Elder Petroniu Tanase Has Reposed (1914 - 02/22/2011)

Elder Petroniu, hieromonk and spiritual father of the Skete of St. John the Forerunner on Mount Athos, passed away on 22 February 2011 at 3:30 PM. He was born on 23 May 1914 to his parents John and Anna. He was tonsured a monk in 1940. On two different occasions he was asked to be the Patriarch of Romania, but he rejected the office both times.

Fr. Petroniu was born in 1914 in Farcasa of Neamt county in Romania. His desire from a young age was to become a monk which led him to Neamt Monastery where he became a monk. Then he went to the Monastery Antim in Bucharest while he studied at the Theological School of Bucharest.

In 1978 he went to Mount Athos. Fr. Petroniu went there with second generation monks, sent by the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate for the spiritual rebirth of the Skete of St. John the Forerunner.


Since 1984 he was the spiritual father and librarian of the Skete.

When Placide Desseille asked Father Makarios Simonopetritis to take him to an elder to hear a spiritual word, he along with Abbot Elissaio (Elisha) and other monks of the brotherhood took him to Father Petroniu.

When they asked Elder Adrian Fageteanu to say something about Elder Petroniu, he said: "Petroniu the Prodromiti? The most humble, most humble, most humble!"

Stepping foot on the Athonite land of the Skete of the Forerunner, Nikolai Baltsiout wrote: "Father Petroniu is so loved that he advises both the Greek and Romanian monks."

Fr. Ioannikios from the Monastery of Simonos Petra would say: "Father Petroniu Prodromitis combines perfect love with asceticism and gentleness. Until a few years ago the elder was standing in vigil through the whole night. To sit for a little while kneeling was a blessing."

Looking to find something else to write I remembered what was written two years ago in the Orthodox magazine Lumea Monahilor by George Crasnean: "I showed my wife 3217 pictures of Athonite monks and asked who she thought was a 'good man'. Of all she chose Fr. Petroniu perhaps because his eyes 'betrayed' his unique soul."

None of those who crossed the threshold of the Skete of St. John the Forerunner can forget the light which beamed from his face and the spiritual words which he offered seated on a bench under the light of sunrise or sunset.

"I like to walk, this is my joy, because many Holy Fathers sanctified these stones with their sweat", said the Elder. Walking in the footsteps of these fathers, you feel the joy of community and unceasing prayer.

May God grant him rest.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

See also:

Video: A Conversation With Romanian Elder Petroniu Tanase

Părintele Petroniu Tănase

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Latin America: Peoples in Search of Orthodoxy

by His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Mexico

Thirteen years ago, when I undertook the (then newly-established) Holy Metropolis of Mexico with only three priests and three mainly Greek-speaking communities, in Mexico, Panama and Venezuela, I would never have expected, let alone conceive the miracle that is unfolding today for our Orthodox Church in Latin America.

We all lived the miracle of Cuba, when Fidel Castro's government undertook the construction of the Sacred Temple of Saint Nicholas in Havana and officially received Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who officiated the inauguration of that Holy shrine in January of 2004. In the decade that passed, we experienced the propagating of our faith in the states of Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, etc... just as we experienced - and continue to experience - the continuing drama of the people of Haiti, after the catastrophic earthquake of last January. A drama which unfortunately will heal, only after several years have passed.


Greece became acquainted with Christianity and lived its own Pentecost around two thousand years ago, through the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles. Greece is the most blessed country in the world. And this is because - as I point out to our priests - whichever stone you lift, underneath it you will find the relics of a Saint, a Martyr, a holy man, a fighter for the Orthodox faith... We, however, in Latin America are living our Pentecost today. For us - with the exception of the few Greek Orthodox Communities - Orthodoxy has only just arrived in Latin America.

I recall six years ago, when our Ecumenical Patriarch visited Cuba to officiate in the inauguration of the Holy Temple of Saint Nicholas, there were only four Orthodox Cubans, whereas now, more than one thousand Cuban families have been baptized and have embraced Orthodoxy. And every day, there are more - many more - who seek to acquaint themselves with the Faith of our Fathers. Six years ago, with the inauguration of Saint Nicholas' church, the first Orthodox Community in the land began to function. Now, with the grace of God and the untiring labours of our five priests (one Colombian and four Cuban), some very significant and impressive missionary work is under way in three other cities of this Land. And this, in spite of unfavourable and financially difficult conditions. At this very moment that I am writing, the Hierarchal Commissioner of Cuba, fr. Athenagoras, is in Greece trying to secure vestments and cassocks and chalices for our needs there. Even though the Cubans have given us the exceptional privilege of acquiring our own property (something that is not permitted by their Constitution), unfortunately, there are no funds for us to purchase a suitable building with the necessary thirty-five thousand Euros, to convert it into a Temple for the worshipping needs of the neophytes. We are hoping for God's grace and are praying for a donor to be found.


When I visited President Fidel Castro seven years ago, to obtain the official invitation with which he was inviting the Ecumenical Patriarch to visit Cuba, I thanked him for that courteous and hospitable gesture of his. I will never forget his response: "No, Your Eminence, the people of Cuba thank you and the Ecumenical Patriarch, for bringing Orthodoxy to our country."

Cuba, indeed, is "ours". Haiti is "ours", Mexico, Costa Rica, Santo Domingo and Colombia, where now, thanks to a lady donor of the Missionary Association "Saint Kosmas the Aetolian", the first Holy Temple is being erected in the city of Cúcuta of Colombia, in honour of the Supreme Archangels. And now, another miracle: Guatemala....


As in the eras of persecutions, when Christians used to live in catacombs in anticipation of the day they could freely worship the Triadic God, so it is with us here, in all of the countries of Central and South America; for entire decades, innumerable groups of people - who had abandoned the Roman Catholic church - were waiting for the embrace of Orthodoxy. One such large group in Guatemala knocked on the door of our Metropolis several months ago, asking us to accept them in the bosom of the true Church. I didn't know them. I didn't even know they existed. And indeed, in this vast region of the twenty states under the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Mexico it is impossible to know everyone. However, twenty years ago, they had established their own (anti-canonical) Orthodox Church, naturally without knowing full well what they had done, and had endeavoured to survive. They lived incorrectly, in their own particular manner, an "orthodox" worshipping life. They knew and they desired Orthodoxy. They knew that our Church has the true faith - that they had a right to Orthodox teaching and its way of life. They believed that only there would they find the Saviour and Redeemer Christ. So, for twenty years. they walked along a path with the hope that they would eventually reach the truth. Knowing also that it was imperative to commemorate a Bishop in all of their liturgies, during the last ten years they would commemorate our Ecumenical Patriarch.


Twenty years later came the "fullness of time". After searching, they learnt a few months ago that in Mexico there is a canonical Metropolitan and a Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. They found me, and they knocked on my door, asking me to receive them. I sent two priests to go and meet them so that we could determine who they are and if their request is serious and valid. I was stunned. It was a "group" of more than 500.000 people, with 338 churches and chapels, most of whom were natives of Guatemala - and in fact of the ancient race of Mayans! They live in the mountains and the vast plains of the land and even in the southern cities of Mexico. I crossed myself and gave thanks to the Holy Mother for that miracle. I fully understood now what the great byzantinologist and historian of the previous century - Steven Runciman - meant, when he wrote that "the third millennium belongs to Orthodoxy". Now I also understand the words of a noble Mexican, a University Professor and a faithful member of our Church, when he said to me: "Your Eminence, Orthodoxy is like a shoe that fits us Latin Americans, provided you know how to put it on us."

So I accepted that group and as a first step, I ordained the two leaders of the group. Now begins the long road of catechism for the hundreds of thousands of those people. It will require several years and a lot of hard work - but a blessed work - to teach those new faithful of ours what the Orthodox way of life involves, and how each of us experiences his own path towards Calgary, which leads to one's personal Resurrection. By training suitable indigenous clergymen, they will learn to live the worshipful life of the Orthodox Church and, after being baptized and receiving Holy Chrismation, to receive the Immaculate and Sacred Mysteries (Sacraments) - the Body and Blood of our Lord and Redeemer Christ.

You must realize however, that for all this project that is now unfolding before us, we need your help. We need the necessary financial means to send our own priests to Guatemala, to instruct the catechist teachers there how to catechize the faithful. The financial means are necessary, in order to print hundreds of thousands of catechist texts, for children and for adults. In the meantime, many of those people are illiterate. Money is also needed, to prepare videotapes in Spanish, and even in the local dialect of the Mayans, so that they might familiarize themselves with the Divine Liturgy, the Baptism, the Chrismation and all the Services of our Church.


Can you imagine what this means for Orthodoxy? And this is just the beginning. The struggle has only just begun. We truly "own" Latin America. The third millennium truly belongs to Orthodoxy. With the meagre means at our disposal, but with the wide-open, vast and endless Grace and presence of the Holy Spirit, we will continue with our endeavours.

We do however ask for your support. As I outlined above, we need a donation of thirty-five thousand Euros for the purchase of the property in Cuba, where we will establish a Temple and areas for the congregating and the catechizing of the faithful. We will also need another donation of twenty-five thousand Euros, in order to begin catechizing the new faithful of Guatemala: to print catechism texts, prepare videotapes of Divine Services and to send suitable priests of ours to that Land, in order to undertake this very important work.

It is our belief that the Missionary Association "Saint Kosmas of Aetolia", which has been the main support of our labours and our endeavours all these years, as well as all you pious donors and the members of the Association, will support us in this new venture that God has placed before us.

The Lord God lives, for all eternity!

With wishes and infinite thanks
† Athenagoras of Mexico

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Egyptian Armed Forces Demolish Fences Guarding Coptic Monasteries

Mary Abdelmassih
February 23, 2011
AINA

Egyptian armed forces this week demolished fences surrounding ancient Coptic monasteries, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by armed Arabs, robbers and escaped prisoners, who have seized the opportunity of the state of diminished protection by the authorities in Egypt to carry out assaults and thefts.

"Three monasteries have been attacked by outlaws and have asked for protection from the armed forces, but were told to defend themselves." said activist Mark Ebeid. "When the terrified monks built fences to protect themselves, armed forces appeared only then with bulldozers to demolish the fences. It is worth noting that these monasteries are among the most ancient in Egypt, with valuable Coptic icons and manuscripts among others, which are of tremendous value to collectors."

On Sunday February 20, armed forced stormed the 4th century old monastery of St. Boula in the Red Sea area, assaulted three monks and then demolished a small fence supporting a gate leading to the fenceless monastery. "The idea of the erection of the gate was prompted after being attacked at midnight on February 13 by five prisoners who broke out from their prisons," said Father Botros Anba Boula, "and were armed with a pistol and batons. The monks ran after them but they fled to the surrounding mountains except for one who stumbled and was apprehended and held by the monks until the police picked him up three days later."

Father Botros said after this incident they thought the best solution to secure the monastery was to erect a gate with a small fence of 40 meters long at the entrance of a long wiry road leading to the monastery, which would be guarded day and night by the monks, and advised the army of their plan. According to Father Boulos, the army came with armored vehicles to demolish the gate, but it was agreed the monastery itself would undertake the demolition of the gate in stages as army protection is reinstated. "We told the Colonel it would look ugly to the outside world if Egyptian army is demolishing a gate erected for the protection of the unarmed monks under the present absence of security forces. We gave them full hospitality but we had a feeling that they wanted to demolish the gate in a 'devious' way."

On Saturday morning, seeing that only three old monks were guarding the gate, the army returned. "When the army found that very few monks were present the soldiers, who were hiding in military vans, came out," said Father Botros, "bound the three monks, threw them to the ground and confiscated their mobile phones so as not to photograph the incident."

The monks were set free after the gate and the 40 meter fence were demolished." Only four soldiers were left to guard the huge monastery.

"The army was here not to protect the monastery as they claimed, but to carry out their agenda of demolishing the gate" said Father Botros to activist Ramy Kamel of 'Theban Legion' Coptic advocacy. "By removing the gate and the supporting small fence, the army is giving a message of encouragement to any thief or thug to break into the monastery."

On February 21, armed forces demolished the fence surrounding the 5th century old Monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadi al-Natroun in the western desert.

Father Bemwa Anba Bishoy said that after the January 25th Uprising, all the government security forces that were guarding the monastery fled and left the monastery unguarded. He said they were attacked by prisoners who were at large after escaping from prisons during that period.

"We contacted state security and they said there was no police available for protection," Said Father Bemwa,"So we called the Egyptian TV dozens of times to appeal for help and then we were put in touch with the military personnel who told us to protect ourselves until they reach us." He added that the monks have built a low fence on the borders of one side of the monastery which is vulnerable to attacks, on land which belongs to the monastery, with the monks and monastery laborers keeping watch over it 24 hours a day.

Although security officials welcomed this step., a fanatical Muslim officer at the district police headquarters named Abdo Ibrahim incited the Muslims in the neighborhood, but when the circumstances were explained to them and that the fence also secures the nearby mosque, they agreed. "Ibrahim then incited the army against us, so they came with heavy equipment and armored vehicles, insulted the monks, demolished the fence and left," said Father Bemwa. "Now the monks are left in the open, vulnerable to attacks from prisoners who are still at large or Muslim fanatics" (video demolished fence).

In a related incident, Father Boulos, a monk at the Monastery of Abu Magar, also called St. Makarios of Alexandria in Wady el-Rayan, Fayoum, said that on February 21 armed forces stormed the monastery and wanted to demolish its fence and gate. He explained that after the security vacuum during the January uprising, the Monastery was attacked by thugs and Arabs armed with automatic weapons, leading to the injury of six monks, including one monk in critical condition who is still hospitalized.

"The perpetrators took advantage of the fact that the monastery is a nature reserve and has no fence for protection. After the incident we have built a fence around the monastery to protect it, but the environmental agency rejected it and sent for the security forces and the army to remove the fence." He added that they were given 48 hours by the authorities to demolish the one-meter high fence, otherwise the army would be back to destroy it.

"If no authority is in a position to protect us," said Father Boulos, "then let us do it ourselves, the way we see fit."

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Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna

St. Polycarp of Smyrna (Feast Day - February 23)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Polycarp, this great apostolic man, was born a pagan. St. John the Theologian converted him to the Faith of Christ and baptized him. In his childhood, Polycarp became an orphan and according to a vision in a dream Callista, a noble widow, took him as her own son, raised and educated him.

From his childhood Polycarp was devout and compassionate. He strove to emulate the life of St. Bucolus, then the Bishop of Smyrna, as well as the Holy Apostles John and Paul, whom he knew and heard. St. Bucolus ordained him a presbyter and before his death, Bucolus designated him as his successor in Smyrna. The apostolic bishops, who gathered at the funeral of Bucolus, consecrated Polycarp as bishop.

From the very beginning, Polycarp was gifted with the power of working miracles. He expelled an evil spirit from the servant of a prince and through prayer stopped a terrible fire in Smyrna. Upon seeing this, many pagans regarded Polycarp as one of the gods. He brought down rain in times of drought, healed illnesses, discerned, prophesied and so forth. He suffered during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Three days before his death, St. Polycarp prophesized: "In three days, I will be burned in fire for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ!" And on the third day when the soldiers arrested him and brought him to trial, he cried out: "Let this be the will of the Lord my God." When the judge counseled him to deny Christ and to acknowledge the Roman gods, Polycarp said: "I cannot exchange the better for the worse!" The Jews especially hated Polycarp and endeavored to have Polycarp burned alive. When they placed him bound at the stake, he prayed to God for a long while. He was very old, grey and radiant as an angel. The people witnessed how the flame encircled him but did not touch him. Frightened by such a phenomenon, the pagan judges ordered the executioner to pierce him with a lance through the fire. When he was pierced, so much blood flowed from him that the entire fire was extinguished, and his body remained whole and unburned. At the persuasion of the Jews, the judge ordered Polycarp's lifeless body be incinerated according to the custom of the Hellenes. So the evil ones burned the dead body of the lifeless one whom they could not burn while alive.

St. Polycarp suffered on Great and Holy Saturday in the year 167 A.D.

St. Polycarp On the Avaricious Priest Valentine

St. Polycarp writes the following to the Philippians about a priest Valentine who fell into the sin of avarice and secretly hid money belonging to the church: "I was deeply saddened because of Valentine who, at one time, was a presbyter among us, who had forgotten the rank [the priesthood] bestowed upon him. That is why I beg you, beware of greed and remain pure and just. Restrain yourself from every vice. He who cannot restrain himself, how will he be able to teach others restraint. He who submits to avarice pollutes himself with idolatry and numbers himself among the ranks of pagans. Who is not aware of God's judgement? As Paul teaches: 'Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?' (1 Corinthians 6:2). In other words, I have not noticed anything similar among you neither have I heard anything among you; among those whom Blessed Paul lived a life of asceticism and about whom he speaks with praise at the beginning of his Epistle to the Philippians. He boasts of you throughout the churches, which, at that time, knew God, and we did not yet know him, [i.e., Polycarp and the inhabitants of Smyrna]. Brethren, that is why I am very saddened because of Valentine and his wife. May God grant them true repentance. 'And you, be prudent in that and `not count him as an enemy' (2 Thessalonians 3:15), but endeavor to correct them as suffering and prodigal members, that your entire body be sound. Acting thusly, you build yourselves up." Thus, the saints dealt with sinners: cautiously and compassionately; cautiously to prevent others from a similar sin and compassionately in order to correct and save sinners.


Read also:

St. Irenaeus of Lyons: On St. Polycarp of Smyrna

Saint Polycarp, the Friend of the Apostles

The Right Hand of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna


HYMN OF PRAISE: SAINT POLYCARP

His holy ones, God preserves
That until their appointed time, they do not perish,
Until they complete their task, they perish not.
The Elder Polycarp and saint of God
With his deacon, journeyed,
In a road inn, spent the night.
The Elder prays while the deacon sleeps.
Until an angel of God appeared to the Elder
And commanded that they immediately arise,
And from this road inn to depart,
For the inn is soon to be destroyed.
The young deacon, the Elder awakes,
But the deacon fatigued, slept on.
In that, the angel appeared again,
And again, the same warning gave,
Again, the Elder, his deacon awakes,
But, a heavy sleep, the deacon, overpowered
One moment he awakes, the next moment he is drowned in sleep.
And a third time, the angel appeared,
And a warning he issues for the third time.
That this was not a deceit, the Elder perceived,
But a warning from God, verily.
The saint jumped and the deacon he lifted,
And from the road inn, walked out.
And as soon as they walked out from the inn,
To the foundation, the entire house was destroyed,
All who were in it perished
Because of certain kinds of secret transgressions.
With fright, the young deacon was filled,
But in prayer, the saint was silent.
To the Most High God, they offered thanks,
They continued their way, under the stars.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
As a sharer of the ways and a successor to the throne of the Apostles, O inspired of God, thou foundest discipline to be a means of ascent to divine vision. Wherefore, having rightly divided the word of truth, thou didst also contest for the Faith even unto blood, O Hieromartyr Polycarp. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the First Tone
Through godly virtues, thou broughtest forth for the Lord God much spiritual fruit, O thou most blessed Hierarch, and so didst prove worthy of God thy Lord, O wise Polycarp. Wherefore, on this day we who have all been enlightened through thy holy words extol thy praiseworthy mem'ry and glorify Christ the Lord.

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St. Irenaeus of Lyons: On St. Polycarp of Smyrna

The first extract is from an epistle of St. Irenaeus to his friend Florinus, a presbyter who had lapsed into the heresy of Valentianism. Florinus had held that God was the author of evil, which sentiment Irenaius opposed. He helps Florinus recall St. Polycarp's teachings, whom they both knew and were taught by.

These opinions, Florinus, that I may speak in mild terms, are not of sound doctrine; these opinions are not consonant to the Church, and involve their votaries in the utmost impiety; these opinions, even the heretics beyond the Church's pale have never ventured to broach; these opinions, those presbyters who preceded us, and who were conversant with the apostles, did not hand down to you. For, while I was yet a boy, I saw you in Lower Asia with Polycarp, distinguishing yourself in the royal court, and endeavouring to gain his approbation. For I have a more vivid recollection of what occurred at that time than of recent events (inasmuch as the experiences of childhood, keeping pace with the growth of the soul, become incorporated with it); so that I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse— his going out, too, and his coming in— his general mode of life and personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also how he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to remembrance. Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures. These things, through, God's mercy which was upon me, I then listened to attentively, and treasured them up not on paper, but in my heart; and I am continually, by God's grace, revolving these things accurately in my mind. And I can bear witness before God, that if that blessed and presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried out, and stopped his ears, exclaiming as he was wont to do: “O good God, for what times have You reserved me, that I should endure these things?” And he would have fled from the very spot where, sitting or standing, he had heard such words. This fact, too, can be made clear, from his Epistles which he dispatched, whether to the neighbouring Churches to confirm them, or to certain of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them.

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St. Irenaeus also brings up St. Polycarp as a preacher of ecclesiastical unity who showed by his example that the various customs of the churches throughout the world should not be divisive and provoke controversies, but should be a way of expressing a unity in diversity.

The Asiatic Christians differed from the rest of the Church in their manner of observing Easter. While the other Churches kept the feast on a Sunday, the Asiatics celebrated it on the 14th of Nisan, whatever day of the week this might fall on. Pope Victor tried to establish uniformity, and when the Asiatic Churches refused to comply, excommunicated them. St. Irenaeus remonstrated with Pope Victor in a letter, in which he particularly contrasted the moderation displayed in regard to Polycarp by Pope Anicetus with the conduct of Victor.

For the controversy is not merely as regards the day, but also as regards the form itself of the fast. For some consider themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more, while others [do so during] forty: the diurnal and the nocturnal hours they measure out together as their [fasting] day. And this variety among the observers [of the fasts] had not its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors, some of whom probably, being not very accurate in their observance of it, handed down to posterity the custom as it had, through simplicity or private fancy, been [introduced among them]. And yet nevertheless all these lived in peace one with another, and we also keep peace together. Thus, in fact, the difference [in observing] the fast establishes the harmony of [our common] faith. And the presbyters preceding Soter in the government of the Church which you now rule— I mean, Anicetus and Pius, Hyginus and Telesphorus, and Sixtus— did neither themselves observe it [after that fashion], nor permit those with them to do so. Notwithstanding this, those who did not keep [the feast in this way] were peacefully disposed towards those who came to them from other dioceses in which it was [so] observed although such observance was [felt] in more decided contrariety [as presented] to those who did not fall in with it; and none were ever cast out [of the Church] for this matter. On the contrary, those presbyters who preceded you, and who did not observe [this custom], sent the Eucharist to those of other dioceses who did observe it. And when the blessed Polycarp was sojourning in Rome in the time of Anicetus, although a slight controversy had arisen among them as to certain other points, they were at once well inclined towards each other [with regard to the matter in hand], not willing that any quarrel should arise between them upon this head. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp to forego the observance [in his own way], inasmuch as these things had been always [so] observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand, could Polycarp succeed in persuading Anicetus to keep [the observance in his way], for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the presbyters who preceded him. And in this state of affairs they held fellowship with each other; and Anicetus conceded to Polycarp in the Church the celebration of the Eucharist, by way of showing him respect; so that they parted in peace one from the other, maintaining peace with the whole Church, both those who did observe [this custom] and those who did not.

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In Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 33) St. Irenaeus shows us that St. Polycarp with St. Papias were both disciples of the Apostle John.

And these things are borne witness to in writing by Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book; for there were five books compiled (συντεταγμένα) by him.

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We now come to the passage in St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., III,3) which brings out in fullest relief St. Polycarp's position as a link with the past. Just as St. John's long life lengthened out the Apostolic Age, so did the four score and six years of Polycarp extend the sub-Apostolic Age, during which it was possible to learn by word of mouth what the Apostles taught from those who had been their hearers. In Rome the Apostolic Age ended about A.D. 67 with the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the sub-Apostolic Age about a quarter of a century later when St. Clement, "who had seen the blessed Apostles", died. In Asia the Apostolic Age lingered on till St. John died about A.D. 100; and the sub-Apostolic Age till 155, when St. Polycarp was martyred. In the third book of his treatise "Against Heresies", St. Irenæus makes his celebrated appeal to the "successions" of the bishops in all the Churches. He is arguing against heretics who professed to have a kind of esoteric tradition derived from the Apostles. To whom, demands St. Irenæus, would the Apostles be more likely to commit hidden mysteries than to the bishops to whom they entrusted their churches? In order then to know what the Apostles taught, we must have recourse to the "successions" of bishops throughout the world.

But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time, — a man who was of much greater weight, and a more steadfast witness of truth, than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus caused many to turn away from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the apostles—that, namely, which is handed down by the Church. There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, “Do you know me?” “I do know you, the first-born of Satan.” Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth; as Paul also says, “A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sins, being condemned of himself” (Titus 3:10). There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth. Then, again, the Church in Ephesus, founded by Paul, and having John remaining among them permanently until the times of Trajan, is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles.

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Is the World Really Running Out of Food, Water and Oil?

Michael Snyder
February 22, 2011
Pravda.ru

Everywhere you look today the mainstream news is talking about shortages. Authorities all over the globe are boldly proclaiming that the world is rapidly running out of food, water and oil. So are these doomsayers right? Well, it must be noted that some of the most famous "prophets of doom" of the past several decades have seen their predictions fail spectacularly. For example, in his infamous 1968 book entitled "The Population Bomb", Paul Ehrlich made the following statement: "I don't see how India could possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980." Well, India is now feeding well over twice the number of people than they had when Ehrlich originally wrote his book. But that doesn't mean that major shortages won't happen in the future. It just means that we should be careful not to look incredibly ridiculous like Ehrlich did. The truth is that there are good reasons why we should be watching global supplies of food, water and oil very closely. Life as we know it would cease to exist if we had severe shortages of any of them.
So will we actually be facing serious shortages of food, water or oil in the coming years?

Well, let's take a look at oil first.

Oil Shortage?

Right now oil is absolutely essential to almost everything that we do. We require oil to drive our cars, we require oil to produce our food, a large percentage of our homes use energy that is derived from oil and most of what we buy at the stores comes in packaging that is made up at least partly of oil.

So if we run out of oil that is going to be a really huge deal.

So are we going to run out of oil?

Well, right now advocates of the "peak oil" hypothesis are getting a lot of attention in the mainstream media.

Basically the idea behind "peak oil" is that the world has reached (or almost reached) the maximum amount of oil that it can produce and that from here on out the amount of oil that will be produced will begin to decline. Meanwhile, the demand for oil is only going to continue to increase.

So is there evidence that this is actually happening?

Well, it depends on who you ask. But what is undeniable is that there are some very powerful interests that are doing their best to hype a coming oil shortage.

In recently released report entitled "Signals & Signposts", Shell Oil warns that global demand for energy is going to be three times as large in 2050 as it was in 2000.

So where will all of that extra energy come from?

Can the world possibly produce two or three times as much oil as it does today?

The Shell Oil report forecasts that the global supply of oil will continue to rise but that the rise in supply will not be fast enough to keep up with the rise in demand. According to Shell, this is going to cause rapidly rising oil prices which will cause the gross domestic products of all nations to fall.

So just how high could oil prices go?

Well, the truth is that the price of oil is very highly manipulated. The market for oil is not exactly what you would call a "free market".

However, it is alarming that almost everyone is forecasting much higher oil prices at this point.

For example, Weeden & Co. oil analyst Charles Maxwell recently stated that he believes that the price of oil will eventually hit $300 a barrel by the end of this decade.

If that were to happen, it would be absolutely disastrous for the global economy. Yeah, those in the oil industry would make a killing, but for the rest of the world it would be a complete and utter nightmare.

Unfortunately, what most Americans don't understand is that there are lots of alternative energy technologies out there that have been repressed by the big oil companies and by the big oil producing nations because they threaten hundreds of billions of dollars in profits.

For example, did you know that it is possible to run a car entirely on water? One Japanese company hopes to start mass marketing them....

But I wouldn't count on seeing water-powered cars sold on every street corner any time soon. Why? Because of greed.

Our entire system of energy is based on making as much money as possible for those who have all the oil.

So if the world has a shortage of energy in the coming years, it is not because that is how it inevitably had to be.

Rather, it will be all about pure, unadulterated greed.

There are plenty of alternative energy technologies out there that are incredibly promising, but those that are getting incredibly wealthy off of our oil-based society are not going to quietly step aside for the good of mankind.

Food Shortage?

So what about food?

Is the world running out of food?

Well, as we have seen so many times in the past, the earth can support far more people than most of the "experts" ever imagined.

In fact, if weather patterns were perfectly stable and we removed human greed out of the picture, the earth could most likely support a whole lot more people.

Unfortunately, weather patterns are becoming increasingly bizarre and human greed is always a problem.

In particular, this year extreme weather all over the globe is causing many to be concerned that we may soon see some very serious foodshortages. In Australia and Brazil, flooding of Biblical proportions has absolutely devastated crops. Some of China's most important agricultural areas are experiencing the worst droughts that they have seen in 200 years. Authorities are warning that two-thirds of China's wheat crop could be in danger. A recent cold snap that hit northern Mexico wiped out entire harvests and has sent prices for many fresh produce items in the United States soaring.

But these bizarre weather patterns will hopefully settle down eventually.

What is of even greater concern is that we have been seeing a long-term trend of rapidly rising food prices over the last couple of years that is putting an extreme amount of strain on the 3 billion people in the world that are trying to survive on the equivalent of 2 dollars or less per day.

Most Americans can still handle rising food prices, but for millions upon millions of poor people all over the world a significant increase in the cost of food can mean the difference between life and death.

That is why the sudden rise in price of so many agricultural commodities is so disturbing. Just consider some of the shocking price increases that we have seen over the past year or two....

*The price of corn has doubled over the last six months and recently hit a new all-time high.

*The price of wheat has more than doubled over the past year and hit a 30-month high on Monday.

*The price of soybeans is up about 50% since last June.

*The price of cotton has more than doubled over the past year.

*The commodity price of orange juice has doubled since 2009.

*The price of sugar is the highest it has been in 30 years.

If prices continue to go up like this we are going to see a lot more food riots all over the globe.

But perhaps that is what those in positions of power actually want. The truth is that the global elite don't always have the best interests of the rest of us at heart.

Water Shortage?

So what about water?

Is the world running out of water?

Well, yes, many areas of the world are rapidly running out of fresh water and this is perhaps one of the biggest problems we are facing.

Without oil, most of us could survive for quite some time.

Without food, most of us could survive for a number of weeks.

Without water, most of us would die within a matter of days.

Fortunately North America still has a decent supply of fresh water, but as I have written about previously, in many areas of the globe the situation is quickly becoming absolutely dire....

*Worldwide demand for fresh water tripled during the last century, and is now doubling every 21 years.

*According to USAID, one-third of all humans will face severe or chronic water shortages by the year 2025.

*Of the 60 million people added to the world's cities every year, the vast majority of them live in impoverished slums and shanty-towns with no sanitation facilities whatsoever.

*It is estimated that 75 percent of India's surface water is now contaminated by human and agricultural waste.

*Not only that, but according to a UN study on sanitation, far more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet.

*In northern China, the water table is dropping one meter per year due to overpumping.

*But there are few places where the water shortage is as severe as it is in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia had been producing enough wheat to be self-sufficient for most of the past 30 years, but in 2008 authorities there realized that the non-replenishable aquifer they had been pumping for irrigation purposes was nearly depleted. So in response Saudi Arabia made the decision to reduce their wheat harvest by one-eighth every year thereafter. Wheat production in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to cease entirely in 2016.

In some of the most populated areas of the planet the water situation can only be described as catastrophic.

For example, did you know that a new desert the size of Rhode Island is created in China because of drought every single year?

Did you know that in China 80% of the major rivers are so polluted that they don't support aquatic life at all?

Did you know that the women of South Africa collectively walk the equivalent distance to the moon and back 16 times a day for water?

Thankfully the water situation in the United States has not gotten that bad yet, but the truth is that even we could be facing serious water shortages in the years ahead.

According to a recent report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council, more than one-third of all counties in the lower 48 states will likely be facing very serious water shortages by the year 2050.

So, yes, there are some really good reasons to be concerned about earth's dwindling resources.

If the global elite were not so incredibly greedy and if we managed our planet better we would not have problems to this degree.

But here we are.

So what is the solution?

Well, it would be really great if the global elite would just share some of their wealth. A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research discovered that the bottom half of the world population owns approximately 1 percent of all global wealth.

But the global elite aren't about to change the rules of the global economy. After all, they spent a whole lot of time and effort rigging the game so that virtually all wealth eventually gets funneled into their hands.

Rather, most among the global elite seem to believe that radical population control is the answer.

After all, they argue, if there are half as many people around then we will only be using half as many resources, right?

Well, as alluring as that may sound, the truth is that the world has always had a huge problem with poverty. Even when the global population was down around 100 million people there was rampant poverty.

The number of people is not the problem.

The problem is the insatiable greed of the elite.

The global elite have systematically exploited the poor all over the planet, they have gobbled up the resources of the world wherever they have found them and now they are hoarding their wealth as millions upon millions suffer desperately.

Well, in the end the global elite will have to answer to a higher power. In the book of James it talks about those who hoard wealth on this earth....

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

According to the most recent "Global Wealth Report" by Credit Suisse, the wealthiest 0.5% control over 35% of the wealth of the world.

That qualifies as hoarding wealth.

Other estimates put the concentration of wealth at the very top of the food chain much higher than that.

But sadly, the problem of greed is not going to be solved any time soon.

Global supplies of food and fresh water are going to continue to diminish.

The world economy is going to continue to become increasingly unstable.

If it was always your desire to live in "interesting times", then you are about to get your wish. Things are about to get extremely "interesting" on this planet.

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A Sign At Agathonos Monastery in Ypati, Greece

It says: "Ζω τόσα χρόνια σ`αυτό τον κόσμο και δε γνώρισα ούτε ένα κακό άνθρωπο παρά μόνο τον εαυτό μου".

Translated it says: "I have lived so many years in this world, yet I have never met any evil person except for myself alone."

The source of this quote appears to be an anonymous "Ascetic".

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The Afflicted Should Be Guided Slowly To Repentance

From the Gerontikon:

A brother fell to temptation; that is, to sin. So great was the sorrow that he suffered, that he abandoned his monastic rule. And though he wanted in principle to repent, he was impeded from so doing by his sorrow, saying within himself: "How can I restore myself to what I was before?" Being thus remiss and negligent, he did not have the power to take up his monastic work.

So, he visited an Elder and confessed all that had befallen him.

The Elder, on listening to the matters which were tormenting the monk, related the following example to him in the form of an instructive parable:

A man, he began by saying, had a field. On account of his neglect of it, it became fallow and was overrun by weeds and brambles. After some time, this man thought about attending to his field and cultivating it. So, he ordered his son to clean up the field; but as soon as he saw that it was full of thorns, he was discouraged and said to himself: "I would never be able to uproot all that and to clean this field." So he lay down and went to sleep.

After a bit, he awakened and, gazing again on the vast number of brambles, became depressed by it all and lay on the ground - sometimes sleeping and sometimes rolling over from one side, the way a door swings on its hinge, as in the proverb: "As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth" (Proverbs 26:14-16). He spent several days thusly, without working and inactive.

In the meantime, his father came along to check what he had done to the field. Finding his son idle and indecisive, he said to him:

"Why have you done nothing up to now, my child?"

The son answered:

"Father, as soon as I started to work and saw this mass of wild weeds and brambles, I lost my desire to work, lay down, and fell asleep. And so right up to today I have still done nothing."

"Do not worry, my son," the father replied, "every day you can clear an area the width of your bed, and thus your work will progress without inactivity crushing you."

Indeed, the son followed his father's advice and in a short time had cleaned the field of brambles and weeds.

"And in this way, my brother, you can work little by little, without risking the danger of being negligent. And God, seeing your desire to work, will restore you to your former rank."

The monk carefully listened to these suggestions, persisted with patience, and applied the directions of the Elder.

And indeed, by the Grace of God, he attained to the peace which he had sought.

From The Evergetinos (Volume 1 of the First Book), Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, pp. 57-58.

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Ghost of a Child Caught On Video?

In 2008 17-year-old Jessie Grayhouse filmed something very strange at a cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

He'd been filming the tombstones when he noticed a child running along in the distance, he turned the camera towards him only for the child to mysteriously jump up in to a tree in a very peculiar manner.

This is considered one of the best video images of a ghost caught on tape.

See news story and video here.

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Greeks Increasingly Targeting Jews As Scapegoats

Greece, more than many European nations, continues to wrestle with strong anti-Jewish feelings. Such sentiments have been revived amid the angst and anger of the Greek economic crisis.

Anthee Carassava
February 21, 2011
Los Angeles Times

Nearly 70 years later, Athens, one of the last European capitals to commemorate those who perished at the hands of Nazi forces, finally has a Holocaust memorial.

But since its dedication in May, synagogues have been targeted, Jewish cemeteries desecrated, Holocaust monuments elsewhere in Greece vandalized and the Jewish Museum of Greece, in the capital, defaced with swastikas. What's more, an alarming chunk of Athenians in November supported the election of a neo-Nazi candidate to the capital's city council.

The ocher-colored marble sculpture in the shape of a broken-up Star of David, its triangular tips dismembered, points toward the 29 Greek cities from which at least 60,000 Jews were gathered and deported to the Auschwitz and Treblinka extermination camps between 1943 and 1944.

The deaths of these victims are memorialized amid striking serenity. Set within a patch of olive and almond trees, and its pieces embedded alongside an herb garden of lavender, marjoram and thyme, the sculpture symbolizes survival and healing. Or is supposed to.

Although anti-Semitism is an old and shameful part of Europe's history, Greece, more than many European nations, continues to wrestle with strong anti-Jewish feelings.

Such sentiments have been revived amid the angst and anger of the Greek economic crisis.

"We've always been under siege by fanatics and far-right political movements here," said David Saltiel, president of the Central Jewish Board of Greece, which represents the country's 6,000 Jews. "The fear now is that anti-Semitism will get worse with the financial crisis."

Well into the nation's worst recession in 17 years, the government in Athens was thrown a bailout lifeline of $146 billion by the European Union and International Monetary Fund last year in exchange for draconian reforms and cost-cutting measures designed to slash the country's yawning budget deficit, equal to 15.4% of gross domestic product.

The measures are thought to be responsible for a surge in hate crimes against minorities by Greeks venting rage over rising unemployment and immigration.

Strapped for cash, the Socialist government has been aggressively wooing rich sovereign investors, tapping into deep pockets in China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and, now, Israel.

This month, scores of Jewish American leaders arrived in Athens to advance Israel's revived relations with Greece, but not all here were happy to see yarmulkes on Greek streets, much less in the offices of senior politicians, including the country's president.

"We're in danger!" warned renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis, who in the course of a television interview openly conceded that he was an anti-Semite. "Zionism and it leaders are here, meeting in our country!

"This is no laughing matter," he railed, berating Zionism and its "control over America and the banking system that Greece is now a victim of."

Such beliefs aren't new. Nor are they just Greek.

What's different in Greece is the level of tolerance for anti-Semitism.

"There is zip, zilch, zero reaction to any semblance of anti-Semitism," said human rights activist Panayotes Dimitras, "leaving the door wide-open for extremists to come in and exploit this phobic society, more so now, in this time of crisis."

Some critics fault the country's Jewish organizations for shunning quick public reaction to attacks; others point to the attitude of some church prelates and to Greece's failure to come to terms with its once-multicultural identity and harrowing past.

"Whatever the cause," said Anna Stai of the Anti-Nazi Initiative, "Greece can no longer sit in denial about its anti-Jewish feelings. It's dangerous."

Take the case of Konstantinos Plevris.

A self-avowed anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, the 70-year-old lawyer was sentenced to 14 months in prison in 2007 for inciting racial hatred with his book "Jews: The Whole Truth." In 2009, the decision was overturned, and a year later, the Supreme Court upheld Plevris' acquittal, arguing that his "scientific work" did not target the Jews as a race or religion but, rather, their "conspiratorial pursuit of global domination," according to a copy of the 2010 decision.

World Jewish organizations kicked up a storm in protest, but in Athens, mainstream news media offered scant coverage of the ruling and the government remained silent.

Two weeks ago, Stai and other members of the Anti-Nazi Initiative traveled to Brussels to lobby for support from European lawmakers.

"There is such a strong undercurrent of anti-Jewish feeling in Greece," said Dimitras, the human rights activist, "that any hope of drawing attention to the problem must now come from outside pressure."

Others say there is still hope within.

"We're at a turning point as a society today," said Zanet I. Battinou, standing before a scale model of the Holocaust memorial showcased at the Jewish Museum of Greece, which she directs. "If we found the courage to take on responsibility for the financial mess we find ourselves in today, then we can take responsibility in facing down one of our worst traits."

If anything, she quips, "we're running out of scapegoats."

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"Mary Mother of Christ" To Start Production Next Month

Mary Mother of Christ is an upcoming historical movie set for theatrical release that will retrace the life of Mary (September 8, 20 BC?-January 1, 45 AD?), usually referred to by Christians as the Virgin Mary, a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, identified in the New Testament as the mother of Jesus Christ.

Director James Foley will be helming the project, and Actress Camilla Belle got the lead role as Mary. The film is based on a script written by Benedict Fitzgerald and Barbara Nicolosi, both Catholics therefore it will probably approach the subject from this perspective. Benedict Fitzgerald co-wrote the script of Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. Filming will be done in Morocco. The movie Mary Mother of Christ should be released sometime in 2012.

Cast of the movie Mary Mother of Christ includes:

- Camilla Belle as Mary
- Al Pacino as Herod
- Peter O'Toole as Symeon
- Diogo Morgado as Joseph the Carpenter

According to IMDb, filming starts March 14, 2011. The budget for the film $36,000,000 (estimated).

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Papa Fotis the Fool Meets St. Silouan the Athonite

Papa Fotis had the blessing to know, at the Russian Saint Panteleimon Monastery of Mount Athos, the new Saint of our Church, Silouan the Athonite. He said about this acquaintance: "I also had the blessing on Mount Athos to minister to and meet Papa Tychon the Russian. But I also met Saint Silouan the Athonite whose holiness was wonderful. Great personalities."

Another time he said: "I went to the monastery of Saint Panteleimon to worship. After worship I headed to the monastery dining room. The dining room some time before had closed to visitors and the monk housekeepers had gone to the Oikonomeio to eat after their services to the visitors. A monk received news of my presence and came to me with love and asked me if I ate. I told him I was not on time for the dining room and it closed. The monk was Silouan and he took me by force almost to the Oikonomeio and he served me. We were given an opportunity to discuss many spiritual topics and the first time I spoke I realized that this is a spiritual man and his face shined with holiness. He explained that he took the obedience of serving in the Oikonomeio for the sake of obedience and thanked God for this obedience."

Papa Fotis remembers the advice he received from the Holy Man of God Silouan: "You must love your fellow men, to suffer with them, and pray for others not in a simple way, but to spill blood with your prayer!"

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Review: "Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer"

The Jesus Prayer, otherwise known as "Noetic Prayer" or the "Prayer of the Heart", is Orthodox Christianity's best kept secret. It is the universal language of the saints by which the Holy Spirit prays unceasingly in the purified heart of the Christian and is the source of authentic joy, love, and other divine gifts. It unites the believer with God and makes one a participant in His divine glory.

In the West many may have first heard of the Jesus Prayer through the American novelist J.D. Salinger, whose book Franny and Zooey is often creidted by spiritual seekers of the West as first introducing them to both the Jesus Prayer and the Russian tale The Way of a Pilgrim, which is essentially an introduction to The Philokalia. These latter two manuals are essential guides to the art of noetic prayer.

The documentary "Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer" is a visual guide and contemporary teaching tool to this powerful prayer as it is practiced today in some of Orthodoxy's most famous monasteries. Norris J. Chumley and Rev. Prof. John McGuckin lead us on a pilgrimage to shrines that have never been filmed before in places such as Egypt, Mt. Sinai, Mt. Athos in Greece, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. In each place they speak with contemporary elders, church leaders, and simple monks and nuns, who speak of their daily experience with the Jesus Prayer and the relevant role it plays in transforming the inner man which in turn helps to transform the world. In the ancient setting of their monasteries the viewer sees that this prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ Have Mercy On Me", is a tradition from the beginnings of Christianity and still remains the primary focus of monastics and for all devout Orthodox Christians in general.

I highly recommend this film which took eight years in the making and is filled with stunning locations, informative narration, and invaluable spiritual insights.

The Official Website can be viewed at this link: http://www.mysteriesofthejesusprayer.com/

The trailer is below:

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Contemporary Elders

By Monk Moses the Athonite

I consider myself especially fortunate that I met not too many years ago men of the rason who have reposed. These fathers were Epiphanios Theodoropoulos, Paisios the Athonite, Porphyrios the Kafsokalivite, Ephraim the Katounakioti, Nicholas Bekatoros, and Aimilianos the Simonopetritis who gave me the Great Schema of monks. They helped me much in my life, especially the last one.

They helped me understand why I am alive, the beauty of God, the mystery of human freedom and respect for every individual, to not lie to myself, to defend the truth with love. With their way of life and discernment they separated me from a lifestyle without deep meaning and sacred purpose. This is a way of life lived by many, such as those hypnotized in front of the television how they see and live life similarly to their lives. They have closed the eyes of their soul to see and enjoy the true light.

Sometimes there are created myths and exaggerations by some for certain elders. This is a serious mistake against these precious people. They believe that by enlarging their elders they raise also their own spiritual value rates. Nor is it permissible for these elders to sometimes mislead in personal, emotional and unhealthy relationships and situations. Elders are to link their people always with Christ and not their person. In the spiritual life there is needed excess, bravery and sacrifice.

An elder and thus a spiritual-confessor should not bind tightly to people, but to inspire them by the example of their life, with discerning admonition, with modesty, humility and prayer, as those mentioned above. They are recognized for their discernment, their charismatic lives, their prayer and love. They loved Christ very much and suffered with their fellow man. All elders are not saints. It is not wise to rush with persistence to want to put the halo of sanctity on them. To thus glorify ourselves.

Father Epiphanios Theodoropoulos from Messinia excelled in his studies of theology. He was an important spiritual father of many believers who deeply appreciated him. His teachings were accurate, reliable, serious, responsible, clear and faithful.

The well-known elder Paisios the Athonite was born in Farsala of Asia Minor, raised in Konitsa of Epirus, and lived for many years as a monk on Mount Athos. His long asceticism gave him experiences and gifts with which he helped many people a lot.

The same with the blessed Elder Porphyrios, who came from Evia as a youngster to the Skete of Kafsokalivia, from where he received his nickname, and due to the severity of his health he went to Athens, where he lived for forty years as a hermit, distributing divine gifts to many who were afflicted and in pain.

Elder Ephraim struggled for decades in unwelcoming Katounakia, obeying his elderly elders, working hard and praying incessantly. His word was his life - persuasive, devout and heart-filled.

Father Nicholas Bekatoros was born of Greek parents in Russia and suffered much as a young priest from the godless rulers and their institutions. He went to Athens and then in America, where he became a loving spiritual father of the Greeks, Russians, Americans and others, and charmed with his genuine sincerity, meekness and humility.

Elder Aimilianos Simonopetritis, who lives with severe illness in Ormylia Monastery, which he founded by himself and now has 120 nuns, was distinguished for his wisdom, his experience, his knowledge of sacred institutions and the depth of the human soul, and his thematic analysis of high and important matters. This is a rare form of a truly great man of God.

Debunked, unmasked and genuine elders have to give a heavy account for the major difficulties of the times and the people.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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The Power of Prayer and Fasting

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"This kind can come out by nothing, but prayer and fasting" (St. Mark 9:29).

This is the saving prescription of the greatest Physician of human souls. This is the remedy tried and proved. Another remedy for lunacy, there is not. What kind of sickness is that? That is the presence and dominance of an evil spirit in a man, a dangerous evil spirit who labors to eventually destroy the body and soul of man. The boy whom our Lord freed from an evil spirit; this evil spirit that had hurled him at times in the fire, at times in the water just in order to destroy him.

As long as a man only philosophizes about God he is weak and completely helpless against the evil spirit. The evil spirit ridicules the feeble sophistry of the world. But, as soon as a man begins to fast and to pray to God, the evil spirit becomes filled with indescribable fear. In no way can the evil spirit tolerate the aroma of prayer and fasting. The sweet-smelling aroma chokes him and weakens him to utter exhaustion. In a man who only philosophizes about faith, there is spacious room in him for the demons. But in a man who sincerely begins to pray to God and to fast with patience and hope, for the demon it becomes narrow and constricted and he must flee from such a man. Against certain bodily ills there exists only one remedy. Against the greatest ill of the soul, demonism, there exists two remedies, which must be utilized at one and the same time: fasting and prayer. The apostles and saints fasted and prayed to God. That is why they were so powerful against evil spirits.

O gracious Jesus, our Physician and Helper in all miseries, strengthen us by the power of Your Holy Spirit that we may be able to adhere to Your saving precepts concerning fasting and prayer for the sake of our salvation and the salvation of our fellow men. Amen.

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The Miracles of Childlike Faith

"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." - Luke 18:17

The blessed Elder Paisios (+ 1994) talked about a simple monk with a heart of a small child. This monk, believing that the "Holy Ascension" (Αγία Ανάληψη) was a holy woman, such as Saint Paraskevi (literally translated as Saint Friday), said the following in prayer: "Saint Ascension, if only we had fish today!" His prayer was answered by "Saint Ascension" and a fish was brought to him.

One illiterate nun from a village in Corinth would say: "Holy God, Holy Weather, Holy Death, have mercy upon us" (Άγιος ο Θεός, άγιος ο καιρός, άγιος ο θάνατος, ιλέησον ημάς), confusing the words of the prayer. Yet when she would pray this, her face sparkled!

A simple mother said to the priest of a village: "My Father, I brought my child for you to read a prayer, because it has no appetite!" And he recited the prayer for the "opening of a well"! And the child's appetite was "opened"!

True simple faith!

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Woman Born In Constantinople Returns After 90 Years

Constantinia Georgala, 91 years old today, was born in 1920 in the Phanar section of Istanbul (Constantinople). She was baptized in the Church of Panagia Mouhliotissa next to the Patriarchal School and in 1922 left Turkey with her parents during the population exchange with Greece. Today she lives in Thessaloniki. Recently she returned to Constantinople after 90 years to see where she was born, and had a moving experience.

"I came to see the land where I first opened my eyes, where I saw the light of life" Constantinia said as she was about to enter the Patriarchal Church of Saint George. "God made me worthy to return, may His name be glorified."

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed her personally, saying: "Constantinia in Constantinople". When he asked why she didn't come sooner, she said: "Obligations and other things did not give me a chance. Now God made me worthy."

Read more with photos at this link: Στη γενέτειρά Κωνσταντινούπολη ύστερα από 90 χρόνια

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Trailer: "Gawd Bless America"

Read also: 'Gawd Bless America': UFOs? Psychics? Documentary Debunks the Paranormal

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Georgia's Showdown Between Church And State

Ghia Nodia
February 20, 2011
Radio Free Europe

The authority of the Orthodox Church is perceived as unshakeable in Georgia. Opinion polls consistently show trust in the church at over 90 percent, a rating politicians can only dream of. The personal popularity of Patriarch Ilia II, who has led the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1977, is particularly high.

As a result, it has become a taboo for politicians to criticize the church. In fact, they regularly compete with each other to demonstrate their personal religiosity and close relations to the patriarch.

For its part, the church is increasingly trying to play an independent political role. Many church figures view the "liberal West" as an enemy, so they are naturally upset by the pro-Western orientation of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Some clerics have openly encouraged congregations to oppose the authorities. The patriarch himself has been more cautious, but he occasionally makes comments that are viewed as unpleasant by the government.

The political opposition sees the church as a potential ally. This bothers the government, although officials have refrained from engaging church figures in public and continue to subsidize the Orthodox Church from the state budget.

Agreement With Turkey A Flashpoint

But it appears this simmering discord is becoming more difficult to contain. A proposed agreement between Georgia and Turkey on the issue of preserving religious monuments in the two countries is becoming an important divisive issue.

There are several medieval Christian churches in Turkey that are considered important examples of Georgian culture. If they are not renovated in time, they may be lost forever.

In exchange, the Turkish government is seeking the right to restore three mosques and to build a fourth to replace a mosque in Batumi that was destroyed during the Soviet period.

A similar agreement was drawn up three years ago, but a last-minute veto from the patriarch scuttled the signing. At that time, the government, frightened by a wave of opposition-led mass demonstrations, didn't dare to go against the church's wishes. In fact, the scrapped agreement was not even discussed in public.

A New Mosque In Batumi?

According to some sources, the stumbling block was the mosque in Batumi, the capital of the Ajara region. This region has autonomous status, primarily because of its religious identity as the place where many of Georgia’s Muslims live. Since it is now populated by a mix of Christians and Muslims, the topic of building a mosque is sensitive. With the opposition adopting a conservative religious and nationalist stance, the government felt it was best not to touch on this sore point and silently retreated.

But now the government is working with Turkey on a new version of the accord. This time around everything is going on in the open. The church has been informed that its opinion will be heard, but it has no right of veto.

For its part, the church has already twice, on January 18 and February 4, made statements criticizing a bilateral accord with Turkey and insisting that the church play an active role in negotiations. Government officials politely, but firmly said the church will be consulted at the proper time.

Naturally, the opposition has taken up the issue. Ajara's representative in the Republican Party (which claims to be the most liberal in Georgia) came out against the draft agreement, arguing that building a new mosque in Batumi would inflame tensions between Christians and Muslims.

Supporters of the agreement have a powerful argument: opposing it means condemning several classical monuments of Georgian architecture to destruction. They point out that since the last agreement was scotched in 2008, the cupola of one of the churches in Turkey has collapsed. And now the Oshki Cathedral (pictured above) is in perilous condition.

‘Muslims Have A Right To Build Mosques’

Saakashvili has become involved in the debate, albeit indirectly. He has made two public statements criticizing those who manipulate the issue of building mosques in Georgia. He declared bluntly that Muslims living in Georgia, both ethnic Georgians such as Ajara residents and ethnic Azeris, have the right to build mosques. Any other policy would mean banning Muslims from living in Georgia, something that Saakashvili said he would not allow.

He criticized "marginal politicians" from the opposition, but it was clear to everyone he was also criticizing far-from-marginal clerical circles.

Will the government muster the will to stay the course? It is not only the fate of the four medieval churches at stake, but also the balance of power between the state and the Orthodox Church. In other words, a balance between the secular, civic nationalism of the type represented by Saakashvili's government and an ethno-religious-cultural nationalism increasingly coalescing around the church.

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Synaxarion For the Sunday of the Prodigal Son

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

SUNDAY of the PRODIGAL SON

On this Sunday, we commemorate the Parable of the Prodigal Son, from the Holy Gospel, which our most Divine Fathers appointed to be read after the Parable of the Publican and Pharisee.

Verses

If thou art prodigal, as I am, come with confidence.
For the door of God’s mercy hath been opened.


Synaxarion

Since there are some who are conscious of having lived prodigally from a very early age, giving themselves over to drunkenness and licentiousness and falling thereby into a depth of evils, and have reached despair, which is the offspring of vaunting; and since, for this reason, they have no desire to devote themselves to the pursuit of virtue, putting forward the swarm of their evils as an excuse, and since they are forever falling into the same evils and worse than these, the Holy Fathers, wishing, in their paternal loving-kindness towards such people, to lead them away from despair, placed this parable here after the first one, pulling out the passion of despair root and branch and arousing them to acquire virtue, and, through the story of the Prodigal Son, showing God’s loving and exceedingly good mercies towards those who have sinned very greatly, proving from this parable of Christ’s that there is no sin which can overcome His love for mankind.

The man, that is, the Theanthropic Word, had two sons, the righteous and the sinners. The older of the two always abode by the commandments of God and adhered to what was good, and did not become estranged from Him in any way; but the younger one, who craved sin and rejected fellowship with God through his shameful deeds, frittered away God’s loving-kindness towards him and lived a prodigal way of life, since he did not preserve intact the image of God in himself, but followed after an evil demon, enslaved through pleasures to his evil volitions and unable to fulfill his own desire. For sin is something insatiable, habitually beguiling us through that which affords temporary pleasure; the parable likens this to the husks, the food of pigs, for husks initially taste sweet, but later feel rough and chaffy, which is always the case with sin. As soon as the Prodigal Son came to himself, perishing as he was from a deficit of virtue, he went to his Father, saying: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” The Father received him in repentance, not chiding him, but embracing him, showing His Divine and paternal compassion; and He gave him a robe, that is, Holy Baptism, and a ring, that is, a seal and a pledge, the Grace of the All-Holy Spirit; in addition to this, He gave him shoes, so that his godly footsteps might no longer be wounded by serpents and scorpions, but rather, that he might be able to crush their heads. Thereafter, in His exceeding joy, the Father sacrificed the fatted calf for him, His Only-Begotten Son, granting him to partake of His Flesh and Blood. And yet, the elder son, marvelling at His boundless compassion, said all that he said in the parable. But the loving Father calmly restrained him with kind and gentle words: “Son, thou art ever with me, and it was meet for thee to make merry with thy Father, and be glad: for this my son was formerly dead in sin, and is alive again, after repenting of his wicked deeds; having been lost and become estranged from me by his life of pleasure, he was found again through me, for I felt compassion and called him back by my sympathetic disposition.” This parable can also be interpreted in terms of the Hebrew people and ourselves.

This is why this parable was placed here by the Holy Fathers: it uproots despair, as we have said, and faintheartedness in performing good deeds, and exhorts one who has sinned as the Prodigal Son to repentance and remorse. This is our greatest weapon for warding off the darts of the Enemy, and a strong defense.

By Thine ineffable love for mankind, O Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Tone
O Father, foolishly I ran away from Your glory, and in sin, squandered the riches You gave me. Wherefore, I cry out to You with the voice of the Prodigal, "I have sinned before You Compassionate Father. Receive me in repentance and take me as one of Your hired servants."


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