Interview With Papa-Foti Lavriotis

Papa-Foti, we know someone who witnessed the following: Many years ago, you together with a spiritual child of yours liturgized at dawn at the picturesque chapel of Panagia Galatousas, inside the castle of our city. And when you finished the Divine Liturgy you took the Holy Communion and went to one of the houses of ill-repute which were once in that area, and you Communed a prostitute ready to die. Indeed, later she did die. Is this true? Were you not afraid what people would say if they saw you?

This has happened many times. A lady near the Church of Saint Symeon told me about certain circumstances and I would go to these souls. They would receive me. I would speak to them about repentance, the salvation of the soul, the other life, etc. I never spoke badly to them, but with love I would tell them to repent and God would provide for them and restore them to His heart. Many souls repented.... You asked if I ever was afraid. What should I fear? I fear no one. We should only fear God when we sin. I didn't care what people would think. I was working for Christ.

Father Photios, the Pope recently came to Greece. What do you have to say about this to us?

Shame on the Synod for receiving the Pope! Whoever invited him are accountable. Those who resisted did very good! The Pope together with the Jews are the greatest enemy of the world, because they are antichrists. The Pope wants to rule everywhere. This is why he came to our country. Everywhere he created and creates problems and scandals. What did he do for Asia Minor in 1922 or Serbia in 1999? The papacy has created great suffering for Greece. Its aim is to destroy Orthodoxy, but Orthodoxy is the Truth and Life and it does not fear "the gates of Hades" because Her chief and protector is Christ. It was unacceptable what happened, after so many centuries for the Pope to come to Greece! What else will we see? The Pope is the devil, except that he has hope in repentance. God and all the Saints await the hour and minute he will repent! But when? Nearly a thousand years have passed and we don't see a bit of authentic repentance, a bit of real change. I lived with the the papists in the Holy Land, when I served. They are very stubborn and blind. They understand that we Orthodox have the truth - since it was from us that they received the Holy Light every Holy Saturday; they saw the miracle - but their ego doesn't allow them to receive it. Egoism blinds people. And the Pope of Rome is the embodiment of demonic egoism!

You lived many years on Mount Athos. Did you meet holy people, saints?

Mount Athos is the Garden of the Panagia, holy and sacred ground. A land of asceticism. I lived there twenty entire years - there I was ordained a deacon and priest - so it is natural that I would come to know saintly men, holy people. The educated, who abandoned everything for monasticism. I remember a Fr. Paul Pavlidis, a doctor. He had two degrees and was from Pontus. And another. Kambanas was his name. He was a doctor from Aegina. Also, a Papa-George from Constantinople, very educated. And another, Papa-Avvakoum, who was a monastic at [Great] Lavra. I had the opportunity to serve and live near these people. They were simple people, well-known, but who considered themselves garbage, a nothing. And if they did anything miraculous, and we the younger ones were in wonder and admired them, they would say: "We didn't do anything. We made supplication to God, and He invisibly made it happen."

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Alex Jones Talks About Greek Crisis

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42 Martyrs of Ammoria in Phrygia

42 Holy Martyrs of Amorion in Phrygia (Feast Day - March 6)

The Holy 42 Martyrs of Ammoria: Constantine, Aetius (Aetitus), Theophilus, Theodore, Melissenus, Callistus, Basoes and the others with them. During a war between the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus (829-842) and the Saracens, the Saracens managed to besiege the city of Ammoria (in Galicia in Asia Minor). As a result of treason on the part of the military commander Baditses, Ammoria fell, and forty-two of its generals were taken captive and sent off to Syria.

During the seven years of their imprisonment they tried in vain to persuade the captives to renounce Christianity and accept Islam. The captives stubbornly resisted all their seductive offers and bravely held out against terrible threats. After many torments that failed to break the spirit of the Christian soldiers, they condemned them to death, hoping to shake the determination of the saints before executing them. The martyrs remained steadfast, saying that the Old Testament Prophets bore witness to Christ, while Mohammed called himself a prophet without any other witnesses to support his claim.

They said to the soldier Theodore, "We know that you forsook the priestly office, became a soldier and shed blood in battle. You can have no hope in Christ, Whom you abandoned voluntarily, so accept Mohammed." But the martyr replied, "You do not speak truthfully when you say that I abandoned Christ. Moreover, I left the priesthood because of my own unworthiness. Therefore, I must shed my blood for the sake of Christ, so that He might forgive the sins that I have committed against Him."

The executioners took each one separately and led him off to be beheaded, then threw the bodies into the River Euphrates. In the service to them, these holy passion-bearers are glorified as: the "All-Blessed" Theodore, the "Unconquered" Callistus, the "Valliant" Constantine, the "Wondrous" Theophilus and "the Most Strong" Basoes.

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St. Nikolai Velimirovich in his Prologue adds the following information:

They were all commanders of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. When the Emperor Theophilus lost the battle against the Saracens at the city of Ammoria, the Saracens captured the city, enslaved many Christians and among them these commanders. The remaining Christians were either killed or sold into slavery. The commanders were thrown into prison where they remained for seven years. Many times the Muslim leaders came to them. They counseled and advised the commanders to embrace the Islamic Faith, but the commanders did not want to hear about it. When the Saracens spoke to the commanders, saying, "Mohammed is the true prophet and not Christ," the commanders asked them, "If there were two men debating about a field and the one said, `This field is mine,' and the other, `It is not, it is mine,' and near by, one of them had many witnesses saying it is his field and the other had no witnesses, but only himself, what would you say, `Whose field is it?'" The Saracens answered, "Indeed, to him who had many witnesses!" "You have judged correctly," the commanders answered. That is the way with Christ and Mohammed. Christ has many witnesses: the Prophets of old, from Moses to John the Forerunner, whom you also recognize and who witness to and about Him [Christ], but Mohammed witnesses only to himself that he is a prophet and does not have even one witness. The Saracens were ashamed and again they tried to defend their faith in this manner: "Our faith is better than the Christian Faith as proved by this: God gave us the victory over you and gave us the best land in the world and a kingdom much greater than Christianity." To that the commanders replied, "If it were so, then the idolatry of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Hellenes, Romans, and the fire-worship of the Persians would be the true faith for, at one time, all of these people conquered the others and ruled over them. It is evident that your victory, power and wealth do not prove the truth of your faith. We know that God, at times, gives victory to Christians and, at other times, allows torture and suffering so as to correct them and to bring them to repentance and purification of their sins." After seven years, they were beheaded in the year 845 A.D. Their bodies were then thrown into the Euphrates river, but they floated to the other side of the shore where they were gathered and honorably buried by Christians.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since they possessed Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by their prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Ye who contended on earth for Christ's glory, and were shown forth as godly crown-bearing Martyrs, have been vouchsafed to dwell in Heaven joyously; for since ye brake all the snares of the enemy's cunning by your suff'rings and the blood of your tortures and woundings, ye ever send down freely from on high loosing of sins unto all them that honour you.

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Egyptian Court Acquits Muslim Who Beheaded a Christian

By Mary Abdelmassih
March 4, 2010
AINA

An Egyptian court in the southern city of Assuit acquitted this week four Muslims accused of killing 61-year-old Farouk Attallah on October 19, 2009. In broad daylight and in full view of witnesses, the killers fired 31 bullets to his head before beheading him, in the busy village market place of Attaleen, near Dairout, 313 kilometers south of Cairo. The dead body was then dragged in the street, accompanied by shouts of victory. Free Copts website published a video of the disfigured body (warning, violent graphic content: video).

The judge presiding over the court on February 22, said that he was not satisfied that the testimony of the witnesses established that the imprisoned men were the killers. After the acquittal of Mohamad, Ashraf, Osama and Ahmad Hassouna, there was jubilation in the court room, with shouts of 'Allah is Great' and congratulations from all Muslims, including members of the state security forces who were present.

Christians were enraged over the acquittal, since similar cases would result in life imprisonment or execution for a Copt if the victim was a Muslim.

The verdict came as another wake-up call to many Copts, according to Peter Sarwat, the plaintiff's attorney. "It sends a clear message that Coptic blood is extremely cheap." he told Mariam Ragy of Katiba Tibia Coptic site. "This acquittal will make permanent the present culture of impunity enjoyed by Muslim aggressors against Copts.".

Sarwat said the ruling was inadequate, as it acquitted the accused but did not say who the perpetrators are. "If these men did not kill, so who killed? The ruling should have referred the case to the general prosecution to present the perpetrators."

The Court based its ruling on quasi non existent proof, as well as the absence of "positive evidence" testimony versus the presence of "negative evidence" testimony. "The judge refused to take into consideration the testimonies of the dead man's daughter who said she only saw one killer and not four, as well as the testimony of the Muslim man who was wounded in the shootings," said Sarwat. According to media reports, most people who witnessed the shootings in the market place refused to come forward for fear of vengeance from the assailants' family. There were false witnesses who confirmed that the killers were present at work.

"It is not enough to get a conviction based only on police reports which are full of legal loopholes and weak prosecution investigations," said Sarwat. Legal observers have always claimed that the police purposely deliver to prosecution reports full of inadequacies and loopholes, thereby getting from the courts acquittals for Muslims.

What prompted the killing of Farouk Attallah was an alleged illicit sexual relationship between his son Romany and a local Muslim girl, Hagger Hassouna. A rumor that intimate photos of Hagger together with her lover Romany were circulating on cell phones in Dairout lead four members of the Hassona family to kill Romany's father, after failing to locate his son, who had fled.

Besides the killing of Farouk Attallah, the arrest of the Hassouna perpetrators sparked on October 24, 2009, Muslim riots and collective punishment against all Copts in Dairout. Christian-owned shops, pharmacies, and homes were looted and burned (AINA 10-27-2009).

Although several hundreds Muslims participated in those riots, the police only detained 19, and these were acquitted on December 13, 2009 because of the lack of eyewitnesses and conflicting statements between the accused and the victims.

The majority of Copts believe the reason for the acquittal of Muslims is that although Egypt claims to be a secular state, in reality it applies the Sharia law which dictates .that a Muslim who kills a non-Muslim must not be killed, because it is not reasonable to equate a Muslim with a "polytheist" (a Christian).

Commenting on the acquittal, Dr. Naguib Gobraeel, President of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, said: "What is the solution? The same happened with regards to Al-Kosheh Massacre [21 Copts were slaughtered in 2000 and not one Muslim was indicted], the attack on the Copts in Alexandria were blamed on a mentally unstable person; even the assailant who beheaded Abdo Goerge Younan in Menoufiah is now in a mental hospital [AINA 9-21-2009]. Heavenly Justice is our last resourt." He stated that he will appeal this week's verdict.

The victim's family was greatly shocked and saddened by the acquittal. "In spite of the blood of their slain family head filling the street, the Muslim killers got away literally with murder," Sarwat said "It just shows how cheap Coptic blood can be."

Sarwat asserted that he will appeal the ruling. "We cannot remain silent over this verdict as it has very serious implications for all Copts in Egypt." He added: "It is not safe for Copts now, as any Muslims who wants to get rid of a Copt, would kill him, knowing well that in the end he will be acquitted."

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Elder Theoklitos Dionysiatis Answers American Pilgrims Questions

The videos below, filmed in 2000, are in Greek and there is an English translator, but a bit difficult to hear the translator because Dionysiou Monastery is near the sea. But these videos are worth watching, as Elder Theoklitos Dionysiatis is one the great scholars of Mount Athos in modern times, answering questions posed by Greek Orthodox from America.

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Asceticism and Its Fruits

It is remarkable that however much we trouble about our health, however much care we take of ourselves, whatever wholesome and pleasant food and drink we take, however much we walk in the fresh air, still, notwithstanding all this, in the end we sicken and corrupt; whilst the saints, who despise the flesh, and mortify it by continual abstinence and fasting, by lying on the bare earth, by watchfulness, labors, unceasing prayer, make both their souls and bodies immortal. Our well-fed bodies decay and after death emit an offensive odor, whilst theirs remain fragrant and flourishing both in life and after death. It is a remarkable thing: we, by building up our body, destroy it, whilst they, by destroying theirs, built it up - by caring only for the fragrance of their souls before God, they obtain fragrance of the body also.

- Saint John of Kronstadt

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Papa-Fotis the "Fool For Christ" Has Reposed

According to Romfea.gr, Elder Photios, the well known and genuine Orthodox clergyman, fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 98 at his native island of Mytilini.

He was an unmarried Archimandrite who worked tirelessly for the gospel, yet in a silent and real way, as displayed in the fact that he would walk around barefoot in both summer and winter.

It should be noted that his funeral will take place tomorrow, March 6, at 3:00PM at the Church of Saint Anthony in Trigona Plomariou, the village which he himself served for 46 years.

His funeral will be served by Metropolitan Iakovos of Mytilini, as well as many clergy.

May the Lord grant him eternal rest among the righteous, and may we have his blessing as well.

Father Photios Lavriotis

Archimandrite Photios Lavriotis, well known on the island of Lesvos as Papa-Fotis, was born in Pamfilla, a village near Mytilini in 1913 by his parents Demetrios and Maria Sardellis.

He, together with his sister who was younger than him by three years, was raised amidst many difficulties and deprivations. At the age of seven he became an orphan. As an adolescent he heard about Greek Orthodox monasticism and the vanity of the world by a preacher who visited his village; fascinated, he decided to become a monk.

At the age of seventeen he departed for the Holy Monastery of Great Lavra on Mount Athos, where he received the name Lavriotis. There he was tonsured a monk and received ordination into the holy diaconate and holy priesthood, living on Mount Athos for a total of twenty years.

He returned to his native island of Lesvos at the invitation of the late Metropolitan Iakovos I of Mytilini.

He was placed as the parish priest of the village of Trigona Plomariou, where he stayed until retirement. In 1950 the former Archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos, placed him as the vicar of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

After four years of residence at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, he returned for a second time to his birthplace. Continuing his parish duties, he also engaged in the reconstruction of his Hermitage which was dedicated to Righteous Luke the Neomartyr.

Papa-Fotis completed a total of 68 years as a clergyman, a liturgist of the Holy Sanctuary. He was loved by all and known for his courage, asceticism, and commitment to Orthodox tradition. For the peculiarity of his appearance, he said: "I am a monk, which is why I do not attach much importance to my dress."

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Why the Seemingly Educated Abandon Christianity

Why do some people, well educated and baptized as Christians, fall away from Christianity and give themselves over to philosophy and to learned theories, pretending these to be something more truthful than Christianity?

They do so for two principal reasons: either out of a totally superficial understanding of Christianity or because of sin. A superficial understanding of Christ rejects Him and flees from Christ as does a criminal from a judge. Superficial and sinful Christians were as often enraged and infuriated with Christianity as were the pagans. To the superficial and culpable, it was more comfortable for them to bathe in the shallow swamp of human thoughts than in the perilous depth of Christ. For those who sincerely follow Christ, He constantly calls them to a greater and greater depth; as He once said to the Apostle Peter, "Put out into deep water" (Luke 5:4). St. Mark the Ascetic writes that the law of God is understood in accordance with the fulfillment of the commandments of God: "Ignorance compels a person to speak in opposition to that which is beneficial and insolence multiplies vice."

- St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Prologue

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Sermon for the Third Friday of Great Lent

CATECHESIS 61: That We Must Not Submit Ourselves in Temptations, and About Fasting.

by St. Theodore the Studite

Given on Friday of the 3rd Week.

Brethren and fathers, yesterday a tempest and today calm; yesterday a disturbance and today quiet; but blessed is God, who has also dispelled the trial and given you power to remain unmoved in the expectation of threats. This is the way of true Christians, this is the way of authentic monks, to hold themselves always in readiness in the face of dangers on behalf of virtue and to consider nothing more precious that the commandment of God. Those who came said what they said, and they left not so much amazed as ashamed; while to you may the Lord grant the perfect reward in return for your having chosen to be persecuted for his sake; and being rich in mercy he knows how to crown from the intention alone the one who chooses the good. But in fact the trial has not been dispelled, but again and again it continues, and particularly because everywhere there are edicts of the rulers that no one is to lag behind from having a share in heretical fellowship. And so let us hear the Apostle when he says, "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech be always gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each one" [Col. 4:5-6]. By this he teaches us that we should not submit just anyhow to trials, nor should we pass God’s word over in silence, for he says, "My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who draws back" [Heb. 10:8; Hab. 2:4]. But that’s enough of these matters.

Already the fast has advanced and lays on us, brethren, the task of pressing on eagerly again and again to what follows as each has chosen, not reluctantly or under constraint; for "God loves a cheerful" faster [1 Cor. 9:7; St Paul, of course, has ‘giver’]. Except that the coenobitic rule does not let each one act according to their own will; but this is the common limit of self-mastery for those living in obedience: the cutting of their own will. Fasting then is good, because it tames the passions and subjects the flesh to the spirit; weeping is good, because it wipes clean and washes the heart of sins and sets it pure before the Lord; prayer is good, because it gives the mind wings and makes it a companion of God; love is good, because it disregards what concerns itself for the advantage of the neighbour; zeal is good, because it lightens toils and makes the spirit young, as it makes the elder young again. Therefore let us become cheerful, let us be eager. The moment for psalmody? Let us advance keenly. The moment for work? Let us work earnestly. The moment for stillness? Let us be still reasonably. The time for talk? Let us talk suitably. And to speak simply, doing "everything decently and in order"[1 Cor. 14:40], as we have been instructed; let us remain outside tumult and all idle chatter. Let the measure of genuflexions be completed and the customary recitation be fulfilled, according to each one’s power, while watch is kept over the body’s health. And would that the God of peace might bring us to the queen of days, to the resurrection of Christ, and make us worthy of the kingdom of heaven, where there is "no food and drink, but justice and peace and joy," as it is written, "in the Holy Spirit" [Rom. 14:17]. Would that we might share in them richly, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.

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US Congress Acknowledges Armenian "Genocide"

March 4, 2010
BBC News

A US congressional panel has described the killing of Armenians by Turkish forces during World War I as genocide, despite White House objections.

The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Turkey, a key US ally, responded by recalling its ambassador in Washington for consultations. It has fiercely opposed the non-binding resolution.

The White House had warned that the vote would harm reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.

The resolution calls on President Barack Obama to ensure that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide" and to label the World War I killings as such in his annual statement on the issue.

It was approved by 23 votes to 22 by the committee.

Within minutes the Turkish government issued a statement condemning "this resolution which accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed".

The statement also said the Turkish ambassador was being recalled for consultations.

A Turkish parliamentary delegation had gone to Washington to try to persuade committee members to reject the resolution.

Turkey accepts that atrocities were committed but argues they were part of the war and that there was no systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Armenian people.

The Armenian government welcomed the vote, calling it "an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity".

In 2007, a similar resolution passed the committee stage, but was shelved before a House vote after pressure from the George W Bush administration.

'Too important'

During his election campaign Mr Obama promised to brand the mass killings genocide.

Before the vote, committee chairman Howard Berman urged fellow members of the committee to endorse the resolution.

"I believe that Turkey values its relationship with the United States at least as much as we value our relations with Turkey," he said.

The Turks, he added, "fundamentally agree that the US-Turkish alliance is simply too important to get side-tracked by a non-binding resolution passed by the House of Representatives".

In October last year, Turkey and Armenia signed a historic accord normalising relations between them after a century of hostility.

Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.

Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as genocide - and more than 20 countries have done so.

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Satanism In The Vatican?

Spanish Exorcist Addresses Claims of Satanic Influence in Vatican

3/3/2010
Catholic News Agency

In a book of memoirs the noted Italian exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth affirmed 'Yes, also in the Vatican there are members of Satanic sects.'

ROME (CNA) - A renowned exorcist in Rome recently released a book of memoirs in which he declares to know of the existence of Satanic sects in the Vatican where participation reaches all the way to the College of Cardinals. A second demonologist, also residing in Rome, entered the debate this week, clarifying the origins of the information and defending the Vatican's clergy as an "edifying and virtuous" collection of prelates.

In a book of memoirs released in February, the noted Italian exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth affirmed that "Yes, also in the Vatican there are members of Satanic sects." When asked if members of the clergy are involved or if this is within the lay community, he responded, "There are priests, monsignors and also cardinals!"

The book, "Father Amorth. Memoirs of an Exorcist. My life fighting against Satan." was written by Marco Tosatti, who compiled it from interviews with the priest.

Fr. Amorth was asked by Tosatti how he knows Vatican clergy are involved. He answered, "I know from those who have been able to relate it to me because they had a way of knowing directly. And it's something 'confessed' most times by the very demon under obedience during the exorcisms."

The famous Italian exorcist was also asked if the Pope was aware of Satanic sects in the Vatican, to which Fr. Amorth replied, "Of course, he was informed. But he does what he can. It's a horrifying thing."

Benedict XVI, being German, comes from a place "decidedly averse to these things," argued Fr. Amorth, saying that in Germany "there practically aren't any exorcists." However, he clarified, "the Pope believes (in them)."

The Italian priest also warned of the existence of bishops and priests who do not believe in Satan in the interview. "And yet, in the Gospel, Jesus speaks extensively about it, so it should be said, either they've never read the Gospel or they just don't believe it!"

Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea Cucurull, a Spanish priest and theologian who specializes in demonology and is now studying for his doctorate of theology in Rome, responded to Fr. Amorth's assertions on March 1.

After reading reports of Fr. Amorth's accusations pointing a finger at members of the clergy, including cardinals, Fr. Fortea declared that it is a "duty of justice" to speak out in their defense.

Noting that some prelates "are more spiritual and others more earthly, some more virtuous and others more human," he wrote on his blog, "from there to affirm that some cardinals are members of Satanic sects is an unacceptable distance."

The Spanish priest then explained the sources of information used by Fr. Amorth to say that Satanic sects are operating in the Vatican.

In addition to the people that seek help for demonic possession, said Fr. Fortea, "innumerable persons come to us who claim to have visions, revelations and messages from Our Lord." Among these, "a certain number offer apocalyptic messages and revelations about the infiltration of Satanism and the Masons within the dome of the Church."

Fr. Fortea added that the only acceptable stance is to suspend judgment of the messages while they are subjected to time-intensive discernment, "sometimes months for each one of the cases."

The other source Fr. Amorth refers to, according to Fr. Fortea, is the demons who are being exorcised. Of this, the Spanish priest wrote that knowing whether or not the demon is telling the truth "is in many cases impossible."

"We can know with great confidence when a demon tells the truth in the subject directly related with the exorcism. That is, the number of demons, their name and similar things. But we cannot be confident in what regards concrete news relating to people."

"Father Amorth does not have other sources of knowledge than the two that I just cited," indicated the Spanish exorcist, "I refer to his own words for this affirmation."

Fr. Fortea observed that the existence of similar messages from the same sources is "something known by me just as (it has been) by many other colleagues for many years."

"Among exorcists, some have come to similar conclusions as those of Fr. Amorth. Others have not."

Fr. Fortea also defended those implicated in Fr. Amorth's statements, stating, "Our College of Cardinals, if we compare it with past centuries is the most edifying and virtuous that history has ever known. One would have to go back to the epoch of the Roman Empire to find a body of electors so distanced from all earthly pretension as the current one is.

"Cardinals might be better or worse," he reflected, "but all have upright intentions and seek the glory of God."

He concluded by emphasizing, "Statements must be proven, especially when they are about such grave accusations that affect the honorability of those who form part of the Head of the Church as far as they help the Supreme Pastor."

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Byzantine Ghost Towns of Syria

Eerie ruins, including the church built around the pillar of a strange saint, the greatest celebrity of the fifth century.

By Paul Sieveking
March 2010
Fortean Times

Syria has a rich array of ancient wonders – such as the Bronze Age cities of Mari and Ugarit, Queen Zenobia’s desert city of Palmyra, and Krak des Chevaliers, the castle to trump all castles – but the Byzantine ghost towns of the north are one of the strangest. These were satellite settlements of Antioch, a magnificent ancient city that was utterly destroyed over 700 years ago.

Antioch was founded in 300 BC at the mouth of the Orontes river by Alexander the Great’s general, Seleucus I Nicator, who named it after his father Antiochus. For two centuries it was the capital of the Seleucid Empire, which at its height stretched from modern-day Turkey to Pakistan, and the first western outpost of the Great Silk Road. The city fell to Pompey in 64 BC and became the capital of the Roman province of Syria. For the next three centuries it was the third city of the classical world after Rome and Alexandria, with a population approaching half a million. Under the Pax Romana, Syria grew rich by supplying an insatiable market in the Mediterranean with an inexhaustible supply of luxuries from the East. Syria provided several rulers for the Roman Empire, including the outrageous Elaga­balus, Alexander Severus, and Philip the Arab.

Antioch vied with Athens for intell­ectual and cultural leadership of the Empire, and was notorious for its self-indulgence. “Fashion was the only law,” wrote Gibbon, “pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured, the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule, and the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the capital of the East.”[1]

It was perhaps only natural that there should be a spiritual reaction to such decadence. One of the first Christian communities was founded in Antioch by St Peter himself, and the term ‘Christ­ian’ was first used here in AD 43. It was from here that the new faith spread across the Roman world, becoming the official imperial religion in AD 324.

Antioch was repeatedly devastated by earthquakes, and before the seventh century AD was sacked six times by the Persians and Arabs. Taken by the Crus­aders in 1098, it became the capital of a Frankish principality until 1268, when it was totally destroyed by a Mamluk army from Egypt. Contemporary accounts relate that 17,000 Christians were mass­acred and another 100,000 enslaved. All that remains of the city today are a few bits of defensive wall on Mount Sipylus, overlooking the sleepy modern town of Antakya. After a referendum in 1939, the surrounding region (known as the Hatay) was taken from French-mandate Syria and given to Turkey.

East of Antioch, in northern Syria, are the limestone uplands – roughly 90 miles (145km) north to south – where the so-called “Dead Cities” are to be found. “Dead Cities” is actually a bit of a misnomer: there are over 100 major sites and a total of 780 settlements, but the largest is little more than a country town. The remains of an astonishing 1,200 churches have been counted, the largest collection of religious ruins in the world. Population pressures made exploitation of these uplands economic, supplying olive oil and wine to the Empire. The pinnacle of prosperity came in the fourth to the sixth centuries AD, following Rome’s loss of its North African provinces, hitherto a major agricultural source, particularly in olive oil. Oil wealth had a different connotation to that of today. Antioch was the only city in the ancient world with public street lighting – fuelled by olive oil.

Antioch’s hinterland declined as trade routes gravitated south from Aleppo to Damascus with the arrival of the Muslims in the seventh century, and was deserted by the 10th century, leaving it largely undisturbed by subsequent settlement and rebuilding. The population moved south and east to grain-growing terrain. Spared invas­ion and natural disaster, the Byzantine ghost towns offer one of the best pict­ures possible of the world of late antiquity. The scarcity of wood meant that most of the permanent buildings were of stone. Masonry walls were built without cement; stone was used for almost all purposes – stairs, porticos, balconies, benches and cupboards.

Serjilla is an eerie and remote fifth-century settlement at the end of a cul de sac between wild and barren hillsides with extensive remains of houses, a church, baths, tombs and sarcophagi. William Dalrymple wrote that “more intact domestic Byzantine buildings lay clustered at my feet in this obscure valley than survive today in all three of the greatest Byzantine metropolises – Constantinople, Antioch and Alexand­ria – put together”.[2] Near the baths lies an andron (men’s meeting place or tavern), its south front marked by a double portico, one of the most perfectly preserved Roman buildings in the world. “In places,” wrote Andrew Humphreys, “you pass down narrow grassy lanes between high stone walls punctuated by carefully carved windows and doors, and half expect a householder to step out on a quick errand to fetch something from the market.”[3]

Al-Bara lies a few miles north-west, a ghost town extending over more than two square miles (1,280 acres), occupying a good position on the north-south trade route between Antioch and Apamea. Pyramid-roofed tombs jut out from the dense olive groves, slightly reminiscent of South American ruins. Settlement began in the fourth century and al-Bara soon became the regional centre of wine-making. A massive wine-press can still be seen (although we didn’t find it). Al-Bara was devastated by an earthquake in 1157.

A few miles north of Aleppo[4] is a wooded height crowned by the church of Saint Simeon (Simon Stylites), the first and most renowned of the pillar saints who populated the eastern Roman Empire as its western provinces fell to ‘barbarians’. Following Simeon’s death in 459, the Byzantine emperor Zeno ordered a church to be built in his honour, which was completed in 491 after 14 years of building. This vast edifice comprises four separate basilicas radiating out from an octagonal chamber, once probably domed, built around the remains of the Stylite’s pillar. It could contain 10,000 worshipp­ers. The cruciform ground plan was unprecedented and not established as a Christian tradition for at least another 500 years.

Howard Crosby Butler, who led the famous Princeton expedition that surveyed Syrian antiquities in 1899–1909, was bowled over: “The great cruciform church is unique in the history of architecture and is not only the most beautiful and important existing monument of architecture between the buildings of the Roman period of the second century and the great church of Santa Sophia of Justinian’s time, but also the most monumental Christian building earlier than the masterpieces of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Northern Europe.”[5]

By 525 the cluster of buildings included a monastery and baptistery, and covered 54,000 sq ft (5,000 sq m). The earthquakes of 526 and 528, which devastated Antioch, probably brought down the dome over the central octagon. The hillside was fortified when the Byzantines retook the area from the Arabs in the 10th century – hence its present-day name, Qala’at Sema’an (Simeon’s fortress). It fell to an Egypt­ian army in 1017 and has apparently not been used for worship since then. The Stylite’s pillar was still standing at the end of the sixth century, but today all that remains is the plinth: over the centuries, pilgrims chipped bits off and, according to one account, consumed the powdered stone in water as a magical potion. Thus it could be said that the pillar has been eaten by the faithful. A huge boulder that sits on the base is something of a mystery, for nobody remembers where it came from. It was not there a few decades ago.

SIMEON STYLITES

Simeon was born around AD 390 to a Christian family in the village of Sisa, near Nicopolis in northern Syria, and as a boy tended his family’s sheep. Following a vision in which he was exhorted to dig ever deeper in preparing the foundations of a house, he began a life of extreme mortification of the flesh. At the age of 17, he entered the mona­stery at Teleda, near Antioch. For Lent, he would wall himself up in his cell completely, and he spent long periods buried up his neck in the ground. He nearly died here after wearing next to his skin a rope of twisted palm leaves that had eaten into his flesh. This took three days to remove, being softened by water and separ­ated by incisions. After a further four years, during which extreme fasting often brought him close to death, his fellow monks insisted on his expuls­ion. He moved to a hilltop cave where he subsisted on a diet of chicory and wild lettuce.

In about 423 Simeon became a stylite – from the Greek stylos meaning pillar. He set himself up on a 9ft (2.7m) pillar – possibly, it is thought, in a vain attempt to escape the attention of visitors who continually interrupted his solitude and meditat­ion. After four years, he graduated to a taller pillar 18ft (5.5m) high, on which he stood for three years; then he spent 10 years on a third pillar 33ft (10m) high. The fourth and last pillar, built by his admirers, was 60ft (18m) high, surmounted by a balust­raded platform calculated to have been about 7ft (2m) square (though some accounts say it was smaller). Here he remained for his final 20 years, exposed to severe winter winds and scorching sun. According to one account, he had an iron collar round his neck, chained to a post to stop him toppling off at night.

Lent for Simeon was always a time of exceptional austerity: the first two weeks were spent praising God upright, the next two sitting, the last two lying down owing to increasing weakness from his total fast. Every day he repeatedly bowed his body in prayer; he would stretch out his arms, bend from his hips to make his head touch his toes, and then straighten himself up. A visitor is said to have counted 1,244 prostrations in one day. Muslim prayer is reminiscent of Simeon’s prost­rations, just as the minaret from which the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer can be seen as owing something to the Stylite’s pillar.

The solitude he had sought eluded him, as he became one of the most famous people of his age, visited by throngs of sightseers, both Christian and pagan. Many saw beauty in his suffering. According to one legend, a maggot that fell from his leg was picked up by an Arab who when he opened his hand again found a pearl there. Many Arabs were converted, despite the lack of a common language.

Simeon was known from Britain to the Persian empire, and among Armen­ians, Ethiop­ians, Gauls, Spaniards, Scythian nomads, and sophisticates from Rome and Constantinople. He was even visited by three Byzantine emperors. Those who could not make the long journey consulted him by letter. Twice a day he would deliver an exhortation, and after three in the afternoon sit in judgement over the cases brought before him.

Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus (393–466) said that Simeon’s preaching was practical, kindly, and free from fanaticism. According to Marius Kociejowski, Simeon “was involved in social work, spoke on behalf of slaves, in many instances securing their release, settled family disputes, sought refuge for orphans and widows, delivered the oppressed from their oppressors, had taxes remitted, unjust policies reversed and food distributed to the poor, engaged in delicate negotiat­ions concerning ecclesiastic policy, and even took part in matters of foreign policy, mediating, for example, between the Byzantine emperor and unruly Bedouin tribes.”[6]

“In an age of licentiousness and luxury,” wrote David Hugh Farmer, “[Simeon] gave unique and abiding witness to the need for penance and prayer; his way of life provided a spect­acle at once challenging, repuls­ive, and awesome.” [7] He died on his pillar on 24 July 459, aged about 70, and was laid to rest in the great church of Constantine in Antioch. Later his remains were transferred to a new martyrium in Constantinople.

In his autobiography My Last Breath, Luis Buñuel recalled: “I’d been intrigued by [Simeon] ever since Lorca introduced me to Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend [c.1275] when we were both university stud­ents in Madrid. He used to laugh when he read how the hermit’s excrement, which ran the length of the column, looked like the wax from a taper. (In reality, since all St. Simeon ate was lett­uce leaves, it must have looked more like goat turds.)”[8]

The great surrealist cinemato­grapher made Simon del desierto (Simon of the Desert) in Mexico in 1965. In the film, Satan tempts St Simeon to abandon his mortifications, using a number of disguises, such as a bearded, hermaphrodite Christ carrying a lamb, and finally whisks him away to a contemporary New York nightclub, where the punters are doing not just the “latest dance” but “the last dance” – to a number called “Radioactive Flesh”.

By the sixth century, many of the peaks rising from the Orontes valley around Antioch were crowned by stylites, who were believed to have a hotline to the Almighty. “Competition between them was rife,” wrote Will­iam Dalrymple. “If one was struck by lightning – something that clearly happ­ened with a fair degree of frequency – the electrocuted hermit’s rivals would take this as a definitive sign of divine displeasure, probably indicating that the dead stylite was a secret heretic.”[9] Stylitism travelled west, getting as far as Trier before being abandoned in the face of a colder climate. In the Russian Orthodox Church it lasted until 1461, and there were pillar saints in remote parts of the Near East as late as the 19th century.

Notes

1 Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88), chapter 24.
2 William Dalrymple: From the Holy Mountain (HarperCollins, 1997).
3 Andrew Humphreys & Damien Simonis: Syria (Lonely Planet, 1999).
4 Aleppo (Halab) and Damascus vie for the title of “oldest continuously inhabited city in the world”. Aleppo has been settled for at least 8,000 years.
5 Howard Crosby Butler: Early Churches In Syria (1927), quoted in Ross Burns, The Monuments of Syria (IB Tauris, 1992).
6 Marius Kociejowski: The Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool: A Syrian Journey (Sutton, 2004).
7 David Hugh Farmer: The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (OUP, 1992).
8 Luis Buñuel: My Last Breath (Cape 1984).
9 Dalrymple, op. cit.

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The Polemical Nature of Theology

by Rev. Dr. John Romanides

The true Orthodox theologian is the one who has direct knowledge of some of God's energies through illumination or knows them more through vision. Or he knows them indirectly through prophets, apostles and saints or through scripture, the writings of the Fathers and the decisions and acts of their Ecumenical and Local Councils. The theologian is the one who through this direct or mediated spiritual knowledge and vision knows clearly how to distinguish between the actions of God and those of creatures and especially the works of the devil and the demons. Without the gift of discernment of spirits it is not possible to test spirits to see whether something is the action of the Holy Spirit or of the devil and the demons.

Therefore the theologian and the spiritual father are the same thing. A person who thinks and talks in search of a conceptual understanding of the doctrines of the faith after the Franco-Latin pattern certainly is not a spiritual father, nor can he be called a theologian in the proper sense of the word. Theology is not abstract knowledge or practice, like logic, mathematics, astronomy and chemistry, but on the contrary, it has a polemical character like logistics and medicine. The former is concerned with matters of defence and attack through bodily drill and strategies for the deployment of weapons, fortifications and defensive and offensive schemes, while the latter is fighting against mental and physical illnesses for the sake of health and the means of restoring health.

A theologian who is not acquainted with the methods of the enemy nor with perfection in Christ is not only unable to struggle against the enemy for his own perfection, but is also in no position to guide and heal others. It is like being called a general, or even being one, without ever having been trained or fought, or studied the art of war, having only given attention to the beautiful, glorious appearance of the army in its splendid, bright uniforms at receptions and displays. It is like a butcher posing as a surgeon or like holding the position of a physician without knowing the causes of illnesses or the methods of curing them, or the state of health to which the patient should be restored.

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Orthodox Mission to Sierra Leone: The Wounded Lion

Please support the Orthodox Mission to Sierra Leone.





Τhe video that we are presenting here is a shocking documentary about the horrors of the civil war that has plagued the African country of Sierra Leone for 12 years, making it the poorest country in the entire world.

Within this turmoil, the Orthodox Mission has embarked on its own activities, with Archmandrite Fr. Themistocles Adamopoulos in charge, opening up a brighter horizon of faith, hope and love. With his sacrificial love, this Missionary is offering everything possible by way of material needs, and at the same time offers everything he can from a spiritual aspect - in other words: Christ!

It is our duty as Christians to support this significant endeavor, in every possible manner - both material and spiritual.

Support this ministry here.

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Recent Miracles of St. Gerasimos of Jordan

Saint Gerasimos of Jordan (Feast Day - March 4)

St. Gerasimos of Jordan worked many miracles while alive and continues to the present day to work many miracles for Orthodox Christians. While alive he lived a strict ascetic life with little food and drink, he was able to read people's thoughts, foretell the future, pray unceasingly, raise the dead, and as is well known his purity was like that of Adam in Paradise and so walked with wild beasts as if they were his best friends. So speedy does his aid come from beyond the grave that over the centuries he has taken on the nickname of "Saint Express".

Archimandrite Chrysostomos, the abbot of St. Gerasimos Monastery in Jordan, relates the following three recent miracles of St. Gerasimos:

1. The Twelve Year Old Boy With A High Fever

About twenty years ago Deacon Eirinaios of the monastery at Sinai came here from Jerusalem. He had with him a twelve year old boy from Crete that was a student at the Zion school. It was Saturday evening, I was very tired, and I was kneading, because I didn't have prosphoro for the Sunday Liturgy. Suddenly the boy began to get a very high fever, he had a terrible headache and was in unbearable pain. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a vehicle, except a moped, so I could not take him to the doctor and I was thus in a hopeless situation. I prayed to the Saint to make the child well. Around 11:00PM the deacon and the child fell asleep. I was beyond tired, had the breads in the oven, I was thinking about the Liturgy the next morning, and I pleaded fervently to the Saint to make the sick child well. At one point the deacon heard a knock at the door. He got up, looked around, but nobody was there. He came and found me and we went together to their room. I told him it must have been the Saint. I didn't have time to finish what I was saying when the child awoke and said: "Elder, I'm all wet! An old man spilled a bucket of water on me!" We took off his t-shirt and dried him off with the towel. In five minutes he fell asleep peacefully, without a fever, and in the morning he was perfectly well.

2. The Saint Brings Fruit To Those Who Came To Venerate Him

One time there was a group from Greece, in the region of Macedonia, that came to the Holy Land with a bishop who was named Dionysios. He had come with students from the Theological School. They notified us from Jericho that they were coming and asked if I could prepare them fava (because I normally make fava for visitors).

When they entered the monastery I told the bishop: "My Master, please forgive me but I do not have fruit to eat after your fava." Not long after that a soldier came in with a case of oranges and says: "Abba, take these oranges." I wondered who it was, because he left immediately and I went to see from what regiment he was from. I went outside, I looked over there, I looked over here, nothing. The soldier was out of sight. I called over a laborer and asked him where the soldier went. Confused he said that no soldier had entered the monastery. "How didn't he enter?" I told him. "Here are the oranges." The laborer was scared stiff and said: "No one entered. I was right here, at the door. No one came, I did not even see a jeep." I came back in and told the bishop that the Arab had told me that he saw no one enter. Everyone was confused because they all saw him with their eyes. They all went outside, a minute passed, and they saw no one. Even if he had come in a car, it still would not have had time to be beyond our sight. The Saint came to our aid and brought us fruit.

3. The Miraculous Discovery of Water for the Monastery

The well in the court of the monastery had very little water. And still it was not enough for the needs of the monastery. So I decided to dig in a nearby area where I had heard there was water in the old days. Three of us were digging - Samir, an Arab that I have had here since he was a child, a temporary worker, and myself. Though we dug twenty-three meters deep, we did not find even a drop of water. I remember it was afternoon. I was very tired and disappointed and sat down under a wild tree, to rest a bit. Then I said: "My Saint Gerasimos, it appears you do not want us to find water. If we do not find it today I will close up the well." We were working in the traditional manner. We would dig with the hoe and the pickaxe and we would clear it out with the shovel to go down. At that time the two workers were digging down and I was emptying the buckets. They yelled for me: "Abba, come down because we have found gravel." They had only found sand rocks. I got up right away. I went down the well, took the pickaxe, and began to dig myself. I dug and I dug and I dug until I went down half a meter and noticed the gravel was wet. At one and a half meters we found water. I absolutely believe this was a miracle of the Saint. If I did not pray to him and continue the shoveling, I would have absolutely closed the hole up the next day. The Jews forbid a person to dig a well or build anything without a license, which is why I always have problems. A greater miracle of the Saint was that the water was clean and sweet. In our region, because of our close proximity to the Dead Sea, not only are the waters bitter, but salty as well because of the sulphur, and it smells like eggs.

4. The Appearance of the Saint in His Church

About twelve years ago the abbot went to Greece. At the monastery there was a Romanian nun named Maria, an Arab named Asam who was then a young child, and next door in a cave the Abbess Christodouli. Every night they would hear the door of the Church of Saint Gerasimos open and close. Maria would go to see who it was, but saw no one. The same with Asam, who would then return to the monastery, because he would see no one.

When Fr. Chrysostomos returned to the monastery, they asked him: "Elder, who opens and closes the door to the church every night?"

He responded: "It is Saint Gerasimos, who else could it be?"

Saint Gerasimos is the protector of his monastery, especially when its protector is not present. It should also be noted that many smell a peculiar beautiful aroma in the church that cannot be described.

5. The Healing of a Young Student in Cyprus

D.S. from Larnaka, Cyprus relates the following:

My son George, fifteen years old, had a severe health problem. For five or six months continuously, every day, he would faint. We went to many doctors and spent a lot of money, and suffered a lot, until we heard about Saint Gerasimos from Abbot Chrysostomos. We spoke together, and after a Supplication to the Saint, my child was healed. He is functioning normally now. And even though from young childhood I had a heart problem, the next test showed that I was in absolutely perfect health, to the last detail.

6. Saint Gerasimos Confesses a Couple

A couple related the following story:

A few years ago we came to the monastery of the Saint and stayed there for a few days. One evening we asked the abbot if we could confess to him, if he had time. The abbot said that he could not because he had a lot of work to do. After a little while we climbed the stairs and entered the Church of Saint Gerasimos. We saw the abbot there again. When he saw us, he told us with much love: "Come my children, so I could confess you."

When the confession was over, we went down to the courtyard. After a bit the abbot passed near us and we thanked him, because he set aside his errands and was tired and still did us the favor and took on the burden of confessing us.

Then he, with confusion, said: "What are you talking about, my children? I confessed you? I haven't confessed anyone today. I had told you I didn't have time and I was tired."

We were speechless. We understood that the person who confessed us was none other than Saint Gerasimos. He appeared in the form of the abbot, in order to not suspect anything. We glorify God and thank Him! We further thank His great Saint, Saint Gerasimos, who gave us the great honor to confess us.

7. Saint Gerasimos Blesses A Priest

A clergyman related the following:

One day I was at the Monastery of Saint Gerasimos and was sitting in the outer court. At one point the abbot walked in front of me and blessed me. A little while later he again passed and I thanked him for giving me a blessing a little while before when he walked in front of me.

The abbot then told me: "Father, a little while ago I was not here, nor did I pass in front of you."

Then I responded saying that it must have been another clergyman that was staying at the monastery. He then told me that the only people wearing a rason (cassock) in the monastery were the two of us. We then understood that it was Saint Gerasimos that took the form of the abbot and walked around his monastery.

Source

See also the following miracles of St. Gerasimos (in Greek) here and here.


Apolytikion in the First Tone
Thou didst prove to be a citizen of the desert, an angel in the flesh, and a wonderworker, O Gerasimos, our God-bearing Father. By fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst obtain heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of them that have recourse to thee with faith. Glory to Him that hath given thee strength. Glory to Him that hath crowned thee. Glory to Him that worketh healings for all through thee.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
As a star resplendent with the light of virtues, thou didst make the wilderness of Jordan radiantly shine with beams of sacred celestial light, O righteous Father, God-bearing Gerasimos.

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St. Gerasimos of Jordan Monastery (Documentary)

See also here.

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The Philosophy of Men Does Not Satisfy

If the philosophies of men were able to satisfy man, why did the philosophers Justin and Origen become Christians? Why did Basil, Chrysostom and Gregory, who in Athens studying all the philosophy of the Greeks, receive baptism? And why did Blessed Augustine, who knew the wisdom of both the Greeks and the Romans, throw away all and seek salvation and illumination in the Faith of Christ? And St. Clement of Rome, who was very wealthy and very learned? And St. Catherine, who was from the royal house and knew all the worldly wisdom of the Egyptians? And the young Crown Prince Joasaph in India, to whom was known all the Indian philosophies? And many, many more who primarily sought explanations to the puzzles of the world and illumination for their souls in philosophy and, after that, entered the Church and worshipped the Lord Christ?

- St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Prologue

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Serb Film Director Regrets Humanity's Lost Spirituality

Modern Day World Lost Spiritual Orientation and Sank in "High-Tech Paganism," Kusturica Believes

Moscow, 3 March 2010, Interfax – Renowned film director Emir Kusturica regrets modern-day humanity has lost spirituality.

"High-tech pagans have invaded the world today. This paganism doesn't do any good to a human-being. A person today lives under permanent technological control… However, the main difference of modern people is that they lost spiritual orientation. Uniqueness of a human being as God's image is leveled down in the world today," the film director said in his interview published by the NG-Religii paper in association with the Spas TV channel.

According to him, "Today a high-tech person is more disposed to biological life rather than spiritual. He is interested only in material values and is a pagan of technologies. And today this pagan opposes a man of God as Feodor Dostoevsky so often told about.

"Today a high-tech pagan is a consumer who doesn't ask eternal existential questions. He is losing his identity and becomes a part of controlled crowd. He doesn’t' have a soul, he is ready only to consume. Unfortunately, today I often see that majority of Serbs and Russians are turned into such pagans. They live with all their technologies in a spiritual vacuum," Kusturica said.

Atheism "destroys a soul and turns us into biological mechanisms consuming products imposed by ad industry," the film director believes. According to him, it leads to imitation of western culture samples and "not the best of them. You know, there's a lot of high quality cultural events in the West too, but youth chooses only the worst – paganism of technologies."

On Đurđevdan (St. George's Day) in 2005 Emir was baptized into the Serbian Orthodox Church as Nemanja Kusturica (Немања Кустурица) in Savina monastery near Herceg Novi, Montenegro. To his critics who considered this the final betrayal of his Bosnian Muslim roots, he replied that: "My father was an atheist and he always described himself as a Serb. OK, maybe we were Muslim for 250 years, but we were Orthodox before that and deep down we were always Serbs, religion cannot change that. We only became Muslims to survive the Turks."

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Atheism, Not God, is Odd

Where Do Atheists Come From?
03 March 2010
by Lois Lee and Stephen Bullivant
New Scientist

Editorial: Time to accept that atheism, not God, is odd.

HERE's a fact to flatter the unbelievers among you: the bright young things at the University of Oxford are among the most godless groups ever studied in the UK. Of 728 students surveyed in 2007, 48.9 per cent claimed not to believe in any god, with 49.6 per cent claiming no religious affiliation. And while a very small number of Britons typically label themselves as "atheist" or "agnostic" (most surveys put it at about 5 per cent), an astonishing 57.3 per cent of the Oxford sample did.

This may come as no surprise. After all, atheism is the natural stance of the educated and the informed, is it not? It is only to be expected that Oxford students should be wise to what their own professor Richard Dawkins calls "self-indulgent, thought-denying skyhookery" - and others call "faith". The old Enlightenment caricature, it seems, is true after all: where Reason reigns, God retires.

Of course, things are never quite that simple. Within the sample, for instance, the postgraduates (that is, the even-better educated) were notably more religious than the undergraduates, in terms of both belief in God and self-description. Although the greater number of non-Europeans in the postgraduate population is almost certainly a significant factor here, evidence from elsewhere backs the idea that there is no straightforward relationship between atheism and education.

Let's look at some results from the World Values Survey, an international attempt to assess the global state of socio-cultural, moral, religious and political values. The 2005 results show that while there is a clear positive correlation between education and lack of belief in God, the effect is slightly weaker, not stronger, among those with a university education (14.8 per cent were non-believers) compared with those whose highest attainment was secondary level (17.2 per cent).

What is more, the survey shows a far stronger correlation between education and certain "irrational" beliefs: for example, only 29.6 per cent of those without even an elementary education believe in telepathy, compared with 51.8 per cent of people with degree-level education.

Closer to home, an analysis of the 2008 British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey by David Voas of the University of Manchester reveals that the historical correlation between being educated and being "non-religious" has not only weakened but reversed. Looking at white British people, for example, the findings show that only around 25 per cent of men aged between 25 and 34 claiming "no religion" have degrees, compared with around 40 per cent of those describing themselves as religious. For women in the same age group, the difference is less marked but the trend is the same. The picture is more complicated across different ethnic groups, although the overall trend remains the same.

It appears that Enlightenment assumptions about the decline of religion as the population becomes more educated will no longer do - at least, not without considerable qualification. Why is it that, despite the long history of the study of religion, the picture seems to be getting more and not less confused about what it means to believe in God? We, and the scholars who gathered in December last year for a conference at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, think we may have the answer. The problems stem from a long-term, collective blind spot in research: atheism itself.

This oversight might seem remarkable (or remarkably obtuse on the part of the social scientists) but it is one with deep historical roots. Many of social science's 19th-century founders, including Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Auguste Comte and Max Weber, were unbelievers, or "religiously unmusical", as Weber memorably put it. For them, religion was the great explicandum: how, they wondered, could so many people believe in something so absurd? What they failed to recognise was that their own, taken-for-granted, "lack" of belief might itself be amenable to inquiry.

Ironically, sociologists, psychologists, economists and, particularly, cognitive anthropologists have become so skilled at explaining why humans seem to have such a widespread bias towards theistic beliefs that a new question readily presents itself: if religion comes so naturally to us, why are so many people, especially in western Europe, apparently resistant to it? In the UK, for example, a sizeable 43 per cent said they had "no religion" in the 2008 BSA survey.

Moreover, social scientists themselves consistently rank as the most atheistic of all academics: see a recent study by Neil Gross at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and Solon Simmons of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia (Sociology of Religion, in press).

What we need now is a scientific study not of the theistic, but the atheistic mind. We need to discover why some people do not "get" the supernatural agency many cognitive scientists argue comes automatically to our brains. Is this capacity non-existent in the non-religious, or is it rerouted, undermined or overwritten - and under what conditions?

Psychologically, we need to know how the self functions without theistic belief, and how our emotional resources might be altered by its absence. Anthropologically, we need to understand how people without religion make sense of their lives, how they find meaning, and how non-theistic systems of thought are embedded in, and shape, the different cultures in which they are present. Sociologically, we need to know how these alternative meaning-making systems are shared between societies, how they unite or divide us, and whether non-religious groups contain pro-social elements commonly associated with religion itself.

For all these reasons and more - not to mention the sheer thrill of entering uncharted waters - we set up the international and interdisciplinary Non-religion and Secularity Research Network in late 2008. The Wolfson meeting was the NSRN's inaugural conference, only the second event on this topic ever to be held in Europe. (The first was convened by the Vatican in 1969: make of that what you will.)

The conference presented the first fruits of research in this area - and discussed how much still needs to be done. One of the first tasks is to develop a common academic vocabulary. In this article, for instance, we have danced between "atheistic", "non-theistic", "non-religious", "unbelieving" and "godless" as if they were synonyms. They're not.

Interesting findings have, however, begun to emerge; some providing insight into the relationship between education and atheism. Voas, also a keynote speaker at the Wolfson conference, says one reason why a greater number of religious people are degree-holders may be that "better educated people have typically reflected on religion and have the self-confidence to come down decisively, on one side or the other". The issue is not which idea - atheism or theism - is more stupid than the other, but that education helps us either to work out or simply to communicate our beliefs, no matter what they are.

He also notes the observation by another keynote presenter, Colin Campbell of the University of York, whose 1971 book Toward a Sociology of Irreligion had until very recently been a lone voice in the wilderness. Campbell argues that though the educated are often the first to articulate a new cultural perspective, if that perspective becomes popular, it will spread across the population. As a result, the education levels associated with that perspective naturally average out. So it is that the relationship between intelligence or education and cultural shifts may not be as significant as they first appear.

Everybody stands to benefit from wider and more systematic research of the atheistic or non-religious. The believers may take heart from the fact that the most comprehensive studies no longer suggest the unreligious are cleverer or more lettered than them. But the non-believers might also comfort themselves that they are no longer outside the mainstream. They have become a "normal" and significant part of many societies. And researchers ignore them at their peril.

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Metropolis of Boston Responds to Plastic Spoon Controversy

PRESS RELEASE

On October 8, 2009, The Metropolis of Boston issued the following statement:

"The Center of Disease Control (CDC), fearing an H1N1 Pandemic, strongly discourages participation in group activities, recommending individuals, (especially children) with colds or the flu remain at home and follow the instructions of their medical doctors. Many faithful have approached our Parish Priests expressing concern about their participation in worship services, especially in the sacramental life of the Church. While the warnings of the medical community should be heeded by persons with colds and flu-like symptoms, people, in general, should not panic but carry on with their usual activities, including going to church and receiving Holy Communion.

"It should be noted, that the Church has always been clear in its belief that diseases are not transmitted from the Holy Chalice which we believe contains the very Body and Blood of our Savior. Hence, the distribution of Holy Communion was never a question even when various diseases ravaged the world. As is well known, Priests consume what remains in the Chalice at the end of the Divine Liturgy, regardless whether it was celebrated in a parish church, a hospital or hospice chapel.

"Orthodox faithful have always acted responsibly. As we face the reality of the present flu pandemic fears, Orthodox Christians are urged to use discretion as they follow the directives of the medical community."


Regrettably, a priest serving in New England - surely pressured by well meaning parishioners concerned with the outbreak of the H1N1 flu pandemic - utilized plastic spoons to distribute Holy Communion. This unacceptable violation of Church order was addressed in accordance with Ecclesiastical procedure.

The Metropolis expresses its regret that this lapse of judgment resulted in widespread controversy, and is appalled that some individuals questioned whether this practice was authorized. It expresses its fervent prayer that those who arrive at rash judgments - hurtling paranoid condemnations in the press and on the internet - will rather invest their time in prayer and self examination during Great Lent. They should reflect on the countless passages in the New Testament which urge the followers of the Crucified Lord to avoid gossip and the sin of judging others. Let us all etch in our hearts and souls the prayer of St. Ephraim,

O Lord and Master of my life,
Give me not the spirit of laziness,
curiosity, lust for power, and idle talk.
But give to me your servant a
spirit of prudence, humility,
patience, and love.
Yes, Lord and King grant me to see
my own faults and not to
judge my brother.
For You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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[The post I made about this controversy is here. - J.S.]

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Ida Not a Human Ancestor

“Many lines of evidence indicate that Darwinius has nothing at all to do with human evolution,” said Chris Kirk (U of Texas) in an article on Science Daily. Researchers publishing their analysis in the Journal of Human Evolution accused the presentation of ignoring decades of research and an enormous body of literature on the evolution of strepsirrhines, a primate group that includes lemurs and lorises. Ida’s discoverer claimed it had characteristics suggesting a linkage to haplorhines.

The announcement about Ida included a book, a History Channel documentary, and an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled the specimen at a news conference in New York city. The lead author of the new paper remarked, “Just because it’s a complete and well-preserved fossil doesn’t mean it’s going to overthrow all our ideas.”

The truth may not get you a book or History Channel documentary, but it has one major benefit over the alternative: it’s true.

For more, see also here and here.

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Russian President Venerates Crown of Thorns

Russian President venerates the Saviour’s Crown of Thorns

On March 2, 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ms. Medvedev venerated the Saviour’s Crown of Thorns, the piece of the Lord’s Cross and the Nail from the Lord’s Cross kept in the Notre Dame Cathedral. These shrines were brought from Constantinople to Parish by Louis IX, the King of France, in 1239. The piece of the Cross happened to come to the French capital from Rome.

For the first time in the history of modern Russia, a head of the state prayed at this common Christian shrine. Emperor Nicholas II and his wife prayed at it in 1895. Like nearly a hundred years ago, the head of the Russian State was welcomed by the ringing of all the bells and a solemn procession of the cathedral’s clergy. The main gates of the church were opened for the occasion.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, said a prayer at the Crown of Thorns. Praying together with him and the high guests were Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun, Hegumen Philip Riabykh, DECR vice-chairman, Hegumen Philaret Bulekov, Moscow Patriarchate representative to the Council of Europe, Archpriest Antony Ilyin, acting representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to European international organizations, Hegumen Nestor Sirotenko, rector of the Church Representation of the Three Hierarchs, Hieromonk Alexander Sinyakov, rector of Paris Orthodox Seminary, and clergy of the Korsun diocese. The singing was performed by the choir of Paris Orthodox Seminary.

The Catholic Church was represented by the Right Rev. Jérôme Beau, auxiliary bishop of Paris, Msgr. Patrick Jacquin, rector of the cathedral, local clergy and knights of the Order of Holy Sepulcher.

After the prayer and veneration of the Crown of Thorns, Mr. Medvedev thanked the congregation, saying, ‘I would like to express sincere gratitude for the opportunity to visit the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and venerate the shrines found here. For me as President of the Russian Federation, it is a great honour. For me as a man of Christian faith, it is an opportunity to touch some specially venerated shrines. I very much hope that the meetings of this kind will help us strengthen peace and mutual understanding and contribute to better relations between our countries and to contacts between Churches’.

Then the Russian President and his wife proceeded to the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir. In 2007 this icon was given to the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris by the late Patriarch Alexy II during his historic visit to France.

In memory of his visit to the cathedral, Mr. Medvedev presented it with an ancient icon bearing an image of the Saviour in a crown of thorns.

On his way from the church the president came up to the Parisians who assembled in the cathedral square to greet him.





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Metropolitan Hilarion Shouted Down as ‘Heretic’

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) shouted down as ‘heretic’ by members of the Patriarchate of Moscow

On the evening of Saturday 13 February, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk was greeted by shouts of ‘heretic’, as he came out at the polyeleios at matins. The disturbance took place in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God of All those who Sorrow, which is on the Ordynka in Moscow. Metropolitan Hilarion serves regularly in this church.

The young Metropolitan Hilarion, who possesses a doctorate from the University of Oxford, has shocked many members of the Patriarchate (and other Local Orthodox Churches) in recent weeks with various of his private opinions. These all appear to challenge Russian Orthodox values, for example concerning traditional Orthodox dress in church, preparation before communion and relations with Roman Catholicism.

The situation has not been helped by the leaking of a discussion document which resulted from ecumenical talks about papal primacy. These talks were held last year in Crete among academics from the Orthodox Church and from the Vatican. The discussion document has been dubbed the ‘Cretan Unia’ by its opponents. The situation thus resembles that in Greece in the 60s and 70s, where Greek ecumenists of that generation were also regularly shouted down during services as heretics.

All this serves to show just how broad a spectrum of opinion is represented within the Patriarchate of Moscow. These are far broader than within the Tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, where views are much more consistent. Presumably, this must result from the fact that there are so many recently baptised in the Patriarchate, who do not always know or understand the Tradition.

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