MYSTAGOGY: December 2010

Monday, January 17, 2011

Archbishop Iakovos and Martin Luther King Jr.

On March 26, 1965 Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America was featured with Martin Luther King Jr. on the cover of LIFE magazine. We have all seen the photo, but how many have actually looked through the entire magazine. For example, the first in a series of articles began in this issue titled "The Hermitage" which featured splendid photos of the treasures of the Russian Czars held in the Leningrad Museum.

The entire magazine is online and can be read here.

Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt

St. Anthony the Great (Feast Day - January 17)

Perhaps the most effective tactic adopted by the adversary of man's salvation has been to blind man to the reality of the spiritual warfare being waged for possession of his soul. We have consequently become spiritually flabby and easy prey for the enemy. To escape such a perilous condition we would do well to contemplate more often the examples of the saints who engaged in direct combat with the Evil One, unmasking his deceptions and thereby disarming him. Nowhere is this illustrated more dramatically than in the life of St. Anthony the Great. Written by St. Athanasius who personally knew St. Anthony, this Life is a spiritual classic with which all Christians should be familiar .

St. Anthony was an Egyptian, born c. 251 of noble Christian parents who provided well for their son's future by educating him in the fear of God. His parents left this world when Anthony was 18 or 20, and he inherited a substantial fortune in terms of earthly wealth. But although he was at the age most attracted by fortune's delights, he aspired only to amass the riches of virtues.

Anthony was reflecting one day upon how the Apostles had forsaken all to follow after Christ. when he heard in church the words of the Gospel: "If thou wishest to be perfect, go and sell everything thou hast...and come and follow Me" (Matt. 19:21). Thus confirmed in his desire to do likewise, Anthony sold his estate and distributed the money to the poor, persuading his younger sister to be likeminded, he gave her into the care of some virgins.

Now free of all earthly attachments, the young man began to lead a life of great abstinence and self-denial on the outskirts of his village. He gave his mind no occasion to think back upon the affairs of this world but led it into a desert that it might be occupied with thoughts of pleasing God alone. He delighted in visiting the dwellings of righteous men and studying their virtuous habits which he proceeded to adopt for himself, exercising himself in their practice. Indeed, he was like a bee which gathers nectar from various blossoms and creates out of it a fragrantly sweet honey. With his concentrated desire Anthony rapidly ascended the ladder of perfection. The enemy, however, could not endure to behold the likeness of Christ shining forth from this creation of dust and ashes, and he determined to destroy this 'house of virtue.'

The Unseen Warfare

The first campaign was waged on the battlefield of the mind. Anthony experienced a barrage of unsettling thoughts--flattery, the allurement of the world and all the pleasures his former wealth could buy, concern for his sister's welfare, the difficulties of the path he had chosen. The vicious net was craftily woven, but the Saint recognized it as the handiwork of his adversary and tore it apart by means of intense prayer and vigilance, deflecting any and all disturbing thoughts before they took hold in his mind. The battle grew more intense when the Enemy', taking advantage of the Saint's youth, assailed him with lustful thoughts, inflaming the natural appetites of the flesh until the Saint was burning with his own lust. He manfully fought back by mortifying his body with increased fasting to quench the passions of the flesh, and by meditating on death and the eternal torments which await those who give themselves over to the spirit of fornication. And so be escaped unharmed, even strengthened by this experience.

When the Evil One found himself so disgraced, he took on a human voice and complained bitterly to Anthony: "I have deceived and conquered m a n y in my time; but now in your case, as in that of many others, I am defied by your ascetic labors."

Knowing that his antagonist would continue to stalk him as a roaring lion after his prey, Anthony did not allow himself to relax his vigilance on account of his victory. He passed many night s without sleep, en grossed in prayer, and limited his bodily nourishment to bread and water, of which he partook once a day at evening. For, he said, by weakening the pleasures of the body the mind is strengthened. Such disregard did he have for the body as to imitate the nature of the fleshless ones, i.e., the angels. The severity of his labors and his accumulated virtues astonished the older ascetics, but Anthony never thought about his spiritual progress and regarded each day a s the beginning of his spiritual journey, thereby shielding himself from pride and vainglory.

For the sake of greater solitude, Anthony moved further from the village to a burial place at the edge of the desert, where he locked him self up in a sepulchre; only allowing a servant to come at rare intervals with a supply of bread. The enemy, embittered by his previous defeat, attacked with vengeance. This time the assault was physical. A whole troop of demons came one night and beat the Saint until the very breath of life was ready to leave him. But even as he lay on the ground, covered with bruises and unable to stand, he said in a loud voice:

"Here, devils, here am I, Anthony, ready for more of your wounds. Try your worst, for you shall never separate me from Christ." He fortified himself by singing the words of the Psalmist: "Though a host should encamp against me, yet my heart shall not fear."

Incensed by the audacity of Anthony's challenge, the Devil gathered his minions: "Don't you see now? This fellow could not be restrained either by the spirit of fornication or by bangs and bruises,.. We must assail him by other means."

That night, as Anthony was still lying on the ground recovering, a hoard of demons shook the walls of the sepulchre and rushed in to terrorize the Saint. For this purpose they had taken on the forms of hideous wild beasts--hissing snakes, roaring lions, ferocious wolves, a bull which threatened to gore the victim. But Anthony was not frightened by what he perceived to be mere spectral creatures, and he made bold to mock his enemy's impotence: "What is the use of all this vain uproar? If ye have power to hurt, why don't you? But you can't, for the Lord is my shield and my wall of safety." The demons could only gnash their teeth in reply.

When Anthony had thus manfully proven himself as a champion athlete in the spiritual arena, he was granted to experience the comforting presence of the Lord. Lifting his eyes heavenward he saw a roof-curtain drawn aside and a ray of light descending upon him. Straightway the demons vanished, and Anthony felt his bodily pains melt away. Consoled by this outpouring of Divine Grace, he rested briefly from the fatigue of battle before addressing his Master aloud:

"Lord, where wast Thou when these sufferings and tribulations came upon me? Why didst Thou not help me?" He heard a voice in reply:

"I was here, Anthony, but I wanted to witness your combat. Having seen that you withstood your adversary without retreating, I shall from now on be your Helper and shall make your name celebrated far and wide as My faithful servant."

Anthony knelt in prayer to give thanks to God for this promise and for the peace and newfound strength which filled his soul, the grace-given rewards of his victory. He was then about 35 years old.

With Demons in the Desert

The next day Anthony left the place of the sepulchres to live as a hermit in the desert. Even as he journeyed, the enemy continued to lay all kinds of traps for him, but the Saint was not to be outsmarted. Seeing a large silver disk in his path, he immediately surmised that it was a ruse of the devil, for had some traveler passed that way and lost it, surely he would have retraced his steps to recover such a valuable object. "O Devil," he cried out, "you will not so easily draw me away from my purpose. May you take your silver and go down to perdition together." No sooner had he said this than the silver disk disappeared in a cloud of smoke, proof that it was indeed the devil's creation.

At length Anthony settled in a cleft of some rocks beside a river, blocking the entrance so as not to be disturbed. For twenty years he remained there in solitude, admitting no visitors but only a supply of bread three times a year. It must not be imagined, however, that he enjoyed a blissful life of uninterrupted peace. Those who came in hopes of seeing or hearing a word from the far famed ascetic were often perplexed by the raucous din coming from the cleft. They sup-posed a band of angry men had somehow gained entrance, for they could make out shouts of: "Depart from us! Why have you come to our country to cause our death?!" Through a fissure, however, they saw that the Saint was quite alone, and they understood that the tumult was made by demons.

Indeed, the demons quite exhausted their bag of tricks in their frantic efforts to deter the Saint from his course, for fear that his example would inspire others to invade their desert domain with fasting and psalm-singing which they found intolerable. And this is just what happened. Whole multitudes began coming to the desert to lose their lives, like Anthony, for the sake of the Kingdom. Persuaded by their entreaties, the Saint relinquished his solitude to share the light of his accumulated experience with these eager new recruits in Christ's army. By word and example he fanned such zeal for the ascetic life that many monasteries--the first in the history of Christianity--were founded under his influence, for which reason he is known as the Father of Monasticism.

In guiding these warriors of Christ, St. Anthony exhorted them to pursue their aim with diligence, for "the promise of eternal life is bought with a small price.., and the work is easy, if we be only willing." He warned them of the subtle craftiness of the demonic powers, exposing their numerous tricks and guises whereby they seek to trip and destroy the Christian whom they find laboring on the path of salvation. He spoke of the evil and impure thoughts they try to instigate and of the fearful appearances they assume, of their pretention in foretelling future events. "Sometimes, too, they appear in the habit of monks, and talk very religiously in order to gain our confidence and then to seduce us." At the same time, he encouraged the brethren not to fear when they came under attack, but to fortify themselves by faith and the sign of the Cross: "If they find us rejoicing in the Lord, and meditating or conversing on divine things, then demons have no power over the Christian...for when they see the soul secured by such thoughts, they turn away deeply ashamed of themselves."

Besides his extraordinary skill in discerning spirits, St. Anthony had other gifts --of healing, of casting out demons, of foretelling future events. And although he was illiterate he readily outwitted many philosophers. Once, when some 'wise' men came thinking to mock his Christian faith, St. Anthony brought forward several people who were troubled with demons, and said, "Can you heal these men by your reasoning? or by any art or magic, calling upon your idols?" The Saint then called upon the name of Christ and marked the demoniacs with the sign of the Cross, a first, second and third time. Immediately the men were healed of their insanity, and the philosophers departed amazed by the miracle and by Anthony's wisdom.

Treasury of Good Gifts

Crowds flocked to this heavenly-born physician of the Egyptian desert, and no one left without being enriched from St. Anthony's store of gifts. "For who," writes St. Athanasius, "went to him in sorrow, and did not come back rejoicing? Who went to him in anger, and was not converted into a friend? What poor man met him, with a dejected heart, who, after he saw and heard him, did not go away despising riches and content with poverty? If a monk was remiss, he excited him to diligence. If a young man went to the mountain and beheld Anthony, he straightway renounced pleasure and embraced a life of temperance. Whosoever came to him, tempted by a demo n, was relieved; or if troubled with evil thoughts was tranquilized."

Even when St. Anthony had attained the heights of perfection, he never hesitated to learn from someone else. Nor did he, in his humility, ascribe his spiritual gifts to his own achievements, but exhorted those who benefited by his prayers to thank God Who is the source and cause of all that is good.

St. Anthony reached the venerable age of 104, still sound in mind and body notwithstanding his severe mode of life, Foreseeing the approach of death, he gave a final word of instruction to the brethren, warning them to beware of schismatics and the Arian heretics, and urging them to diligently guard their hearts and not to fear the demons. He died in peace after a short illness, welcoming his journey into eternity as et foreigner returning to his homeland. His life, once hidden in the desert, became famed throughout the Roman Empire, not on account of worldly wisdom or riches or political power, but because of his profound piety, towards God, to Whom he brought glory and honor.. Amen.

Source: (Quotations from the Life by St. Athanasius)

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
O Father Anthony, you imitated the zealous Elijah. You followed the straight paths of the Baptist and became a desert dweller. By prayer you confirmed the universe. Wherefore, intercede with Christ our God to save our souls.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Forsaking the uproars of life O venerable one, you completed your life in quiet, fully imitating the Baptist. Therefore, we honor you with him, O Anthony, Father of Fathers.

Video: Galileo's Physics and Dante's Image of Hell

Boston Globe - How Galileo invented modern physics by thinking about Dante's Inferno

Saint Theodosius the Great, Emperor of the Romans

Saint Theodosius the Great (Feast Day - January 17)

Theodosius the Great was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. On 27 February 380, he declared "Catholic Christianity" the only legitimate imperial religion, ending state support for the traditional Roman religion.

On 27 February 380 he, Gratian and Valentinian II published the so called "Edict of Thessalonica" (decree "Cunctos populos", Codex Theodosianus xvi.1.2) in order that all their subjects should profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria (i.e., the Nicene faith). The move was mainly a thrust at the various beliefs that had arisen out of Arianism, but smaller dissident sects, such as the Macedonians, were also prohibited.

On 26 November 380, two days after he had arrived in Constantinople, Theodosius expelled the non-Nicene bishop, Demophilus of Constantinople, and appointed Meletius patriarch of Antioch, and Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Cappadocian Fathers from Antioch (today in Turkey), patriarch of Constantinople. Theodosius had just been baptized, by bishop Acholius of Thessalonica, during a severe illness, as was common in the early Christian world.

In May 381, Theodosius summoned a new Ecumenical Council at Constantinople (First Council of Constantinople) to repair the schism between East and West on the basis of Nicean orthodoxy. "The council went on to define orthodoxy, including the mysterious Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who, though equal to the Father, 'proceeded' from Him, whereas the Son was 'begotten' of Him." The council also "condemned the Apollonarian and Macedonian heresies, clarified jurisdictions of the state church of the Roman Empire according to the civil boundaries of dioceses and ruled that Constantinople was second in precedence to Rome."[1]

Theodosius died, after suffering from a disease involving severe oedema, in Milan on 17 January 395. Saint Ambrose organized and managed Theodosius's lying in state in Milan. Ambrose delivered a panegyric titled De Obitu Theodosii before Stilicho and Honorius in which Ambrose detailed the suppression of heresy and paganism by Theodosius. Theodosius was finally buried in Constantinople on 8 November 395.

It is said that Theodosius copied the Holy Gospel in its entirety in his own handwriting and read it everyday.

1. Williams, Stephen and Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, Yale University Press, 1994, pp. 54-55.

St. Ambrose Humiliates Theodosius the Great

Written by Theodoret (c.393-466 CE), Ecclesiastical History, V.17-18

Thessalonica is a large and populous city, in the province of Macedonia. In consequence of sedition there, the anger of the Emperor [Theodosius] rose to the highest pitch, and he gratified his vindictive desire for vengeance by unsheathing the sword most unjustly and tyrannically against all, slaying the innocent and guilty alike. It is said seven thousand perished without any forms of law, and without even having judicial sentence passed upon them; but that, like ears of wheat in the time of harvest, they were alike cut down.

When Ambrose heard of this deplorable catastrophe, he went out to meet the Emperor, who---on his return to Milan---desired as usual to enter the holy church, but Ambrose prohibited his entrance, saying "You do not reflect, it seems, O Emperor, on the guilt you have incurred by that great massacre; but now that your fury is appeased, do you not perceive the enormity of your crime? You must not be dazzled by the splendor of the purple you wear, and be led to forget the weakness of the body which it clothes. Your subjects, O Emperor, are of the same nature as yourself, and not only so, but are likewise your fellow servants; for there is one Lord and Ruler of all, and He is the maker of all creatures, whether princes or people. How would you look upon the temple of the one Lord of all? How could you lift up in prayer hands steeped in the blood of so unjust a massacre? Depart then, and do not by a second crime add to the guilt of the first.

The Emperor, who had been brought up in the knowledge of Holy Writ, and who knew well the distinction between the ecclesiastical and the temporal power, submitted to the rebuke, and with many tears and groans returned to his palace. The Emperor shut himself up in his palace and shed floods of tears. After vain attempts to appease Ambrose, Theodosius himself at last went to Ambrose privately and besought mercy, saying "I beseech you, in consideration of the mercy of our common Lord, to unloose me from these bonds, and not to shut the door which is opened by the Lord to all that truly repent." Ambrose stipulated that the Emperor should prove his repentance by recalling his unjust decrees, and especially by ordering "that when sentence of death or of proscription has been signed against anyone, thirty days are to elapse before execution, and on the expiration of that time the case is to be brought again before you, for your resentment will then be calmed and you can justly decide the issue." The Emperor listened to this advice, and deeming it excellent, he at once ordered the law to be drawn up, and himself signed the document. St. Ambrose then unloosed his bonds.

The Emperor, who was full of faith, now took courage to enter holy church where he prayed neither in a standing, nor in a kneeling posture, but throwing himself upon the ground. He tore his hair, struck his forehead, and shed torrents of tears, as he implored forgiveness of God. Ambrose restored him to favor, but forbade him to come inside the altar rail, ordering his deacon to say "The priests alone, O Emperor, are permitted to enter within the barriers by the altar. Retire then, and remain with the rest of the laity. A purple robe makes Emperors, but not priests. . ." Theodosius meekly obeyed, praising Ambrose for his spirit, and saying "Ambrose alone deserves the title of "bishop."

Three Romanian Nuns Released From 2005 Exorcism Case

January 16, 2011
Focus

Three of the four nuns from the Tanacu Monastery in eastern Romania, convicted for homicide after a young woman died during what they said was an exorcism ritual, have been released from prison, Romanian Mediafax news agency reports.

In 2005, the four nuns together with priest Petru Corogeanu, nailed a young woman to an improvised wooden cross in an attempt to exorcise her. The woman died.

The three nuns released Saturday, Adina Lucia Cepreaga, Simona Birdanas and Elena Otel, were sentenced to five years in prison in 2007. They were released early for good behavior.

The fourth nun involved, the monastery's former mother superior, Nicoleta Sofia Arcalianu, was convicted to six years in prison and is due to be released later this year.

The former priest, who was sentenced to seven years in prison, will be released in spring next year.

In June 2005, the priest and the four nuns nailed 23 year-old Irina Cornici to a cross in an exorcism ritual and kept her without food or water for three days.

See also the 2007 documentary "For God's Sake".

The Gallows of St. George the New Martyr in Ioannina

On the 17th of January, a day our Church honors the feast of St. Anthony the Great, it was also the day that the New Martyr George, at the age of 30 in 1838 came to a martyr’s death by hanging in the city of Ioannina. The gallows were set up in the busy Ioannina square of “Kormanio”, which is opposite the great Castle entrance. The square now bears the New Martyr’s name.

Read more about his life at this link: Saint George the New Martyr of Ioannina

Source

Bees Do Their Work To the Glory of God

Koretsky Holy Trinity Convent in Ukraine has a beehive shaped like an Orthodox Church in their apiary. One nun has commented on the reason behind this symbolism: "Truly bees work to the glory of God making honey for the Monastery (which they offer to the people). This means that they serve God."

Sunday, January 16, 2011

"The Philokalia": A Challenge To Western Culture

By Christos Yannaras

The Kollyvades' greatest achievement was the Philokalia. This anthology borrows from thirty-six Church Fathers and ascetics from the fourth to fifteenth centuries; all the texts suggest that a direct relationship of man with God, and a bodily perception of God through purification of the mind by ceaseless mental prayer, are indeed possible.

Makarios Notaras (1731-1805), metropolitan of Corinth, was a leader of the Kollyvades' movement without being an Athonite monk. In Hydra Makarios met Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain (1749-1809), a turning point in both their lives. They compiled together the Philokalia of the Holy Neptic Fathers. Makarios went to Mount Athos for the first time in 1777, handing Nikodemos the Philokalia manuscripts to check and compare with codices in the Athonite libraries.

In the context of his times, Makarios was an astonishing phenomenon. Europe was being transformed; a new world was being born amidst frenzied enthusiasm. Society, politics and ideology were changing radically; the speed of change excited the enslaved people of the East, arousing new hopes.

The French Revolution was central, but a lot happened just before or afterwards: Napolean's early triumph as "the Liberator", the United States of America's Declaration of Independence, the awakening of nationalism, the radical ideas of the Encyclopaedists, Voltair's iconoclastic language, Fichte's criticism of all "revelation", Kant's reinvention of metaphysics and ethics, the founding by liberals of political science, the allure of revolutionary politics, impressive advances of science, and bold innovations in art. The impetus of social and cultural change in the West seemed unprecedented.

The Ottoman Empire's oppressed rayahs were particularly excited by this. Educated Greeks following European developments tended to align themselves unreservedly with modernism's ideas.

But the Kollyvades dissented: a handful of humble, scholarly monks gathered around Makarios. Their inspired and fruitful opposition to the new European world reveals an astonishing historical perspicacity. They provided their enslaved nation with fundamental texts of spiritual and cultural self-awareness under very difficult conditions. Against modernism, they proposed to reawaken humanity to its essential, original needs, illuminated by the Church Fathers' ethos and experience.

They rapidly produced the first printed editions of Gregory Palamas, Symeon the New Theologian and Mark Eugenikos, in the original or in a more popular idiom. These works and writers had been completely forgotten for three and a half centuries, even amongst ecclesiastics. The Kollyvades themselves produced catechisms and apologetic works to sustain the Greeks' Christian resistance. They also composed biographies of neomartyrs to provide the faithful with recent examples of sacrificial self-denial.

The Kollyvades understood how the complex new European order was actively opposed to the religious oppression and obscurantism which had caused people to lose their faith. That is why they presented the Philokalia as a witness to the genuine experience of the Church. They focused on the central promises of the Church, on the ascetic goal of the monks and the laity, on palpable experience of the Gospel's revelation.

This is surprising. After three and a half centuries of rationalism and moralism by Greek scholars, imitations of Western "religionization", scholastic "Confessions" and inadvertent concessions to secularization, after three and a half centuries of patriarchs, schools and students alienated from their tradition, St. Makarios' revelatory judgement rescued from oblivion the Church's witness to the most essential issues of the Christian faith.

The Philokalia is not a collection of specialized "mystical" texts; it demonstrates what we seek when we participate in the Church. We are not interested in the validation of concepts or legal guarantees of ultimate justification. Human beings seek the love (philia) of the good and long for beauty (kallos). Longing for the beauty of the Lord's Person is part of the personal relationship or communion that constitutes incorruptible, immortal, true life.

A personal relationship with Christ's Person, like true love, requires a persistent effort to let go of egocentricity and be freed of the natural selfish will. We actively seek this relationship by constant invocation of the Beloved's name, coordinating mind and breathing to invoke His mercy and share His life.

Constant loving invocation purifies the mind of its illusions, and the desires at the "heart" of man of sensual distractions, those appetites that endow the created with self-existence; it joins the "mind" with the "heart" in loving self-offering. Desire is personalized and the mind subordinated to the longed-for relationship.

Awareness of being physically alive, even the natural function of breathing, can be transformed into a desire for the loving relationship, freeing humanity from the limitations of its created and mortal nature. Human beings know existence not just as nature but as a loving relationship which is also the true life of the Triune Deity.

The Philokalia's publication in a tentative way constituted a challenge of one culture by another. Enthusiasts for "progress" aspired to an anthropocentric autonomy of mere biological existence; their intoxicating freedom was divorced from social responsibility, individuals' rights became an absolute, and they wanted to make life as efficient as a machine. But truth is more than usefulness. Communion and love are important, personal otherness has priority over individualism, life is not mere survival. Joy and hope can transcend death.

What common life did the Kollyvades want and the Philokalia imply? What kind of society, technology, politics, economics and culture? A different understanding of human existence and action cannot be reduced to a single program.

At a critical historical moment Hellenism followed the Enlightenment rather than the Kollyvades. Hellenism came to be organized as a national state, borrowing Europe's institutions, administration and ideologies, and losing its cultural identity and otherness in the process.

The Philokalia nevertheless exercised profound influence beyond the Greek world, like any true manifestation of the Greek spirit.

In 1793, eleven years after the first edition of 1782, the Philokalia was published in Slavonic translation. The initiative came from the famous Ukrainian monk, Paisy Velichkovsky (1722-1794), abbot of Neamt Monastery in Moldavia, who had spent eighteen years as an ascetic on Mount Athos. He knew Makarios Notaras, who sent him a copy, and he supervised the translation into Slavonic by Neamt monks. It was immediately sent to St. Petersburg for publication, where Metropolitan Gabriel assembled a group of monks and professors of the Academy of Alexander Nevsky who knew Greek to polish the translation. The terminology and nuances of Byzantine ascetic literature were transposed for the first time into classical Russian.

The Slavonic translation of the Philokalia was decisive for the spiritual life of Russia. This dynamic revival of ascetic and Church-centered piety was known as the "Philokalian Renaissance"; from the mid-nineteenth century it sustained Russian Orthodoxy's spiritual tradition, which had been undermined by Peter the Great's reforms.

The center of the "Philokalian Renaissance" was the famous Optina Monastery, where Paisy Velichkovsky's students gathered, bringing with them from Neamt many more manuscript translations of the Greek Fathers. Ivan Kireevsky, a talented philosopher and author who had studied in Germany under Hegel and Schelling, supported the Optina monks, at once perceiving in the Philokalian texts an authentic sense of the Church and a philosophical position which alone could resist the challenge of European nihilism. They collaborated to publish a series of patristic texts in Slavonic: John Climacus's The Ladder, the Letters of Barsanuphios and John, Theodore Studites' Catechises, Isaac the Syrian's Ascetic Writings, etc.

Optina as a Philokalian center was the occasion for Kireevsky's friendship and collaboration with three other significant philosophers: Khomiakov, Aksakov and Samarine. These were the first Slavophiles, whose thought inspired such ferment in nineteenth-century Russia.

The Slavophile movement was complex and its adherents had very differing approaches, but a common orientation unites them. They resisted Western rationalism and its concomitant individualism, and revered the vital energy preserved in Orthodox Church Tradition and popular Russian piety. The spirit of European "populism", derived from Pushkin and Gogol's wonderful writings, influenced the Slavophiles as did the Philokalian Renaissance and monastic centers as Optina.

Ecclesiastical currents such as those of the Philokalian Renaissance and Optina came to exercise a decisive influence on the Russian intelligentsia, later inspiring works by Tolstoy, Soloviev, and especially Dostoevsky. Tychon in The Possessed and the starets Zossima in The Brothers Karamazov are drawn from Dostoevsky's personal experience of Optina.

But the full benefits of the Philokalian Renaissance were reaped only in the mid-twentieth century by Russian theologians of the post-revolutionary diaspora. For the first time since the fourteenth century, the Orthodox recovered their theological self-awareness and identity. This reawakening influenced all European theology, stimulating leading Roman Catholic theologians to study the Greek Fathers and Orthodox worship and art. The "neo-patristic" movement among Roman Catholics found encouragement in the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), but Vatican conservatives soon stifled it. Russian theologians were more influential in Greece, Romania and Serbia, initiating the "theological spring" of the sixties. One hundred and seventy years later, the Philokalian Renaissance thus returned to the territory of its creator, St. Makarios Notaras.

A second edition of the Philokalia was published in Greece in 1893 [1] and a third in 1957 [2] with frequent reprints. Fr. Dumitru Staniloae's Romanian translation began publication in 1946, and was completed in ten volumes by 1981, following the translator's persecution and imprisonment by the Communist regime. Faber and Faber published a two-volume English anthology in 1951, translated by E. Kadliubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer [3], and began publication of a six-volume complete text in 1979, edited by G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and Kallistos Ware. Jean Gouillard's French edition, Petite Philocalie de la priere de coeur, 1953, included a few texts, but his narrow interest in mystical techniques is obvious. A new edition of the entire text by Abbaye de Bellafontaine appeared from 1979 to 1986, translated by the Orthodox French poet Jacques Touraille and edited by Protopresbyter Boris Bobrinskoy. Unfortunately, it fails to evoke the realism and robustness of the original, often slipping into pietistic sentimentality. Finally we may note that an extensive literature has grown in response to European translations of the Philokalia. [4]

1. Edited by P.A. Tzelatis.

2. In five volumes, edited by the Archimandrite Epiphanios Theodoropoulos and published in Athens by Astir.

3. The publisher's reservations about the commercial viability of such a "specialized" work were overcome by their editorial advisor, the poet T.S. Eliot. The work in fact proved highly successful, with eight reprints in ten years.

4. For a full bibliography to 1984 see the Dictionnaire de Spiritualite 12 (1984) cols. 1336-52.

From Orthodoxy and the West, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, pp. 122-128.

We Are Only Free If We Are Slaves of Christ

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"For the slave called in the Lord is a freed person in the Lord, just as the free person who has been called is a slave of Christ" (I Corinthians 7:22).

The great news that Christianity daily announces to the world is that nothing is evaluated at full value according to its external appearance but by its essence. Do not evaluate things according to its color and shape but by its meaning. Do not evaluate a man by his position and property but by his heart - by his heart in which are united his feeling, his reason and his will.

According to this, for the world always a new teaching; he is not a slave who is outwardly enslaved; neither is he free who possesses outward physical freedom. According to secular understanding, the slave is one who enjoys the world the least and a free man is one who enjoys the world the most. According to Christian understanding, a slave is one who least enjoys from the living and sweet Christ and the free man is one who enjoys most from the living and sweet Christ. Further, according to secular understanding, the slave is one who carries out his own will less frequently and who carries out the will of others more frequently, and a free man is one who carries out his will more often and even less often the will of others. However, according to Christian understanding, the slave is one who carries out his will more often and even less often the will of God, and the free man is one who carries out the will of God more frequently and who carries out even less frequently, his own will. To be a slave to the Lord is the only true and worthy freedom of man and, to be a slave to the world and to one's self, sin and vice is the only fatal slavery. Of the kings on the throne, a man would think: Are there any more free men on earth than those? However, many kings were the most base and the most unworthy slaves of the earth. Of shackled Christians in the dungeons, a man would think: Are there any more miserable slaves on earth than they? However, the Christian martyrs in the prisons felt as free men and were filled with spiritual joy; they chanted Psalms and raised up prayers of gratitude to God. Freedom which is tied to grief and sorrow is not freedom but slavery. Only freedom in Christ is tied with unspeakable joy. Lasting joy is the mark of true freedom.

O Lord Jesus, the only Good Lord, Who grants us freedom when You tie us stronger to Yourself, make us Your slaves as soon as possible that we would cease to be slaves of cruel and unmerciful masters. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

Sectarianism and Extremism in Russian Orthodoxy

Which Road Leads Away From the Church?

Aleksandr Baunov and Ilya Arkhipov
November 26 – December 2, 2007
Russian Newsweek

A young man, recently converted to Russian Orthodoxy, wandered into an ordinary Orthodox church in a Moscow side street. He was approached by an old woman, a donations box attendant, who began to instruct the young man: “You’d better take off that slip-knot. Our Lord did not wear neckties. The Devil lives in these knots.”

An old joke about a lonely Jew on a desert island who built himself two synagogues — one to go to and another one NOT to go to — perfectly fits modern Russian Orthodoxy. Already 10 years ago some of the most rigorous priests would not give sacraments to believers from “less Orthodox” parishes unless they repented and recounted their false beliefs.

There is another church, formed long ago within the confines of the Russian Orthodox Church. This inner church reads its own books, listens to its own authorities, and despises the bishopric. In the language of modern sociology, its followers may be termed “religious fundamentalists.” It’s just like the modern Islamic world, where universal peace is preached in one mosque, while jihad is preached in the one right next door, and both types of worshippers are “good Muslims.”

Orthodox fundamentalists say that the last days gave come and that the INN [Individual Taxation Number, said to contain a barcode with the number “666”] and the new Russian passports are the seals of the Antichrist.

Modern Russia is a country of neophytes. This goes for priests as well as for laymen. People go to monasteries in search for “starets” [sages] and spiritual teachers. But the sages and teachers themselves came to the church just 10 to 15 years ago, even though they pretend to possess spiritual insight comparable to that of Dostoyevsky’s “starets Zosima.” Lists are compiled and updated weekly of the most venerated “starets.” Thus, from the cursed world they have taken the worldliest feature — star ratings. Even a denunciative term has already appeared in the Orthodox Church: “young starets.”

The most radical of those fundamentalists summon the Church to canonize Ivan the Terrible, Rasputin, and Stalin. A settlement of such radical God-seekers was established not far from Moscow in the village of Koscheevo, Yaroslavl region. Its residents call themselves “Oprichnoe Bratstvo” [Brotherhood of Oprichniks, oprichniks being members of the guard troops formed by Ivan the Terrible].

Another alternative cult is the Brotherhood of the Redeemer-Tsar. Represented by once-popular singer Jeanne Bichevskaya, this group believes that Christ did not pay for all human sins and that the last Russian tsar had to complete the job. Adherents of this idea gather at the Taininskaya railway station, some 20 minutes from Moscow. They conduct a Rite of National Repentance by the monument to Nicholas II. People repent of various deeds of their ancestors, including the Decembrists’ uprising.

In the village of Diveevo [one of the most holy places of modern Russia is located there — the convent established by St. Seraphim of Sarov] there is a “groove” said to be the footprints of Mother of God when she appeared to St. Seraphim. According to the popular belief, the Antichrist will not be able to cross that groove, so fervent believers buy themselves houses in Diveevo to stay close to that holy place during the world’s end.

According to the main Russian expert, Alexander Dvorkin, indigenous sects account for more than half of all cultists in Russia and begin to export themselves to other countries. Ten or fifteen years ago people will go to cults straight from being functional atheists. The modern-day cultists are better described as heirs to the pre-revolutionary Russian God-seeking movements. And the key problem existed before the revolution, too. Russian classic writer Nicholas Leskov was especially interested in that problem. His favorite phrase was: “Russia is baptized but not educated” — meaning that people who claim to be Orthodox have an extremely vague idea of “what their faith is about.” This is also the reason behind the preposterous results of numerous recent polls — for example, according to pollsters, among 70-80% of Orthodox believers in Russia, only 40% believe in God, and only about 2% partake of the sacraments regularly.

Numerous small factions that preach various alternative forms of Orthodoxy are not going to dissent, and thus many parishes and monasteries, still being formally Orthodox, become sectarian in nature. These people do not seek to leave the church but rather to refashion it in their own way. Though not formally sectarian, in reality they possess a sectarian mentality.

Here’s how this mentality is described by a modern Orthodox theologian from the University of Vienna, Vladimir Martinovich, Th. D.: shift of religious worship from God to a certain cleric with total surrender to his will; belief in automatic efficacy of religious rites without necessary understanding of their meaning; apocalyptic ideas that encourage fear of the outside world; “polytheism” that consists of exaggerated veneration of saints “for any conceivable occasion”; extremist tendencies that stimulate hatred towards certain groups of people depicted as the main enemy of the Church.

The reasons for this sectarian mentality are obvious. “Such things happen very easily,” observes Fr. Georgy Kochetkov, a very popular priest among the Moscow intelligentsia. “People strive for an intense spiritual life; they are dissatisfied with the weakened, diluted, bifurcated parish life. And having this zeal, they fall prey to what the Apostle Paul calls ‘zeal not according to knowledge.’”

Fr. Georgy Kochetkov is himself a “sectarian.” He is thus labeled by the fundamentalist faction in the church. The mid-1990s witnessed a peak of confrontation between the liberal movement represented by Fr. Gregory and the ardent supporters of the “old ways.” Fundamentalists won the victory: they threatened to leave the church, and the church leaders surrendered to their pressure; restrictions were applied to the parishes and monasteries that championed an “impudent” attitude towards the Tradition in order to “please” the newly converted intelligentsia.

But after the fundamentalists used the church leadership to defeat the liberals, it was the turn of the church leadership itself to come under fire. It is now considered by the fundamentalists to be the most liberal and ecumenical part of the church, and thus their main enemy.

Deacon Andrei Kuraev, professor of the Moscow Spiritual Academy, believes that the church itself bears responsibility for the proliferation of such ideas. “The question is why these people, who are already Orthodox, were unprotected before the crazy preaching of this sick person [Pyotr Kuznetsov, leader of the Penza doomsday group]. Let us enter an ordinary church or monastery, and we will see that it is extremely hard to find a book about Christ there, but there are plenty of books about the Antichrist.”

According to him, at least 20% of all Orthodox clergy support the position of Chukotka bishop Diomedes, who published an open letter to the Patriarch this spring. In his letter the hierarch from Chukotka blamed the Church for the departure from pure Orthodoxy. By this he meant that the Russian Orthodox Church was engaged in ecumenical dialog, endorsed democracy, and justified the INN and new passports. Finally, Bishop Diomedes accused the church leadership directly with aiding the Antichrist, since it had organized an interfaith summit and a joint address to the leaders of the Big Eight. With this, according to Diomedes, they in effect recognized the authority of the Big Eight, which “is an agency of the worldwide Masonic government and makes way for the coming of the one world leader, the Antichrist.”

“There are conditions that predispose the church to the formation of sects,” admits the Patriarch’s press secretary, Fr. Vladimir Vigilyansky. According to him, the danger of schism is very real, but the hierarchs don’t want to provoke it because they feel responsible for their laity: “There are some people who, as in the Gospel parable, are afraid to gather up the tares, lest they uproot the wheat with them. The Patriarch tends to think that one preserved sprout of wheat has more value than dozens of tares.” Judging by the Penza events, the tares are deeply rooted already.

Andrei Kuraev does not believe that the kindness of the hierarchy will save the church from schism. “Fear of schism, if it paralyzes the church, only hastens it. Sometimes, as in the Penza case, I even wish that such schisms would have happened already, so these people may not identify themselves with the Orthodox Church anymore. Then it will be clear where there’s Orthodoxy and where there’s a sickness disguised as Orthodoxy.”

But, then the Church is different from the sects in that it accepts everybody, all paupers and cripples, whereas sectarians do not tolerate any deviations from the “sure road to paradise.” Thus, by anathematizing such people it would admit its inability to heal spiritually sick.

Video Interview With Papa Fotis the Fool for Christ

Below are links to two videos featuring an interview with Papa Fotis Lavriotis the Fool for Christ from 1996.

In the first video Papa Fotis is asked about why he walks around with dirty and old rasa and barefoot. He responds that he likes the simple life and to attend to the beauty of the soul rather than the body. When asked if he would receive socks from a woman who gave them to him to wear in the winter, he responded that he would not take them.

First Video

In the second video Papa Foti gives some very valuable information regarding his biography.

Second Video

Related posts:

Papa-Fotis the "Fool For Christ" Has Reposed

The "Trash" of Papa-Fotis

Papa Fotis On Alms and the Priesthood

Papa-Foti's Vision of St. Luke the New Martyr

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Christian Truth

By Rev. Antonios Alevisopoulos

This void which is created in man who seeks saving truth is filled by the Church. The Christian does not seek man-made truth; rational truth, an idea or some cosmic Mind, called God.

He seeks truth which transcends human limits and all of creation. Moreover, he seeks God who can enter into personal communion with him, into a communion of love, i.e. he seeks God who is a person.

For the Christian, the knowledge of God has a different significance. It is not simply an object of rational approaching or an impersonal delving into a Principle of the Universe which excludes every personal relationship. Christian knowledge of God is an event of personal communion between God and man, a communion related to man's entire existence and not relegated simply to his rational faculty.

"Knowledge" therefore, according to the Christian concept, is not the product of rational activity, separated from love; indeed in the Holy Scriptures the term is used to express the consummation of interpersonal communion within marriage (Gen. 4,1). Such a communion does not abrogate man's person within some sort of "cosmic" principle; rather it protects it! Through this communion mortal man transcends the condition of creatureliness, that is, his createdness, and participates in the life of the uncreated and eternal God.

Man, however, cannot realize this transcendence through his own abilities and potential, which out of necessity are limited to the realm of created reality. Man's very nature is an insurmountable hindrance which makes his passing over or "ascent" to, and approaching God impossible. An ontological abyss, i.e. an impassable chasm related to God's and man's essence, separates man from God. Man cannot transcend this abyss.

But that which man cannot do, God does out of love for His creature: He "descends" or rather "condescends" i.e. He adapts to man's condition, transcends the abyss, reveals Himself to His creature and offers him the possibility of a real communion of love and life.

Christian knowledge of truth, i.e. eternal life, is and remains the great gift of our affectionate Heavenly Father. It is not the result of our human endeavours. That which God offers us is not conditioned by our strivings. It is the fruit of God's freedom and love. This gift is offered freely and ought to be accepted always with gratitude. No one can force the donor to offer his gifts.

Moreover, God does not violate man's will. He lets him make his own free choice. He allows him to respond with his love to God's love or to reject that love. Such a choice does not belong to man's rational domain, i.e. a rational turning towards God on man's part is not enough. Man must participate in totality. What is needed is tangible proof of man's holistic turning toward God that includes his struggle for spiritual catharsis, the carrying out of God's commandment. Without this basic presupposition it is impossible to find God:

"For perverse thoughts separate men from God, and when his power is tested, it convicts the foolish; because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin. For a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit, and will rise and depart from foolish thoughts, and will be ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness." (Wisdom of Solomon 1,3-5).

The free exercise of the divine virtues leads man away from autonomy. It functions within the realm of God's love. Man, through his obedience and through the carrying out of God's commandments humbles his body and his mind, recognizing that by himself he can neither embark nor continue upon the path of the true knowledge of God. His entire life becomes a cry unto God. God then condescends and offers to man the grace of the knowledge of Himself. Man becomes a partaker in this grace, which is God's gift, and which is called uncreated divine energy. Of course grace is not identical with God's essence. God' essence remains unapproachable and incomprehensible for man. Grace however, springs from God' essence which is its source. Hence it is not created but uncreated. This is why God's condescension signifies for man true knowledge of God, eternal life and salvation. This is the Christian concept concerning the knowledge of God.

For the faithful to reach this saving knowledge it is necessary that he "bow his head", that he submit in love to the merciful Lord. It is for this reason that the priest-celebrant of the divine services, after the command "bow your heads unto the Lord", prays:

"O Lord our God, Who didst bow the heavens and come down for the salvation of the race of men, look upon Thy servants and upon Thine inheritance. For unto Thee, the fearful and man-befriending Judge, have Thy servants inclined their heads and bowed their necks, looking for succour not from men, but abiding Thy mercy and awaiting Thy salvation..."

With the Christian concept of truth and its "knowledge", man's life acquires a deeper, a true meaning and eternal destiny. It sufficeth that man consider the "knowledge" of God as the most precious treasure in his life, and that he seek it out properly. Then will God's grace touch him and desire for God will become so great that nothing can stand between him and God or separate him from God's love:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8, 35-39).

This is the path that the holy martyrs of our Church followed; Thus the hymn of the Church states:

"Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor persecution, nor whip, nor anger of beasts, nor sword, nor fire, can threaten you, all-laudable Martyrs, with separation from God; for you have escaped nature in disdaining death by your yearning for Him and struggling as if in bodies foreign to you...".

Read also: Searching for the Truth

Source

Friday, January 14, 2011

Bishop Demetrios Responds To Rabbi David Rosen

January 14, 2011
Greek-America Magazine

Exclusive to "Greek America Magazine", His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago with extensive experience in interfaith and ecumenical relations offered the following response to Rabbi David Rosen, who claimed that “…anti-Semitism is alive and well within the Greek Orthodox Church.” Rosen's remarks were in response to a Greek bishop's televised interview during which he made several anti-Semitic references and accusations.

By Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos

One cannot combat bigotry and hate by promoting it at the same time. In his reaction to obviously offensive words, Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Inter-religious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, has resorted to the same tactics he regularly denounces. For his protest against the remarks of one Greek Orthodox Christian, offensive to Jews all over the world, Rabbi Rosen has chosen in turn to offend Greek Orthodox Christians all over the world, indicting their Church with an anti-Semitism that is “alive and well.”

Rabbi Rosen rightly objected to recent remarks by a hierarch of the Church of Greece made during a television interview last December. The remarks were clearly derogatory to the Jewish people and obviously based on a profound ignorance of history along with conspiratorial paranoia. Indeed, the Jewish people were not alone in their offense, and Greek Orthodox Christians around the world were shocked and embarrassed. Unfortunately, Rabbi Rosen went too far in his call for “church leadership to condemn and uproot anti-Semitism” when he prefaced this by noting that “anti-Semitism is alive and well within the Greek Orthodox Church.”

Fighting fire with fire in this instance, making gross blanket statements attributing bigotry and prejudice to a whole group of people, does nothing but perpetuate the conditions that lead to mistrust, distance and ill-will among peoples—the very conditions that Rabbi Rosen should be seeking to alleviate.

After all, the Greek Orthodox Church around the world does not routinely indict the Jewish people or faith as “anti-Christian” when the Israeli government or Jewish religious groups and sects in Israel harass or impede the work of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, or cause problems for Orthodox Christians living in Israel or within the territory of the Palestinian Authority. Similarly, when a member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect literally spit on me during a recent visit to Jerusalem, I did not assume that anti-Christianity was “alive and well” in Judaism. Instead, I recognized the act for what it clearly was: the act of a prejudiced and bigoted Jewish person clearly at odds with the majority, including my Jewish hosts.

Such actions on the part of the Israeli government, religious groups or persons do not and should not be the occasion for an accusation against the venerable Jewish faith. Likewise, the pathetic comments of one clergyman in Greece should not be an opportunity to smear the Orthodox Church.

Rabbi Rosen, in seeking to combat the “outrageous bigotry” demonstrated by Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, called on the Church of Greece’s Archbishop Ieronymos II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to condemn the remarks. That would be fine, except to note that Archbishop Demetrios of America, as the Patriarchal Exarch (representative) in the Western Hemisphere, did condemn the remarks immediately in the strongest terms: “gravely offensive and totally unacceptable.” Before the end of December, 2010, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, officially responding to Rabbi Rosen on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, wrote, “You are well aware of the respect and sincere cooperation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and of His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew himself. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to ensure you that such unfortunate comments have no place in our hearts and minds.” He concludes, noting, “Incidents such as the aforementioned will unfortunately take place, and the language of hate and mistrust will find ways to be heard. This, however, should not become an obstacle in our sincere and fraternal cooperation.”

Furthermore, since Metropolitan Seraphim is not under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it is, formally and morally, a matter for the autocephalous Church of Greece to address. Yet, it clearly reveals Rabbi Rosen’s misunderstanding of Greek Orthodox Church polity as well as his effort to associate all Greek Orthodox with the unfortunate and offensive remarks of one person.

Undoubtedly, there is anti-Semitism in Greece, as there is in the United States and, unfortunately, elsewhere in the world. What Rabbi Rosen forgets, in his indictment of the Greek Orthodox Church, is that not all Greek Orthodox Christians are within the jurisdiction of the Church of Greece.

He also seems to forget an important part of history. There are specific examples of courage and heroism among Greek Orthodox clerics during the Nazi occupation of Greece in defense of the Jewish population. Far from demonstrating anti-Semitism, Greek clergy during World War II acted for the defense of their Jewish neighbors.

Indeed, when asked by the Nazis for a list of Jews on the island of Zakynthos, the Mayor consulted the local bishop, Metropolitan Chrysostomos. He told the Mayor to burn the original and actual list, then wrote his own name on a piece of paper and submitted it as the list to the German commander. Unable to thwart the Germans’ plans, despite his act of defiance, he warned the Jewish residents to hide in the mountains, where they were actively assisted by Greek Orthodox residents. Similarly and shortly before, Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens had denounced the deportation of Greek Jews to the concentration camps though threatened with execution.

This is not simply anecdotal or legendary. The Jewish organization, Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, specifically awarded Archbishop Damaskinos (1969), Metropolitan Chrysostomos and Mayor Lukas Karrer of Zakynthos (1978), with the honor of being numbered with the “Righteous Among the Nations” for their efforts on behalf of the Jewish residents of Greece.

Certainly, the Jewish communities in Greece, like elsewhere in Europe, were decimated by the Nazis as part of the Holocaust. Yet examples abound in Greece of Christians warning, hiding or assisting their Jewish neighbors in light of Nazi plans to deport them. There are documented cases of Jews being discovered in Greek households, though some remained in hiding until the Nazis left the country; along with support given to Jews who fled to the mountains, this certainly cannot be the foundation of a widespread anti-Semitism. Could more have been done? Yes, but that does not justify the denigration of the Greek Orthodox Church, and many adherents of the Church—often inspired and actively led by clergy—risked their own safety to assist their Jewish neighbors. These persons lived up to the ideals of the Greek Orthodox Church and her true “head” who taught that we are to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 19:19; Mk 12:31; etc.) echoing the Hebrew Scriptures (Leviticus 19:18).

One might argue that this is all in the past, and Rabbi Rosen is addressing current anti-Semitism in the Greek Orthodox Church. While I cannot speak directly to the status of relations between Jews and the Church Greece, I can speak with personal knowledge about Greek Orthodox relationships with Jewish persons in the Ecumenical Patriarchate generally and in the United States specifically. The positive working relationship that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has with Jewish leaders around the world is well known, and hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate around the world typically have excellent relationships with Jewish clergy. Likewise, in the Archdiocese of America, there have long been many examples of common efforts with segments of the Jewish community, religious and otherwise. In the Chicago area alone, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago for many years participated in an annual retreat with Christian and Jewish clergy, and continues to work alongside religious and civic leaders of the Jewish community in the region through the Council of Religious Leaders, with the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

There is no doubt that there are persons who identify themselves as Greek Orthodox Christians who do not abide by the teachings of Jesus Christ. Anti-Semitism is one of a number of “gravely offensive and totally unacceptable” attitudes that such persons may display, along with a host of other sinful attitudes as well as actions. This is the reality of the broken world in which we live. Thus, the ugliness of anti-Semitism may, indeed, be alive within the formal “boundaries” of the Greek Orthodox Church as Rabbi Rosen suggests. But it is by no means “well.” Along with every other form of hate, it is routinely condemned—and never condoned. The shocking statements of a bishop in Greece should not be mistaken as a revelation of Church doctrine, but rather as the sad, ugly and hurtful rant of someone who deviates from what the Church actually teaches.

I certainly do not blame Rabbi Rosen or any of my Jewish colleagues or friends for being offended by the rant of the Metropolitan of Piraeus—I was likewise offended, even outraged. Yet it is precisely the practice of judging all persons of a group based on the misdeeds of one or a few—guilt by association—that leads to stereotyping, prejudice and bigotry. This was in the “background” of very offensive comments by a Greek Orthodox cleric. Unfortunately, it appears to be somewhat contagious, for it prompted Rabbi Rosen to respond in kind.

Russian Church Reticent Over Canonization of Evgeny Rodionov

Aimilios Polygenis
January 14, 2011
Romfea.gr

The Russian Church is doubtful regarding the glorification of Evgeny Rodionov, the soldier who in 1996 was beheaded by Chechen rebels for refusing to remove his cross and embrace Islam.

"There is no documented information so far about the circumstances behind the death of Evgeny. All the stories and all references we have, though some are analytical, are only perceptions and stories of some people on this issue," said the secretary of the Synodal Commission on Canonization, Archpriest Maxim Maximov.

To be canonized, Fr. Maxim Maximov explained, "there must exist responsible and valid witnesses of the death of Evgeny, but they all died."

Fr. Maxim further stressed, "There is only one witness alive to talk about the death of the soldier, and that witness is his mother who was not even present at the death of Evgeny, so she can only be called a witness in a conventional sense, and not conditional."

"As you ask me today, in the same way I asked the mother of the soldier as follows: How do you know that your son died in this way?" said Father Maxim. "The mother then told me that this is the stylistic method of any Russian soldier arrested and killed."

"The Church can not be based on stylistic evidence, but essential," added the secretary of the conciliar committee.

According to Fr. Maxim, in this way the Church may be asked to declare thousands of soldiers killed in Chechnya.

"And why not, if this is a stylistic question, then try to convince me that all the soldiers are Christians and know why they died?" said Father Maximos.

Evgeny Rodionov was a soldier of the First Chechen War under Yeltsin.

It is worth noting that on the 100th day anniversary of the capture of Evgeny Rodionov, a picture of his began to stream myrrh in his birthplace in Penza.

In Russia books have already been published about his life and martyrdom with the blessing of the late Patriarch of Russia Alexy II.

Related post:

Saint Evgeny Rodionov the New Martyr of Chechnya

The Holy Fathers Slain at Sinai and Raithu

Holy Fathers Slain at Sinai and Raithu (Feast Day - January 14)

There were two occasions when the monks and hermits were murdered by the barbarians. The first took place in the fourth century when forty Fathers were killed at Mt. Sinai, and thirty-nine were slain at Raithu on the same day.

Mount Sinai, where the Ten Commandments had been given to Moses, was also the site of another miracle. Ammonios, an Egyptian monk, witnessed the murder of the forty holy Fathers at Sinai. He tells of how the Saracens attacked the monastery and would have killed them all, if God had not intervened. A fire appeared on the summit of the peak, and the whole mountain smoked. The barbarians were terrified, and fled, while the surviving monks thanked God for sparing them.

That day, the Blemmyes (an Arab tribe) killed thirty-nine Fathers at Raithu (on the shores of the Red Sea). Igumen Paul of Raithu exhorted his monks to endure their suffering with courage and a pure heart.

The second massacres occurred nearly a hundred years later, and was also recorded by an eyewitness who miraculously escaped: St Nilus the Faster (November 12). The Arabs permitted some of the monks run for their lives. They crossed the valley and climbed up a mountain. From this vantage point, they saw the bedouin kill the monks and ransack their cells.

The Sinai and Raithu ascetics lived a particularly strict life: they spent the whole week at prayer in their cells. On Saturday they gathered for the all-night Vigil, and on Sunday they received the Holy Mysteries. Their only food was dates and water. Many of the ascetics of the desert were glorified by the gift of wonderworking: the Elders Moses, Joseph and others. Mentioned in the service to these monastic Fathers are: Isaiah, Sava, Moses and his disciple Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, Adam, Sergius, Domnus, Proclus, Hypatius, Isaac, Macarius, Mark, Benjamin, Eusebius and Elias.

Source

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Ye fled from the world's confusion and wild turbulence and passed over to a state of great tranquillity, crowned with blood of martyrdom and the pains of valiant ascetic deeds. Hence ye dwell together with all the Martyrs and righteous Fathers in the heights.

Concerning the Cross of Saint Nina

The history of the cross of vine shoots, given to Saint Nina by the Theotokos, is known. Until 458, the cross was kept in the cathedral church at Mtskheta. During the time when the Christians were persecuted by the fire-worshipers, a monk, named Father Andrew, took the holy cross from Mtskheta and conveyed it to the province of Taron of Armenia, since at that time the Georgians and Armenians were of one belief.* The cross was kept in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which is called by the Armenians Gazar-Bag, that is, "The Tempe of Lazarus". Afterward, on account of persecution from the Persian Magi's, who were exterminating anything Christian, the cross was taken south of Tbilisi and hidden at Armenian fortresses at Kapotsi, at Banai, at Kars, and the city of Ani. These movements took place until the mid-1230's, when the queen of Georgia, Rusudan (Rousouda, d. 1237), and her bishop besought the Mongolian overlord Tsarmagan (Jamukha), who occupied Ani, that she might return the cross to Georgia from whence it came. Permission was granted, and the cross was placed at the Cathedral of Mtskheta. However, it remained there only for a short time. On account of the frenzied madness of the barbarians, it was necessary for the cross many times to be taken and hidden in the mountains. On one occasion it was taken to the Church of the Holy Trinity, which exists to this day on the small mountain of Kazbek, north of Tbilisi toward Chechnya. On another occasion it was at Kastro, Ananour in the old temple of the Theotokos.

In 1749, Metropolitan Romanos of Georgia fled from Georgia to Russia, secretly taking St. Nina's cross and giving it to Queen Bakar Baktanovitch, who was then staying at Moscow. The cross then remained in the village of Liskovo for fifty years with princes from Georgia, who were the descendants of Bakar and had migrated to Russia in 1724. Prince George Alexandrovitch, the grandson of Bakar, in 1801, brought the cross of Nina to the autocrat Alexander Paulovitch, who thought it good at that time to return the great and holy treasure to Georgia. To this day it is a symbol of the apostolic toils of St. Nina.** The vine cross was deposited in a silver case at the Sion (Sioni) Cathedral of Tbilisi, next to the north pillar of the sanctuary. On top of the case may be seen the engraving of scenes from the saint's life and miracles wrought by the cross.

* In 505-506, at the Council of Duin, both the Georgians and Armenians rejected Chalcedon and went into the Monophysite camp. However, in 607, under Archbishop Kyrion I, the Armenians and Georgians split, and the Georgians returned to communion with the Greeks, which resulted in close contacts between Byzantium and Georgia, while relations with the Armenians were often strained. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, s.v. "Georgia"; Lives and Legends of the Georgian Saints, p. 5.

** The faithful of the Georgian Church interpret, in a typological manner, the cross of vine shoots given to Saint Nina by the Theotokos at her commissioning. The grape vine, a multivalent symbol, is pictured in many Georgian icons, engravings and frescoes. Christ says: "I am the vine, the true one,... and ye are the branches" (Jn. 15:1, 4, 5). An example of Georgian symbolic thought is that the vine branch connects Saint Nina with the fruit-bearing vine of the Gospels. It is a symbol of evangelical teaching - the new wine. Furthermore, it refers to the Eucharist and the cup of martyrdom. In Georgia, a nation known for its vineyards, the vines extend to the mountaintops, symbolizing the enlightenment of their land. In addition, the Georgians believe that when St. Nina wrapped her hair about the cross, it was a sign that she became a slave of God, and not of men, and that she would deny herself, offering her life in service to God.

See also: Saint Nina the Equal to the Apostles and Enlightener of Georgia

From The Great Synaxarion of the Orthodox Church (January), translated by Holy Apostles Convent, pp. 459-460.

Saint Sava Cathedral in Belgrade

The Orthodox Temple of Saint Sava (Serbian: Храм Светог Саве) in Belgrade, Serbia is the largest Orthodox Church currently in use. The church is dedicated to St. Sava, founder of the Serbian church and an important figure in medieval Serbia. The temple has been built on the Vračar plateau, on the location where, in 1595, St. Sava’s remains are thought to have been burned by Turkish Sinan Pasha. From its location, the temple dominates Belgrade's skyline and is perhaps the most monumental building in the city. The building of the church structure has been financed exclusively by donations. The parish home is nearby, as will be the planned patriarchal building.

It is not a cathedral in the technical ecclesiastical sense, as it is not the seat of a bishop (the seat of the Metropolitan bishop of Belgrade is St. Michael's Cathedral). In Serbian it is called a hram (temple), which in the Eastern Orthodox church is another name for a church. In English, it is usually called a cathedral because of its size and importance.

Tree hundred years after the burning of Saint Sava's remains, in 1895, the Society for the Construction of the Cathedral of Saint Sava on Vračar was founded in Belgrade. Its goal was to build a cathedral on the place of the burning. A small church was built at the future place of the Cathedral, and it was later moved so the construction of the Cathedral could begin. In 1905, a public contest was launched to design the church; all five applications received were rejected as not being good enough.

Soon, the breakout of the First Balkan War in 1912, and subsequent Second Balkan War and First World War stopped all activities on the construction of the church. After the war, in 1919, the Society was established again. New appeals for designs were made in 1926; this time, it received 22 submissions. Though the first and third prize were not awarded, the second-place project, made by architect Aleksandar Deroko, was chosen for the building of the Cathedral.

Forty years after the initial idea, construction of the church began in May 10, 1935, 340 years after the burning of Saint Sava's remains. The cornerstone was laid by bishop Gavrilo Dozic-Medenica (the future Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V).

The project was designed by Aleksandar Deroko and Bogdan Nestorovic, aided by civil engineer Vojislav Zadjina.

The work lasted until Second World War Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941. The church's foundation had been completed, and the walls erected to the height of 7 and 11 metres. After the 1941 bombing of Belgrade, work ceased altogether.

The occupying German army used the unfinished church as a parking lot, while in 1944 the partisans and the Red Army used it with the same purpose. Later, it was used for storage by various companies. The Society for Building of the Cathedral ceased to exist and has not been revived.

In 1958, Patriarch Germanius renewed the idea of building the church. After 88 requests for continuation of the building—and as many refusals, permission for finishing the building was granted in 1984, and Branko Pešić was chosen as new architect of the church. He remade the original projects to make better use of new materials and building techniques.

Construction of the building began again on August 12, 1985. The walls were erected to full height of 40 metres.

The greatest achievement of the construction process was lifting of the 4,000 ton central dome, which was built on the ground, together with the copper plate and the cross, and later lifted onto the walls. The lifting, which took forty days, was finished on June 26, 1989.

The church is mostly complete. The bells and windows had been installed, and the facade completed. However, work on the internal decoration of the building still remains largely unfinished.

See also:

Wikipedia: Cathedral of Saint Sava

Official Site For the Cathedral

Saint Sava, Enlightener of Serbia

St. Sava of Serbia (Feast Day - January 12 or 14)

Saint Sava, First Archbishop of Serbia, in the world Rostislav (Rastko), was a son of the Serbian king Stephen Nemanya and Anna, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Romanos. From his early years he fervently attended church services and had a special love for icons.

At seventeen years of age, Rostislav met a monk from Mount Athos, secretly left his father's house and set off for the St Panteleimon Monastery. (By divine Providence in 1169, the year of the saint's birth, the ancient monastery of the Great Martyr and healer Panteleimon was given to Russian monks.)

Knowing that his son was on Athos, his father mobilized his retainers headed by a faithful voevod and wrote to the governor of the district which included Athos, saying that if his son were not returned to him, he would go to war against the Greeks. When they arrived at the monastery, the voevod was ordered not to take his eyes off Rostislav. During the evening services, when the soldiers had fallen asleep under the influence of wine, Rostislav received monastic tonsure (in 1186) and sent to his parents his worldly clothes, his hair and a letter. St Sava sought to persuade his powerful parents to accept monasticism. The monk's father (in monasticism Simeon, commemorated on February 13) and his son pursued asceticism at the Vatopaidi Monastery. On Athos they established the Serbian Hilandari Monastery, and this monastery received its name by imperial grant. At Hilandari Monastery, St Sava was ordained to the diaconate and then presbyter. His mother Anna became a nun with the name Anastasia (June 21).

For his holy life and virtuous deeds on Mount Athos, the monk was made an archimandrite at Thessalonica. At Nicea in the year 1219 on the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Ecumenical Patriarch Germanus consecrated Archimandrite Sava as Archbishop of Serbia. The saint petitioned the Byzantine Emperor to grant permission for Serbian bishops to elect their own Archbishop in future. This was a very important consideration in a time of frequent wars between the eastern and western powers.

Having returned to the Holy Mountain from Nicea, the saint visited all the monasteries for the last time. He made prostrations in all the churches and, calling to mind the blessed lives of the wilderness Fathers, he made his farewells to the ascetics with deep remorse, "leaving the Holy Mountain, as if from Paradise."

Saddened by his separation from the Holy Mountain, the saint went along the path from Athos just barely moving. The Most Holy Theotokos spoke to the saint in a dream, "Having My Patronage, why do you remain sorrowful?" These words roused him from despondency, changing his sorrow into joy. In memory of this appearance, the saint commissioned large icons of the Savior and of the Mother of God at Thessalonica, and put them in a church.

In Serbia, the activity of the Hierarch in organizing the work of his native Church was accompanied by numerous signs and miracles. During the Liturgy and the all-night Vigil, when the saint came to cense the grave of his father the monk Simeon, the holy relics exuded fragrant myrrh.

Being in charge of negotiations with the Hungarian King Vladislav, who had declared war on Serbia, the holy bishop not only brought about the desired peace for his country, but he also brought the Hungarian monarch to Orthodoxy. Thus he facilitated the start of the historical existence of the autonomous Serbian Church, St Sava contributed also to strengthening the Serbian state. In order to insure the independence of the Serbian state, Archbishop Sava crowned his powerful brother Stephen as king. Upon the death of Stephen, his eldest son Radislav was crowned king, and St Sava set off to the Holy Land "to worship at the holy tomb of Christ and fearsome Golgotha."

When he returned to his native land, the saint blessed and crowned Vladislav as king. To further strengthen the Serbian throne, he betrothed him to the daughter of the Bulgarian prince Asan. The holy hierarch visited churches all across Serbia, he reformed monastic rules on the model of Athos and Palestine, and he established and consecrated many churches, strengthening the Orthodox in their faith. Having finished his work in his native land, the saint appointed the hieromonk Arsenius as his successor, consecrating him bishop and giving his blessing to all.

He then set off on a journey of no return, desiring "to end his days as a wanderer in a foreign land." He passed through Palestine, Syria and Persia, Babylon, Egypt and Anatolia, everywhere visiting the holy places, conversing with great ascetics, and collecting the holy relics of saints. The saint finished his wanderings at Trnovo in Bulgaria at the home of his kinsman Asan, where with spiritual joy he gave up his soul to the Lord (+ 1237).

At the time of transfer of the holy relics of St Sava to Serbia in 1237, there were so many healings that the Bulgarians began to complain about Asan, "because he had given up such a treasure." In the saint's own country, his venerable relics were placed in the Church of Mileshevo, bestowing healing on all who approached with faith. The inhabitants of Trnovo continued to receive healing from the remnants of the saint's coffin, which Asan ordered to be gathered together and placed in a newly built sarcophagus.

The legacy of St Sava lives on in the Orthodox Church traditions of the Slavic nations. He is associated with the introduction of the Jerusalem Typikon as the basis for Slavic Monastic Rules. The Serbian Hilandari Monastery on Mt. Athos lives by the Typikon of St Sava to this day. Editions of The Rudder (a collection of church canons) of St Sava, with commentary by Alexis Aristines, are the most widely disseminated in the Russian Church. In 1270 the first copy of The Rudder of St Sava was sent from Bulgaria to Metropolitan Cyril of Kiev. From this was copied one of the most ancient of the Russian Rudders, the Ryazan Rudder of 1284. It in turn was the source for a printed Rudder published in 1653, and since that time often reprinted by the Russian Church. Such was the legacy of St Sava to the canonical treasury of Orthodoxy.

Source

Read also: LIFE OF OUR HOLY FATHER SAVA I, Enlightener and First Archbishop of the Serbs (+1235)

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
Thou wast a guide to the Way of Life, a first Hierarch and a teacher; thou didst come and enlighten thy home country, O Sava, and give it rebirth by the Holy Spirit. Thou hast planted thy children like olive trees in the spiritual Paradise. O Equal-to-the-Apostles and Saints, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
O guide of Orthodoxy and blessed teacher of virtues, purifier and enlightener of thy homeland, beauty of monastics, most wise Father, Holy Sava, by thy teaching thou didst enlighten thy people, O flute of the Spirit, pray to Christ God for our souls.

Kontakion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
As the first great hierarch and co-worker with the Apostles, the Church of thy people magnifies thee; and since thou hast found favor with Christ, save us by thy prayers from every calamity, so that we may proclaim to thee: Rejoice, God-wise Father Sava.

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