A Homily On the Faith of Abraham the Patriarch

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"I am nothing but dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27).

These are the words that the righteous Abraham spoke of himself. Brethren, ridiculous are those people who pride themselves on their association with worldly princes and noblemen and begin to think highly of themselves. Abraham was found worthy to converse with the Eternal and Almighty King. Nevertheless, he remained unwavering in his humility, calling himself dust and ashes.

Who was this Abraham, that he was found worthy of so much of God's favor in his lifetime and praise after his death, from the Apostle (Galatians 3, Hebrews 11), and even from the Lord Christ Himself (Luke 16:22, John 8:39)? He was a peasant who possessed all the virtues, living always according to the Law of God, a man with a firm faith in God, a lover of justice, hospitable, compassionate, courageous, obedient, pure and humble. However, Abraham is especially glorified for his faith, a powerful faith.

Abraham was one hundred years old when God told him that his wife, barren until then, would bear a son, and he believed. And even before Sarah had given birth to Isaac, God said to Abraham: "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth" (Genesis 13:16). Abraham believed and doubted not. And when an only son was born to Abraham, God commanded him, as a test, to offer his only son as a sacrifice. Abraham was prepared to do this, had God not turned him from it at the last moment.

How complete was this wonderful man's faith and obedience to God! Therefore God blessed him and made him glorious on earth and in heaven.

Brethren, blessed are they who, without hesitation, believe in God and fulfill His holy commandments. The blessing of God will accompany them in both worlds.

O our Blessed Creator, bless us sinners also and number us among Thine elect, who have a share with Abraham in Thy Kingdom. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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Hieromonk Anthimos the Fool for Christ (1 of 2)

By Elder Paisios the Athonite

Father Anthimos (+ December 9, 1867) was from Sofia in Bulgaria, where he was a married parish priest. After the death of his wife, in about 1841, he came to the Garden of the Mother of God and took root like a good plant, as we shall see below, blossoming with a sweet fragrance.

His first place of repentance was in the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra, where he was tonsured a monk. Afterwards, he began to act as a fool for Christ, in order to hide the inner wealth of his spiritual experience. He made the whole of Athos his place of repentance; he continually travelled about in the desert, sometimes staying in caves and at other times in the hollows of trees. Now and again, he would also appear at the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon, because he could understand the services which were in Russian. He usually hid in the narthex and followed the service from there. Whenever he saw one of the fathers watching him and regarding him with reverence, he would start behaving stupidly, talking to himself or making jokes, and so he would spoil their thoughts. He would stay at the monastery for varying lengths of time, sometimes a few days, sometimes a little longer. Then he would disappear again into the mountain of Athos entirely alone for two or three months, before making his appearance again at the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon.

At the beginning of his divine madness, he wore an old habit for five years, and later patched up garments. Later still, he ended up wearing an old sack in which he had made three holes, one at the top to put his head through and two more for his arms. He appeared in it everywhere. It was for this reason he was known as "Sacky". When he returned to the forest, however, he took off his sack as a precaution against tearing it, and instead he tore his body on the twigs. Those who had no spiritual depth, but only judged from external appearance, called him "Dotty". But Father Anthimos amazed them when he would tell them their innermost thoughts. This way, he spiritually benefited those with good intentions, revealing their innermost thoughts to them.

You notice about fools for Christ that because they have such great humbleness, they also have great purity, that is spiritual clarity, so that they know the hearts of men and even the mysteries of God. Such a man was Father Anthimos, who had covered his own pure heart with an old sack.

Whenever he went to the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon, he wouldn't go in but stayed with the monastery workers and sat and ate with them in the same refectory. It seems that the abbot of the monastery got word of this and asked the monk on duty to take care of the ascetic, Father Anthimos. From then on, the monk who was assigned to take care of the worker's refectory held him in great reverence, helped him and watched over him. In this way, he acquired greater confidence and was able to understand some of Father Anthimos' hidden virtues.

One of his great virtues was the gift he had in the matter of fasting: he could fast for days on end! He went once to the Russian monastery before the Fast of the Holy Apostles utterly exhausted. The monk on duty received him with great joy and prepared something for him to eat. The elder began to eat, while the monk who was waiting at table went in and out. He looked at the elder, who was munching away all the time, and thought badly of him: "Such a withered up and weak monk and yet he can eat so much!" All upset with these thoughts of condemnation, the monk went to his cell. When Father Anthimos had finished his food, he went and sat at the door of the monk's cell. Seeing his friend troubled by these thoughts, he took pity on him. In order to help him, he was forced to tell him why he had eaten so much, so that he would be more careful about judging other people. We can also learn from this and avoid judging people. Taking him by the hand, he asked him:

"Brother, do you perhaps know what humbleness is?"

The brother felt constrained to answer: "No, I don't."

Then the elder said to him: "Humbleness consists in this - not judging anybody and thinking yourself worse than everybody. See, just now you were deceived and judged because I was eating so much. But what you don't know is how many days I have gone without eating at all. Do you remember the last time I was here and had something to eat?"

The brother replied: "I remember, father. You were here with us on Sunday of Thomas and you ate. But I havn't seen you since."

The elder said to him: "Well, now you see how many days I spent without eating.[1] Yet, you were judging me because I was eating so much. My brother, not all God's gifts are the same. Everyone is given something by God. Well, to me God has given the strength to bear cold and hunger. Do you think you could put up with so much? Are you able to humble yourself, take off the habit and come with me to the next monastery, and then spend the winter at the peak of Athos with only those clothes? You, being a chanter, how do you chant to god? Your mind is elsewhere, on distractions, rather than on God. Just you listen to how I chant."

Father Anthimos raised his hands to the heavens and with heaving sobs chanted Alleluia, tears streaming from his eyes. The monk assigned to the refectory was astonished and felt great contrition. The elder then said to him:

"So you see, my brother, don't judge anyone, because you don't know who has been given what gift. You must pay more attention to your own self."

The brother made a prostration to the elder and asked his forgiveness, admiring the latter's spiritual foresight. From then on, Elder Anthimos began to confide in him more of his personal life.

Continued at Part Two...

1. In other words, he had not eaten from Sunday of Thomas until the beginning of the Fast of the holy Apostles, about 7 weeks!

From the book Athonite Fathers and Athonite Matters.

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Orthodox Priest In Screenplay Contest

By Susan Shalhoub
December 9, 2010
Telegram.com


The Rev. Maximos D. McIntyre may be a Russian Orthodox priest and dress in traditional garb, including a cassock and “funny hat,” as he calls it. But this 32-year-old married Millbury resident who was born in Worcester also has a secular job as a technical writer in Westboro, lives in a regular house, and has just written a screenplay that’s made it to the voting stage of an American Idol-style screenplay and film competition.

Before penning “Lords of Glory,” and shopping it around Hollywood, Rev. McIntyre of St. John the Russian in Ipswich had worked as a freelance newspaper reporter and had done some writing work for the church. But he felt this story — about the Russian Revolution from 1910 to the present — would be better expressed on film.

The screenplay deals with the estimated 60 million to 70 million people who were slaughtered during this period, including people in Romania and China. “I feel like the market is overrun with novels,” he said. “I thought the story I wanted to tell was very visual and that this medium would work well.”

The play illustrates the idea that so many were slaughtered for their faith under the guise of communism, Rev. McIntyre said. “Atheism was not just a political stance but an eradication of God.”

The screenplay took about a year-and-a-half to write. “I was taking different testimonials and trying to weave a story” told through the eyes of a priest. “The clergy were always the first to go,” he said.

Rev. McIntyre traveled to California this summer to shop the screenplay, fully aware that its spiritual issues may not be marketable in the film industry. “I was realistic,” he said laughing, but knew he had to try. On his flight to Los Angeles he was coincidentally seated next to a man whose parents had fled from Armenia during the genocide there and built new lives in the U.S. “I was a little freaked out by that,” he said.

Because of its historical context, the film would be expensive to produce. “I just assumed that nobody was going to talk to me, and shut me down,” he said of his trip to L.A. Several producers met with him and “squashed it right off the bat … there is the business end of it again.” Some thought his clerical clothing was a marketing tool for the screenplay, but two or three studio representatives requested the script, and Rev. McIntyre said he met with representatives from Moviehatch, which runs an online voting contest for movie scripts.

Rev. McIntyre said he and about 50 other screenwriters have been included in the latest contest. “This means the work has been determined to be marketable,” he said, adding that a survey was taken showing that people would pay to see the film.

Rev. McIntyre said the top-voted scripts will go to Hollywood producers. He said 25 of the top producers are participating this year. “All the legwork’s been done for them.”

He said films such as Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” may have helped pave the way for screenplays with a religious message. But if he doesn’t get enough votes to make the final cut, he said he isn’t worried. “I have a few agents interested.” A self-published novel is also a possibility.

To vote for “Lords of Glory” in the online contest, log on to http://www.moviehatch.com/. To ensure voters only vote once, you will be instructed to enter your name and e-mail after rating the screenplay.

Read the Synopsis of the film here.

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Monk Sergius - Who Walked From Siberia to Mount Athos

Fourteen years ago, at the age of 15, Sergius Alexeevich embarked on a seven and a half month journey on foot from Siberia to the Garden of the Panagia on Mount Athos.

He set out from Tobolsk in western Siberia and walked to Yekaterinburg, Rostov, Don and finally arrived in Ukraine. In Ukraine he went from Donetsk to Kherson where he nearly drowned in the Dnieper River had not fishermen rescued him. From Bessarabia he entered Romania where it took him 45-minutes to swim across the Danube. Via Bulgaria he entered Greece where he finally arrived at the Holy Mountain.

Today Sergius is a very poor monk who is 29 and lives in the harsh desert of Karoulia as an ascetic under Abba Pambo. Karoulia is very difficult to access and often requires one of the fathers to drop a ladder for you to reach them. He had decided to become a monk when he was left an orphan at the age of 12. Both of his parents were surgeons and were killed in Chechnya. Together with his brother and sister he went to live with another family who were also surgeons yet escaped Chechnya.


When asked about how he received his education, he answers: "If I knew as much as you knew and didn't know how to save my soul, of what use would it be to me? I studied a few months at Athoniada and realized that wherever is the wisdom of God, worldly education is unnecessary. You can love God, but you can't think about Him."

Sergius is a fast walker. When someone accompanying him asked him to slow down, he responded that he can't slow down, because he is always thinking of hell, death, judgment, Paradise and the resurrection. When he thinks like this he says he cannot slow down.

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Icon of the Mother of God "the Unexpected Joy"

"The Unexpected Joy" Mother of God Icon (Feast Day - December 9)

The "Unexpected Joy" Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is painted in this way: in a room is an icon of the Mother of God, and beneath it a youth is kneeling at prayer. The tradition about the healing of some youth from a bodily affliction through this holy icon is recorded in the book of St Demetrius of Rostov, The Fleece of Prayer [See Judges 6: 36-40].

The sinful youth, who was nevertheless devoted to the Theotokos, was praying one day before the icon of the All-Pure Virgin before going out to commit a sin. Suddenly, he saw that wounds appeared on the Lord's hands, feet, and side, and blood flowed from them. In horror he exclaimed, "O Lady, who has done this?" The Mother of God replied, "You and other sinners, because of your sins, crucify My Son anew." Only then did he realize how great was the depth of his sinfulness. For a long time he prayed with tears to the All-Pure Mother of God and the Savior for mercy. Finally, he received the unexpected joy of the forgiveness of his sins.

The "Unexpected Joy" icon is also commemorated on January 25 and May 1.

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The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos

The Conception of the Theotokos by St. Anna (Feast Day - December 9)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The righteous Joachim and Anna were childless for fifty years of their married life. In their old age the Archangel Gabriel appeared to each one of them separately, telling them that God had heard their prayers and that they would give birth to a daughter, Mary. Then St. Anna conceived by her husband and after nine months bore a daughter blessed by God and by all generations of men: the Most-holy Virgin Mary, the Theotokos.

The Relics of Saint Anna, Grandmother of our Lord

On Bearing a Child Through the Aid of Saint Anna

St. John the Damascene: On the Chaste Couple Joachim and Anna

Homily: The Reversal of the Barrenness of Saint Anna

The Veneration of Sts. Joachim and Anna According to Elder Paisios

The Error of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin

HYMN OF PRAISE: The Conception of the Most-holy Theotokos by Saint Anna

O Most-glorious God, wonderful and marvelous,
Kind and merciful toward all creation,
The proud dost Thou overturn, the humble dost Thou raise;
Thou Who dost extinguish, Thou Who makest to live,
According to Thy plan, O Creator, Thou canst do all,
According to Thy plan, eternal and divine.
With Thy blessing, the fertile earth brings forth fruit;
By Thy holy word, Thou settest a seal upon the barren.
From one who gives birth, Thou canst take away,
And for the barren one, Thou canst bring forth good fruit.
Thou madest fertile the barren Anna;
Thou didst grant her a holy and noble daughter.
That which was the subject of mockery, Thou didst crown with glory;
The dream of a childless woman Thou didst openly surpass.
The aged woman prayed; her prayer Thou didst accept.
The seal of barrenness Thou didst remove from her body;
Her dead body Thou didst fill with life;
Thou gavest her a Virgin, wondrous in beauty,
And a daughter was born, the Most-holy Virgin,
A Daughter, a Mother, and the Mother of God!
According to Thy plan, O Creator, Thou canst do all,
According to Thy plan, eternal and divine.

St Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was the youngest daughter of the priest Nathan from Bethlehem, descended from the tribe of Levi. She married St Joachim (September 9), who was a native of Galilee.

For a long time St Anna was childless, but after twenty years, through the fervent prayer of both spouses, an angel of the Lord announced to them that they would be the parents of a daughter, Who would bring blessings to the whole human race.

The Orthodox Church does not accept the teaching that the Mother of God was exempted from the consequences of ancestral sin (death, corruption, sin, etc.) at the moment of her conception by virtue of the future merits of Her Son. Only Christ was born perfectly holy and sinless, as St Ambrose of Milan teaches in Chapter Two of his Commentary on Luke.The Holy Virgin was like everyone else in Her mortality, and in being subject to temptation, although She committed no personal sins. She was not a deified creature removed from the rest of humanity. If this were the case, She would not have been truly human, and the nature that Christ took from Her would not have been truly human either. If Christ does not truly share our human nature, then the possibilty of our salvation is in doubt.

The Conception of the Virgin Mary by St Anna took place at Jerusalem. The many icons depicting the Conception by St Anna show the Most Holy Theotokos trampling the serpent underfoot.

"In the icon Sts Joachim and Anna are usually depicted with hands folded in prayer; their eyes are also directed upward and they contemplate the Mother of God, Who stands in the air with outstretched hands; under Her feet is an orb encircled by a serpent (symbolizing the devil), which strives to conquer all the universe by its power."

There are also icons in which St Anna holds the Most Holy Virgin on her left arm as an infant. On St Anna's face is a look of reverence. A large ancient icon, painted on canvas, is located in the village of Minkovetsa in the Dubensk district of Volhynia diocese. From ancient times this Feast was especially venerated by pregnant women in Russia.

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Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Against all hope, the bonds of barrenness are loosed today. For, God has hearkened unto Joachim and Anna clearly promising that they would bear a godly maiden. He who commanded the angel to cry out to her, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you," will be born of her, the infinite One Himself, becoming man.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Today the world rejoices in the conception of Anna, wrought by God. For she bore the One who beyond comprehension conceived the Logos.

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A Homily On the Righteousness of Noah

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9).

To be righteous among the righteous is a great and praiseworthy deed, but how far greater and more praiseworthy a deed it is to be righteous among the unrighteous.

Noah lived among men who were filled with unrighteousness and evil; he lived among them for five hundred years and remained righteous before God: "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8).

The Most-high Judge, who looks at all the works of mankind and evaluates them without prejudice and without error, valued the labors of Noah because, in the midst of a corrupt and perverse generation, he remained in the righteousness of God; and God rewarded him with His grace.

Assuredly, Noah endured much misery and bitterness from his evil neighbors. Assuredly, he was unable to have a friend among them. The greatest satisfaction for a sinner is to drag a righteous man down into his own mire and to share his sin with him. But Noah did not allow himself to be dragged down or misled.

Noah favored God's friendship over that of unrighteous men. It was dearer to him to walk with God without men, than to walk with men without God. Fear of God, the Creator and Judge, preserved him from the worldwide corruption; and he was not only righteous but also perfect in his generations. That is, he did not allow himself, even in the least, to be contaminated by the common evil, but rather he cleaved to God's righteousness. The allurement of sin and the ridicule of the sinners: everything merely served to separate him all the more from them.

When the universal flood befell the human race, God did not abandon his faithful Noah to perish with the others. Instead, He saved him and glorified him, making him the progenitor of a new generation of men.

Brethren, this shining example of Noah teaches that each one of us can please God even in the midst of sinners, if only we want to.

O Righteous and Long-suffering God, uphold us on the path of Thy righteousness. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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The Vice of Pleonexia

Pleonexia, sometimes called pleonexy, originates from the Greek language πλεονεξια and is a philosophical and ethical concept employed both in the New Testament and in writings by Plato and Aristotle. It roughly corresponds to greed, covetousness, or avarice, and is strictly defined as "the insatiable desire to have what rightfully belongs to others", suggesting what Ritenbaugh describes as "ruthless self-seeking and an arrogant assumption that others and things exist for one's own benefit".[1]

Christian concepts of pleonexia

Pleonexia, being mentioned in the New Testament in Colossians 3 verses 1–11 and Luke 12 verses 13–21, has been the subject of commentary by Christian theologians.

William Barclay[2] describes pleonexia as an "accursed love of having", which "will pursue its own interests with complete disregard for the rights of others, and even for the considerations of common humanity". He labels it an aggressive vice that operates in three spheres of life. In the material sphere involves "grasping at money and goods, regardless of honour and honesty". In the ethical sphere it is "the ambition which tramples on others to gain something which is not properly meant for it". In the moral sphere, it is "the unbridled lust which takes its pleasure where it has no right to take".

Christian belief equates pleonexia with idolatry, because it replaces God with self-interest and material interest in things.[1]

Classical Greek concepts of pleonexia

Classical Greek philosophers such as Plato related pleonexia to justice.

Thrasymachus, in Book I of The Republic, presents pleonexia as a natural state, upon which justice is an unnatural restraint.[3]

In discussing the philosophy of Aristotle, who insisted in his Nicomachean Ethics that all specifically unjust actions are motivated by pleonexia, Kraut[4] discusses pleonexia and equates it to epichairekakia, the Greek version of schadenfreude, stating that inherent in pleonexia is the appeal of acting unjustly at the expense of others. Young[5], however argues that the simple involvement of unfairness in the desire for gaining ever more is what defines pleonexia, rather than that the desire itself be for gaining ever more in a manner that is specifically unfair.

See also: The Role of Pleonexia in Polybius

References

1. John W. Ritenbaugh (January 1998). "Forerunner". The Tenth Commandment.

2. William Barclay. The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed.. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

3. "Important terms: pleonexia". SparkNotes: The Republic. Barnes & Noble.

4. Richard Kraut (2002). Aristotle: Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xiv, 520.

5. Charles Young (1989). "Aristotle on Justice". The Southern Journal of Philosophy 27 (Supp.): 233–249.

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"Christmas Oratorio" by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev

This is the beginning of the "Christmas Oratorio" by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev. Это начало "Рождественской оратории" епископа Илариона (Алфеева). The words are: "Come let us worship God our King". The Tchaykovsky Great Symphony Orchestra and the Tretyakov Gallery Choir are conducted by Alexei Puzakov.

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A Cunning Demon in the Church

By Elder Daniel Katounakiotis

I grieve very much recalling today's generation, how for our sins God has allowed the cunning demon to find a handle on two sides.

On the one side, the Hierarchs ruling our Church, instead of defending the pious traditions, introduce innovations and novelties; while on the other side, the pious and faithful, instead of writing with great discernment and in a spirit of peace, in presenting their opinions hurl abuse against the Hierarchs and heap up all the anathemas of the Holy Fathers, in order, if possible, to depose the sinful Hierarchs; and in this they flatter all the people, and thus instead of profit, harm will occur from both sides.

(Letter to Nicholas Rengos, 11/3/1926)

From Contemporary Ascetics of Mout Athos (vol. 1) by Archimandrite Cherubim, p. 318.

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John Lennon and the Cult of Celebrity: 'They're Gonna Crucify Me'

By John W. Whitehead
December 7, 2010
Christian Post

"I have to cut through the mask even if it's self-created." - John Lennon

It should come as no surprise that when the appeal of traditional religion began to fade, mass entertainment rushed into the vacuum. In fact, pop culture and the temporal values of entertainment effectively compete with those of religion to such an extent that celebrity has increasingly become the religion of our consumer society. "And fans are the mystical adepts of this religion," write Judy and Fred Vemorel in their book Starlust, "who dramatize moods, fantasies and expectations we all share."

Despite his own cult status, John Lennon, who was gunned down 30 years ago, spent the latter part of his short life attempting to undermine the cult of celebrity.

As a Beatle, Lennon experienced firsthand the weird allure of celebrity. People literally saw the Beatles as saviors with religious powers. For instance, at the height of Beatlemania in 1964, a woman in Australia threw her disabled six-year-old at Paul McCartney, who was riding in an open truck. When Paul handed the child back, the woman wept. "He's better. Oh, he's better!" she exclaimed. And Lennon spoke of his personal unease in having to deal with disabled people during that time. "They would push them at you like you were Christ or something, as if there were some aura about you which will rub off on them. It seemed like we were surrounded by cripples and blind people all the time, and when we would go through corridors they would be touching us."

Although attracted to it in the beginning, Lennon came to see celebrity more in terms of its burdens than its rewards. No matter how much time and effort Lennon put into writing and performing, it never seemed enough for the public. Somebody always wanted more. "The bigger we got, the more unreality we had to face," he said of Beatlemania.

Thus, the more successful Lennon became, instead of basking in fame, he worked against it--especially the media conception of it. This is particularly evident in one of his last Beatles singles, "The Ballad of John and Yoko." The song documents the trials and tribulations that celebrity imposed on his relationship with Yoko Ono. The song is a biting critique of the media's double standards, as well as of their flagrant disregard for their victims. As he sang about the media hounding him and his wife: "Christ, you know it ain't easy, you know how hard it can be. The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me." Lennon made no secret of his distaste for the media's malicious treatment of himself and Yoko. He was also openly critical of what he viewed as the media's hypocritical dependence on the celebrities they promote and then chastise, castigate and demolish:

Caught the early plane back to London
Fifty acorns tied in a sack
The men from the press said, "We wish you success
It's good to have the both of you back."

As Anthony Elliott documents in his insightful book The Mourning of John Lennon, Lennon saw early on that being a celebrity not only distorted who he was, it also erased his identity. Shortly before his death, he expressed some of the more personal difficulties that encircled him as an ex-Beatle: "I was stuck in the feeling that one did not--was not justified in being alive unless one was fulfilling other people's dreams or fulfilling my own dreams and illusions about what I thought I was supposed to be which, in retrospect, turned out to not be what I am."

By 1980, Lennon had dispensed with being Beatle John. He had thrown off the trappings of his celebrity image. As he said in a radio interview that year, "I'm not putting out an image of this person who knows all." And in his last Rolling Stone interview in 1980: "I cannot live up to other people's expectations of me because they are illusionary."

It was the illusion created by celebrity that ultimately killed John Lennon by way of one of his biggest fans, Mark David Chapman. Chapman claimed that he had been drawn to Lennon ever since he was ten years old. He loved the Beatles and grew his hair long, just as his hero Lennon did. Chapman imitated Lennon to the degree that he married an older Japanese woman. He identified so closely with the famous man that he began taping "John Lennon" over his own name at work. What matters is that Chapman withdrew further from the so-called real world and retreated into fanaticism, an idealization of celebrity to the nth degree--a world sustained by imitation of his hero.

The burden of the famous is that sense of hero worship that exists outside their control. In their zeal to idealize or crucify, worshippers like Chapman forget that their idol is a human being just like themselves. "They over-analyze facts as quickly as they conveniently omit them," writes Larry Kane in his book, Lennon Revealed. "They define and compartmentalize. All the while their fantasy expectations blind them from seeing--or even seeking--the real ideal." But when and if the real deal comes into view, it can have devastating consequences.

Couple that with a celebrity such as John Lennon who, on innumerable occasions, felt compelled to mingle with his fans. Indeed, he would push past police and bodyguards to engage the ordinary Beatlefan--even to the point of signing an autograph for Mark David Chapman only hours before he was shot. "I have to be honest--let them know what I'm made of," Lennon said. "I'm not all that perfect or anything and they have to know that."

In a depressed, paranoid state of mind, Chapman read an October 1980 article in Esquire magazine for which Lennon had refused to be interviewed. The article portrayed Lennon as someone who had sold out the dreams of the 1960s and was now a wealthy recluse. For Chapman, the message was clear: Lennon was a fraud, a fraud that the world would be better off without.

Chapman the fan discovered that Lennon the celebrity was human like he was and unable to transcend the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Not surprisingly, Chapman reacted with disbelief and disillusionment. The fan felt cheated and swindled.

The idea of Lennon severing himself from the illusion of celebrity proved to be too much for Mark David Chapman to bear. On December 8, 1980, Chapman waited outside Lennon's apartment building and assassinated John Lennon as he returned from a late-night recording session.

Yet in death Lennon became larger than life. Perhaps no human being in contemporary culture has been written about more than John Lennon. The analysis of his life and times matches the sort of detailed scrutiny usually reserved for the careers of world leaders. Thus, the ghost of John Lennon, the celebrity, haunts us still.


Marilyn Manson - Lamb of God (A tribute he wrote about John Lennon and the cult of celebrity following the Columbine massacre.)

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Saint Patapios of Thebes

St. Patapios of Thebes (Feast Day - December 8)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Patapios was born and brought up in the Faith and in the fear of God by pious parents in the Egyptian city of Thebes. At an early age he perceived and abhorred the vanity of this world and withdrew into the wilderness of Egypt. There he devoted himself to a life of asceticism, cleansing his heart of all earthly desires and thoughts, for the sake of God's love. However, when his virtues became known among the people, they began to come to him and to seek solace from him in their sufferings.

Fearing the praise of men, which darkens the minds of men and separates them from God, Patapios fled this wilderness to Constantinople, for this wonderful saint thought that he could hide himself more easily from people in the city than in the wilderness. Patapios built a hut for himself in the proximity of the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople. There, immured and unknown, he continued his interrupted life of eremetic asceticism.

However, a light cannot be hidden. A child, blind from birth, was led by God's providence to St. Patapios. He besought the saint to pray to God that he be given his sight and be able to look upon God's creation-thus allowing him to praise God all the more. Patapius having compassion on the suffering child, prayed to God, and the child's sight was restored. This miracle revealed God's chosen one throughout the entire city, and people rushed to him for healing, comfort and instruction.

Patapios healed an eminent man of dropsy by tracing the sign of the Cross over him and anointing him with oil. By making the sign of the Cross in the air with his hand, he freed a youth from an unclean spirit that had cruelly tormented him. The evil spirit, with a loud shriek, came out from God's creature like smoke. He made the sign of the Cross over a woman who had a sore on her breast all filled with worms, and made her healthy. Many other miracles did St. Patapios perform, all through prayer in the name of Christ and by the sign of the Cross.

He entered into rest peacefully in great old age and took up his habitation in the Heavenly Kingdom in the seventh century.


HYMN OF PRAISE: The Venerable Patapios

Patapius, like a mariner,
Fixes his gaze into the tempest,
Where he will see the light of the harbor
Beyond this vain and glorious world,
Agitated by the winds of passions,
Darkened by the gloom of vanity.
He casts a glance to the heavens -
Patapius, like a mariner.
The spirit is the eye for seeing heaven
And the wondrous heavenly world -
A true spirit in a pure heart.
Patapios, his soul directed to God,
Bathed his heart in tender tears.
Concentrated, he awaits the light,
The light of heaven, the calm harbor -
Patapios, like a mariner.

Whosoever seeks shall find;
Whosoever knocks, to him it shall be opened.
The Merciful God loves the saints,
The thirsty seekers of the Kingdom of God.
He captured Patapios's glance,
And revealed the heavenly light to him.
Patapios saw and he wept -
God's light inflamed by tears -
Until he sailed to the calm harbor.
His life has remained a wondrous sign
To voyagers on the open seas of the world.

Read also: Saint Patapios of Thebes and His Monastery in Loutraki

A Miracle of St. Patapios: "We want the Apolytikion of St. Patapios"

By Fr. Cosmas of Grigoriou

One evening a pious Zairian couple arrived at our Mission Center. I knew them very well because they are assiduous followers of our liturgical services and catechetical teaching. They said to me: 'Father, will you give us the Apolytikion and the Kontakion of St. Patapios?'

'Why is that? And how do you know about St. Patapios?' I asked.

The husband replied as follows: 'Recently we have been through a lot of difficulties in our house. We prayed hard at night for God's help. One night I had this vision in a dream. I could see that I was holding tightly onto a rope and walking towards one of our churches without touching the ground, and my wife was walking behind me in exactly the same way. At that moment, a monk came out of the church and said to us: "Do not be downcast about your problems. Take this Gospel and this prayer-rope, read, pray and call upon my name and I will help you. I am St. Patapios."'

They felt they received these gifts from his hands, and that the Bible was open to the Gospel of St. John. To be sure, with the help of a Zairian, I translated the chants in honour of St. Patapios into Swahili and gave them to the couple, with an icon of the Saint.

From the book Apostle to Zaire: The Life and Legacy of Blessed Cosmas of Grigoriou.

Read of another miracle of St. Patapios here.


Apolytikion of St. Patapios in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
The image of God, was faithfully preserved in you, O Father. For you took up the Cross and followed Christ. By Your actions you taught us to look beyond the flesh for it passes, rather to be concerned about the soul which is immortal. Wherefore, O Holy Patapius, your soul rejoices with the angels.

Kontakion of the Saint in the Third Tone
Having found thy Church to be a place of spiritual healing, all the people flock with haste thereto, O Saint, and they ask thee to bestow the ready healing of their diseases and forgiveness of the sins they wrought in their lifetime; O Patapius most righteous, in every need, thou art the protector of all.

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American Family Moves To Russia To Be In A More Orthodox Environment

December 8, 2010
Interfax

Pavel and Betsy Pritup emigrated from the USA to Russia to bring up their children in the Orthodox faith. They have lived in the Karelian village Vedlozero for almost a year.

"We want to bring up our children in national Russian traditions, in Orthodoxy. We had prepared for moving and got acquainted with young families from Karelia on the Internet," the housefather was quoted as saying by the Rossiyskay Gazeta on Wednesday.

Pavel was born in a small Siberian village not far from Irkutsk, finished school in Ukraine and received higher education in the States. He got acquainted with his future wife Betsy in the University; she specialized in History, including Russian.

The two elder sons, five-year-old Nikita and tree-year-old Ilya were born in the USA, and the youngest Mikhail was born in Petrozavodsk.

"We learn with our mum every day. Here is our schedule, in English. We start the day with prayer, then math, writing and reading," Nikita says about his day, and adds that he loves Russia, but wishes "towns were cleaner."

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3 Billion & Counting: The Cost of Banning DDT

By Dennis T. Avery

3 Billion and Counting is a new documentary film on the awful human cost of banning DDT. The film’s producer, medical doctor Rutledge Taylor, circled the tropical world, finding that malaria has claimed some three billion human lives throughout history—and the toll of needless deaths is continuing to mount by perhaps 1.5 million per year. Moreover, it permanently debilitates millions more. Taylor says malaria treatment is a “tangle of red tape, misguided prevention policies and treatment that is ineffective in the face of continual re-infection.” Above all, he found “willful deafness to the pleas of local populations to help them eradicate the mosquitoes that deliver the deadly cargo.”

Steve Milloy at Junkscience.com has called DDT “a weapon of mass survival.”

Rachel Carson ignited the environmental movement when her book Silent Spring warned the world in 1962 that “DDT would be proven to be a [human] carcinogen.” In fact, no peer-reviewed evidence ever indicted DDT as a carcinogen—or a human health risk of any sort.

What about DDT thinning the eggshells of raptor birds? Audubon counted virtually no eagles in its annual “lower-48 states” Christmas bird counts from 1900 until after 1940. The birds were shot and poisoned for “stealing” fish, lambs, and poultry. The public thought eagles were just big, aggressive predators. Finally, in 1940, Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act. The eagles began a long, initially-slow comeback. Today, Audubon typically records more than 15,000 eagles every Christmas—and the DDT ban had no role in their comeback.

But Rachel Carson struck a public nerve. DDT and window screens had eradicated malaria in America and Europe. Well and good. But then DDT started radically reducing the death rates of the brown, black, and yellow people in the tropics. Paul Ehrlich wrote his incendiary screed The Population Bomb in 1968, and the American public recoiled in horror at “overpopulation.”

Rutledge Taylor traces the horrific DDT mistake back to one man: William Ruckelshaus, the Nixon-appointed lawyer who headed the EPA in 1972. An EPA judge heard more than 100 expert witnesses, and ruled that DDT was not a carcinogen, nor did it pose a threat to mammals, fish or birds. Ruckelshaus overruled his own judge, and banned DDT. He had attended none of the hearing, and admitted later he’d never read any of the transcript. Dr. Taylor concludes he did it to please his friends in the Environmental Defense Fund.

The American DDT ban triggered similar bans across the First World—and with it, their refusal to fund its use in poor countries. Malaria re-surged all over the tropics. Rachel Carson, and Ruckelshaus were the indirect cause of more deaths than Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Genghis Khan combined. You can even throw in the Black Plague and still not match the numbers.

DDT is not only the most cost-effective mosquito killer, it is also a powerful mosquito repellent. If tropic homes get a mild interior DDT whitewash, the insects don’t come in, bite somebody, and then die two hours later. They just don’t come in! DDT is, by itself, capable of reducing a malaria outbreak by 80 percent—quickly.

Global population is now rapidly stabilizing, and will trend slowly down after 2050. Is it time to renounce the “overpopulation” panic and use the best chemistry to suppress the awful malaria scourge? Remember, each case of malaria causes not only the victim’s near-constant suffering, but the need for much nursing care from his family. Malaria may be enough, by destroying the vigorous health of its citizens, to explain the poverty of so many tropical countries

Meanwhile, Ohio’s governor is trying for an EPA waiver for malathion, another persistent pesticide, to control the bedbugs that were once eradicated by DDT and are making a vigorous comeback. We wish him good luck.

Conflict of interest note: I was proud to be interviewed in this film, and received no remuneration. My deepest thanks go to Dr. Taylor for his constructive dedication to correcting our society’s massive, tragic malaria mistake.

Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. and an environmental economist. He was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State. He is co-author, with S. Fred Singer of "Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years". Readers may write to him at PO Box 202 Churchville, VA 24421 or email to cgfi@hughes.net.



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A Poem On the Spirit Holy Meekness and Angerlessness

While Elder Athanasios of Grigoriou (+ 1953) was abbot of Grigoriou Monastery on Mount Athos, he took special care in teaching his spiritual children meekness and angerlessness. To do this he even became a poet to give them verses to read on the subject. One monk received from the Elder the following poem:

On Holy Meekness

By Elder Athanasios of Grigoriou

Sweet it is, most sweet of all,
To be meek and gentle.

When a man abuses me,
Why should I insult him?
Will his fury ever cease
If I return his curses?

His anger carries him away,
and I respond in kind.
Till through his harsh ferocity,
I am brought low.

In the hour of passionate rage,
I shall hold my peace.
The madness will cool and pass away
If I let it end with me.

Afterwards, by peace and sweetness
Do I strike the unjust one,
And I am better heard by him
Than if I had struck back in wrath.

From Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos (vol. 1) by Archimandrite Cherubim, p. 160.

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The Delusions of Catholic Mystics

Tell Me Who Your Saints Are, And I Will Tell You What Your Church IS

By Alexei Ilyich Osipov

In order to understand what one or another Christian Church is, it is enough, without even touching its doctrine, to look at its saints. The tree is known by its fruits, and any Church declares those people saints who embodied its ideal in their lives. A saint's canonization therefore reflects that Church's testimony not only about the Christian it is holding up as an example to follow, but it is also primarily the given Church's testimony about its own self. You can more accurately judge the authenticity, or false sanctity, of the Church itself by its saints.

Now, first of all, I will pause at the comparison between the saints of the largest Christian Churches—the [Roman] Catholic and the Orthodox Churches.

One of the major pillars of Catholic sanctity is St. Francis of Assisi (thirteenth century). His spiritual self-awareness is sufficiently clearly revealed from the following facts. One day, St. Francis prayed very long (the subject of his prayer is extraordinarily telling) "about two mercies." "The first is that I … could … experience all the sufferings that You, Sweetest Jesus, experienced in Your torturous passion. The second mercy … is that … I might feel … that boundless love with which You, the Son of God, burned." As we see, St. Francis was not troubled by a feeling of his own sinfulness, as all saints are; clearly seen here is his open pretension to equality with Christ in His sufferings and His love! During this prayer, St. Francis "felt himself completely become Jesus," and something happened to him that had never before happened in the history of the Church: painful, bleeding wounds (stigmata) appeared on him—the marks of "Jesus' sufferings."[1]

Here we must note that the nature of these stigmata is well known in psychiatry. Unceasing concentration of the attention on Christ's sufferings on the cross extremely arouse a person's nerves and psyche, and if practiced long enough, can evoke this phenomenon. There is nothing supernatural or miraculous here. In this "compassion" for Christ, there is not the true love about which the Lord spoke plainly: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me" (Jn. 14:21). To the contrary, the substitution of dreamy experiences of "compassion" for the struggle with one's own sinful passions is one of the most serious mistakes in spiritual life, which has lead, and still leads, ascetics to self-conceit and pride — obvious prelest, often connected with outright psychological disturbance (see the "sermon" of St. Francis to the birds, the wolf, the turtle-doves, the snakes, the flowers, etc.; his reverence before the fire, the stones, the worms). It is no wonder therefore that St. Francis claimed to redeem the sins of other people through his imitation of Christ.

Also telling is the life's goal that St. Francis set for himself: "I labored and want to labor … because this brings honor."[2] Isn't this why he said openly at the end of his life, "I am not aware of any sin on my part that I have not redeemed through confession and repentance"?[3] All this testifies to his ignorance of his own sins, his unworthiness before God—that is, to total spiritual catastrophe.

By contrast, we cite the moment before death from the life of St. Sisoes the Great (fifth century). "Surrounded at the moment of his death by the brothers, at that minute when he was as if conversing with unseen beings, the brothers' asked him, 'Father, tell us, with whom are you conversing?' Sisoes answered, 'They are angels who have come to take me, but I am praying them to leave me for a short time, in order to repent.' At this the brothers, knowing that Sisoes was perfect in the virtues, protested, 'You have no need to repent, father.' Sisoes replied, 'Truly, I do not know if I have even begun to repent.'"[4] This deep knowledge of one's own imperfection is the main distinguishing characteristic of all true saints.

Here are passages from the notes of Blessed Angela (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries).[5]

"The Holy Spirit," she writes, says to her, "My daughter, My sweetness … I love you very much." "I was with the apostles, and they saw Me with their physical eyes, but they did not feel Me as you do." Then, Angela reveals about herself, "I see in the darkness the Holy Trinity, and it seems to me that I am standing and abiding in the center of the Trinity, which I see in the darkness." She expressed her relationship to Jesus Christ, for example, in such words: "I could bring myself entirely into Jesus Christ." Or, "From His sweetness, and from the sorrow of His departure, I shouted and wanted to die." At this, she began to beat herself so badly that the nuns had to carry her out of the church.

One of the greatest Russian religious thinkers of the twentieth century, A. F. Losev, made a biting yet true assessment of Angela's "revelations." He writes, "The seductiveness and delusion of the flesh leads to the point where the Holy Spirit appears to Blessed Angela and whispers these amorous words: 'My daughter, My sweetness, My daughter, My temple, My daughter, my delight, love Me, for I love you greatly, much more than you love Me." The saint is in a sweet languor, and can't contain herself from this love. Her beloved keeps appearing, enflaming her body, heart, and blood. The cross of Christ appears to her as a marriage bed… What could be more contrary to the Byzantine-Muscovite austere and chaste asceticism as these continual blasphemous statements: 'My soul was received into the uncreated light and carried up,' these passionate gazes at the Cross of Christ, at the wounds of Christ, and at different parts of His Body, this forced evoking of bloody spots on her own body, and so on, and so forth? Finally, Christ embraces Angela with His arm which was nailed to the Cross, and she, outside herself with languor, torment, and happiness, says, "Sometimes, from this close embrace, it seems to my soul that it goes into the side of Christ. And the joy that it obtains there, and the light, cannot be retold. They are so great that sometimes I could not stand on my feet, but lay there, unable to speak... and my limbs would go numb."[6]

Another outstanding feature of Catholic sanctity is Catherine of Sienna (fourteenth century), raised by Pope Paul VI to the highest rank of saint—"Doctor of the Church." I will read a few notes about her taken from the Catholic book by Antonio Sicari, Portraits of Saints,[7] published in Russian. These citations (emphasized by me) require no comment.

Catherine was about twenty years old. "She felt that a decisive turnaround should happen in her life, and she continued piously praying to her Lord Jesus, repeating that beautiful, tender formula, which became customary to her: 'Unite with me by marriage in faith!'"

"One day Catherine had a vision: her divine Bridegroom, embracing her, drew her to Himself, but then took her heart out of her chest in order to give her another heart, more resembling His own."

One day, they said that she died. "She herself later said that her heart was torn by the force of divine love, that she had gone through death, and 'had seen the heavenly gates. But "Return, My child," said the Lord to me, "You need to return… I will bring you to the princes and rulers of the Church." "And the humble girl began to send her epistles throughout the whole world—long letters, which she dictated with amazing speed, often three or four at a time, and for various reasons, so that the secretaries could not keep up."

"In Catherine's letters the repeated and insistent use of the phrase, 'I want' particularly stands out." "Some say that in an ecstatic state, she even addressed the insistent words 'I want' to Christ."

From her correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, who she had convinced to return from Avignon to Rome: "I tell you from the name of Christ … I tell you, father, in Jesus Christ… Answer the call of the Holy Spirit which has addressed you."

She writes to the ruler of Milan, "About the Pope, to whom she is entrusted ('even if he were the devil in the flesh, I should not lift my head against him.')"

"To the King of France she writes: 'Do God's will, and my will.'"

No less telling are the "revelations" given to the "Doctor of the Church," Teresa of Avila (sixteenth century) also made known by Pope Paul VI. Before her death, she exclaims, "O my God, my Spouse, finally I shall see You!" This exceedingly strange exclamation is not accidental. It is the logical result of Teresa's whole "spiritual" exercise, the essence of which is revealed in the following fact.

She was so caught up in her "revelations," that she did not see the devil's delusion even in such an outrageous vision as the one cited below. (The Valaam elder, Schema-Abbot John, assessed her spiritual state as follows: "Instead of deification [theosis], a passionate person will become a dreamer, like the Catholic Teresa."[8])

After his many appearances, "Christ" says to Teresa, "From this day forward, you shall be My spouse… From now on, I am not only your Creator and God, but also your Spouse"[9] "Lord, that I either suffer with You, or die for You!" prayed Teresa and fell down, writes D. Merezhovsky, "in exhaustion from these caresses…" (I cannot cite any more.) It is no wonder, therefore, when Teresa admits, "My Beloved calls my soul with such a penetrating whistle, that I cannot but hear it. This call acts upon the soul so that it is exhausted from desire." It is no accident that the famous American psychologist William James assesses her mystical experience as follows: "The main idea of her religion seems to be an amatory flirtation—if one may say so without irreverence—between the devotee and the deity."[10]

Yet another illustration of sanctity in Catholicism is Therese of Lisieux ("The Little Flower," or "Of the Child Jesus"), who, in 1997, the centennial of her repose, was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by the "infallible" decision of Pope John Paul II. Here are several quotes from the spiritual biography of Therese, who only lived to the age of twenty-two, which eloquently witness to her spiritual state (The Story of a Soul [Paris, 1996]).

"During a conversation before my tonsure, I gave a report of the activities I intend to undertake in Carmel. ‘I came to save souls, and first of all, to pray for priests.'” Not having saved herself yet, she came to save others!

She seemingly writes about her unworthiness, but then adds, '"I always harbor the bold hope that I will become a great saint.… I thought that I was born for glory, and sought a path to its accomplishment. And the Lord God … revealed to me that my glory would not be visible to the mortal gaze, and the essence of it consisted in the fact that I would become a great saint!” (See St. Macarius the Great, who was called by his co-ascetics "an earthly god," who only prayed, "God cleanse me a sinner, for I have never done anything good in Thy sight.") Later Theresa writes something even more frank: "In the heart of my Mother the Church I will be Love … then I will be everything … and through this my dream will come true!”

This teaching of Therese's about spiritual love is telling in the extreme. "This was the kiss of love. I felt beloved and said, ‘I love You and entrust myself to You forever.' There was neither forgiveness, nor struggle, nor sacrifice; already, long ago, Jesus and little, poor Theresa looked at each other and understood everything.… This day brought not an exchange of views, but a mingling, when there are no longer two; and Theresa disappeared like a drop of water lost in the depths of the ocean." There is no need to comment on this dreamy romance of a poor girl, who the Catholic Church has—alas! called its "Doctor."

The methodical development of imagination is based in the experience of one of the pillars of Catholic mysticism, the founder of the order of Jesuits and great Catholic saint Ignatius of Loyola (sixteenth century).

His book Spiritual Exercises is a mainstay in Catholic monasteries, and insistently calls upon the Christian to imagine the Holy Trinity and the conversation of the Three Persons, Christ, the Mother of God, the Angels, and so on. This is all categorically forbidden by the saints of the Universal Church. They testify that when an ascetic begins to live in his fantasies, to look at himself in his own "films," and believe them, instead of fulfilling Christ's commandments and struggling with his passions, he comes to complete spiritual and emotional disturbance.

The authoritative collection of ascetical writings of the ancient Church, The Philokalia, decisively forbids such "spiritual exercises." Here are few quotes from that book.

St. Neilos of Sinai (fifth century) warns, "Do not desire to physically see the Angels or Powers, or Christ, that you may not lose your mind from accepting a wolf instead of a shepherd, and worshipping our adversaries, the demons."[11]

St. Symeon the New Theologian (ninth century), discusses those who while praying, "imagine heavenly blessings, the ranks of angels, or habitations of the saints," stating plainly that "this is a sign of prelest (delusion)." "They are deluded who are on that path, who see light with their physical eyes, smell fragrances with their sense of smell, hear voices with their ears, and suchlike."[12]

How right was that nobleman (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov wrote about him), who, when seeing the Catholic book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis (fifteenth century) in his daughter's hands, tore it away from her, saying, "Stop playing romance with God." The examples cited above leave no doubt as to the reasonableness of these words. It is a great misfortune that in Catholicism, as we can see, people have ceased to differentiate between the spiritual and the emotional, sanctity and fantasy. This is the greatest calamity that can befall any Christian Church.

Notes:

1. M.V. Lodyzhensky, Unseen Light (St. Petersburg, 1915) 109.

2. St. Francis of Assisi. Works (Moscow, Franciscan publishers: 1995) 20; 145.

3. Lodyzhensky, 129.

4. Ibid., 133.

5. The Revelations of Blessed Angela (Moscow, 1918).

6. A. F. Losev, Sketch of Ancient Symbolism and Mythology (Moscow, 1930) 1:867–868.

7. Antonio Siccari, Portraits of Saints, (Milan, 1991).

8. Valaam Elder Schema-Abbot John (Alexeyev), Letters on the Spiritual Life (Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, 2007), 268.

9. D. C. Merezhkovsky, Spanish Mystics (Brussels, 1988), 88.

10. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2004), 304.

11. St. Neilos of Sinai, "153 Chapters On Prayer,"chap. 115, The Philokalia, 5:2 (Moscow, 1884), 237.

12. St. Symeon the New Theologian, "On Three Kinds of Prayer," The Philokalia (Moscow, 1900), 463–464.


Source: An excerpt from the article "Why Are We Orthodox?".

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The Child-Martyr Philothea of Romania

Virgin Martyr Philothea of Romania (Feast Day - December 7)

Saint Philothea (Philofthea or Philothei) of Argesh was born in Trnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria, around 1206. Her father was a farmer, and her mother was from Wallachia. She died when Philothea was still a child, and her father remarried.

The child was often punished by her stepmother, who accused her of being disobedient, and of giving their possesions away to the poor. Her father chastised her for this, but Philothea continued to attend church services and to do good to others, just as her mother had taught her. As she grew older, she was adorned with the virtues of prayer, virginity, and almsgiving.

St Philothea used to bring food to her father, who was out working in the fields. Not all of the food reached him, however, because the girl would give some of it to the poor children begging in the street. When he complained to his wife that she did not prepare enough food for him, she replied, "I send you plenty of food. Ask your daughter what she does with it."

Becoming angry with Philothea, her father decided to spy on her to see what happened to the food. From a place of concealment, he saw her giving food to the poor children who came to her. In a violent rage, he took the axe from his belt and threw it at the twelve-year-old girl, hitting her in the leg. The wound was mortal, and she soon gave her pure soul into God's hands.

The man was filled with fear and remorse, and tried to lift his daughter's body from the ground, but it became as heavy as a rock. Then the wretch ran to the Archbishop of Trnovo to confess his sin and explain what had happened. The Archbishop and his clergy went with candles and incense to take up the martyr's body and bring it to the cathedral, but even they were unable to lift it.

The Archbishop realized that St Philothea did not wish to remain in her native land, so he began to name various monasteries, churches, and cathedrals to see where she wished to go. Not until he named the Monastery of Curtea de Arges in Romania were they able to lift her holy relics and place them in a coffin. The Archbishop wrote to the Romanian Voievode Radu Negru, asking him to accept the saint's relics.

The Archbishop and his clergy carried the holy relics in procession as far as the Danube, where they were met by Romanian clergy, monastics, and the faithful. Then they were carried to the Curtea de Arges Monastery.

Many people have been healed at the tomb of St Philothea in a small chapel in the belltower behind the monastery church, and those who entreat her intercession receive help from her. Each year on December 7 there is a festal pilgrimage to the Monastery, and people come from all over Romania. The relics of St Philothea are carried around the courtyard in procession, and there are prayers for the sick.

The Holy Virgin Martyr Philothea is venerated in Romania, Bulgaria, and throughout the Orthodox world.

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Reflections On The Nativity Fast

Make ready, O Bethlehem; let the manger be prepared, let the cave show its welcome. The Truth is come, the shadow is passed away...(From the First Royal Hour of the Nativity).

It is the Eve of the Nativity when these words are sung. The transformation of the world, the birth of God, is but hours away, and it is through such words that the faithful are called to attentiveness and anticipation. 'Make ready, O Bethlehem.' We can see the radiant lights of the feast just beyond the horizon, we can taste the sweetness of the miracle that took place beneath a star; and through the words chanted in the Church, the coming of the birth of God is made a reality to us. We make ready, and we wait.

Why the Fast?

But this is not the first moment of preparation for the Feast. For forty days the Church has been setting herself in readiness, drawing her attention to the mystery to come, waiting in expectation. In anticipation of the great joy that is to come on Christmas day, she has taken up the task considered by so many as the opposite of joy: fasting, with all its rigor, its harshness, its discomfort. For Orthodox Christians everywhere, the fast is that which leads to the radiant wonder of the Nativity of Christ.

Why do we often feel, that this fast 'stands in the way,' so to speak, of our arrival at Christmas rejoicing? The fast seems awkward because so often we see Christmas as joy alone and do not appreciate fully the deep and profound mystery that is at the heart of our rejoicing. 'Hark, the herald angels sing!' we are eager to remember, but we forget the universal significance of the event that is the cause of the angels’ singing. It is not just that a Babe is born, but He Who is without birth is born. He Who created all things is made a created Child. He Who holds the universe in the palm of His hand, is held in the hands of a tender mother.

Before Thy birth, O Lord, as the noetic hosts looked with trembling on the mystery, they were struck with awe: for Thou Who hast adorned the vault of heaven with stars, wast well pleased to be born as a little babe; and Thou wast laid in a manger of dumb beasts, Who holdest all the uttermost parts of the earth in Thy hand. For by such a dispensation hath Thy compassion been made known, O Christ, our great mercy, glory be to Thee (from the Third Royal Hour).

We do not tremble when we think of Christmas; we are not struck with the wonder of the Nativity. Instead, we buy gifts and plan parties, catching a glimpse of the joy of the Feast, but without a heart immersed in its wonder. Thus the fast becomes something we must 'get through' in order to reach that joyful day. When we arrive there, however, if this has been our attitude, we are spiritually bewildered by the hymns with which the Church fills our hearts. We find ourselves joined to a celebration of triumphal release from bondage, but we little understand what that bondage means. We sing songs of joy for deliverance, but we do not truly comprehend how we are enslaved. We find ourselves suddenly transported to the mountaintop, but unless we have climbed there from the valley far below, the scene we see is only another beautiful picture casually set before our eyes, and not the vision for which we have worked and struggled and longed with all our being. We may feel joy, perhaps even Christmas joy; but we will know, deep inside, that our joy is not like that which is exalted in the hymn:

Be glad, O ye righteous; ye heavens rejoice exceedingly; ye mountains, skip for joy, as Christ is born. Imitating the Cherubim, the Virgin becometh a throne, carrying in her bosom God the Word incarnate. Shepherds glorify Him that is born. Magi offer gifts unto the Master; and Angels sing praises, saying: 'O incomprehensible Lord, glory be to Thee’ (first sticheron of the Praises, Nativity Matins).

An Ascetic Journey

The fast of the Nativity is the Church's wise solace and aid to human infirmity. We are a spiritually forgetful people, but God knows our forgetfulness. We who run afar off from Him are called to return. We who fall far from God through the magnitude of our sins are called nonetheless to be close to Him. Through the fast that precedes the great Feast of the Incarnation, the Church helps draw us into the full mystery of what that call entails.

Like Great Lent, the fast of the Nativity is a journey—a journey toward that salvation first promised to Adam in God's curse laid upon the serpent (Gen 3.14-15). The One who will crush the head of the serpent, of sin and the devil is He to Whom the star leads us. Come, ye faithful, let us see where Christ the Saviour hath been born; let us follow with the kings, even the Magi from the East, unto the place where the star doth direct their journey. (sessional hymn, Nativity Matins). Let us 'join the Magi', let us 'follow' and 'behold.’ The fast of the Nativity is our journey into a new and marvelous life in the Holy Trinity.

A journey is, by its nature, naturally ascetic. Unless my life is already humble, I cannot take all my possessions on a journey. I can never be too reliant on the plans I have made for my journey. In this case, a control lying beyond the self, i.e., God’s grace, must be admitted and accepted. This is the spirit to which the fast calls us.

A journey is, by its nature, also, an act of movement, of growth. What is old is left behind; newness is perceived and embraced; growth of understanding takes place. And even if the journey comes to a close in the same physical location from which it began, that place is no longer quite the same. This is the importance of the fast. The Nativity is a life-changing miracle for each one of us.

Make ready, O Bethlehem: let the manger be prepared, let the cave show its welcome. The Truth is come, the shadow is passed away; God hath appeared from a Virgin unto men formed as we are, and deifying that which He hath assumed. Wherefore, Adam is renewed with Eve, as they cry out: 'Thy good will hath appeared on earth to save our race’ (sticheron from the First Royal Hour).

We are renewed

Adam and Eve, all of humankind, are renewed and made alive in the Incarnation of God in Christ, who 'appeared on earth to save our kind.’ Fallen flesh, so long bound to death, so long yearning for growth and maturation into the fullness of life, is sewn into the garment of Christ and at last made fully alive. There is a pleasing old saying, with perhaps more than a touch of truth to it, that humankind drew its first full breath at the infant Christ's first cry.

We are called, then, to approach this great mystery as God's condescension into our own lives, personally and collectively. The Second Canon for the Nativity explains it clearly: He layeth a path for us unto Heaven. The Nativity is not only about God's coming down to us, but about our rising up to Him, just as sinful humanity was lifted up into the person of Christ in the Incarnation itself.

We are called to arise, then, during the fast that is the journey to this Feast. O Blessed One, that lookest down and seest all; keep us above sin, who ever sing Thy praises, steadfast and unmoved on the foundation of faith (from the Second Canon of the Nativity.) The faithful take up this call by abandoning those things which bind, rather than free, in order that a focus on God might become ever more real and central to our daily life. Meals are lessened and regimented, that a constant, lingering hunger may remind us of the great need we each have for spiritual food that goes beyond our daily bread. The number of Church services is gradually increased, that we might know whence comes that true food. Sweets and drink are set aside, that we might never feel content with the trivial and temporal joys of this world. Social engagements are reduced, that we might realize that all is not so well with us as we often take it to be. Anything which holds the slightest power over us, whether television or travel or recreation, is minimized or, better, cast wholly aside, that we might bring ourselves to be possessed and governed only by God.

Through this time of asceticism, the Church strips away common stumbling blocks into sin, in order to provide us with the self-perception that we lack in our typical indulgence, and to help us begin to grow the seeds of virtue. We must take up the task of our own purification, achieved only through God’s grace, that we might approach Him on Christmas Day as did the Magi and the shepherds in Bethlehem:

Come, O ye faithful, let us be lifted up with divine inspiration, and let us behold the divine condescension from on high that is made manifest to us in Bethlehem. And being cleansed in mind, by our way of life let us offer virtues in the stead of myrrh, faithfully preparing our entry into the Feast of the Nativity, storing up treasure in our souls and crying: Glory in the highest to God in Trinity, through Whom His good will is revealed to men, that as the Friend of man He may deliver Adam from the ancestral curse (from the Sixth Royal Hour).

The Mystery Brings Joy

Resurrection unto life is the ultimate gift of the Incarnation. Those in the Church journey toward the birth of Christ God during the Nativity fast by struggling up the mountain that is too steep to climb without God’s grace, that they might learn that unless a man understands that he is dead, he will never know the meaning of resurrection.

The fast is a holy and blessed tool that brings us closer to such selfawareness. It reveals to us who we are, perhaps more importantly, who we are not, and makes us more consciously aware of what we desperately need. Then and only then, with eyes opened, even if only partially, by the ascetic endeavor, we will truly know the life-giving light of the Nativity of Christ. We will hear with awe the proclamation of the hymn at Vespers, perceiving the mystery presented therein as having become truly an inward part of us.

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord as we declare this present mystery. The middle wall of partition is broken asunder; the flaming sword is turned back, the Cherubim withdraw from the Tree of Life, and I partake of the Paradise of Delight, whence I was cast out before through disobedience. For the Identical Likeness of the Father, the Express Image of His eternity, taketh the form of a servant, and without undergoing change He cometh forth from a Mother that knew not wedlock. For that which He was, He hath remained, even true God; and that which He was not, He hath taken upon Himself, becoming man out of love for man. Unto Him let us cry: O God, Who art born of a Virgin, have mercy on us (first sticheron from Vespers of the Nativity).

We will never fully comprehend this ineffable mystery of God become man; some knowledge is properly God's alone. But by His grace, through the ascetic effort, we will come at least to some understanding of the salvation of Christmas Day, of our own salvation. And with this realization comes joy— joy far greater than a mere entrance into the temple on Christmas Day could ever bring us. And having come through the forty days of the fast, with this joy in our hearts, we shall embrace the hymnographer’s words as our own.

On this day the Virgin cometh to the cave to give birth to God the Word ineffably, Who was before all the ages. Dance for joy O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; the angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before the ages is God (kontakion of the Forefeast).

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Video: The Theology of the Body

These videos (in Greek) are a portion of a lecture on the Theology of the Body by Fr. Nikolaos Loudovikos, Professor of Systematic Theology at the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki.

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The Unfortunate Effects Apocalyptic Beliefs Can Have On Morality

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald
December 5, 2010
The Huffington Post

When I was a kid I knew The World was going to Hell in a hand basket. I didn't know what that phrase meant, still don't really, but I knew that it was one of the only times I could get away with saying hell, because it wasn't swearing. The World was actually going there.

Perhaps a couple definitions are necessary here at the outset. In my conservative, evangelical-before-we-knew-what-evangelical-was upbringing, Hell meant that very literal -- perhaps underground -- place where real flames burn real, bad people forever. And The World meant non-Christians, as in "be in the world, but not of it." Evangelicals often refer to any not-usses, any thems, as The World.

So, The World was on a steady decline to the pits of Hell, which began, well, when it all began, when the literal Adam and Eve ate the literal apple, handed them by the literal snake who literally was Satan in disguise and sin entered into the previously pristine world. The thing about this decline though, is that we were all okay with it. It's not that we wanted to live in a world that was getting worse; it was just that we didn't want to live in The World at all. And though there are many variations of this belief, typical evangelical eschatology says that in order for Jesus to come back the world has to get so bad that the only solution is to scoop up his followers, burn the whole place down and start again.

This being the case, we knew that what we were seeing around us, the fact that more and more swear words slipped through the FCC's slackening grip and made their way into our homes via our televisions, that more magazine covers revealed more skin, that PG movies were more like PG-13 movies, that a Democrat got elected, and then had a public affair, and then stayed in office; these were all signs that things were going according to plan.

The only problem, as far as my 8-year-old self was concerned, was that things weren't moving along quickly enough. My parents used to tell me stories about how in the 1970s they were certain that it was all coming to an end. But then Reagan became president and, I guess, things started looking up again for the good guys. I had to do something to help speed up the process.

My solution came in the form of one of the greatest evils of the 80s: MTV. I wasn't allowed to watch music videos, not even the harmless VH1 variety. Clearly, I concluded, the more viewers MTV had, the sooner Armageddon would happen. Therefore I resolved to make any and all of my non-Christian friends tune in often, and sometimes, even, when I was sitting on the couch beside them. I would hand a friend the remote to my family's old JC Penney television set, tell him to type in 3 and 6 and when MTV blinked on the screen and Axl Rose screamed "Take me down to Paradise City..." my friend would turn to me with a horrified look on his face and say something like, "But we're not allowed to watch this." To which I would respond, "I'm not, because I'm a Christian, but I think it's okay for you."

Diabolical, wasn't I? In the end, all this accomplished for me was a few spankings and an uncompromising love of popular culture.

Certainly this is religion as seen through a child's eyes, but it is also emblematic of the kind of Christianity I grew up in -- one so concerned with individual salvation that its very standards of morality are a means toward that end. This is the same morality that cares nothing for the earth because it will eventually be destroyed, or for those who are not receptive to evangelism as their fates are sealed.

This morality really is amorality, a void where actual care and concern for what is right should be -- rules and regulations in place of grace and virtue. If there is a list of activities that one must do or not do in order to achieve personal salvation, this list must necessarily trump everything else. I must do whatever is necessary to secure paradise for myself. My morality matters most; yours, very little.

As much as the people in my church hated the idea of relativism -- which they saw as a kind of ultimate evil that, if ever it were to take hold, would assure that there would be no ultimate evil - the relative nature of the preferred evangelical morality seems to have gone completely unnoticed.

But, Christianity is not really about personal salvation. As a Christian, my life should matter less to me than the lives of others. In this way, too, my sense of morality must reflect this understanding: it is not what I can do for myself that is of value, but how I can make life better for those around me. Or, as Hegel prescribes in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History, striving toward spiritual perfection in one's own life is not enough, rather the Christian believer must actively transform the physical world into a place more habitable for "free, spiritual beings."

This shift fortunately corresponds to a larger shift that is taking place among evangelicals, or post-evangelicals as many of us who have walked away from the warehouses and former department stores that served as the evangelical churches we were raised in are often identified as now. If evangelicalism was concerned, first and foremost, with personal salvation, we must make a conscious effort to shift our attentions outward; not to police the morality of others but to mind how our own actions help or hurt them, to ensure our motivations are right.

Granted, this outlook isn't going to speed up the onslaught of the Apocalypse, but it might make the time between now and Armageddon that much more pleasant for everyone.

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