85 percent of the world’s population believes in some sort of god (of the remaining 15 percent who are atheists and agnostics, 14 percent reside in communist countries), and 53 percent of the world’s population is monotheistic, claiming to derive their faith from Abraham (Christians, Jews, and Muslims). Such a ubiquitous belief demands an explanation, yet evolutionists are at a loss to explicate the origin of this pervasive phenomenon.

As long as there has been religion, there have been those who have attempted to explain its origin naturalistically. The rise of monotheistic religion generally has been described as an evolution, an outgrowth, of some more primitive religious belief that parallels the evolution of man. This theory was discussed most thoroughly in the years directly after Darwin published Origin of Species and Descent of Man, but it has been a source of controversy since at least the second century. The Roman philosopher Celsus, who was rabidly anti-Christian, set out to prove that the monotheism of the Jews began as pagan polytheism. “Those herdsmen and shepherds who followed Moses as their leader, had their minds deluded by vulgar deceits, and so supposed that there was one God” (as quoted in Origen, 1972, p. 405). Erasmus, writing during the Reformation, suggested that many heathen customs had been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. David Hume, in Natural History of Religion (1757), and Voltaire’s Essay (1780), similarly denied revelation a place in the history of religion. It was not until the nineteenth century and the arrival of the German rationalists that the theory reached its full-grown proportions. Max Müller, orientalist and philologist at Oxford, was chief among them, with his theory that religion originated with “a henotheistic Nature Worship, degenerated into Polytheism, sank into Fetishism, and then rose in some cases to new forms of Pantheism or Theism” (Zwemer, 1945, p. 33). Tylor, a colleague of Müller’s at Oxford, rejected this, and claimed that animism, the worship of spirit beings, was the well-spring from which all other religion flowed; Herbert Spencer, the English sociologist and close friend of Charles Darwin, readily accepted this evolutionary hypothesis in his Principles of Sociology (1877). Others thought totemism (the belief that there existed a mythical relationship between man and certain plants or animal), to be the original source of religious beliefs. Similar theories were submitted, though the aforementioned were the most popular.

The scholars’ theories enjoyed the spotlight only for a few years, however. Like Darwin, they made assertions, expecting the hard evidence to confirm their theories at a later date. The various hypotheses were advanced because the materialists thought such to be the only possible explanation for the rise of religion; supernatural revelation was not an option for them. But the theories they proposed have subsequently fallen out of favor because proof was lacking. Despite the most rigorous scholarship, the sciences of anthropology and archaeology failed to yield proof for any of the various concepts. As a result, modern anthropologists generally avoid the question altogether by stating that the mystery is unsolvable. Ninian Smart, in The Religious Experience of Mankind, took this approach when he wrote:

"Neither can we know how man first experienced the holy. It may have been that men, in becoming aware of themselves through the power of speech and in discovering their capacity to change the world…also felt a sense of rupture from the natural world about them" (as quoted in Hanington, 1992, p. 20).

Others persist in the belief that monotheism evolved. Mark Smith, professor of Bible and Near Eastern studies at New York University, published a book in 2001, describing the original Jewish pantheon of gods and its eventual development into monotheism. Thus, the evolutionary model survives and thrives today, despite nearly one hundred years of evidence to the contrary.

This contrary evidence is the result of the research of both believers and nonbelievers. As far back as the second century, the monotheistic roots of world religion were defended. In his hortatory address to the Greeks, Justin Martyr used their own prophets and poets to show that Greek religion was fundamentally the worship of the One God. He quoted the great poet Orpheus of the sixth century B.C. as saying, “Look to the one and universal King — One, self-begotten, and the only One, of whom all things and we ourselves are sprung… And other than the great King there is none” (1972, p. 279). Likewise, the ancient Sibyl, considered a prophetess, said: “There is one only unbegotten God, Omnipotent, invisible, most high, All-seeing, but Himself seen by no flesh” (p. 280). These are the most ancient sources he mentioned, but he also included Homer, Sophocles, and Plato.

More recent scholarship has vindicated Justin Martyr’s thesis. George Rawlinson, professor of ancient history at Oxford, affirmed that a

"historical survey has shown us that in the early times, everywhere, or almost everywhere, belief in the unity of God existed — barbarous nations possessed it as well as civilized ones — it underlay polytheism that attempted to crush it — retained a hold on language and thought — had from time to time its special assertors, who never professed to have discovered it" (as quoted in Jackson, 1982, pp. 5-6).

Sir Flinders Petrie, dubbed “the father of modern Egyptology,” wrote in agreement:

"Were the conception of a god only an evolution from such spirit worship, we should find the worship of many gods preceding the worship of one god…. What we actually find is the contrary to this, monotheism is the first stage traceable in theology…" (1908, pp. 3-4).

Stephen Langdon, also of Oxford, concluded:

"I may fail to carry conviction in concluding that both Sumerian and Semitic religions [which he considered to be the oldest historical civilizations—AB], monotheism preceded polytheism…. The evidence and reasons for this conclusion, so contrary to accepted and current views, have been set down with care and with the perception of adverse criticism. It is, I trust, the conclusion of knowledge and not of audacious preconception" (as quoted in Custance, p. 113, emp. added).

To quote all the authorities that have come to this conclusion would be tedious (and has been done many times over), but the message is clear. Evolutionists would do well to take the advice of one their own, Robert Lowie of the American Museum of Natural history, who said: “The time has come for eschewing the all-embracing and baseless theories of yore to settle down to sober historical research” (as quote in Zwemer, p. 59). Every culture in the world originally worshipped only one God. This holds true for the ancient Chinese, Native Americans, the Australian Aborigines, the Bushmen of the Congo, as well as the better-documented civilizations of the Old World (cf. Fraser, 1975, pp. 11-38). The significance of this is twofold: evolutionists cannot explain the rise and degeneration of the world’s religions from monotheism to various other types of worship, such as polytheism, pantheism, animism, and totemism. Second, the Genesis record, which states that all men originally knew God, but then rebelled against Him and were scattered over the Earth, is validated. That God was involved in the lives of all His people at one time cannot be doubted, and is confirmed both by revelation and by the science of anthropology.


[AUTHOR’S NOTE: For an expanded treatment of this topic, see The Origin of Religion by Samuel Zwemer (1945), and Origin and Growth of Religion by Wilhelm Schmidt (1931).]


REFERENCES

“Brief Summary of World Religious Statistics” (no date), [On-line], URL: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Woods/2173/mystat.html.

Custance, Aurthur (1976), Evolution or Creation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).

Fraser, Gordon Holmes (1975), “The Gentile Names of God,” Symposium on Creation V, ed. Donald Patten (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).

Hanington, Greg (1992), “Wilhelm Schmidt and the Origin of Religion,” Creation Ex Nihilo 14[3]:20-21.

Jackson, Wayne (1982), Biblical Studies in the Light of Archaeology (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

Justin Martyr (1972), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. A. Cleveland Coxe (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).

Origen (1972), Fathers of the Third Century, ed. A. Cleveland Coxe (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).

Petrie, Flinders (1908), The Religion of Ancient Egypt (London: Constable).

Smith, Mark (2001), The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (New York: Oxford University).

Zwemer, Samuel (1945), The Origin of Religion (New York: Loizeaux Brothers).

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Why Christians Are Leaving the Middle East

Christians Are Abandoning a Region They've Lived in for Two Millenniums

ABC News
By KRISTEN CHICK
Feb. 6, 2010 —

Across the Middle East, where Christianity was born and its followers once made up a sizable portion of the population, Christians are now tiny minorities. Driven by different factors - the search for better opportunities abroad, their status as targets of Iraq's sectarian conflict, a low birth rate, and discrimination - the trend largely holds true across a region where Christians have maintained a presence for two millenniums.

Where Are Christians Dwindling Most?

All around the region, Christians made up more than 20 percent of the population in the early 20th century; today, they make up less than 10 percent. Iraq has seen perhaps the most dramatic decline. Estimates of its Christian population at the time of the US-led invasion in 2003 ranged from 800,000 to 1.4 million - roughly 5 percent of the population. But targeted by killings, kidnappings, and threats, many fled - in far higher proportions than their Sunni and Shiite compatriots: an estimated 20 percent of Iraqi refugees abroad are Christians. Only an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 remain.

Why Are Their Numbers Dropping?

Outside Iraq, which is a unique case, the most common motivator is economics, not persecution. "People want to seek a better life, and that's relevant for all people in the region, Muslims as well," says Fiona McCallum, a professor at Scotland's University of St. Andrews who studies Christian communities in the Middle East. But Christians in the region have traditionally been better positioned to emigrate than their Muslim counterparts because of their higher education levels.

With a lower birth rate than Muslims, the Christian population would decline even without emigration as Muslim births outpace Christian births. And religious discrimination is also a factor. In Egypt, Coptic Christians say they are subject to systemic government discrimination. And in the Palestinian territories, Christians cite intimidation and land theft.

Is There More Tension With Muslims Now?

The level of sectarian strife in Iraq is certainly elevated. In Israel, relations between Muslims and Christians are generally stable, says Dr. Una McGahern, who recently completed her doctoral thesis on Palestinian Christians in Israel. "While there are elements within both communities who would view the other in more hostile terms, there is a broader consensus of unity and acceptance that exists and that builds on historic patterns of coexistence in the region," she says. In some cases, she adds, the two communities are brought together by perceived Israeli attempts to sow dissension.

Sectarian tensions have simmered in Egypt for decades, with periodic eruptions. Earlier this month, Muslims killed six worshipers leaving mass and a security guard allegedly in revenge for a Christian's rape of a Muslim girl.

Hilal Khashan, professor of political studies at the American University in Beirut, says that tension has not increased, but that extra attention is given to violence against Christians, both in Egypt and Iraq. "Acts of violence that are driven by personal issues are frequent, but they only make the news when they involve Muslims against Copts," he says.

In Syria, where Christians have fallen to 10 percent, there are fewer tensions, however. President Bashar al-Assad, a member of a religious minority himself, has an interest in keeping sectarian strife at bay, and his regime rigidly cracks down on Islamic extremism. According to Dr. McCallum, many Syrian Christians feel they can participate in state and society, though they complain of discrimination in conversion and interreligious marriage.

Is the Rise of Political Islam a Factor?

In Egypt, where women once wore miniskirts on the street, most women are now veiled. It's one of many signs of the growing role that Islam plays in Egyptians' lives, which can leave Christians feeling uneasy. "You can't totally ignore that there has been a rise in political Islam & and obviously if you're not part of that you will feel a bit different," says McCallum. As Egypt's Christians watch the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian territories or Hezbollah in Lebanon, many are increasingly worried about their place in society.

What Effect Has the Exodus Had Regionally?

As Christians leave the Middle East, some worry they will leave behind an increasingly polarized society. When members of different religions or sects live side by side, they are more likely to see one another as people, rather than faceless adversaries, says McCallum. The loss of the Christians in the Palestinian territories and Israel, says McGahern, would be particularly tragic. "Diversity necessitates compromise and breeds creativity," she says. "Without Palestinian Christians or Druze or Muslims, or Jews for that matter, society would become more polarized and political options more rigid."

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The "Beautiful Dolls" of St. Theodora the Empress

Read about St. Theodora here.

Despite the fact that Emperor Theophilos was an iconoclast, Theodora, his wife, held fast to the veneration of icons which she kept secretely in her chambers in the imperial palace. One day the emperor's jester, a dwarf named Denderis, who had free access of the palace corridors and chambers since he amused all, surprised Theodora while she was engaged in her secret devotions before the icons which her husband had forbidden her. Having observed this as well as her veneration of the icons, he was amazed and, according to his inquisitive nature, asked the empress what it was that absorbed her attention. Composed and calm, Theodora explained in the following way: "These are my beautiful dolls. They are pretty, are they not? I love them dearly."

Hearing this reply, the dwarf departed and found the emperor sitting at the dinner table. When the emperor asked him where he was, he responded that he was with Theodora (whom he called "mamma"). "What did mamma say?" asked the emperor curiously. Denderis replied: "She has beautiful dolls under her pillow."

Theophilos instantly perceived the true nature of his wife's dolls, and he hurried to the Gynaeceum (women's quarters), burst into her room, and accused Theodora with a harsh tone of harboring icons against his orders in his own home. Innocently Theodora responded, after being told that it was Denderis who made this accusation, in the following manner: "O that foolish and ill-favored little man! When he entered, O Emperor, I was before my mirror and combing my hair. He observed my reflection in the mirror and asked, 'Mamma, what are these?' I told him, 'My dolls.' For I was simply looking at myself in the mirror with my attendants. At that moment thy dwarf thought the faces he saw reflected were religious images, and foolishly went off and expressed it badly to thee." Theophilos then calmed down, or pretended to be convinced. He loved her and could excuse her for anything. A few days later the empress had the dwarf whipped, then reprimanded him and warned him never again to talk about dolls in the Gynaeceum. The lesson was well taken. Theodora had taken these measures primarily to ensure her children were raised Orthodox and not influenced by the emperor, and also to grant favors to the Orthodox who sought her aid.

As time went by Theophilos would revert to this subject again with his dwarf after he had been drinking. Theophilos would question Dendrinos about the dolls, but the dwarf would merely gesture in a significant manner, putting one hand over his mouth and the other on the part of the flesh on which he had been flogged, and say hurriedly: "Nay, nay, sire, let us not speak of the dolls."

In the capital's high society, there was a general feeling of favor toward the holy icons. The old Empress Euphrosyne, who was spending her last years in a convent, shared Theodora's sentiments, and concealed small icons in her cell as well and would pray before them and venerate them. Whenever Theodora would visit Euphrosyne with her little daughters, Thekla, Anna, Anastasia, Pulcheria and Mary, she would always speak to her grandchildren about the holy images. She would place the icons to their heads then to their mouths so they may kiss them. She too would call her icons "the beautiful dolls". She would say to the girls: "You ought always to love and kiss them."

Theophilos, who suspected such things, would question his daughters on their return, however it was always unsuccessful. The oldest knew well to keep this secret, but the youngest, two year old Pulcheria, one day gave the secret away unintentionally. Pulcheria told her father: "Grandmother has a chest full of beautiful dolls. Many times she takes them and presses them to my forehead and those of my sisters. Then we kiss them with respect." Theophilos, vexed at this discovery, flew into a rage. His deepest suspicions were confirmed. From then on he forbade his daughters any further visits to their grandmother, his mother-in-law. God, however, protected Theodora, not allowing Theophilos to take any reprisals against her.

Before Theophilos' death, Theodora managed to turn the heart of her husband as he lay suffering on his deathbed. He expired after having venerated willingly with his own lips, Theodora's "beautiful dolls".

Two of St. Theodora's icons are kept at the Monastery of Vatopaidi on Mount Athos to this day and are referred to as "Theodora's Dolls". They are displayed annually on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, a triumph which she initiated.

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38 Year Old Hindu Converts to Orthodoxy

A 38 year old Hindu man was baptized Orthodox in a church outside Halkida, Greece. It was a decision he came to on his own after visiting various holy shrines in Greece, especially in Tinos which he visited many times. His impression of Orthodoxy was that it was a "living faith" and it thus became his dream to be baptized. His Christian name is Menas. Following his baptism, a celebration was thrown for him at a local tavern.



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Orthodoxy and Hollywood

Russian Priest Provides Spiritual Care for Hollywood Staff

Moscow, Russia
February 9, 2010
Interfax

Rector of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Los Angeles, Archpriest Alexander Lebedev, has provided spiritual care for actors and staff members of the world “dream factory” for almost thirty years.

“Many of our parishioners work in film studios as directors and actors. There’ve always been many actors in our parish who actively participated in church life. Such famous actresses as Natalie Wood and Sandra Dee were my parishioners. I was familiar with Yul Brynner, who was a parishioner of an Orthodox church in New York.”

Fr. Alexander told an Interfax-Religion correspondent on Tuesday.

According to him, today several Hollywood stars, including Jeniffer Aniston, adhere to Orthodoxy. Tom Hanks, who is also an Orthodox Christian, is an active guardian of St. Sophia Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate.

Fr. Alexander noted that many Americans converted to Orthodoxy after marrying to Greek or Russia women. As, for example, famous baseball player Alex Rodriguez.

Russian actors and directors living in Hollywood are also Fr. Alexander’s parishioners. The priest told that active member of his parochial community, actor Pavel Lychnikoff, had recently invited him to consecrate a film studio before filming a new film there.

Orthodox faith inspires some Hollywood actors to lead a less bohemian lifestyle and overcome temptations, the interviewee of the agency said.

“Certainly, we try to help them control themselves. So that women participating in movies observe proprieties and chastity. Sometimes there’s a possibility to influence their choice in favor of scenarios of moral character,” Fr. Alexander said.

For more on famous Orthodox Christians, including some listed in this article, see here.

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Saint Theodora the Empress

St. Theodora the Empress (Feast Day - February 11)

Holy Empress Theodora was from Paphlagonia and was the daughter of a certain Marinus, the commander of a military regiment. She was the wife of the Roman Emperor Theophilos the Iconoclast (829-842), but she did not share in the heresy of her husband. While being the wife of the Emperor Theophilos, the last of the Iconoclasts, she adorned the royal diadem with her virtue and piety; as long as her husband Theophilos lived, she privately venerated icons, despite his displeasure. After the death of her husband, St Theodora governed the realm wisely for fifteen years because her son Michael was a minor.

She convened a Synod, at which the Iconoclasts were anathematized, and the veneration of icons was reinstated. St Theodora established the annual celebration of this event, the Triumph of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday of the Great Fast. St Theodora did much for the Holy Church and fostered a firm devotion to Orthodoxy in her son Michael.

When Michael came of age, in 857 she was retired from governing and spent eight years in the Monastery of St Euphrosyne (called Gastria), where she devoted herself to ascetic struggles, and reading books that nourished her soul.

A copy of the Gospels, copied in her own hand, is known to exist. She died peacefully around the year 867.

In 1460, her incorrupt and miracle-working relics were given by the Turks to the people of Kerkyra (Corfu). They remain in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Cave, in the capital city of the island, and it is a place of pious pilgrimage by Orthodox faithful till this day.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone
As a right worthy namesake of gifts bestowed of God, and a divinely-wrought image of holy wisdom and faith, thou didst make the Church to shine with godly piety; for thou didst demonstrate to all that the Saints in every age have shown honor to the icons, O Theodora, thou righteous and fair adornment of the Orthodox.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
We sing thy praises as the gem and fairness of the Church, and as a diadem and pattern of all Christian queens, O all-lauded and divinely-crowned Theodora; for in bringing back the icons to their rightful place, thou didst cast usurping heresy out of the Church. Hence, we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Sovereign most ven'rable.






Great Vespers for St. Theodora in Kerkyra

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Mixed Martial Arts Champion is a Pious Orthodox

World Champion in Mixed Martial Arts Observes Fasts, Listens to Church Music and Reads about Orthodox Ascetics

Moscow
10 February 2010
Interfax

World champion in mixed martial arts, Fedor Emelyanenko, confessed he loved to listen to church music and read Orthodox literature.

“I’ve read a book not long ago and I liked it very much, it was Ivan Shmelev’s The Summer of the Lord. Now I’m reading about great Orthodox ascetics of the 20th century,” the renowned fighter was quoted as saying by the Valetudo.ru.

The fighter also said he used Internet only to learn something new about the lives of saints and liked to eat when there was no fast. “Now it’s Maslenitsa and next week is a strict fast.”

According to the sportsman, he spares no effort to win in his profession and hopes for God’s will. He says he is happy and mentions that he lives “with God in my soul,” and goes to the Church.

Emelyanenko also stated he was concerned with the ideals of modern-day youth.

“There are real, nonfictional heroes like Alexander Nevsky, Dimitry Donskoy, Peresvet. They are great warriors and we have to be equal to them. They are not invented by cinematography, they are heroes who proved their heroism by their lives. They gave their lives for the honor of Russia,” the world champion stressed.

Official Webpage of Fedor Emelyanenko

Read more here.

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Orthodox Liturgical Courtesy to Catholics in the 13th Century

[From the text below, we learn that the process of the schism between the Catholics (known as "Latins" in the text) and the Orthodox (known as "Catholics" in the text) was a slow process. Though inter-communion had ceased sacramentally, the Orthodox allowed common prayer and the handing out of antidron to those schismatics who still maintained a certain level of Orthodoxy. It would be foolish to apply this text to our situation today, since the schism has taken its full effect, though I do believe some of the principles employed in the text can be considered to "the effect of gradually drawing them [the Catholics] over altogether to our [Orthodox] holy usages and doctrines." - J.S.]

Here follows an extract from the "Answers" of Demetrius Chromatenus, Archbishop of Bulgaria (A.D. 1203), to Constantine Cabasilas, Archbishop of Dyrrachium:

Question: Is it any harm for a Bishop to enter the churches of the Latins, and to worship in them, on any occasion when he may be invited by them? And should he give them the kataklaston [that is, the antidoron or blessed bread,] when they are present at the Liturgy in the Holy and Catholic [Orthodox] Church?

Answer: There are some of the Latins who do not at all differ from our customs either doctrinal or ecclesiastical, but are, as one may say, in this respect double-sided or neutral. As then it is our duty, and agreeable to piety, stiffly to oppose them that essentially differ from us, especially in the point of the doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit, so on the other hand to use condescendence towards them that are not such, and to go with them into their churches, will be no fault in the Bishop who is charged with, and aims after, such economy as befits a steward of souls. Wherefore he will both go, when invited, to their churches without scruple, (for they too, no less than we ourselves, are venerators of the Holy Icons, and set them up in their churches) and will give them freely the Antidoron when they are present in the Catholic Church and come up to receive it. For this custom may have the effect of gradually drawing them over altogether to our holy usages and doctrines. Italy itself is thickly studded with churches of the Holy Apostles and Martyrs, the chief of which is the celebrated Church of Peter the Chief of the Apostles at Rome. Into these churches our people go freely, priests and laymen alike, and make their prayers to God, and render to the Saints who are honoured in them their due relative veneration and honour. And by doing this they incur no manner of blame, the churches in question being all under the Latins.

We remember that there were some Questions asked a good many years ago by Mark Patriarch of Alexandria, of blessed memory, and Answers written to the same by Theodore Balsamon, late Patriarch of Antioch. Among these there was one Question relating to Latin captives, namely, whether such ought to be admitted, when they come to the Catholic churches and seek to partake of the divine Mysteries? and subjoined to this an Answer altogether forbidding that the aforesaid Latins should be admitted to receive the divine Communion at the hands of our priests. The Answer professed to ground itself upon the Holy Scripture, and quoted that saying of the Lord: "He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth".

This Answer however was disapproved of by many of the most eminent men who were living at that time, as showing too great harshness and bitterness, and an unjustifiable tone, in blaming the Latin forms and customs; because all this, they said, has never been read or decreed synodically, nor have they ever been publicly rejected as heretics; but both eat with us, and pray with us. And any one, they said, may readily prove the justness of this reasoning from Canon XV of the Holy Synod which is called the First and Second of Constantinople. And again because this very fact of the Latins coming to us, and seeking to communicate at our hands of the Holy Oblation which is made with leavened bread, shows plainly that they cannot think much of their Azymes, nor make any great point of sticking to them: else they would not come to our celebration of the Divine Mysteries. These too, in order to support their own view from the Gospel, alleged what was said by St. John to the Lord. "We saw," he said, "'one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, 'Forbid him not, for whosoever is not against us is for us.'"

They urged also in addition that the words "He that is not with Me is against Me" are plainly and exclusively intended by our Saviour for the devil, as the context of the Gospel in the same place shows. For as Satan is an enemy from the beginning, and abides unchangeable in his malice, and is absolutely incapable of repentance, in this sense he, not being with the Lord, is against Him, and from so being has his name Satan, or adversary: inasmuch as the Lord loveth His own creation and gathereth it to Himself, but Satan hateth it and scattereth. But the words "He who is not against us is for us" are spoken in reference to a man who, though he follows not Jesus, yet emulates them that do follow Him, and in His name casts out devils, and so from walking apart may easily change to following. For mere human infirmity there is a remedy, namely, conversion and repentance, and to change from what is worse to what is better.

They appealed also to the judgment on this same subject of Theophylact, the most wise Archbishop of Bulgaria,…which discourses of condescension and economy in a manner worthy both of admiration and of praise. And so they who argued against the opinion of Balsamon, as has been related, were judged to have insisted piously and reasonably for giving the preference over inflexible harshness to economy, in order that so, instead of casting down, we may gently and gradually win our brethren, for whom our common Saviour and Lord shed His own most precious blood.

As quoted in William Palmer’s Dissertations on Subjects Relating to the ‘Orthodox’ or ‘Eastern Catholic’ Communion (1853).

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