MYSTAGOGY: June 2010

Monday, July 19, 2010

Only Dead Souls Do Not Believe In Miracles

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Writing about the life of his sister St. Macrina, St. Gregory of Nyssa hesitates to enumerate her miracles, "that I not be," says he, "responsible for the sin of unbelief among helpless men." He calls helpless, those who do not believe.

Truly, there is nothing more helpless than a man without faith. The man without faith believes in the power of dead things and dead elements of nature and does not believe in the power of God or in the strength of the men of God. That is spiritual dullness and that dullness is equated with spiritual death. Thus, the living souls believe and the dead souls do not believe.

Living souls believe in the powerful miracles of the Prophet Elijah. These miracles give them courage and joy, for they know that they are a manifestation of the might of God. When God manifests His might through lifeless things and elements of nature, why then would He not manifest it through living and holy men? That which especially gives joy to the faithful is that the Prophet Elijah appeared alive on Mount Tabor at the time of the Transfiguration of the Lord. During his life on earth, this great prophet gave proof of the existence of the One and Living God and, after his death, and even after several hundred years, by his appearance on Mt. Tabor, he gave to mankind visible proof of life after death.

St. Macrina: An Icon of Female Modesty and Humility

St. Macrina the Rightous (Feast Day - June 19)

Macrina was the eldest sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa. As a young virgin, Macrina was bethrothed to a nobleman. When her betrothed died, Macrina vowed never to enter into marriage saying: "It is not right for a maiden once betrothed to a young man to seek another: according to the law of nature there must be only one marriage as there is but one birth and one death." She further justified this by her faith in the resurrection considering her bridegroom, not dead but alive in God. "It is a sin and a shame," says Macrina, "for a wife not to safeguard her faithfulness when her husband travels to a distant land." After this, together with her mother, Emilia, she received the monastic tonsure in a convent, where they lived a life of asceticism with other nuns. They lived from the labors of their hands devoting a greater part of their time to godly thoughts, prayer and the constant uplifting of their minds to God. In time her mother died and, afterward her brother Basil. Nine months after the death of St. Basil, Gregory came to visit with his sister and found her on her death bed. Before her death, Macrina lifted up her prayers to God: "You, O Lord, Who gives rest to our bodies in the sleep of death for a time, will again awaken them [the bodies] at the last trump. Forgive me and when my soul divests itself of its bodily attire and presents itself before You, pure and without sin, grant that it may be as incense before You." After that she traced the sign of the cross on the forehead, eyes, face and on her heart and gave up her soul. She found rest in the Lord in the year 379 A.D.

One of the most beautiful adornments of a woman is her modesty and immodesty in a woman is the most unnatural and most repulsive spectacle in the world. A wonderful example of feminine modesty was shown by St. Macrina in her life. In her youth, a bitter wound opened up on her breast; even though her mother counseled her to show the wound to a doctor and seek a remedy, Macrina did not agree to it. She had completely dedicated herself to God and would not allow even the thought of exposing her body before men and not even before her own mother. One evening Macrina earnestly prayed to God; from her eyes tears flowed, which fell to the dust before her. With unwavering confidence in her Lord, with her fingers she mixed the dust with her tears and with that anointed her wound. The next day she awakened healthy. When her mother, with great sorrow entered to see her daughter, Macrina did not want to reveal that the Lord healed her (out of humility, concealing the miracle which she herself performed through her prayer) but begged her mother saying: "I will be healed, my mother, if you place your right hand on my bosom and make the sign of the cross over the spot of the wound." The mother reached out her hand and made the sign of the cross over that spot but did not feel the wound anymore but only the scar of the healed wound. Thus did St. Macrina conceal her body out of modesty and her miracle-working out of humility.

"As virginity is better than marriage, so the first marriage is better than the second." Thus, St. John Chrysostom wrote to the young widow of Tarasius, a deceased nobleman of Constantinople, counseling her not to enter into marriage for the second time. The Church blesses first marriages with joy but the second marriage with sorrow. Eupraxia the elder, the mother of St. Eupraxia and relative of Emperor Theodosius the Great, remained a young widow following the death of her husband Antigonus, with whom she lived in physical contact for only two years and three months, and further lived one more year as brother and sister by mutual pledge. The emperor and empress counseled her to enter into marriage with another nobleman. She would not hear of it, but took her child Eupraxia and together they fled to Egypt. What can we say about St. Olympias and St. Eupraxia the younger? As with St. Macrina, not only was she also betrothed as a virgin but when her betrothed died, she considered herself a widow and would not even in her thoughts consider entering into marriage. What purity of heart! What fidelity to one's betrothed! What fear of God! What obvious faith in the future life in which the betrothed maiden hopes to see her betrothed.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
In thee the image was preserved with exactness, O Mother; for taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to overlook the flesh, for it passeth away, but to attend to the soul since it is immortal. Wherefore, O righteous Macrina, thy spirit rejoiceth with the Angels.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Since the light of righteousness shone brightly in thee, thou wast an example of the life of piety for all, teaching the virtues to them that cry: Rejoice, Macrina, thou boast of virginity.

From The Prologue by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

A Handwritten Letter of St. Seraphim of Sarov

A handwritten letter of St. Seraphim to Archimandrite Anthony, Rector of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergey Lavra

In 2006, a photographic copy of a manuscript was published containing spiritual counsels written by the hand of St. Seraphim of Sarov († 1833) to the then young Hieromonk Anthony (1792-1877), who regularly visited and sought advice from the Saint. In 1831, St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, chose Father Anthony as his spiritual Father and appointed him Rector of the Holy Trinity Lavra near Moscow (the Metropolitan was then Abbot of the Monastery). Father Anthony, as Archimandrite, worthily served the renowned Lavra, and Russian monasticism more generally, for more than forty years, until his saintly repose.

It seems that the original text was found among the personal archives of Father Anthony at the Lavra. We do not have further information regarding either the original or the photographic copy; nevertheless, the Grace-filled spiritual admonitions of the text are wholly consistent with the well-known “Brief Teachings” of St. Seraphim.

A copy of the original handwritten letter and an English translation of the text follow.

1. Learn noetic prayer of the heart as the Holy Fathers teach it in the Philokalia; for the Jesus Prayer is a light on our path and a star leading us to Heaven.

2. Learn to practice the Jesus Prayer while breathing in through your nose, with your lips shut; this technique is a scourge against the flesh and carnal desires.

3. Add “through the Theotokos have mercy on me” to the usual Jesus Prayer.

4. Outer prayer alone does not suffice, for God is attentive to the mind. Thus, monks who do not unite outer prayer with inner prayer are not monks, but little black heads.

5. Fear like the fire of Gehenna those painted ravens [women]; for they often transform soldiers of the King into servants of Satan.

6. Keep in mind that the true mandyas [mantle] of a monk is patient endurance of slander and disparagement with joy; where there are no sorrows, neither is there salvation.

7. Do everything gradually, calmly, and not at once. Virtue is not a pear; it is not devoured in one bite.

Source: From the Russian book by Princess Natalia Vladimirovna Urusova, Materinskii Platch Svyatoi Rusi [Maternal Lamentation for Holy Russia] (Moscow: Izdanie “Russkii Palomnik,” 2006), pp. 80-81.

The Character of Orthodoxy

by George Mantzarides

"As the prophets have seen, as the Apostles have taught, as the Church has received, as the teachers have set forth in dogmas, as the world has understood… so we believe, so we speak, so we preach… This is the faith of the Apostles; this is the faith of the Fathers; this is the faith of the Orthodox; this faith has established the world."

Orthodoxy is not a particular Christian confession, but has a general and trans-temporal character. Orthodoxy was not created by abstractions and divisions, but is the single and unified truth. It is the truth of the Church, the truth of the body of Christ, which is shared and not divided, which is distributed and unifies. The truth of Orthodoxy is the fact of God’s love for mankind; it is the gift of the divine economy, which creates in the faithful a corresponding obligation and a corresponding responsibility: the obligation and the responsibility for peace and unity among them.

In 842 AD, after the whirlwind of the war against the icons, which had brought back in a new form the old christological heresies, the peace and unity of the Church was restored in the life of her members. Thus, God’s gift appeared again in the life of the faithful. The fact of the faith appeared once more as a mark of everyday life. Of course, even in the most brilliant period of the Church’s history, the weakness of people who belong to her and who are often led into heresies and schisms does not cease to exist. The final triumph of the Church, the appearance of her indissoluble unity, will be realized in the eschaton [the last event], when the Church scattered in the world will be gathered into the kingdom of God.

But this does not at all mean to justify our not living [this] unity even now. Unity characterizes the nature of the Church. When we do not live [the] unity, we do not live as members of the Church. The Church is not some human organization in which unity might be deemed useful, but not completely necessary. The Church is the body of Christ, and the body of Christ cannot be understood without unity. Christ is one: His Church is one. In the Creed, we confess our faith “in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” The many churches, or rather, the many Christian confessions, are constructions of men and not of God.

For some time, though, the Christian world has ceased to constitute one united community of faithful people, one Church. The faith, which the Apostles, the Fathers and the teachers of the undivided Church handed on, has not been kept unaltered everywhere. The worship has been broken up, the ethos alienated, the harmony destroyed, the tradition abandoned. Thus, a scandal has been created within the world, a scandal to which no Christian can remain indifferent.

The Orthodox Church is not one among the many churches. The Orthodox Church IS the undivided Church of Christ. It is the undivided Church of Christ, not because the Orthodox want it so, but because it has emerged so from the common Christian tradition.

Orthodoxy sustained the world, because it was always ecumenical. But it cannot persist as Orthodoxy, if it does not also persist as ecumenical. Orthodoxy is not intolerance. Orthodoxy is not conservatism. Orthodoxy is not status quo. Orthodoxy is not ethnicism. Intolerance exploits Orthodoxy and transforms it into a means of factionalism. Orthodoxy is disproved by intolerance so that its spirit disappears, a spirit of love and conciliation. Therefore, those who are intolerant cannot be Orthodox, however orthodox might be the words which they use. But conservatism can also kill the tradition of Orthodoxy and transform it into an ideology, usually to serve alien purposes. Not even some orthodox regime can be identified with Orthodoxy, which is the living tradition of truth and life. Orthodoxy is neither static nor conservative–Orthodoxy is dynamic and traditional. Nor is traditionalism conservatism, but creativity; it is not a condition, but life. Finally, Orthodoxy is not some ideology. Emphatically, it is not some ethnic ideology.

Of course, some have often attempted to use Orthodoxy as an ideology. This has been done not only by political leaders who pursued their own goals, but by clergy and by laity. The truth, as well as the freedom which truth offers (cf. Jn. 8:32), are weighty matters. Some abandon them easily or replace them with their false idols. It is easy for someone to trade in Orthodoxy, but it is difficult to live it. It is easy to boast of being Orthodox—especially when Orthodoxy happens to be in fashion—and to condemn others as apostates or heretics, but it is difficult to live the truth of Orthodoxy. Therefore, we often forget this truth and project our personal or collective desires and self-interest in its name. Thus, we falsify Orthodoxy much more than those whom we characterize as its enemies. When those whom we characterize as enemies of Orthodoxy judge and condemn our distorted Orthodoxy, instead of turning our glance on ourselves, in order to see our condition and to take care to correct it, we launch missiles at them, thinking that in this way we are fulfilling our obligation to Orthodoxy or even that we are becoming her confessors.

Orthodoxy is not an ideology, but truth and life. It honors the particularity of people, their language, their traditions, their customs. Just as Christ by his incarnation assumed the entire human nature, so also the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church, assumes everything human within history. But also, as Christ did not assume sin, because this constitutes a condition contrary to nature for man, so also the Church, or better, those who wish to belong to the Church, to the everlasting and indivisible body of Christ, cannot allow states of sin to dominate in our lives and in our relationships. The freedom which Christ grants cannot be used “as a ground for the flesh,” but must be revealed by a spirit of love and mutual service (cf. Gal. 5:13). This freedom is not being unaccountable, but a call to free ourselves completely from the source of sin and division, which is our egoism—and to find in Christ the university of our nature.

In fact, many of the obstacles we meet daily would disappear, if this disposition were in us! How many contradictions would be put aside, if individual or party egoism did not dominate in our relationships! How many divisions would be cancelled, if national or confessional egoism did not prevail in our religious life! “If the salt has lost its taste,” says the Lord, “with what will it be salted?” (Mk. 9:50) If we Christians, or even if we Orthodox, who boast that we preserve unaltered the truth of Christ, do not take care to work in this direction, on whom are we waiting? The Church continually directs us to the goal of fighting against egoism in its different forms. Repentance, the life work of a Christian, has this same goal in view as well.

Orthodoxy is not some objectified value, which someone can use in accord with his tastes and desires. Orthodoxy is not a property of someone who thinks he owns it. No one can own Orthodoxy. He can only be owned by it. No one can enlist Orthodoxy in his schemes in order to condemn or fight others, in order to make or become fanatics. True Orthodoxy (we are not speaking of its falsifications) cannot be enlisted in anything else, but calls everyone to a universal enlistment. Otherwise, even Baptism in the Orthodox Church is nothing else than enrollment in it. The progress of the faithful in the Orthodox Church is realized to the extent that they make their enrollment in it effective, to the extent that they do not let egoism and its consequences dominate in their lives and empty their faith, their hope, and their love, leaving only the appearance of them.

When, then, we fell ourselves to be members of the Orthodox Church, members of the body of Christ, the divisions of the Christian world cannot be indifferent to us. The pain which these divisions provoke are our own pain. The concern for their elimination must be the concern of us all. But in order to help Christians of other confessions, we do not need to make compromises in our faith. By such compromises we betray both ourselves and them, because they need the Christian truth untainted. For us to help Christians of other confessions, especially now when circumstances bring us very near them, we need to turn to our own roots; we need to know our Orthodoxy better and to seek her universal and ecumenical truth.

Source: From Orthodox Spiritual Life, Holy Cross Orthodox Press 1994, pp. 1-5 (slightly edited)

Half of Israeli Public Want Temple Rebuilt

Half the Public Wants to See Holy Temple Rebuilt

by Hillel Fendel
07/18/10
Arutz Sheva

Half the Israeli public wants the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) to be rebuilt. This is the main finding of a poll commissioned by the Knesset Television Channel and carried out by the Panels Institute.

The poll was taken in advance of this Tuesday’s national day of mourning, known as Tisha B’Av, on which the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, 2,000 and 2,500 years ago, respectively.

Forty nine percent said they want the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, while 23% said they do not. The remainder said they were unsure.

The public is about evenly split on whether they believe it will happen, with a slight edge – 42% to 39% – to those who believe the Third Holy Temple will be rebuilt.

Should the State of Israel take active steps towards the reconstruction? Forty-eight percent said no, while 27% said yes.

The complete results of the poll will be broadcast on Channel 99, the Knesset channel, on Monday night at 9:30 P.M., right after the traditional evening prayers and mournful recitation of the Book of Lamentations in synagogues throughout the country.

Given the current political climate, the onset of construction of the Beit HaMikdash, and possibly even a poll on the subject, is not likely to go over quietly in the Islamic world, which currently has day-to-day control over the Temple Mount. A mere visit to the holy site in the year 2,000 by then-Opposition Leader Ariel Sharon is blamed by Arabs for having sparked the Oslo War, a terrorist onslaught that claimed nearly 1,000 Israeli lives in just over four years – although in truth, the war was planned by leading Palestinian Authority figures for months beforehand.

Chinese Turn To Religion To Fill A Spiritual Vacuum

July 18, 2010
NPR

Alongside China's astonishing economic boom, an almost unnoticed religious boom has quietly been taking place.

In the country's first major survey on religious beliefs, conducted in 2006, 31.4 percent of about 4,500 people questioned described themselves as religious. That amounts to more than 300 million religious believers, an astonishing number in an officially atheist country, and three times higher than the last official estimate, which had largely remained unchanged for years.

The collapse of the communist ideology created a void that has left many Chinese staring into a spiritual vacuum, looking for a value system to counterbalance the rampant materialism that seems to govern life in China.

"Chinese people don't know what to believe in anymore," says Liu Zhongyu, a professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai, who conducted the survey. "And since the political atmosphere has relaxed, they turn to religion for comfort."

One young evangelical Christian missionary travels from rural village to village in the Protestant heartland in eastern China to proselytize. She attributed her own conversion to the overwhelming pressures of China's education system.

"In high school, I felt very depressed," said the bright-eyed young woman, who gave her name as Nicole. "I felt people had no direction, and I felt life was dry and boring. I felt the pressure of school was very high. God helped me and liberated me."

Although proselytizing is still illegal in China today, she and a group of friends are openly preaching in villages, without official interference. China has come a long way from the dark days of the Cultural Revolution, which ended in 1976, when all religious practice was banned, and monks and clergy were sent to prison or to perform hard labor.

Creating A 'Harmonious Society'

Since 2006, the position of China's government has been that religion can be a force for good toward the ultimate aim of creating a "harmonious society."

"What is important is that the work should be done on a legal basis," Ye Xiaowen, the official then in charge of religious affairs, told state-run Xinhua news agency in July 2006, in his first interview in a decade.

Ye, seen as a hardliner, was replaced by his deputy Wang Zuo'an in September 2009. The State Administration for Religious Affairs refused to comment for this series, and turned down repeated requests for interviews over an extended period of time.

China has a long history of peasant rebellions fueled by religious belief, and observers say the Communist government still views religion with caution, seeing it as a social issue and political issue which could affect social stability.

"It doesn't matter to the Chinese government whether you are a farmers' union, a Boy Scout troop, the Red Cross or the Catholic Church," says Sister Janet Carroll, a nun who has been active in China for decades. "If you gather people together, have authorities in place, financial means and some sort of organizational control over groups of people, the Chinese government wants to not only know about it, but also have a say about how it all functions."

To that end, after the communist revolution in 1949, the government recognized five official religions: Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Daoism and Islam. For each of them, associations were set up to supervise and monitor religious practice.

China adopted the religious policy of the Soviet Union, with a few adaptations, says the Rev. Michel Marcil, director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau. "They had no idea of what a religious policy was," he says.

But Marcil says conversations with Chinese religious affairs officials last year have led him to believe there could be policy changes.

"They said, 'We are now trying to find something which would be much more adapted to China and its present situation than what we took from Russia back in 1949,'" he says.

Spread Of Religion Beyond Government Control

Across China, religious belief has blossomed and flourished — far outpacing the government's framework to control it — with a profusion of charismatic movements and a revival in traditional Chinese religions. Two-thirds of those who described themselves as religious in the 2006 survey said they were Buddhists, Taoists or worshippers of folk gods such as the Dragon King or the God of Fortune.

Another popular goddess is Mazu, who is believed to protect sailors. Although she is included in the Daoist and Buddhist pantheons, she — and many other indigenous popular gods — fall outside China's five official religions. However, the worship of Mazu recently has been reclassified as "cultural heritage" rather than religious practice, making it acceptable even for Communist Party members.

Academics say that model is being used elsewhere in China for other indigenous folk religions.

There are also government attempts to support traditional Chinese practices such as ancestor worship, by changing the public holidays. In 2009, the government declared the Qingming Festival — the traditional day for sweeping graves — a public holiday for the first time, allowing much larger numbers of people to sweep their ancestral graves.

"Now the government supports us," says Shao Longshan, his cheeks still tear-stained after bowing deeply in front of the grave of his late wife, Zhu Jiefen at a cemetery on the outskirts of Shanghai, at the Qingming Festival in early April this year. "Not only does this let the people who are alive remember those who have gone, but [it allows us to] keep the Chinese traditions and culture."

The Chinese government has also given extra support to Buddhism in what scholars say is an attempt to counterbalance the explosion of Christian faith.

Faith Growing Among The Young

Another recent development is that increasing numbers of younger people are practicing religion. The 2006 survey showed 62 percent of religious believers are 39 and under.

This trend was evident at an unregistered meeting of Christians worshipping in a charismatic underground prayer meeting in the coastal city of Wenzhou, known as "China's Jerusalem." Many of the devout were young and obviously well-off. Such underground Christians have recently received surprisingly sympathetic coverage in the state-run media, raising hopes that their meetings may be legitimized.

One scholar, Liu Peng, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told the Global Times that "a huge gap" exists between the government's position on religion and Christians' needs.

"House churches also operate on a smaller scale, which means people's spiritual needs can be met more easily and they elect their own pastors. ... It's rather like the economic changes. When state-owned enterprises couldn't meet the public's needs, private businesses naturally appeared," he told the newspaper.

That link between belief and wealth is also apparent in the emergence of "boss Christians," or Christian entrepreneurs, in Wenzhou. Academics say they are helping the rapid spread of Christianity in China by building churches elsewhere to spread the "Wenzhou brand" of Christianity.

There has already been a significant relaxation of the government's religious policies over the past decade. New regulations passed in 2005 allow religious groups to send members overseas for study and to publish religious literature, among other things.

For Catholics, this has led to many clergy being able to study in the U.S. and elsewhere. They are struggling with both the theory and practice of reconciling communities who have been divided for decades: the state-sanctioned church and underground communities loyal to the Holy See.

The economic boom also is having unforeseen consequences for China's Muslims, in particular its female imams, who report difficulty recruiting new imam candidates, due to the paltry salaries. China is the only place in the world that has a tradition of independent female mosques, with their own ahong, or imams, to lead prayers and teach the Quran to women. But older female ahong report that the economic opportunities offered elsewhere mean that few women are drawn to the profession.

Beijing Rethinking Its Stance?

On a wide range of religious issues, there's clearly pressure for change in China from the grassroots, and some observers have noticed a new responsiveness from the top down.

"This is not simply something from below, but it's being met from above in constructive ways as well," says Tom Banchoff, director of Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.

His organization holds annual meetings with Chinese religious affairs officials. He says this new attitude is evidenced by "the fact there are centers for religious studies arising at universities around China with public support, the fact that there's now a discourse about the positive role that religion can play in Chinese society."

This does represent a change in attitude, but at the same time, many accounts are emerging from within China of leaders of larger unsanctioned religious groups being subject to official harassment and persecution, sometimes ending up in detention and even jail.

China's Communist leaders are, it appears, still struggling with how to deal with this unruly religious boom, and their cautious steps forward sometimes end up being counterbalanced by reflexive crackdowns at a local level.

The Soul Needs Repetition For Proper Cultivation

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12).

The plower sows in the field. Does not the plower repeat the same task every second? How would he, therefore, plow the field if not plowing from morning to dusk deepening furrow after furrow?

The traveler walks the road. Does not the traveler repeat the same task every second with the same effort? How else would he have traveled the road and reached his destination?

The carpenter prepares the boards in his workshop. Does not the carpenter repeat the same task with every board, with the same labor? How else would he be able to prepare the ordered amount of prepared boards?

Brethren, is not all of our beneficial works comprised of strands and strands of repetition? Therefore, let not the preacher of the truth become slothful and let him not say: "I told them so and I will not repeat it!" Let not the hearer of the truth become proud and let him not say: "I heard it once and I do not need to hear it again!"

O preacher of the truth, do not be afraid to repeat and to repeat: that through repetition you teach and by repetition you remind. Without repetition even the field is not plowed, nor the path traveled, nor the framework [rafters] of the house prepared. And you [preacher of the truth] are to plow, to lead and to prepare.

O hearer of the truth, do not become proud and do not say that you heard the truth once. Truth is food for the soul. You have eaten bread today, yesterday and the day before yesterday and for months and years past. And again you will eat it, so that your body would be healthy. Nourish also the soul. Nourish it with the truth, the same truth, yesterday, today and tomorrow and until death so that your soul may be healthy, strong and radiant.

O Lord Jesus, nourish us every day and every hour with Your truth which is Yourself O Jesus, sweet nourishment! To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

The Battle of Kosovo: Defeat or Victory?

by Bojan Ratković
July 22, 2009
Serbianna

Serbian military defeat at Kosovo fields in 1389 paved the way for the victory of Christian Europe against Islamic tyranny at the gates of Vienna.

On the 28th of June in the year 1389, an army of Serbian Christian knights faced off against the invading Ottoman Muslim Turks on the famous and infamous Field of Blackbirds in Kosovo, the heartland of Medieval Serbia.

The massive Turkish forces were far better equipped than the Serbs and they outnumbered the Serbian army by more than three to one.

The two armies clashed like great rivers of steel and by the time the battle was over, both the Serbian leader Stefan Lazar Hrebeljanovic and the Turkish Sultan Murad I had lost their lives.

It is a popularly held belief that the Serbs were in fact defeated by the stronger Turks on that day in 1389 and that this defeat ultimately led to the occupation of Serbia by the Ottoman Empire. Even the Serbs themselves believe that the Battle of Kosovo was a defeat for the Serbian side, but they continue to celebrate the bravery of the Serbian army against a much stronger enemy and the martyrdom of Stefan Lazar, who chose to die defending Christendom rather than bow at the feet of the Muslim invaders. The Battle of Kosovo became Serbia’s Thermopylae and Stefan Lazar became Serbia’s King Leonidas.

Nevertheless, when the aftermath of the Battle of Kosovo is examined more closely in the appropriate historical context, the question of who won and who lost on the Field of Blackbirds in 1389 becomes more complex.

The Battle of Kosovo left both the Serbian and the Turkish armies virtually destroyed and neither was able to strike a final blow against the other.

Following the death of Sultan Murad I, who was the only Turkish Sultan ever to be killed in battle, his son Bayezid secured his own succession to the throne by having his brother Yakub killed. Weakened, the Ottoman Turks were forced to halt their advance into Europe and they returned from whence they came without pushing any further into Serbia. It wasn’t until 1459, some 70 years after the Battle of Kosovo, that the Ottomans finally managed to subdue Serbia following a slew of further battles and conflicts.

With these things in mind, it becomes increasingly more difficult to argue that the Ottoman Turks really were the undisputed victors in the Battle of Kosovo. A powerful empire with a large and well-equipped army was stopped from advancing further into Europe by the much smaller and weaker Serbia; the Ottomans lost their Sultan and their plans for conquering the Balkans were derailed for seven decades. It is hard to imagine that the Turks would have considered this kind of outcome a decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire.

In fact, the Serbian King of Bosnia, Stefan Tvrtko I Kotromanic, who himself contributed forces to the Battle of Kosovo, sent numerous letters to European capitals in which he claimed that the Christian Serbs defeated the Ottoman Turks on the Field of Blackbirds in Kosovo. His letters reached Trogir, Venice, Florence, Vienna and Paris, and in return he received letters of congratulations from his European allies.

Some 250 years following the Battle of Kosovo, Benedict Kuripesic, member of the Austrian diplomatic mission to Constantinople and historian of the Balkans region, came to the conclusion that when the circumstances of the battle are considered in the appropriate historical context, the Turks were in fact defeated in the Battle of Kosovo. This Islamic military campaign in Serbia was put to an abrupt halt and it was forced to retreat, which, according to Kuripesic, signified defeat.

Despite these facts, the majority of modern historians and even the majority of Serbs themselves consider the Battle of Kosovo a military victory for the Ottoman Empire and a military defeat for Serbia. They arrive at this conclusion mostly through historical hindsight, pointing out that the Turks did eventually occupy Serbia in 1459. It seems clear, however, that although the Battle of Kosovo proved more devastating for the Serbs in the long run as the smaller Serbian state could not recover its loses as quickly as the massive Ottoman Empire, when looking at the Battle of Kosovo in the appropriate historical context it is difficult to conceive that the outcome of the battle itself would have been considered a victory for the Turks.

After finally conquering Serbia in 1459, the Ottoman Empire would eventually set its sights on Vienna, and in 1529 Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Austrian city in an attempt to conquer the whole of Central Europe.

The Europeans were ultimately successful in repelling the Ottoman siege of 1529, but had the Serbs not engaged the Turks on the Field of Blackbirds in 1389 the Ottoman Empire would likely have arrived at the gates of Vienna long before 1529, and the outcome of the Siege of Vienna could have been far less favorable for the Europeans.

The Battle of Kosovo and the Turkish retreat that followed turned out to be an important victory for Christian Europe in the long run.

On June the 28th in the year 1389 the powerful Ottoman Empire faced off against a much smaller and weaker enemy, and yet the Ottoman Empire lost its Sultan and nearly its entire army in the battle that ensued. The Ottoman Turks were forced to retreat and their advance into Europe was effectively stopped for a number of years. The Ottoman conquest of the much smaller and weaker Serbia was delayed for 70 years.

The Serbian people are famous for celebrating the Battle of Kosovo as a defeat in the Earthly Kingdom that became a victory for Christianity in the Kingdom of Heaven, but when analyzed in the appropriate historical context, the Earthly outcome of the Battle of Kosovo was most certainly not a decisive victory for the Turks.

With all things considered, the outcome of the Battle of Kosovo was in fact a stalemate between the Serbs and the Turks that was finally broken by the Turks some seven decades later, in the year 1459.

The 70-year-long stalemate allowed other European nations to prepare for the impending threat of Ottoman expansion and the end-result was the successful defense of Central and Western Europe from Turkish invaders and the complete eradication of the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 20th century.

The stalemate at the Kosovo fields in 1389 between the Serbs and the Muslim Turks paved the way for the victory of Christian Europe against Islamic tyranny at the gates of Vienna and ultimately became an important victory for Christian Europe.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Seven Precepts For An Assured Salvation

Abba Moses gave the following seven precepts to Abba Poemenius, which if followed will lead to salvation by anybody whether they be in the cenobium, or in solitude or in the world:

1. In the first place, as it is written, love God with all your heart and with all your mind.

2. Love your neighbour as yourself.

3. Bring to death all evil in you.

4. Do not judge your brother in any dispute.

5. Do no evil to another person.

6. Before departing this life cleanse yourself of every fault of mind or body.

7. Always be of a humble and contrite heart.

These things can be achieved by anyone who thinks of his own sins and not his neighbour's, and trusts in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns world without end. Amen

From The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Abba Pambo on Monastic Solitude vs. Public Works

St. Pambo together with Sts. Paisius and Isaiah (Feast Day - July 18)

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Which is more pleasing to God: a life of mortification in the wilderness or works of mercy?

Men of prayer in the wilderness think that many among men, no matter how many good works they perform, will find it difficult to safeguard the purity of the heart and to direct the mind toward God.

Benefactors of men say that the man in the wilderness is totally occupied with his own salvation and does not help in the salvation of others.

Two Egyptian brothers, Paisius and Isaiah, inherited a great estate from their parents, sold the estate and each took their share of the money. One of them immediately distributed his money to the poor, became a monk and withdrew into the wilderness to lead a strict life of asceticism that through patience, fasting, prayer and purifying the mind from all evil thoughts in order to save his soul. The other brother likewise became a monk, but did not want to enter the wilderness, rather he built a small monastery near the town, a hospital for the sick, a public refectory [dining room] for the needy and a resting place for the sorrowful. He dedicated himself completely to the service of his fellow men.

When both brothers died, a dispute ensued among the monks of Egypt: which of the two fulfilled the law of Christ? Unable to agree among themselves they came to St. Pambo and questioned him about this. St. Pambo replied: "Both are perfect before God; the hospitable one is similar to the hospitable Abraham and the ascetical one is similar to Elijah the Prophet, both of whom equally pleased God." But not all the monks were satisfied with this response. Then St. Pambo prayed to God to reveal the truth to him. After praying for several days, St. Pambo said to the monks: "Before God I tell you that I saw both brothers Paisius and Isaiah together in Paradise." With this, the dispute was settled and all were satisfied.

Bukovina: Romania's Centre of Spirituality

The northern province of Moldova - known as Bukovina, is an ethnological and religious enclave intended to symbolize Christianity's triumph against paganism. Many of the Bukovina monasteries were built by the Moldavian voivodes as a token of gratitude to God after each victory in battles against the Turks. The unique beauty of their external frescos, which attract thousands of tourists, prompted the UN to enter seven of them on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1993.

Built in 1532 by voivode Petru Rares, the Moldovita Monastery has the appearance of a fortress because of the six-metre-tall stone walls that surround the compound and four defense towers. The monasteries, centres of sixteenth century education and culture, were often targets for invading Tartars and Ottomans. The church, painted on the outside in a dominant red-brown chromatic with many yellow inlays, has the best-kept frescos of all the monasteries in the region. After the First World War, and almost two centuries of Austrian occupation, Moldovita again became a monastery for the nuns, many of whom now are guides for the flocks of tourists.

The former treasury of the monastery is a museum exhibiting old embroideries, wooden icons, various archaeological findings and religious books. The monastery was a genuine centre for the copying of books and manuscripts. Tourists, who can find accommodation at numerous pensions in the neighborhood, can buy religious souvenirs from the gift shop or traditional artifacts from the craftsmen stalls at the gates.

Historians, noting the different styles in evidence, say the church of the monastery was painted by numerous painters at different times. The historical and religious scenes depicted on the outside walls -- such as the Last Judgment, Moses and the burning bush, and the Siege of Constantinople -- have an apparent narrative continuity mixed with Byzantine and local elements. The scenes on the southern facade tell the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, with all the related Biblical episodes, from the Annunciation to Jesus' presentation at the temple.

The only painted monastery not built by a ruling voivode, Sucevita was built in 1584 by the Movilesti, an influential aristocratic family. Locally known as boyars, they later gave Moldova a ruler and pre-eminent ecclesiastic figures, whose graves are on view inside the church. As in Moldovita, the monastery is surrounded by high stone walls and watch towers, one of them also being the bell tower. The painters of Sucevita were historically identified as brothers Ion and Sofronie, who painted the church between 1594 and 1595. The siblings had great skills as miniaturists and highlighted contrasts with strong, vivid colors.

A unique theme can be seen on the outside walls of the church -- the all Saints' prayer, along with the Stair of Virtues -- an anti-thesis between good and evil. Since Sucevita was the last of Bukovina's painted monasteries to be built, its outside painting, in a dominant green chromatic, is the best preserved. Local legend says that a small portion of Sucevita church's walls remained unpainted after the scaffolding collapsed, killing the painter.

Bukovina is also famous for its ceramics. The village of Marginea, in Suceava County, stands out with its unique black ceramics, a tradition whose beginnings go back to time immemorial. The pottery is admired at many national and international fairs for its color and traditional decorations as well as various shapes and overall symmetry.

Putna, though not painted, carries the greatest religious and symbolical burden of the Bukovina monasteries. It was the first creation of Stephen the Great, probably the most notorious figure in Romanian history, over whose tomb it shelters. Stephen ruled Moldova between 1457 and 1504. In 1459, he finished construction of the monastery, which had unusually large dimensions in those times, probably because Stephen had decided to make it his family's final resting place.

Stephen, now a saint in the Romanian Orthodox Church calendar, built 43 monasteries and churches during his reign. The museum of Putna exhibits several artifacts, including the shroud of Maria of Mangop, the oldest Moldavian style portrait embroidered in natural size. Also housed there are fifteenth-century religious books and the silver incense dispenser given by the ruler to the priests of the monastery after its inauguration.

The former capital of Moldova, the Suceava seat fortress was built late fourteenth century. After a tumultuous three-century history, during which it was besieged, damaged and consolidated countless times, the fortress fell into oblivion. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Austrian architect Karl Romstorfer undertook the first renovation, along with an archaeological exploration. In 2004 -- 500 years after the death of Stephen the Great -- the fortress went through another thorough restoration. It now hosts many exhibitions and fairs.

Voronet, also named the Sistine Chapel of the East, is probably the most known of all the painted monasteries, due to its dominant blue which is commonly referred to as "Voronet blue". The color was obtained from lapis lazuli, but in measures that remain secret. Built at the direction of Stephen the Great in less than four months in 1488, the monastery served as gratitude to God after a notorious 1475 victory against the Ottomans in the battle of Vaslui. One of the most important frescos was painted on the west side of the church and depicts the Last Judgment. The scene contains local elements, such as musical instruments, folk costumes and landscapes.

This text and photographs are courtesy of the Southeast European Times (SET), a web site sponsored by the US Department of Defense in support of UN Resolution 1244, designed to provide an international audience with a portal to a broad range of information about Southeastern Europe. It highlights movement toward greater regional stability and steps governments take toward integration into European institutions. SET also focuses on developments that hinder both terrorist activity and support for terrorism in the region.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth in the 'New York Times'

Holy New Martyr Elizabeth the Grand Duchess (Feast Day - July 18)

Grand Duchess Elizabeth, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of England and elder sister of Empress Alexandra of Russia (see July 4), was one of the most illustrious women of her day, known throughout Europe not only for her high birth and graceful beauty, but also for her modesty and goodness of heart. After marrying Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich, she converted to Orthodoxy, although this was not required of her by her position. After the assassination of her husband in 1905, Grand Duchess Elizabeth withdrew from public life, founding the convent of Saints Martha and Mary, of which she became the superior. There she dedicated herself to prayer, fasting, tending the sick, and caring for the poor. After the Bolsheviks seized power, she was exiled to the Urals, where she and those with her were martyred in 1918 when they were cast alive into an abandoned mine. The Novice Barbara followed Saint Elizabeth into exile. When she was separated from the Grand Duchess, Barbara asked to be allowed to join her again; to terrify her, the Bolsheviks told her that she would be allowed to do this, but only if she were prepared for unheard-of torments and a violent death. To their amazement, she consented, and was deemed worthy of martyrdom with the Grand Duchess. Their holy relics were recovered and taken through Russia to China, and came to rest in the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem. When their reliquaries were opened in 1981, their bodies were found to be partially incorrupt, and sweet with the odour of sanctity. With them are also commemorated their fellow Martyrs: Grand Duke Sergius Mikhailovich; Princes John, Constantine, and Igor, the brethren; Prince Vladimir Paley; and Theodore Remez.

Below are reports made by the New York Times that reference Grand Duchess Elizabeth from her marriage to her burial:

March 16, 1884, Wednesday - The Russian - English Marriage

November 12, 1894, Wednesday - MOSCOW FULL OF MOURNERS; FUNERAL SERVICES OVER THE REMAINS OF ALEXANDER III. The Great City Draped in Sable and Crowded with Visitors -- The Most Impressive Funeral Procession Ever Witnessed in Russia -- Solemn Mass Said in the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael -- The Dead Emperor Lying in State.

March 27, 1904, Sunday - CZARINA'S MIDNIGHT DRIVE: Empress and Her Sister Fond of Emulating Haroun-al-Raschid

February 18, 1905, Saturday - TERRORIST BOMB SLAYS SERGIUS: Czar's Uncle Blown to Pieces in Moscow. DESCRIBED BY WITNESS Times Correspondent Tells of Tragedy and Causes. MOSCOW PEOPLE ARMING Leading Liberal Tells of Plan to Bring About a Revolution -Vengeance Actuated the Assassin

February 18, 1905, Saturday - ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF CRIME: Deed Committed by Single Man, Member of the "Fighting Group"

February 19, 1905, Sunday - Associated Press Article on the Assasination of Grand Duke Sergius

July 19, 1906, Thursday - Grand Duke Sergius's Body Moved

February 10, 1907, Sunday - ROYAL LADIES of CLEVERNESS and LEARNING: Queens and Princesses highly, and in some cases technically educated, work hard with brain and hand..

October 8, 1908, Thursday - GRAND DUCHESS IN CONVENT: Widow of Sergius, Assassinated at Moscow In 1905, May Take Veil

April 23, 1910, Saturday - GRAND DUCHESS BECOMES NUN: Elizabeth, Sister of Czarina, and Grand Duke Sergius's Widow, Takes Vows

September 10, 1911, Sunday - Associated Press Article Describing How Grand Duchess Elizabeth Forgave Her Husbands Murderer

September 17, 1911, Sunday - THE CZAR'S SISTER-IN-LAW A WOMAN SUFFRAGE LEADER: She's the Widow of Grand Duke Sergius --- Nicholas Sent Her to a Nunnery, But She Turned the Nuns Into Suffragists and He Had to Surrender

January 31, 1912, Wednesday - STORM IN RUSSIAN CHURCH: Bishop Hermogenes and Famous Priest Heliodorus Exiled

August 1, 1920, Sunday - SETTLES DOUBTS OF CZAR'S MURDER: Gen. Diederichs Tells How the Bolsheviki Killed Him and All His Family. BUTCHERED IN A CELLAR Called from Their Beds and Killed by Bullets, Bayonets and Rifle Butts. Empress Remained with Her Son. Prisoners Harshly Treated. SETTLES DOUBTS OF CZAR'S MURDER Butchered in a Cellar. The Bodies Were Burned

February 3, 1921, Thursday - GRAND DUCHESS BURIED: Body of Elizabeth, Late Czarina's Sister, Entombed In Jerusalem

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone
Emulating the Lord's self-abasement on the earth, thou didst forsake royal mansions to serve the poor and disdained, overflowing with compassion for the suffering. And taking up a martyr's cross, thou in meekness didst perfect the Saviour's image within thee. Wherefore, with Barbara, entreat Him to save us all, O wise Elizabeth.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
In the midst of worldliness, thy mournful heart dwelt in Heaven; in barbaric godlessness, thy valiant soul was not troubled: thou didst long to meet thy Bridegroom as a confessor, and He found thee worthy of thy martyric purpose. O Elizabeth, with Barbara, thy brave companion, pray to thy Bridegroom for us.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Christ Is Everything For The Christian Soul

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Until Christ becomes completely everything for the soul which authentically has a certain permanent and unchanging value, until then, man cannot enter into suffering for Christ. How could St. Marina the fifteen-year-old girl enter into suffering for Christ? For to her, Christ was completely everything! How could Saint Julitta have rejoiced upon seeing her three year old son Kyriacos dead for the Faith of Christ? Again, for her, Christ was completely everything. Behold, how St. Tikhon of Zadonsk speaks in detail of how Christ is everything to man in the form of a conversation between Christ and man:

Do you desire good for yourself?
Every good is in Me.

Do you desire blessedness?
Every blessedness is in Me.

Do you desire beauty?
What is more beautiful than Me?

Do you desire nobleness?
What is more noble than the Son of God and the Holy Virgin?

Do you desire height?
What is higher than the Kingdom of Heaven?

Do you desire riches?
In Me are all riches.

Do you desire wisdom?
I am the Wisdom of God.

Do you desire friendship?
Who is a kinder friend than I Who lay down My life for all?

Do you desire help?
Who can help except Me?

Do you seek joy?
Who will rejoice outside of Me?

Do you seek comfort in misery?
Who will comfort you outside of Me?

Do you seek peace?
I am the peace of the soul.

Do you seek life?
In Me is the source of life.

Do you seek light?
'I am the Light of the world' (John 8:12).

Bulgarian Orthodox Honor Saint Marina

July 17, 2010
Novinite

The Orthodox world, including the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, mark Saturday the Day of Saint Marina.

According to the Golden Legend, she was a native of Antioch, daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. Marina was scorned by her father for her Christian faith, and lived in the country with a foster-mother keeping sheep. Olybrius, the praeses orientis (Governor of the Roman Diocese of the East), offered her marriage at the price of her renunciation of Christianity. Upon her refusal, she was cruelly tortured, during which various miraculous incidents occurred. One of these involved being swallowed by Satan in the shape of a dragon, from which she escaped alive when the cross she carried irritated the dragon's entrails. The Golden Legend, in an atypical moment of skepticism, describes this last incident as "apocryphal and not to be taken seriously" (trans. Ryan, 1.369). Marina was sentenced to death and murdered in A.D. 304.

The focal point of the celebrations in Bulgaria is the second-largest city of Plovdiv and the St. Marina Church in the city where the miracle-making icon of the Virgin Marry arrived from Jerusalem Friday evening. The icon, which will remain in Plovdiv until July 21, was met by hundreds of believers and was blessed by the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew.

St. Marina is a very popular and honored Saint by Bulgarians – it is said that she is the patron of health and visits the dreams of people, who believe in her to give them predictions about their future and advice how to avoid illness and bad fortune.

St. Marina is also considered to be the patron of waters and the protector of the Southern Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria. This is why July 17th is also the Day of the southern Black Sea town of Sozopol.

In Bulgaria, July 17 is also the name day of women called Marina and Marinka, and men called Marin and Marincho.

More on the Church of Saint Marina in Plovdiv here.

The Church of Saint Marina in Thissio

Saint Marina of Thissio (Feast Day - July 17)

The inpressive church of Saint Marina (Agia Marina) in Thissio is situated on the Hill of the Nymphs near the Observatory of Athens. The church's foundations were laid in 1922 based on the architectural drawings of Achilleas Georgiadis on the site of an older, 19th century, church.

In its present form, the church has a cruciform plan with a dome in the middle and four smaller domes on the corners. The interior was decorated by mural paintings during the 1930's, mostly by the painter Graikos and Kandris. This was also when the wooden screen was crafted, designed by the architect Georgios Nomikos. The mural paintings form a rare example of religious painting in Greece, influenced by the Jugendstil of Central Europe.

South-east of the church is a small Byzantine church carved into rock, next to the one the new church was built on. This small church was also dedicated to Saint Marina. It must have been built between the 11th and 12th century. Wall paintings dating back to the 17th and 19th century were found inside. Most of them were removed and placed on the northern part of the new church. The smaller church's side walls still have several 17th century mural paintings.

The location of the church had been associated with the religious practices related to childbirth and child health. Expectant mothers and those with sick babies would come here to pray for a safe labor and the cure of their children. Pregnant women actually used to crawl over a steep cliff in order to make their prayers for a safe labor come to fulfillment. The church holds a major festival on the feast of Saint Marina on July 17th.

Source

On 4 December 1966 the recently discovered holy skull of Saint Marina which was discovered in the Monastery of Saint George at Ilia of Edipsos in Halkida, was brought for the first time to the Church of Saint Marina in Thissio. To commemorate this event, a booklet on the life of Saint Marina was written which also contains pictures. It can be viewed here after downloading the pdf file towards the bottom.

Read also the following study: Pagan Cult to Christian Ritual: The Case of Agia Marina Theseiou

Read also:

Saint Marina the Great Martyr and Vanquisher of Demons

Astonishing Contemporary Miracles of Saint Marina on the Island of Andros

Saint Marina: The Protectress of Nephrology