A Greek-American Family Man Who Saw The Uncreated Light

By Athanasios Rakovalis

Elder Paisios once told me the following story:

A Greek-American doctor had once visited me. He was Orthodox, but didn’t have too much to do with religion. He didn’t even keep the fast on Fridays nor did he go to Church very often. He recently had an experience, and wanted to discuss it with someone.

One evening, while he was praying in his apartment, the “heavens opened up”. He was flooded by light, and the ceiling disappeared, as did the other forty floors above his apartment. He remained in that flood of light for a very long time – he couldn’t even tell for how long!

I stood amazed! I could feel and understand that this incident was “from God”. It was real. He had actually seen the “uncreated light”.

What had he done in his lifetime? How did he live to deserve such divine things?

He was married; he had a wife and children. His wife had said to him: “I’m sick and tired of housework; I want to be able to go out for a walk every now and then.”

Well, she wasn’t exactly employed, so she started to go out with her girlfriends and pressured him into accompanying her every night on her outings. After a while, she said: “I want to be able to go out with my girlfriends, alone.” He accepted this, for his children’s sake. Later, she wanted to go on vacation by herself. What could he do? He gave her money and the car.

She then asked him to rent out an apartment, so that she could live on her own; she would also invite her friends over. He would speak to her, he would counsel her, "How do our children feel about all this?" She was adamant. In the end, she extracted a large sum of money from him and deserted him. She felt too confined!

A few years later, he learnt that she had ended up a prostitute in the clubs of Piraeus!

He was distraught! He lamented over her fate! He thought of looking for her, but what would he tell her?

He knelt down to pray: “My God, help me, tell me what to say, what to do, to save this soul." You see, he was hurting for her. He wanted “that soul to be saved”. No male ego, no vindictiveness, no contempt. He truly hurt inside, seeing her wretched state. He ached for her salvation.

That was the moment when God opened up the heavens and flooded him with His light.

You see! You see! He was in America! And in what kind of an environment was he living? And yet, how many of us live on this Holy Mountain, within the grace of the Holy Mother of God, without any sort of progress!

Glory be to God! Glory be to God!

Source: From the book Father Paisios Told Me, pp. 27-29.

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Video: Security of Orthodox Monasteries in Kosovo

In Kosovo, KFOR protects certain Serbian cultural and religious sites which have been repeatedly targeted by Albanian extremists. Since March 2010 the situation in the country has become more stable and KFOR handed over security to the local authorities.

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Holy New Martyr Vukasin of Klepci

St. Vukasin of Klepci (Feast Day - May 16)

Vukašin of Klepci (in Serbian: Свети Вукашин из Клепаца) was a Serbian Orthodox Christian from Herzegovina who was martyred by fascists during World War II for refusing to acknowledge the Ustashi leader.

Little is known about the life of Saint Vukasin. What is known about him is from the event resulting in his martyrdom. He was born in the village of Klepci, in Herzegovina, at the turn of the nineteenth/twentieth century. At the beginning of World War II, members of the Croatian fascist Ustašas arrested him and transported him, together with other Serbs of that region, into the notorious concentration camp of Jasenovac (the number of victims at this camp have been estimated to be at least 700,000). After horrible days full of torture, Vukašin was brought before an Ustashe soldier who was supposed to execute him, but who said he would spare his life if Vukasin cried loudly: "Long live Ante Pavelic!". Ante Pavelic was the leader of Ustashe. Vukasin, who saw a knife in the hands of the soldier, replied calmly: "My child, you do what you must", and refused to obey the soldier`s request. The Ustashe soldier brandished his knife and cut off Vukasin`s ear. The soldier then repeated his request. Vukasin repeated his answer. The soldier then cut off Vukašin's other ear, followed by his nose, and then scarred Vukasin`s face. Next his tongue was cut. After repeating the request to Vukasin to utter the vicious words and hail the Head of Ustaše (Ante Pavelic), Vukasin once again calmly replied: "My child, you do what you must". Distracted, the soldier eventually killed him, and afterwards went mad.


At the regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1998, Vukašin, from the Klepci village, was entered into the List of Names of the Serbian Orthodox Church as a martyr. His feast day is May 16.

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Read also: On the Serbian Orthodox New Martyrs of the Second World War

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Lecture of Fr. Pavlos of Mount Sinai At St. Vladimir's Seminary

On Thursday, 11 May 2011, Fr. Pavlos, a priest-monk from St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, with over 40 years experience as a monastic, gave an informal talk at St. Vladimir's Seminary during Bright Season. Since Fr. Pavlos spoke in Greek, Fr. Nathanael Symeonides, from Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in New York City, served as translator for the evening.

The talk can be heard here.

"Father Pavlos is a graduate of the School of Theology of the University of Athens, with four decades now of immersion in the ascetic and hesychast tradition of Sinai, to which every branch of modern-day Christianity owes its enlightenment,” noted our Dean, Fr. John Behr.

“Father Pavlos conveys the revelations of the spiritual athletes of the Sinai from the early Byzantine period of the 4th through 8th centuries, not simply on the basis of their recorded experiences but also through the illumination of his personal experience of this unbroken tradition,” added Fr. John. “As the oldest continuously functioning monastery in the world, St. Catherine's lays claim to the interpretation of this body of wisdom, not as theoretical but as living tradition.”

Fr. Pavlos began his address to the community with an illuminating talk about the "grave" vice of being judgmental. He ended it with a Q&A session with the audience that covered everything from child rearing to the practice of the Jesus Prayer.

For example, said Fr. Pavlos:

"St. Isaac the Syrian said, 'On the day that you judge your brother, consider that a "lost day," even if you've done many other good deeds.'"

"St. John of the Ladder told the story of a monk who visited an unkempt cell of a brother monk, and he said to himself, 'My brother prays and fasts so much, he has no time to tidy his cell.' Then the same monk visited the spotless cell of another brother monk, and he said to himself, 'Just as my brother's soul is clean inside, so is his cell.' You see, in neither situation did the monk judge his brother."

Fr. Pavlos also gave some background to St. Catherine's Monastery, the oldest Orthodox Christian monastery in existence. The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned AD 527–565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered to be built by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine I, in the fourth century, at the site where Moses encountered the burning bush (Exodus 3.1–21). The monastery houses, said Fr. Pavlos, the second most treasured collection of ancient manuscripts in the world, and the first most treasured collection of icons in the world. It also "houses" the spiritual tradition of revered ascetics such as St. Gregory of Sinai and St. John of the Ladder, who, said Fr. Pavlos, "wrote the 'Gospel for monks,' that is, his work The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

The vibrant monk also described the liturgical rhythm of life at the monastery, the peaceful and mutually respectful relationship between the monks and their Bedouin neighbors—"Who are not Christians"—and the daily duties of the monks. "My favorite place to work is the garden," he mused. "Trees are 'man's best friend'!"

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Saint Musa of Rome

St. Musa of Rome (Feast Day - May 16)

Saint Musa lived during the fifth century. She was distinguished for her pure life. St Gregory Dialogos included her story in his Dialogues (Bk. 4, Ch. 17), saying that he had heard these things from Musa's brother Probus.

Below is the account of St. Gregory regarding the vision by the young St. Musa of the Theotokos, and her departure from this life and preparation to be in the company of virgins with the Virgin Mary.

Neither must that be forgotten, which the servant of God before mentioned, called Probus, used to tell of a little sister which he had, called Musa. For he said that one night our blessed Lady appeared unto her in vision, shewing her sundry young maids of her own years, clothed all in white, whose company she much desired. But yet not presuming to go amongst them, the Blessed Virgin asked her whether she had any mind to remain with them, and to live in her service: to whom she answered that willingly she would. Then our blessed Lady gave her a charge, not to behave herself lightly, nor to live any more like other girls, to abstain also from laughing and pastime, telling her that after thirty days she should, amongst those virgins which she then saw, be admitted to her service.

After this vision, the young maid forsook all her former behavior, and with great gravity reformed the levity of her childish years. Which thing her parents perceived, and demanded from whence that change proceeded, she told them what the blessed Mother of God had given her a commandment, and upon what day she was to go unto her service.

Five and twenty days after, she fell sick of an ague; and upon the thirtieth day, when the hour of her departure was come, she beheld our blessed Lady, accompanied with those virgins which before in vision she saw to come unto her, and being called to come away, she answered with her eyes modestly cast downward, and very distinctly spake in this manner: "Behold, blessed Lady, I come, behold, blessed Lady, I come". In speaking of such words she gave up her spirit, and her soul departed her virgin body, to dwell for ever with the holy virgins in heaven.

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The Romanian Patriarchate Wants Reconciliation

Today, 12 May 2011, a press conference was held in “Consilium” room of the Patriarchal Palace concerning the communiqué of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem of 9 May 2011, announcing the breaking up of the communion with the Romanian Patriarchate. The conference was held by His Grace Ciprian Campineanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch and Secretary of the Holy Synod.

A delegation made up of three hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church will meet the representatives of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for a bilateral dialogue in order to find a solution concerning the existence of the Romanian Settlement of Jericho, informs “Lumina” newspaper. The three hierarchs will be appointed next week, on 19 and 20 May, within the working session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, when the point of view of the Romanian Patriarchate is formulated concerning the attitude of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, also presented in the communiqué of 9 May, which announced the breaking up of the communion and defrocking of Archimandrite Ieronim Creţu, superior of the Romanian Settlements of Jerusalem, Jordan and Jericho.

His Grace Ciprian Câmpineanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, made this announcement today, within the press conference held at the Patriarchal Palace. His Grace expressed his regret for such a unilateral decision by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in spite of the fact that during the preliminary discussions His Grace had at Jerusalem, on 15 April, with His Beatitude Teofil III, they agreed that an official delegation of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church should travel to Jerusalem for a dialogue designed to reach an amiable agreement concerning the existence of the Romanian Settlement of Jericho. His Grace declared, in this regard: “I would like to express once again our regret and concern for the fact that the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem reached such a decision although on 15 April 2011, before the Palm Sunday, I paid a visit to Jerusalem, delegated by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, where I met His Beatitude Teofil III of Jerusalem together with four other members of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and I was surprised to learn that 10 days after sending the letter of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel they had not received it yet, so that I had to hand His Beatitude Teofil III a photocopy of the answer of our Patriarch to his letter. My mission was to have preliminary discussions on the edge of the subject that makes the existence of the Romanian Settlement of Jericho in order to see how we could solve this issue in an amiable way, in the spirit of the “brotherly dialogue”, Trinitas TV informs us.

The aspects of the situation resulted between the two sister Churches were also touched.

“Due to pastoral-missionary reasons one can make derogation from the canons, because the canons are not dogmas, but pastoral rules. Their role is to show us how to organise the religious life so as not to have conflicts among Churches, but if such conflict still appear, they may be overcome. The most serious thing appears when a deviation from the faith comes up. This could be the only serious reason for breaking up the Eucharistic or liturgical communion with a hierarch of a Church. Our reaction was that of surprise, but we also express our hope that a brotherly understanding could be reached so that we may overcome this spiritual crisis between Churches”, also showed His Grace Ciprian Campineanul.

The Secretary of the Holy Synod has also given some explanation about the delegate of the Romanian Patriarchate at the Holy Places, Rev. Archimandrite Ieronim Cretu.

“The defrocking of Rev. Ieronim seems unjust, rushed and groundless from a canonical point of view because Rev. Ieronim Cretu is not a clergy of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and moreover he was not called, summoned, so that he had no possibility to defend himself because it was him who dealt with the construction of the settlement. The breaking up of the communion with the Patriarch of Romania, namely his removal from the diptychs is also an extreme measure that can be taken only in extreme cases, when a Patriarch of a Church falls into a heresy, in very serious situations. We know from history that the administrative issues could always be solved in an amiable way. But one thing is sure. The settlement is and will remain the property of the Romanian Patriarchate assigned to the pilgrims. We hope that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem will understand the need of its existence for pilgrims for pastoral-missionary reasons and recognise the fact that it does not cause them any damage, but on the contrary”, explained His Grace.

On this occasion a short history of the construction works made at the Romanian Settlement of Jericho was done.

“The settlement of Jericho was built with much human and financial sacrifice of the faithful, of various sponsors and even of the Romanian state authorities. Here is a centre of Bible studies too which bears the name of Saint John James the Hosevite. So, the settlement has a purely missionary pastoral character which proves in this way the care of our Church for pilgrims, not only for the Romanians who left and settled in Diaspora, but also for the Romanians who spend one week or two in the Holy Land. We do not doubt the right of jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem over Israel, Palestine and Jordan, but we raised this settlement only for the Romanian pilgrims, not for the native Orthodox faithful who are under the direct care of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in the territory of the Holy Land, under Palestinian authority, and in Jordan. The Romanian Orthodox Church has many more very big settlements subordinated directly to the Patriarchate of Moscow, but always recognising the spiritual authority of Jerusalem by remembering Patriarch Teofil III at the holy services”, also said the Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The issue of the attitude of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem towards the Romanian Settlement of Jericho, as well as its relations with the Romanian Patriarchate will be discussed in the working session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, from 19 – 20 May 2011.

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Study Shows Belief In God Is Part of Human Nature

Lee Warren
May 15, 2011
Christian Post

A three-year study led by Oxford University concluded that humans are predisposed to belief in God – in some form or fashion.

The study, known as the "Cognition, Religion and Theology Project" involved 57 academics in 20 countries in an attempt to determine whether our belief in divine beings and an afterlife were learned or part of human nature.

"This project suggests that religion is not just something for a peculiar few to do on Sundays instead of playing golf," said Professor Roger Trigg, from Oxford University and the project's co-director, according to U.K.-based The Telegraph. "We have gathered a body of evidence that suggests that religion is a common fact of human nature across different societies.

"Attempts to suppress religion are likely to be short-lived as human thought seems to be rooted to religious concepts, such as the existence of supernatural agents or gods, and the possibility of an afterlife or pre-life," he said.

ABC Channel 4 in Salt Lake City, Utah interviewed Monsignor Robert Servatius of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Sandy about the study.

"I think our human happiness depends on the faith we have of a God beyond us," said Monsignor Servatius. Then he pointed to something St. Augustine said: "God, you have made us for yourself. And our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

"That statement says it all, really," Monsignor Servatius added. "That there is something in human nature that looks beyond ourselves and the created world and says there's got to be something more out there that is superior to me."

The Oxford study also concluded that those who hold religious beliefs may be more likely to co-operate as part of societies and that people living in cities in highly developed countries were less likely to hold religious beliefs than those who live a more rural way of life.

Trigg noted that the study strongly implies religion will not wither away.

"The secularization thesis of the 1960s – I think that was hopeless," Trigg said.

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Miracles At the Grave of Elder Cleopa

April 14, 2004
Proskinitis

The tomb of Father Cleopa Ilie, who rests at the Sihăstria Monastery, has become a pilgrimage site. Those who met Father Cleopa during the 64 years he spent only at Sihăstria come and worship at his resting place and say that they feel the blessing and the help of the holy man in achieving their requests, just as when he was alive.

Very many ill people have been miraculously cured after having taken earth or flowers from Father Cleopa’s tomb (which they carefully preserved at home) or even oil from the icon lamp at his tomb cross, which they applied on the suffering parts of their body. The miracle of the healings has spread out fast throughout the country and the monks at Sihăstria have to permanently add a layer of earth on the tomb, to replace the amount that is taken for healing.

"Several buses of pilgrims stop over at Father Cleopa’s tomb and ask for permission to take a handful of earth. Some sprinkle it in their gardens, others keep it as a sample of the Elder’s grace to be protected from all evil, while others add just a little bit in their food," a monk told us, adding that several times so far he has had to carry two or three wheelbarrells of earth to Fr. Cleopa’s grave, to fill in the hollows left by the faithful.

A young woman from Cluj, who knew Father Cleopa while he was alive (he had been her spiritual Father), was suffering from a terrible heart disease. She couldn’t manage to get to Sihăstria until after the Elder’s repose. She went to the cemetery and prayed near his grave; when she left, she took a little bit of earth and swallowed it, being certain that the Father’s grace will work upon her. The young woman was healed and the news about the miracle spread throughout the villages around Cluj, the monk added. The Father’s cell has been turned into a museum ever since and has been visited by thousands of pilgrims from inside and outside Romania.

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Georgian Patriarchate Urges Unity Among Orthodox Abkhazians

A New Church Organization Created in Abkhazia

May 16, 2011
Interfax

An ecclesiastical congress has asked to set up a commission to discuss the status of an independent "Abkhaz Church".

The congress, which took place at the New Athos Monastery in Abkhazia on Sunday, adopted an appeal to the Primates and Holy Synods of all Orthodox Churches, asking to set up an inter-Orthodox commission led by a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, to discuss the canonical status of the "Abkhaz Church", an Interfax correspondent reported.

It was reported earlier that the ecclesiastical congress created an archdiocese with an arch-see in New Athos in Abkhazia on Sunday. The congress was convened by young Abkhaz priests at the New Athos Monastery cathedral.

"The arch-see will gradually transform into an independent Abkhaz Church," said Archimandrite Dorofey (Dbar), chairman of the ecclesiastical congress. He suggested asking the Abkhaz Justice Ministry to recognize the ecclesiastical congress as a new Church institution in Abkhazia.

The congress participants voted for appointing the ecclesiastical congress as a supreme church-governing body until a fully functional institution of the "Abkhaz Orthodox Church" has been formed, and elected the Abkhaz arch-see Council that will act as a management body until the issue regarding the creation of the "Abkhaz Church" is decided.

Georgian Patriarchate Urges to Prevent a Schism Between the Orthodox Abkhazians

May 16, 2011
Interfax

Georgian Patriarchate urged to prevent a schism between the Orthodox Abkhazians.

"It appears that the cause of this congress is an internal standoff. We ask the congress participants and all Orthodox believers living in Abkhazia to raise above the processes inspired by outside forces (which are the cause of the existing standoffs) and to restore with love and peace the canonical unity between us," the Patriarchate said in a statement on Sunday.

"We have always been open to meetings and talks with the Abkhaz clergy and laity," the Patriarchate said.

The ecclesiastical congress, which took place at the New Athos Monastery in Abkhazia on Sunday, adopted an appeal to the Primates and Holy Synods of all Orthodox Churches, asking to set up an inter-Orthodox commission led by a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, to discuss the canonical status of the "Abkhaz Church".

The congress created an archdiocese with an arch-see in New Athos.

"The arch-see will gradually transform into an independent Abkhaz Church," said Archimandrite Dorofey (Dbar), chairman of the ecclesiastical congress.

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What Is the Source of Poltergeist Activity?

A poltergeist is defined as a disturbance or energy with bizarre physical effects of paranormal origin that suggest mischievous or destructive intent, such as breaking or moving objects and loud knocks or noises.

The Poltergeist Phenomenon is an exciting, original look at an old subject by an award-winning investigative reporter. The author has reviewed 75 cases and interviewed hundreds of witnesses, paranormal experts, law enforcement officers, psychologists and skeptics to come up with eye-opening results:

- The typical poltergeist case involves a young person from a repressed home who is going through puberty. He or she may have epilepsy, which produces recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis, a state in which gravity is temporarily suspended.

- A respected former Princeton University scientist believes he has proven in laboratory experiments that psychokinesis exists and that poltergeist cases are probably true.

- This rare energy may be part of a person's fight-or-flight system, which is hardwired into everyone and can erupt in certain conditions.

Read the following interview with Michael Clarkson, author of The Poltergeist Phenomenon, here. Read a review here.

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The Cave of Saint Andrew the Hermit and Wonderworker

St. Andrew the Hermit (Feast Day - May 15)

Near Lake Kremaston in Evrytania, Greece is the old village of Halkiopoulo. 5 kilometers northeast of this village is the cave of Saint Andrew the Hermit. The route from the village to the cave is a passable dirt road and ends in a clearing. There, the pilgrim leaves the car and on foot takes the path, following a fantastic natural beauty path above Lake Kremaston. The hike takes 20 minutes.

When you enter the cave you come to the shrine of the Saint and its 14th century iconography. Behind the altar is the tomb of the Saint, though his relics are now kept in the new village of Halkiopoulo.

St. Andrew the Hermit and Wonderworker was an ascetic in Aetolia-Acarnania during the reign of Michael II Komnenos of Epiros (1237 -1271). He was born in Monodendri in Epiros. He later married and had children. At one point he left everything and became a hermit 5 kilometers northeast of Halkiopoulo. Here he found a cave and lived in suffering and trials for the rest of his life for the love of Christ. He died in old age, without being noticed by anyone.

However, God did not want this Saint to be unknown. As he was departing this life, bright lit lamps were shining in the heavens above him which could be seen from a great distance. These lamps came upon his holy relics. Villagers from the area came and found the Saint. Among those who came after being informed was St. Theodora the Queen of Arta (March 11), who had the Saint buried in the cave and built a chapel.

Every year on May 15th St. Andrew is celebrated in his cave by the multitudes.

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Synaxis of All Saints of Euboea (Evia)

The feast of All Saints of Euboea was established in 1971 by Metropolitan Nicholas Selentis of Halkida. A church dedicated to this feast was also erected in Exo Panagitsa of Halkida that celebrates annually on the Sunday of the Paralytic, which is the fourth Sunday after Pascha. On this feast many relics of the local Saints are brought out for veneration.

Among the Saints of Evia and the Northern Sporades islands are:

1. St. Paul the Apostle (June 29) who came through on his second apostolic journey.

2. St. Methodios of Olympus (June 20) who was martyred in Halkida.

3. St. Reginos of Skopelos (February 25)

4. St. Nikon the Preacher of Repentance (November 27)

5. St. Christodoulos of Patmos (March 16)

6. St. Nicholas Sikeliotis (August 23)

7. St. Gregory of Stroggyli (Feast Unknown)

8. St. Theophylact of Bulgaria (December 31)

9. St. Euthymios the Ascetic (Feast Unknown)

10. St. Daniel the Stylite (Feast Unknown)

11. St. Anthimos the Confessor (Feast Unknown)

12. St. Gerasimos of Sinai (December 7)

13. St. Joseph of Evia (Feast Unknown)

14. St. Savvas the New of Athos (Second Sunday of Matthew on Mount Athos)

15. St. Timothy, Metropolitan of Euripos (August 16)

16. St. Theophanes the Martys (April 19)

17. St. David of Evia (November 1)

18. St. Gerasimos the Martyr (Feast Unknown)

19. St. Symeon the Barefoot (April 19)

20. St. John the Russian (May 27)

21. St. Hierotheos of Kalamon (December 13)

22. St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite (July 14)

23. St. Kosmas Aitolos (August 23)

24. St. Niphon the New Coenobiarch (December 28)

25. St. Nektarios of Pentapoleos (November 9) who preached here when he served as preacher.

26. St. Neophytos Prosmonarios (January 29)

Read more here.

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Saint Barbarus the Myrrh-Gusher

St. Barbarus the Myrrh-Grusher (Feast Day - May 15 and June 23)

Saint Barbarus lived during the reign of Emperor Michael the Stammerer (820 - 829). A former robber from Arabia, he ventured with his band of pirates to Acarnania in Greece and for a long time he committed robberies, extortions and murders. The Acarnanians revolted against these pirates and killed them all, except Barbarus who escaped. But the Lord, Who does not desire the death of a sinner, turned him to repentance. Once, when Barbarus was sitting in a cave and gazing upon his stolen possessions, the grace of God touched his heart. He thought about the inevitability of death and pondered over the multitude of his wicked deeds. He was distressed in his heart and he decided to make a beginning of repentance, saying, "The Lord did not despise the prayer of the robber hanging beside Him. May He spare me through His ineffable mercy."

Barbarus left all his treasures behind in the cave and he went to the nearest church, which was dedicated to Saint George the Great Martyr in Nisa. During the Divine Liturgy, Barbarus saw angels serving with the priest named John Nikopolitou. Afterwards he asked the priest where were the men he was serving with, to which the priest replied that God had granted him a rare vision of the holy angels serving at the Divine Liturgy. Barbarus did not conceal his wicked deeds from the priest, and he asked to be accepted for repentance and catechism. The priest gave him a place in his own home, and St Barbarus followed him, going about on his hands and knees like a four-legged animal, since he considered himself unworthy to be called a man. In the household of the priest he lived with the cattle, eating with the animals and considering himself more wicked than any creature. Indeed, to recall his sins, he decided to remain for the rest of his life, tied at the neck, waist and legs with three chains just as he tied to his victims when he was a robber. The three chains were in honor of the Holy Trinity. Having received absolution from his sins from the priest, Barbarus went into the woods of Tryfo in Xiromero of the municipality of Aetolia-Acarnania and lived there for twelve years (or eighteen years depending on sources), naked and without clothing, suffering from the cold and heat. His body became dirty and blackened all over.

Finally, St Barbarus received a sign from on high that his sins were forgiven, and that he would die a martyr's death. Once, merchants came to the place where St Barbarus labored. In the deep grass before them they saw something moving. Thinking that this was an animal, they shot several arrows from their bows. Coming closer, they were terrified to see that they had mortally wounded a man. St Barbarus begged them not to grieve. He told them about himself and he asked that they relate what had happened to the priest at whose house he had once lived.

After this, St Barbarus yielded up his spirit to God. The priest, who had accepted the repentance of the former robber, found his body shining with a heavenly light. The priest buried the body of St Barbarus at the place where he was killed on June 23.

Afterwards, a curative myrrh began to issue forth from the grave of the saint, which healed various maladies. At his burial a woman blind for seven years was healed. From then on many miracles are recorded. Nearby the grave is a spring from which many faithful apply to various wounds for healing. Patriarch Kallistos of Constantinople in 1355 and Joseph Bryennios in 1400 tell us that Bulgarians were baptized in this spring. Constantine Akropolites says his daughter was healed of leprosy by Saint Barbarus.

In 1571 a Venetian soldier named Sklavounos, who took part in the Battle of Lepanto, became sick and was near death. He had a dream of Saint Barbarus who told him to visit his grave in order to be healed. When he arrived at the grave of the Saint he venerated his holy relics and immediately began to recover. Wanting to honor the Saint in his homeland, he decided to bring the relics of the Saint to Venice. On his way, he decided to stop his ship in Kerkyra in the village of Potamos. Here the relics of the Saint cured a paralytic child of the Souvlaki family. Sklavounos allowed many of the sick in this place to come venerate the Saint, and many were healed. To honor St. Barbarus, the locals renamed the church of their village from Life-Giving Spring to St. Barbarus in honor of this event, and celebrate annually the healing of the paralyzed boy on May 15th. He is also celebrated on June 23 in Kerkyra as St. Barbarus the Pentapoliti.

The Cave of the Saint can still be seen in Tryfo of Aetolia-Acarnania near his church. Sources say the relics of the Saint are in a small Italian village known as Villa Barbaro. The chains of the Saint were lost when the Ottomans invaded Xiromero.

The spring and church of St. Barbarus in Tryfo

The Church of St. Barbarus in Potamo, Kerkyra

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AHEPA and Anti-Hellenism

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios has proclaimed May 15, 2011 as "AHEPA Sunday" in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

"The connection of the Sunday of the Paralytic and AHEPA Sunday is very appropriate, as it offers to us a substantive and spiritual focus on the service that is offered in our communities and around the world by the AHEPA family," the archbishop stated in the encyclical.

AHEPA was founded on July 26, 1922 in response to the evils of bigotry and racism that emerged in early 20th century American society. It also helped Greek immigrants assimilate into society.

Anti-Hellenism

Anti-Hellenism: prejudice against or hostility towards Greeks, often rooted in hatred of their religious, cultural or ethnic background, as well as jealously and envy towards the many accomplishments of Hellenism.

The concept of Anti-Hellenism is a fairly recent one although the term has been floating around for quite some time. What can be historically accepted is that racist attacks, persecutions, genocides, and other crimes have been committed against ethnic Greeks for numerous reasons.

Modern Opponents claim that Anti-Hellenism lacks a racial and cultural basis like anti-Semitism. Instead these critics say that it appears mostly as a mispercep-tion due to geopolitics and is not a true hate movement against ethnic Greeks. To date attempts to discredit anti-Hellenism have been successful partially due to the lack of serious scholarly research in documenting acts of Anti-Hellenism.

What critics fail to understand, however, is that hate crimes have been committed towards ethnic Greeks based on racial and cultural basis throughout history. There is no logical reason why these acts of hate, past and present, can not or should not be collectively labeled ‘anti-Hellenism’.

Critics of Anti-Hellenism like to claim that unlike other kinds of racial or ethnic preju-dice that anti-Hellenism lack an official ide-ology of hate, like Nazism for Jews. How-ever, what critics seem to forget is the exis-tence of such ideologies as Macedonism, Turkism and Kemalism. Ideologies that have preached hate towards ethnic Greeks and Hellenism, resulting in physical mani-festations of violence, individual and state sponsored, against ethnic Greeks.

Examples of Anti-Hellenic Speech

"Keep your girlfriends away from Greeks because they walk up with their dirty open shirts, their gold jewelry hanging out, they put their hairy arms around your girlfriends and grab their breasts . . . all Greeks are con artists . . . all Greeks are scummy bastards."
-- The Mancow20Show (Chicago Radio Pro-gram), 3/24/99

"White folks was in caves while we was building empires. We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it."
-- Rev. Al Sharpton, cited in Democrats Do the Dumbest Things (Renaissance Books)

Examples of Anti-Hellenic Persecutions Throughout History

Hellenic Genocide (1914-1923) perpetrated by the Young Turks and Kemalists throughout the Otto-man Empire, resulting in the extermination of 1.4 to 1.7 million ethnic Greeks. Ethnic Greeks like all Christians of the Ottoman Empire were referred to as ‘Giaours’, a derogatory word meaning ‘dog’ or ‘infidel’. The events of 1914 through 1923 are a prime example of a state-sponsored act of racist based on racial and cultural basis for ethnic Greeks.

Grecheskaya Operatsiya; Greek Operation (1937-1950) perpetrated by the Soviet Union under direct order of Joseph Stalin. It is the second worse state sponsored campaign of ethnic cleansing against ethnic Greeks.

Anti-Hellenic riots of Toronto (1918) perpetrated by a mob of 20,000 Canadians, led by returning World War 1 veterans resulting in 150 people wounded, 40 businesses destroyed and 100,000 dollars worth of damage, which today would be roughly 1.25 million. One of the largest anti-Hellenic riots in the world; Canadians attacked, looted and destroyed every Greek restaurant they could find.

Anti-Hellenic riots of Omaha (1909) perpetrated by 3,000 Americans resulting in the death of one young boy and the forced migration of the entire ethnic Greek population. The Omaha riots were a direct result of an ethnic prejudice against ethnic Greeks.

Greek America and the Ku Klux Klan

Like African-Americans, Greek-Americans would suffer personal and economic intimida-tion perpetrated against them by the Ku Klux Klan. A forgotten moment in American his-tory, these violent acts of discrimination against ethnic Greeks were widespread in the 1920s, as the KKK viewed ethnic Greeks as racially inferior. Attacks against ethnic Greeks occurred throughout the United States in places like Georgia, Nebraska, Utah, Florida, and Indiana.

Ethnic Greek-owned businesses were often boycotted by the Klan financially ruining many ethnic Greeks. These boycotts were of-ten supported with threats of violence against anyone entering or leaving Greek businesses. In one incident, an ethnic Greek was flogged in Palatka, Florida for dating a ‘white’ woman. Ethnic Greeks were often called, ‘Dirty Greeks’ and ‘unfit for citizenship’ by Americans. It is this belief of racial inferior that still persists today making many ignorantly believe that ethnic Greeks are not white, when they are.

Macedonism

Macedonism is an ideology of hate that seeks to de-Hellenize the history, culture, and identity of Macedonia into a separate Slavic inspired identity with warped illu-sions of an unbroken racial continuity between them and the ancient Macedonians.

Turkism / Pan-Turkism

Turkism / Pan-Turkism is the idea of a po-litical union of all Turkic-Speaking peo-ple. The ideology would be adopted by the Young Turk movement and become the official ideology of the Ottoman Em-pire. Its racist and chauvinistic principles would be a guiding force behind the plan-ning and execution of the Hellenic, Armenian, and Assyrian Genocides.

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Synaxarion For the Sunday of the Paralytic

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

SUNDAY of THE PARALYTIC

On this day, the fourth Sunday of Pascha, we commemorate the Paralytic and, as is meet, we celebrate the miracle wrought for him.

Verses

The word of Christ was strength for the Paralytic,
And thus this word alone was his healing.


Synaxarion

This event is placed here, because Christ worked this miracle at the time of the Hebrew Pentecost. For, having gone up to Jerusalem for the Feast, He went to the pool with five porches, which Solomon had built and which was called the Sheep’s Pool, because it was there that they used to wash the entrails of the sheep that had been slaughtered in the Temple for sacrifice; the first person to enter it, when the water was troubled by an Angel once a year, was made healthy. Christ found in that place a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years and who lay there, despairing of finding anyone to place him in the water; from this we learn how beneficial endurance and patience are; and that since He was going to grant us Baptism, which cleanses every sin, God provided that miracles should be wrought in the Old Testament through water, so that, when Baptism was bestowed, it might be accepted. Jesus came to this paralytic, who was called Jarus, and questioned him; he related his despair over finding someone to help him. Christ, knowing that he had been wasting away with this illness for so long a time, said: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” At once, he became healthy, and, taking his bed upon his shoulders, lest the event should seem illusory, he walked to his house. Since it was the Sabbath, he was forbidden by the Jews to walk. He explained that the One Who had healed him had told him to walk on the Sabbath, though he did not know Who He was; for when a crowd had gathered in that place, the Gospel says, Jesus secretly departed.

After this, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him: “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” Some say—though incorrectly—that Jesus spoke these words, because this man would later smite Him when He stood before Caiaphas, the High Priest and would, as a result, be granted a worse trial than paralysis, that of being tormented in the eternal fire, not just for thirty-eight years, but for ever; rather, the Lord showed that the illness of paralysis befell him because of his sins. However, not all illness comes from sins, but in some cases it comes about from physical causes, from gluttony, indifference, and many other factors. The paralytic, knowing that it was Jesus Who had healed him, made this known to the Jews; they, goaded into defending themselves, sought to kill Christ, because He had supposedly broken the Sabbath. Christ said much to them about this, maintaining that it is right to do good on the Sabbath; and that it was He Who, being equal to the Father, had said that one should keep the Sabbath; and just as His Father had worked hitherto, so did He work.

It should be known that this paralytic is different from the paralytic in St. Matthew’s Gospel; for the healing of the latter took place in a house, with men assisting him, and he was told: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” This man was healed at the Porches, and he had no man to help him, as the Holy Gospel says; but, like the other paralytic, he did take up his bed. It is celebrated now, because it occurred during the season of Pentecost, as did the wonders involving the Samaritan woman and the blind man. We celebrate St. Thomas and the Myrrh-Bearers in assurance of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead; but we celebrate the other wonders leading up to the Ascension, because they were done at different times in the season of the Hebrew Pentecost, and because St. John, whose Gospel is read during this period, is the only Evangelist to mention them.

By Thy boundless mercy, O Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

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Oikos
O Thou Who holdest the ends of the earth in the palm of Thy hand, O Jesus our God, Who art co-beginningless with the Father, and Who, together with the Holy Spirit dost rule over all things: Thou didst appear in the flesh, healing infirmities, driving away passions, and giving sight to the blind. And, by a divine word, Thou didst raise up the paralytic, commanding him to walk straightway and to take up upon his shoulders his bed, which had carried him. Wherefore, together with him we all praise Thee and cry: O Compassionate Christ, glory to Thy dominion and might.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
By Thy divine presence, O Lord, raise my soul which is terribly paralyzed by all kinds of sins and misguided actions, as of old Thou didst raise the paralytic, that saved I may cry to Thee: O Compassionate Christ, glory to Thy dominion and might.

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Saint Isidore the Martyr of Chios

St. Isidore of Chios (Feast Day - May 14)

A Roman officer in the navy, Isidore confessed himself as a Christian to the commander of the fleet, Numerian, while they were on the Aegean island of Chios. Because he was unwilling to repent and worship the gods of the state, he was tormented and beheaded.

His body was cast into a cistern. A young Christian woman, Myrope (December 2), with the help of a friend Ammonios (September 4), retrieved the body although it was guarded by soldiers. On learning that the soldiers would be put to death if they failed to find the body, Myrope went to Numerius and confessed that she had taken Isidore's body, but refused to say where it was then interred. Numerius had her publicly flogged, then thrown into prison.

Before she died, Myrope had a vision of Holy Isidore, who "encouraged her with the news that although she was about to die for what she had done it would not have been in vain because she would be giving her life for Jesus Christ and not for Isidore or their Christian friends." Later on Ammonios himself accepted a martyr's death in the city of Kyzikos.

Myrope body was interred beside Isidore's, and a chapel erected over the graves. Saint Marcian built another in the fifth century next to the Church of Saint Irene in Constantinople. In 1525, the relics of Isidore and Myrope were moved by the Latins to the Church of Saint Mark in Venice.

Basilica Monument of St. Isidore of Chios

The basilica monument of St. Isidore in Chios is an Orthodox monument, with the remains of an early Christian basilica partly covered by a small church with a low cement roof, located in Letsaina of Chios town in Chios. The first excavation research of this site begun by G. Soteriou in 1918 and continued by A. Orlandos, in 1928. Excavations were also conducted in the summer of 1981 and 1982, by the 3rd Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities.

In the basilica are preserved mosaic floors decorated with geometric patterns, and many relief architectural parts. Inside the church there is a subterranean vaulted crypt where the relics of St. Isidore and St. Myrope (who martyred in Chios during the Early Christian period) were once kept.

The Early Christian basilica of St. Isidore was built on the remains of an earlier, Roman structure. According to tradition, the church was built in the second half of the 7th century, during the reign of Constantine IV Pogonatos. In the course of its long history, it has undergone several repairs, probably during the Frankish occupation, in the late Byzantine period and in modern times. Five architectural phases - the earliest of which dates to the 5th century - have been distinguished in the building, which was finally ruined by the earthquake of 1881.

Source

Read also: The Abbey of Dueñas and the Cult of St Isidore of Chios in the County of Castile (10th-11th Centuries)

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Enlisted by the King of the Ages, you spurned the earthly king and his army to boldly preach Christ our God. Therefore, you have completed your contest and shine forth as His glorious martyr. Entreat Him to save our souls, for we honor you, blest Isidore.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
In your combat with the dragon, you gained the victory, O martyr Isidore. As a radiant beacon from Egypt, you shone forth to illumine all under the sun, advancing towards Him who shone forth from the Virgin Mother of God, for whose sake you were slain, O Passion-Bearer, offering yourself as a fragrant sacrifice.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
In thy holy prayers to God, thou hast shone brightly, a great guide for all the world. Wherefore, we praise thee on this day, O Saint, thou Martyr of godly mind and boast of Chios, O glorious Isidore.

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Hieromartyr Therapon the Bishop of Cyprus

St. Therapontos, Bishop of Cyprus (Feast Day - May 14 in Greek Churches and May 25 in Slavic Churches)

The Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Cyprus, lived a life of asceticism in a monastery, and afterwards he served as a bishop on the island of Cyprus. At the time of the persecution under Diocletian (284-305), St Therapon bravely confessed the name of Christ and died a martyric death.

The relics of the hieromartyr were at first located on Cyprus and were glorified by numerous miracles. Later, in the year 806, they were transferred to Constantinople. The relics were moved because of a danger of invasion by the Saracens. As the ship sailed to Constantinople, myrrh began to flow from the relics, and travellers on the ship were miraculously saved during a storm by their prayers to St Therapon.

Upon arrival at Constantinople, the relics of the hieromartyr were placed in a temple built in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God of Eleousa or "the Merciful" (November 12).

In the year 806 the relics were again transferred into a temple built in honor of the Hieromartyr Therapon, myrrh flowed from them, and miracles took place. Through the prayers of St Therapon, those who are seriously ill are healed, and the dying restored to life.

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Life - Miracles - Services (in Greek)


HYMN OF PRAISE: SAINT THERAPONTOS

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Blessed Therapontos, for Christ suffered,
Two heavenly wreaths, for that he received:
As a hierarch of the Church and courageous martyr;
Still, as a flower unfaded, his body remained,
The sick to heal, and the world to aromatize,
The unfortunate to comfort, the faithful to rejoice.
That, the Lord glorified His glorifier,
Of his rational flock, wonderful shepherd.
And that, the Lord made, that it be known and voiced about,
That a forceful death, does not the saint kill,
But with a wreath crowned him and his name proclaimed
Eternally glorified in both churches.
God's glorifier, Therapontos holy,
And wonderful martyr for Holy Faith,
Help us also for the love of God
By your prayers, before the throne most high!

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Foundation of First Orthodox Church In Iceland Consecrated

May 13, 2011
Interfax

The Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Administration for Foreign Institutions, Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, consecrated yesterday the foundation stone of the first Orthodox church in Iceland.

Addressing the audience, State Duma Vice Speaker Lyubov Sliska said St. Nicholas was intentionally chosen as the patron saint of the Russian Orthodox community in Iceland. The holy patron of travellers and sailors is most popular in this country.

She expressed hope that the Russian business community supports the construction and the church put up by joint efforts of all people, and will unite the Russian community living in Iceland.

In his turn, President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson said consecration of the Russian church foundation would "open a new page in the history of relations between Iceland and Russia" and promised to give further assistance to the parish.

The Russian Orthodox community has thrice grown to become the fastest growing (in percentage) religious organization in Iceland. Today the parish unites about 400 immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Byelorussia, Moldavia, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Greece and other countries, as well as native Icelanders.

The Reykjavik municipal administration decided to assign a section of land for the construction of the church free of charge in November 2004. Church services are currently conducted in temporary premises.

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Unbelieving Servants As "Whips of God" Against Believers

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant" (Jeremiah 25:9).

Is not this a difficult saying? Who can be fed by it? The pagan king, the idolatrous king, the Lord call him His servant? If the servant of God is one who knows the True God and who adheres to the law of God, how then can one be a servant of God who does not know the True God and who does not adhere to the law of God? Truly, the true servant of God is he who knows the True God and who keeps the law of God but when he, to whom God has given the knowledge about Himself and His law, perverts knowing into unknowing and law into lawlessness, then God takes as His servant that ignorant one so as to punish the apostates. For, an apostate from god is worse than a pagan and an apostate from the law of God is lower than an idolater by birth.

Therefore, when Israel, as the ancient Church of God, alienated itself from God and the law of God, God chose Nebuchadnezzar for His servant to punish Israel, the Apostate.

Therefore, when the Christian peoples in Asia and Africa through numerous heresies alienated themselves from God, God took as His servant the Arabs to punish Christians in order to bring them to their senses.

And when the Christian peoples in the Balkans alienated themselves from God and God's law, God invited the Turks as His servants to punish the apostates that by punishment to bring them to their senses.

Whenever the faithful alienate themselves from God, God weaves a whip from the unbelievers to bring the believers to their senses. And, as the faithful consciously and willingly turn away from God, so the unbelievers unconsciously and unwillingly become servants of God; the whip of God.

But God takes the unbelievers only temporarily in His service against the believers. For the land of Nebuchadnezzar, the same Lord says, He will visit it for its lawlessness and "make it perpetual desolations" (Jeremiah 25:12), then will a servant against a servant be found? For God did not take the Babylonians for a servant because of their goodness and faith, rather because of Israel's wickedness and unbelief.

O Righteous Lord, help us by Your Most-High Spirit to always adhere to You, the One True God, and Your saving law.

"And the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall burn with fire" (Jeremiah 43:13).

Who will burn them? Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon my servant, said the Lord. This prophecy came true. Nebuchadrezzar conquered Egypt and he destroyed the houses of the false gods by fire; the idols of the Egyptians. He burned them but he did not destroy them forever. For after that came the destruction of Babylon, again according to the prophecy of the holy Prophet Jeremiah and Babylon became and, even until today, remains "heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant" (Jeremiah 51:37). But, in a tradition which was recorded by St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, there remained the other prophecy of Jeremiah about the final destruction of the idols of Egypt: "All the idols will fall," says this prophecy, "and all that is made by hand will be destroyed at the time when the Virgin Mother comes here with the young Child born in a cave and placed in a manger." And this prophecy was preserved by the pagan priests themselves who, from the time of Jeremiah, introduced the custom of depicting the Virgin as she reclines on a bed and her young Child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

Nebuchadnezzar, the servant by God's permission, could only have mowed evil but not pluck it out by the roots. But mowed evil, like mowed grass, grows again. When the Lord came to earth, He plucked out evil by the roots. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant, burned the temples and the idols but the temples were also rebuilt and new idols were made for they were not plucked out from the souls of men. When the Lord came and began His reign in the souls of the Egyptians, the temples and idols fell forever. So it is the same with the disobedient Jews who waged battle against God. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant, had taken them into bondage for seventy years and the offended Lord scattered them throughout the entire world where many of them find themselves in dispersion today even after two-thousand years. This scattering of the Jewish people throughout the entire world was clearly prophesied by Jeremiah. And so, time justified the prophet of God in all his words.

O All-seeing Lord, grant us that we adhere to the words of Your true prophet. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

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Video: Security Prevents Bishop From Burial In Skopje

Aimilios Polygenis
May 13, 2011
Romfea.gr

During a funeral service in the city of Kavadarci in Skopje, security sent from the so-called "Macedonian Church of Skopje" tried to prevent the service from being performed. This order came from the schismatic metropolitan Agathangelos.

The funeral was for a 60 year old man who was the father of an Orthodox nun. The service was being performed by the Orthodox bishop Mark with Hieromonk Irenaeus who are under the Orthodox Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid.

It should be noted that cemeteries in Skopje are democratic, so that any citizen is allowed to be buried in them. "Church authorites" had no right to prevent the burial; an unprecedented event for a nation seeking westernization.

The canonical Archdiocese of Ochrid has submitted complaints against this macabre spectacle.

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Bulgarian Bishop Bashes Nationalist Leader

May 12, 2011
Novinite

Nikolay, Metropolitan of the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, made an angry statement following the actions of far-right party Ataka (Attack) leader, Volen Siderov.

According to the statement, Siderov "has tried on two occasions to involve the Bulgarian church in scandals."

Nikolay described Siderov's political style as "cave nationalism" and stated he tries to use the church for his own political goals, which harms the national unity, according to the cleric.

The first scandal Metropolitan Nikolay is referring to is the accident in which Siderov took down by force the enclosures, surrounding the official seat of President, Georgi Parvanov, who is the former leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, during the recent solemn Easter Mass at the St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral in the capital Sofia.

After the clergy handed the very first candle with holy fire to Parvanov, Siderov had asked them if "they served the President-atheist or God".

The second accident took place on May 6, St George day, when Siderov visited the Bulgarian Saint George the Zograf Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece, and had an outburst provoked by the the fact the divine service was not only in Bulgarian.

In his statement, Metropolitan Nikolay pointed out the Bulgarian Orthodox church has always been the epitome of tolerance, which he put in contrast with Siderov's behavior.

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Russian Sects: From Rasputin to the 'Jesus of Siberia'

Russia has spawned a number of bizarre sects since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union as ordinary Russians have struggled to make the transition from state-sponsored atheism to a society where the Russian Orthodox Church is again in the ascendancy.

Andrew Osborn
May 12, 2011
The Telegraph

Experts say there are as many as 700 sects in Russia attracting between 600,000 to 800,000 followers. The latest sect to make the headlines is an all-female group, which believes that Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, is a reincarnation of early Christian missionary Paul the apostle.

Here is a list of some of the other notable sects to emerge in Russia down the ages:

Grigory Rasputin, known as the 'mad monk,' was perhaps Russia's most infamous self-proclaimed healer and spiritualist. Rasputin wormed his way into the affections of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra by claiming to have the power to heal their son Alexei of haemophilia. Often accused of being part of a sect, he appears to have believed that salvation could only be achieved by at first sinning and then asking God's forgiveness, which is how he justified his famously debauched behaviour. He was murdered in a bizarre plot in 1916 by a group of Russian nobles who feared he had grown too powerful.

Grigory Grabovoi, a self-proclaimed psychic and healer, became notorious in Russia after the 2004 Beslan school siege that culminated in the death of more than 300 hostages, many of them children. Grabovoi, who controversially claims he has the power to abolish death and cure cancer and HIV, got into hot water with the authorities after allegedly promising the mothers of the dead children in Beslan that he could resurrect their loved ones. He charged followers cash to attend seminars in Moscow hotels where he promised to share some of his 'unique' knowledge. He was sentenced to eight years in jail for fraud but got out after only four years.

The Jesus of Siberia known to his followers as Vissarion. In the Siberian town of Abakan, thousands of Russians have abandoned their careers, families and homes to follow the teachings of Sergei Torop, a former traffic policeman who claims he is Jesus Christ. His more than 5,000 followers have built a rural community called Abode of Dawn out of a Siberian forest. Torop likes to don a velvet crimson robe and sports long brown hair. A strict moralist, he claims he has come back to save the world.

Piotr Kuznetsov, a divorced architect from Belarus with an unhealthy obsession for the Apocalypse. The founder of a sect called The True Orthodox Church, Kuznetsov was fascinated with the end of the world and convinced his followers to hole up in a rickety man-made cave to wait for judgment day. He predicted the world would end in May 2008. When it did not he was apparently so disappointed that he tried to commit suicide by hitting himself over the head repeatedly with a log. He did not let his followers watch TV, listen to the radio or handle money and was reported to sleep in a coffin.

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Christ’s Cleansing of the Temple: Can Mark and John Be Reconciled?

By Hank Hanegraaff

In his book Jesus, Interrupted, Bart Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, posed the following as the first of many errors and inconsistencies in the Bible:

The Gospel of Mark indicates that it was in the last week of his life that Jesus “cleansed the Temple” by overturning the tables of the money changers and saying, “This is to be a house of prayer…but you have made it a den of thieves” (Mark 11), whereas according to John this happened at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry (John 2). Some readers have thought that Jesus must have cleansed the temple twice, once at the beginning of his ministry and once at the end. But that would mean that neither Mark nor John tells the ‘true’ story, since in both accounts he cleanses the temple only once. Moreover, is this reconciliation of the two accounts historically plausible? If Jesus made a disruption in the temple at the beginning of his ministry, why wasn’t he arrested by the authorities then?

Ehrman concludes by dogmatically asserting, “Historically speaking, then, the accounts are not reconcilable.”1

Is Ehrman right? Is this just one more in a litany of errors made by a pseudonymous gospel writer? Or is this just indicative of a professor gone wild?

First, it is not only uncharitable but unquestionably wrongheaded to suggest that neither Mark nor John (who Ehrman demeans as “illiterate”) could be telling the “true” story had the temple been cleansed twice. As is no doubt obvious to even the most unlettered of Ehrman’s students, neither gospel writer provides an exhaustive account of everything Jesus said or did. As the apostle John communicates in hyperbolic parlance (no doubt lost on a wooden literalist), “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25 NIV).

Furthermore, the gospel of John itself provides a more than historically plausible insight as to why Jesus might not have been arrested during an initial temple cleansing. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back leading to the arrest and trial of Jesus would quite logically have resulted from a late, not an early, temple cleansing. Not only so, but the Jewish leaders did not arrest Jesus in the early stages of His ministry for fear of the multitudes who were in awe of Christ’s teachings and miracles (Mark 12:12; John 7).

Finally, as even a cursory reading reveals, John not only kairologically (see below) orders his gospel by theme (e.g., seven signs, seven-day opening, seven-day account of the passion, etc.) but presents a more highly developed Christology than that offered in the Synoptics. As such, John says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (1:14), which fulfills the Old Testament promise that God’s glory would again return to His temple (e.g., Malachi 3:1). Moreover, John reinterprets the meaning of Passover by revealing Jesus as the quintessential Passover lamb (John 1:29, 36). As such, it could be logically (and charitably) surmised that John might introduce his account of Christ’s temple cleansing early in his gospel narrative—and within a context in which Jesus is revealed as the substance that fulfills the types and shadows of temple, priest, and sacrifice. While such a notion does not set well with a fundamentalist reading of literature, it accords well with a nuanced and highly sophisticated reckoning of time particular to the ancients (i.e. a kairological interpretation, which reckons time not in terms of our familiar chronological ordering but in terms of a quality of purpose in which an event is said to occur at “just the right time” [cf. Genesis 1 and 2]). In other words, even if there was only one historical temple cleansing, one might logically assume that John communicates it kairologically as opposed to chronologically.

The very fact that a number of plausible resolutions have been forwarded precludes the charge that the gospel accounts are contradictory.

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Saint Isidore of Rostov the Fool For Christ

St. Isidore the Wonderworker and Fool (Feast Day - May 14)

THE BLESSED Isidor (Tverdislov) lived in the middle of the fifteenth century. Though Slavic by birth, he lived in Brandenburg, one of the most ancient cities of Prussia. During those years, the Slavs of this region were fiercely persecuted by the Germans, who were trying to convert the entire population to Papism.

When he reached adolescence and perceived the insolvency of the Roman Catholic Faith, Isidor sought to move to an Orthodox Christian land.

Belonging to the wealthy merchant class, he willingly forswore his wealth, his parents, and his inheritance, and for Christ’s sake began to roam from place to place with his staff.

We do not know exactly when Isidor converted to Orthodoxy, nor when he arrived in Russia, but he ultimately settled in Rostov, north of Moscow.

He found a marshy area within the city and chose a site slightly above the water level. There, he built a small hut with bulrush. This hut afforded no protection from the heat or the cold, since it was not covered by anything; it only concealed his great asceticism from the eyes of the world.


THE SAINT spent his time in the customary manner of fools-for-Christ’s sake. At night, he prayed unceasingly, allowing himself only a brief sleep. His days were spent in the city streets or marketplaces with voluntary acts of foolishness. Occasionally, he would rest his weary body on a pile of waste or manure.

He instructed and taught those who desired spiritual guidance, condemned immorality, and led many souls to the path of salvation. At night, he would pray for all of those who had caused him offense and for those whom he saw wallowing in sin.

“Oh, Isidor!” he often said to himself, and cried out: “You must pass through many sorrows to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”


THE SAINT’S love for the Lord was great, wherefore the Lord loved him and granted him the gift of working miracles and of prophecy.

• “On one occasion,” his biographer relates, “a Rostov merchant was with his comrades at sea during a terrible storm. The ship, probably having struck a reef, suddenly stopped and began to be broken up by the waves. The strong force of the sea threatened to destroy it.

“In their despair, all of those on board began to prepare for death. Then, in the midst of their misfortune, imitating the case of the Prophet Jonah, the voyagers decided to cast lots, supposing that the ship had stopped on account of a crime committed by one of the passengers. The lot fell on the Rostov merchant, who was also the owner of the ship. The crowd then threw the merchant into the sea together with a plank.

“Cast by the wrath of his companions into the raging sea, the hapless merchant began to surrender himself to death. Suddenly, the Blessed Isidor appeared before him, walking on the sea as if on dry land. The Saint took the merchant by the hand and asked him, ‘Do you know who I am?’ The unfortunate man, barely breathing, said: ‘Servant of God, Isidor, help me....’

“The Blessed Isidor pulled the merchant onto the piece of wood and, as if propelled by an unseen hand, the plank began to follow the ship that had already departed. When it came alongside the ship, the merchant suddenly found himself on the deck. When the other voyagers saw him in their midst, they were struck with terror and glorified the merciful God, because they understood that a miracle had taken place. The merchant kept silent, because the Saint had strictly forbidden him to tell exactly what had happened.

“When he returned to Rostov, the merchant would make a prostration to the Saint whenever he saw him from a distance; and the latter, passing nearby him, would remind him of his prohibition. Thus, the merchant would always say that God had saved him by an intervention of His Grace.”


• In another instance, two close friends of noble birth, Savva and Simeon, were comrades-in-arms in the battle with Vasili Shemyaka. A third comrade, Prince Simeon, had been wounded and was now bed-ridden. The two friends decided to visit him.

There, at his bedside, they met the relatives of the wounded soldier, including the family of his brother, Prince Vasili. Vasili’s daughter, Daria, was a very beautiful maiden with whom Savva fell in love. They eventually became engaged and, soon after, celebrated a wedding of unusual grandeur. On the day of the wedding feast, which took place at Simeon’s home, Saint Isidor suddenly entered at the house. The servants tried to drive him away, but he evaded them and noisily entered the feast hall. In his hands he held a cap woven of grass and wild flowers. Reaching the groom, he placed the cap on his head, saying: “Here! A Bishop’s cap for you!”

The mysterious gift and the strange words of the Saint confused Savva and his guests, but Saint Isidor quickly disappeared from the hall and was heard with the children on the streets.

The gift and prophetic words of the blessed Fool were not in vain, and were eventually understood later. Daria became pregnant, and while returning to Rostov, gave birth to a son. The birth was exceedingly difficult and brought about the mother’s death. The loss of his beloved wife so shook Savva that he left the world and became a monk at the Monastery of St. Therapont. At his tonsure, he was given the name Iosaph and later was Consecrated Bishop of Rostov (1481-1489).


IN GENERAL, the Saint rarely entered people’s houses, and when he did so, he was usually unceremoniously thrown out.

One such occasion, which took place shortly before his death, was as follows:

Prince Vladimir of Rostov once invited the local Archbishop Vassian to bless his family. That day, after the Liturgy, Saint Isidor hastened to the Prince’s house before the others. He entered and asked a servant for a drink, as if wishing to quench his thirst. In reality, however, the Saint did not want to drink, but rather he desired that the blessing of the Lord come upon the family of the pious prince, as the Lord said: “Whoever gives a cup of cold water in My Name will not lose his reward.”

The servant not only refused the Saint a drink, but even drove him away. The blessed Fool forgave him and left the house without a protest. But it was God’s good pleasure to glorify His Saint and strengthen the faith of the pious prince.

When the Archbishop arrived and those present had sat down at dinner, the time came to serve the wine, but the servants found all of the vessels empty. They anxiously went to inform the prince.

The latter was astonished and hurried to investigate what had happened. He asked his major-domo who had come during the day, and learned that Saint Isidor had visited the house before the meal, asking for a cup of water, but that the servants had driven him away without giving it to him. The prince understood that the miracle was a punishment for the rejection of a beggar by an unmerciful servant.

He immediately sent his servants to the Saint to beg him to return to his house. Saint Isidor, however, was nowhere to be found. The dinner was approaching its end and still there was no wine. The Prince looked about, confused and sorrowful.

Then, Isidor suddenly entered, holding a prosphora in his hand. He came up to the Archbishop and gave him the prosphora, saying that he had just received it from the Metropolitan in the Church of St. Sofia in Kiev.

In the meantime, the major-domo found the vessels full of wine. He informed the prince, and all of those present were amazed and glorified God, Who had worked such miracles through His hidden Saint.


THE BLESSED Isidor reposed on May 14, 1474.

He did not leave his hut at all during the last days of his earthly life, instead praying with tears until the hour of his righteous repose.

At the moment of his repose, an unusual fragrance spread throughout the entire city. Everyone marveled and began to seek its source. They soon discovered that the closer they approached the blessed Fool’s hut, the stronger the fragrance became. Someone ventured to look inside and saw the Saint lying on the ground, face upwards and his hands crossed upon his chest. He announced the death of the man of God to everyone. They buried the Saint in his hut, in the exact spot where he had reposed.

The merchant that had been saved from the sea was at the burial. Finally freed from his bond of silence, he began with sobs to relate to everyone the details of his miraculous rescue.

With the blessing of the Bishop, those who loved and revered Saint Isidor built a wooden chapel near his grave, in honor of the Ascension of the Lord, because the Saint had reposed on the eve of the Feast.

In 1566, by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the wooden chapel was
replaced by a stone Church. A Priest tried to open the Saint’s tomb, but an invisible power pushed him back. A silver shrine was placed on the grave in 1815, from whence flowed a steady stream of miracles by the Saint.

The celebration of the commemoration of the Saint by the Faithful began on the very day of his repose. Thirteen years later, his name officially appeared on the Russian Church Calendar.
_________

Bibliography:

1. Archbishop Sergey (Spassky), Полный Месяцесловъ Востока, Vol. II (Vladimir: 1901, Moscow: 1997), p. 1426.

2. Nun Taisia, Житія русскихъ Святыхъ, 100 летъ русской святости, Vol. I (Jordanville, NY, USA: 1983), pp. 226-227.

3. Bishop Varlaam Novakshonoff, God’s Fools, The Lives of the Holy “Fools for Christ,” Synaxis Press, Dewdney, B.C., Canada, pp. 31-34.

4. Ἡμεῖς Μωροὶ διὰ Χριστὸν – Βίος καὶ πολιτεία Ὁσίων Σαλῶν (Ekdoseis: Kalyva of St. John the Theologian, New Skete, Mount Athos, 2005), pp. 40-46.

5. Website of the “Orthodox Church in America,” Feasts and Saints, May 14: www.oca.org.

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