MYSTAGOGY: September 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Memorial Saturday of Saint Demetrios and the Battle of Kulikovo

In the spiritual experience of the Russian Church, veneration of the holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessalonica is closely linked with the memory of the defense of the nation and Church by the Great Prince of Moscow, Demetrius of the Don (May 19).

St Demetrios of the Don smashed the military might of the Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo Field on September 8, 1380 (the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos), set between the Rivers Don and Nepryadva. The Battle of Kulikovo, for which the nation calls him Demetrius of the Don, became the first Russian national deed, rallying the spiritual power of the Russian nation around Moscow. The "Zadonschina" [read here], an inspiring historic poem written by the priest Sophronius of Ryazem (1381), is devoted to this event.

Prince Demetrius of the Don was greatly devoted to the holy Great Martyr Demetrios. In 1380, on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo, he solemnly transferred from Vladimir to Moscow the most holy object in the Dimitriev Cathedral of Vladimir: the icon of the Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessalonica, painted on a piece of wood from the saint's grave. A chapel in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrios was built at Moscow's Dormition Cathedral.

The St Demetrios Memorial Saturday was established for the churchwide remembrance of the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulidovo. This memorial service was held for the first time at the Trinity-St Sergius Monastery on October 20, 1380 by St Sergius of Radonezh, in the presence of Great Prince Demetrius of the Don. It is an annual remembrance of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, among whom are the schemamonks Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrew (Oslyab).

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The "Byzantine" Tax Code: How Complicated Was Byzantium?

Right-wingers are always complaining about the "Byzantine" tax code.

Brian Palmer
October 20, 2011
Slate Magazine

The Republican candidates for president debated Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Cain’s flat rate for income, corporate, and sales tax would replace the Byzantine U.S. income tax code, which runs to more than 72,000 pages. Critics often refer to the complicated politics of Constantinople (which used to be Byzantium and is now Istanbul) when discussing American tax laws. Was the Byzantine system of government especially complex?

Only compared to those of medieval Europe. Ceremony and ritual were important features of the imperial court at Constantinople. Guests at royal banquets were assigned titles that denoted where they could sit in relation to the emperor, whom they could talk to, and what they were allowed to discuss. Eventually, the rituals became so complex that treatises were written to help outsiders understand proper etiquette, and the emperor employed officials to teach newbies how to behave. During this period, Western Europeans had lost a taste for the pomp and circumstance of empire. Their leaders were little more than feudal lords who more closely resembled generals than true emperors, although they sometimes carried that title. Ambassadors to Constantinople complained loudly about the formality of the court: For example, in the late 10th century, Liutprand of Cremona, who traveled twice to Byzantium as an ambassador of German emperor Otto, wrote a book in which he bemoaned the overly choreographed Byzantine court ceremonies. Still, Byzantium was far less complicated than any modern government.

The crusaders, too, found the rituals confusing, and they were baffled by Byzantine diplomacy. Constantinople provided financial and military support to the crusaders in some situations but not others. The emperor may even have passed intelligence to the crusaders’ Muslim opponents. As a result, the crusaders viewed Byzantine diplomacy as complex and inscrutable. This partially explains why modern use of the word Byzantine refers not just to things that are complex but also to those that are deviously convoluted—i.e., intentionally designed to be incomprehensible.

Modern historians are quick to point out that modern contempt for Byzantine government is based more on bias than on fact. They blame Byzantium’s bad reputation largely on 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon. In his influential multi-volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon caricatured the history of the Byzantine Empire as little more than a series of shady backroom deals, backstabbing, and power grabs. (In fact, the same could easily be said of Ancient Rome—which Gibbon glorified—or the Islamic societies nearby.) Later historians seized on Gibbon’s portrait of the complexity of Constantinople’s ever-shifting political alliances and its reliance on rituals to maintain power distinctions. French scholar Jules Michelet was the first to use the adjective Byzantine to describe something excessively complex or subtle in his 1846 work Le Peuple, and the term had spread to nonpolitical contexts by the 1880s. (Louis Pasteur complained about Byzantine medical discussions in 1882.)

According to William Safire's Political Dictionary, the modern use didn’t enter the English political lexicon until 1937, when Arthur Koestler—who spoke French and spent some years living in Paris—described the structure of the Spanish army as “Byzantine.”

Bonus Explainer: Was Byzantium’s tax code Byzantine? Not at all. Byzantium’s two-pronged system would have made Steve Forbes proud. There was a flat tax on all citizens. Farmers paid an additional tax based on the size and quality of their land and their annual production. While the equation was straightforward, putting it to work was not. The Byzantines used alphabetic, rather than Arabic, numerals that were notoriously difficult to crunch.

What Is It About Africa?

What’s wrong with Africa? The answer is, of course, nothing – at least not with the continent itself. Africa is a bountiful land of incredible diversity and productive potential, boasting the largest mammals, the great apes, geological diversity, vast panoramas of beauty, and numerous spectacular plants and animals. What comes to mind to many westerners, though, is starvation, drought, disease, war, genocide, and a long history of slavery, exploitation and corruption. For decades the charities have assaulted our emotions with heart-wrenching images of starving children with distended stomachs and flimsy arms, covered in flies and mosquitoes. Is Africa to blame? No; these are mostly human-caused problems, offering hope of solutions. A diverse continent with vastly different political systems, Africa offers striking contrasts of riches and horrors.

Take farming. According to Science Daily, parts of Africa have some of the most nutrient-depleted soils in the world (and this speaking of land south of the Sahara Desert). The BBC News said, “Researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre say poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa.” Here’s a simple solution: plant trees. The BBC News said that planting the right kind of trees can bring back the soil: “Fertiliser tree systems (FTS) ... help boost food security and play a role in ‘climate proofing‘ the region’s arable land”. Can this help forestall some of the desertification that worries scientists? According to the Science Daily article, some 400,000 farmers are now benefiting from this simple, elegant solution so economical it grows on trees. Readers may remember the amazing Moringa tree, a literal “tree of life” that provides food, fuel, clean water and soil fertilizer.

Take the desert. A BBC News nature feature reported that a rocky, arid part of Niger is a literal Noah’s Ark for migrating wildlife. The photo gallery affirms that this part of Africa is “one of the most inhospitable deserts,” and yet biologists are calling for its protection, because it is a “biodiversity hotspot.” Who would have thought? In America, deserts are no hindrance to booming, thriving cities (Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, and many others). Technologies are available to find and extract clean water, to derive energy, and to improve the standard of living for everyone – when there is the political will, the right principles, the right leadership and ability for the people to oust evil dictators.

But the atrocities continue. Recent news has called attention to America’s latest effort to help stop the misnamed “Lord’s Resistance Army” led by brutal bad guy Joseph Kony in Uganda, who sends children into villages to massacre everyone and tortures them if they don’t. South Sudan is trying to hold onto a flimsy new sovereignty after 15 years of civll war. Robert Mugabe destroyed once-productive Zimbabwe with his irrational, ego-driven policies. One of the worst sudden genocides happened in Rwanda just 17 years ago. Somalia remains a hotbed of death, piracy and terrorism. This is all recent history in “darkest Africa,” in spite of the fact that the old slave trade is gone, and the old colonial empires are gone. What’s wrong with Africa?

“The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice” (Proverbs 13:23).

“There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away” (Hosea 4:1-3).

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Friday, October 21, 2011

Mystagogy Helps Bring Relic of St. Polycarp to Thousands in Romania

I often receive emails concerning how Mystagogy has helped people personally, but a few days ago I received a surprising and moving email from Romania which shows how a post I made on the relic of the right hand of St. Polycarp became a blessing to thousands of people in Romania on the great feast of St. Parascheva. To understand the context of the feast before reading the letter below, read Saint Parascheva and Her Feast Day in Romania. Many thanks to Silviu Cluci for informing me about this and his permission to reproduce his emails.

Hello John!

My name is Silviu Cluci. I'm a Romanian weblogger living in Iasi. First of all I'm writing you this email to congratulate you for your wonderful work on your blog and second, and maybe the most important, I want to thank you in the name of all pilgrims, wich came last week to Iasi to venerate the relics of Saint Parascheva and the hand of Saint Polycarp the Bishop of Smyrna.

With this article
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/02/wonderworking-right-hand-of-st-polycarp.html
from your blog, you helped us first to know where we can find the relics of this wonderful saint. My friend, A. V., was very happy to hear that in Greece at Nafpaktos there is the hand of Saint Polycarp. Andrei has a great devoutness to Saint Polycarp and he wrote a very beautiful akathist hymn of the Saint in Romanian in 7 years. He was so happy for this discovery that he called Metropolitan Teofan and asked him to talk with Metropolit Hierotheos Vlachos about the posibility of getting the relics to Iasi for the celebration of Saint Parascheva on the 14th of October. (In each year this celebration is an occasion for a large Orthodox pilgrimage of up to 1 million people). And glory to God, Saint Polycarp came to bless our city last week.

Here are some videos from a procession from the 12th of October
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWPx3htHmE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teOACDP19Ds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkeMAYsN3nI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a42RLZj9ABI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRRdrR-HgLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdzGq-Z4ISU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHuMnUAnDOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZ1yoIYJWo
http://www.doxologia.ro/video/hramul-sfintei-cuvioase-parascheva/sosirea-moastelor-sf-mc-policarp-pelerinajul-calea

And here are some pictures http://www.doxologia.ro/foto/hramul-sfintei-cuvioase-parascheva/stiri/rugaciune-marturisire-pe-calea-sfintilor.

If you whant to know more about the events from the last week from our city, ask me for this.

Thank you once again for the great joy!

Silviu Cluci
http://cidadededeus.wordpress.com/

After requesting his permission to publish his letter, I asked him to tell me more about the feast. Here is what he wrote:

About the feast I can tell you that it started on the 11th day of October when the relics of Saint Parascheva were taken out from the cathedral in a procession and seated out for the pilgrims to venerate it. From the night before a large number of pilgrims came from the entire Romania and even from Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, Belgium, Canada and so on. The Police estimate the final number of pilgrims at 200,000. The queue wasn't so long in this year - 3 kilometers and around 12 hours of waiting. In the afternoon of the 12th of October, the Greek delegation with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou arrived at Iasi carrying the hand of Saint Polycarp. Soon after the arrival, in Iasi there started a procession with the relics of Saint Parascheva and Saint Polycarp with a large number of priests, monks and simple believers from the city. On the day before the celebration of Saint Parascheva we had some events like the launching of some books about Saint Parascheva. At 21 p.m. in the cathedral the vigil started and finished at 3 a.m. In the morning at 9 a.m., 24 bishops from Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece served the Divine Liturgy outside of the cathedral on a platform. Metropolitan Hierotheos had preached and, at the end of the service, Metropolitan Teofon of Moldavia and Bucovina thanked all for the contribution at the celebration.

In the afternoon of the 14th of October in the auditorium of Cuza Univerity, in front of more than 400 people, Metropolitan Hierotheos held a conference about the Theology of John Romanides.

In the morning of the next day, the Greek delegation went back home together with the hand of Saint Polycarp. But the queue of pilgrims continued to be long until the last pilgrim venerated the relics of Saint Parascheva on Sunday evening, when auxiliary bishop Calinic brought the relics back to cathedral.

In a few words this was the feast from the last week in Iasi, Romania.

Here are some video recordings:
http://wtrns.fr/vsl47gpsxxhHhU,
And here is the audio recording of the conference of Metropolitan Hierotheos:
http://fastupload.rol.ro/d51b4c03b8f7d027d5360fbedfb611d6.html

With joy,
Silviu Cluci

Below is video of the feast together with the arrival of the relic of St. Polycarp and Metropolitan Hierotheos. I also include a sermon delivered by Metropolitan Hierotheos in Iasi.

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Andrei Vladareanu

Saint Parascheva and Her Feast Day in Romania

Saint Parascheva was born in the village Epivat in Eastern Tracia, at the beginning of the 11th century, to a pious family. Then, by the age of 15, she dedicated herself to the monastic life.

Saint Parascheva’s relics were brought to Iasi in 1641, during the reign of the ruler Vasile Lupu, and they were exposed in the Church of the Three Hierarchs.

Saint Parascheva is considered the Protector of Moldavia and Bucovina, being the most popular of all the Saints whose relics are in Romania. Christians believe her relics to be miraculous.

Saint Parascheva’s feast day, and at the same time the feast of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iasi, has become, these last 15 years, an important Christian manifestation for the region of Moldavia. On this occasion there arrive in Iasi, in pilgrimage, about one million pilgrims, most of them waiting for hours in a line which covers 2-3 kilometers in order to reach the relics of the Saint and pray.

Generally, on the 12th of October the holy relics are brought out of the church and they are exposed on the esplanade of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Then, on the 13th of October, the feast day, a procession takes place on the streets nearby.

During the last few years, besides the relics of Saint Parascheva, there have also been brought here the relics of other important Saints such as: Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Nektarios of Aegina and those of Saint Andrew the First-called. In 2011 the arm of St. Polycarp of Smyrna was brought from Nafpaktos.

After the procession, the reliquary is exposed again in the courtyard of the Metropolitan Cathedral in order to allow the pilgrims to pray.

Also, after the Festal Divine Liturgy, the City Hall of Iasi organizes a lunch for the pilgrims, where they serve traditional meals.

The Life of Saint Parascheva

St. Parascheva was born at the beginning of the 11th century into a wealthy, noble, and pious Christian family in the town of Epivat (now in Turkey) on the shores of the Marmara Sea. At the age of ten, while attending the Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Theotokos, she heard the words, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.” The words of the Lord had a profound effect on the young girl, and they became the subject of her meditations.

The future St. Parascheva began to dress poor people in her expensive clothes – her good deeds later earning her recognition as a patron saint of such trades as spinning, sewing, weaving, and knitting – but her parents objected, finding the girl’s charity more than they could understand or support, and tried to get her to stop. To follow her calling, Parascheva abandoned her wealth and privileges, left her parents, and ran away to Constantinople. There, near relics of saints, she spent her time in prayer, meditating on the words of Christ.

To elude her parents, who were traveling from city to city trying to find her, she moved to Chalcedon, and then to the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, in Heraclea Pontica, near the Black Sea. She spent the next five years there, living an austere life of continuous prayer and devotion. During her prayers she received visions of the Holy Virgin Mary and in one of the visions, she was instructed to go to Jerusalem. After spending some time in the city, she joined a convent in the Jordanian desert. A few years later, she returned to Constantinople and then, at the age of twenty-five, moved to the village of Katikratia where, at the Church of the Holy Apostles, she lived the remaining two years of her life.

Legend has it that many years later an old sinner was buried near her grave. Parascheva appeared in a dream to a local monk, showed him the place of her burial, and asked him to “take that stinky corpse away from me. I am light and sun, and I cannot bear to have near me darkness and stench.“ The monk, with some local help, began to dig out the place he had seen in his dream and when they found the remains of the Saint, her uncorrupted body was emitting spiritual fragrances. Then they interred the Saint in the Church of the Holy Apostles, where she had spent the last years of her earthly existence.

Later on her relics were moved to Tirnovo, in Bulgaria, then to Belgrade, in Serbia, and finally to Constantinople. In 1641, they were given as a gift to the Prince of Moldavia, Vasile Lupu, in recognition of his support for the Ecumenical Patriarchy of Constantinople. Her intact relics have remained in Iasi ever since. She is venerated as the Protector of Iasi and all of Moldavia and each year, hundreds of thousands of Orthodox faithful and hierarchs from many countries gather in Iasi to celebrate her feast day and venerate her holy relics, which continue to work miracles.

More photos from the feast can be seen here.

Οδοιπορικό στους Επιβάτες της Θράκης,τον τόπο καταγωγής της Οσίας Παρασκευής της Επιβατινής

The Belt of the Virgin Mary In Russia For the First Time

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met a delegation of Greek monks from Vatopaidi Monastery on Mount Athos in an airport in St. Petersburg, who brought with them the miraculous belt of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that the belt has the grace to help childless women to have children.

Hundreds, mostly women, stood in line to venerate this precious relic. The relic will remain in the Russian imperial capital until Tuesday.

It will then be taken on a month-long tour across the country, with stops including the northern city of Norilsk, the Pacific port of Vladivostok, the western exclave city of Kaliningrad and Moscow.

Clerics said they hoped the relic would help more Russian women become mothers as the influential Russian Orthodox Church is actively promoting motherhood to help the government curtail a population decline.

Church officials in several cities plan to take the relic, whose full name is the Belt of the Mother of God, to pregnancy centres that counsel women contemplating an abortion, the church said.

"This event is of huge significance especially when it comes to strengthening people's faith," Father Kirill, a spokesman for the Saint Petersburg diocese, said.

"And the fact that this is such a singular relic helping women is especially important for our city and our country, where the demographic situation leaves much to be desired."

Russian leaders have called the shrinking population a matter of national security.

The country's latest census released earlier this year shows the country's population has shrunk by another 2.2 million people since 2002 and now stands at 142.9 million.

"It's a serious problem and an important topic for our country," the head of the church, Patriarch Kirill, said this week.

Ugandan Witch Doctors Sacrifice Thousands of Children

October 20, 2011
ABC News

MARK COLVIN: A week ago, the BBC broadcast a shocking story from Uganda about widespread child sacrifice. As a result of an undercover investigation, it said many cases were not being followed up by the police, and little was being done to protect potential victims.

The reporters spoke to a witch doctor who offered to kill a child for them to bring luck to a construction project.

Peter M Sewakiryanga is director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries in Uganda, which helped with the investigation.

He's in Australia to draw attention to the child sacrifice problem, and he spoke to me this afternoon.

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Many people in Uganda have come to believe that when you sacrifice a child to evil spirits you get blessings, you get wealth, you get protection of some kind.

And there are many people involved in witchcraft, who are called witch doctors, who have been going on telling people that you need to sacrifice to be able to succeed in life.

MARK COLVIN: How many children get kidnapped and used in this way?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Last year we had reports of over 9,000 children (inaudible) lost and that is based on the United States human rights report. And unfortunately the most number of these children never get to be found and it's been come to our attention that most of them have been victims of child sacrifice.

Because people do it in such secrecy, it's very hard to find them dead until you find decapitated bodies of children with ritual stuff that is around them; others are castrated for ritual, you know castrated completely, others are mutilated, others are just cut heads off and remove body organs out of their bodies, and others you will never find them.

We did an investigation with the witch doctors, an undercover investigation, and we found out that 100 per cent of all those involved in witchcraft are willing to give child sacrifice as the best remedy for a problem that is going to bring success to business, it's going to protect business.

MARK COLVIN: So the people who buy this service, they think they're going to get good luck and good health, do they?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Yeah, they think they're going to get good luck, good health, they're going to get rich because there's a big number of people that are poor and they're going to get rich.

And the rich people want also to protect their wealth.

MARK COLVIN: Uganda is in many areas a Christian country. Are these people both practising both Christianity and witchcraft sort of side by side?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: You will find that the biggest, we have a very, very big number of people that believe in witchcraft. Uganda is …

MARK COLVIN: So it's possible to go to church on Sundays and believe in witchcraft the other days of the week?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Most people that are practising witchcraft don't believe in god.

MARK COLVIN: Has this been happening for a long time or is it a relatively new phenomenon?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: It's come very highly in the last couple of years and it's a very complex phenomena. It's become very high now in the last four, five years.

MARK COLVIN: It's an extraordinary phenomenon because Uganda during that period has been growing quite fast and people have a lot more technology, mobile phones, computers, that sort of thing.

It's extraordinary to imagine that witchcraft should be so strong in those circumstances.

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Yeah we have heard also foreign people coming into the country like from Tanzania. Those people that believe in the killing of albinos, that they'll get wealth.

And so any witch doctor that crosses from Tanzania to come to Uganda, they are allowed to announce on radios that they are going to offer the best spiritual power.

MARK COLVIN: They're allowed to advertise on the radio?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Yes, they are allowed to advertise on the radio.

MARK COLVIN: For killing albino children?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: No, no, no to offer evil spiritual success or solutions to problems and once people go there is when they are brought into the practice of child sacrifice.

MARK COLVIN: So you're campaigning against it in Uganda, what are you hoping for by campaigning here? What can Australians do?

PETER M SEWAKIRYANGA: Back in Uganda we have tried to ask the government to look up the child protection laws. We have asked the government to bring all pending cases in court to a logical conclusion so that justice can prevail.

But that has not happened and why we are making this an international campaign is to ask people to sign petitions, to show the government that the whole world is behind this campaign, is asking you to bring all these pending cases in court to a logical conclusion, to ask the government to look at the child protection laws.

They can look at them and this petition to help bring justice and protect children.

MARK COLVIN: Peter Sewakiryanga, director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries in Uganda. If you're interested in that petition he was talking about you'll be able to see it at www.kyampisi.org or www.jubileecampaign.co.uk.

To see how Christians are battling against child sacrifice in Uganda, see this video.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Feast of St. Gerasimos in 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'

Serbian Patriarch "Most Vocal Opposition" To EU Integration

October 19, 2011
B92

The SPC patriarch has emerged as the most vocal opposition to the government on the issue of the EU and the conditions for continued integrations, says a daily.

Belgrade-based Danas newspaper is writing that Patriarch Irinej's strong statements about the EU and Kosovo are more radical that those voiced by most opposition parties, with the exception of the SRS, and that he stresses more forcefully the need to give up on Serbia's European road.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church said in the town of Jagodina last weekend that Serbia was facing a great temptation, being offered to join the EU but with a horrible price - to renounce Kosovo and Metohija.

"If we should sacrifice Kosovo and Metohija in order to join Europe - then let's thank them for their goodness and love. Let them leave us alone, let them not do again to us what they've done recently, let our Kosovo remain ours," the patriarch said after a service dedicated to the fallen Jagodina residents,who took part in liberation and unification wars waged from 1912 until 1918.

In mid-September, the patriarch was in Kosovoska Mitrovica, where he told Serbs at the barricades: "If you are harmed, you know why you will be harmed, if you must spill your blood, you know why you'll do it. That is holy martyrdom and defense of the holy land. That is the message of our Church and those who care about you."

In early October, while visiting the SPC monastery of Mileševo along with Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin, the patriarch said that the Serb nation has had "many friends - at least that's what we thought - many of whom sided with those who do not like us, and who hate us."

"We stand with few friends now, but we have our greatest friend, the Russian people," concluded Irinej.

Religious affairs analyst Živica Tucić spoke for the newspaper to say that Serbia is divided over EU integrations, and asserted that "some 50 percent are in favor, while others are undecided or against".

He noted that there were Orthodox Christians "among those 50 percent", and added that "what the patriarch is saying is not in their interests".

"Still, the patriarch's words will not carry great influence on their opinion, because the Church is seen here in a more traditional sense, as a place to get christened, married and buried. In that sense, the political influence of the SPC is limited," Tucić believes.

He noted that churches and religious communities said in an official statement, amde when the Law Against Discrimination was adopted, that they would "not stand in the way of European integrations, and would aid it".

Asked by the newspaper "what happened in the meantime to make the SPC reach a position that could be interpreted as 'anti-European'," this analyst said that "euroskepticism" was on the rise in the society as a whole.

Still, Tucić advised the Church to "leave the issue of Kosovo to the state to solve", and to "bear in mind not its wishes, but the realistic situation".

Political analyst Dušan Janjić said the patriarch's statements can be interpreted as "announcements of very serious, dramatic events, and the Church's concern for its members".

"The government has reached a complete dead-end. There's not one person in Serbia who's satisfied with it. Even its members are behaving like they were never in power. That's a sign of a profound crisis. The Serbian Orthodox Church would not have left the confines of its role had it not heard the call of its people. If there were no believers there would be no Church, and that is the realistic concern that the SPC has," Janjić said.

Learning the Bible With Alice Cooper

Andrew Snell
October 17, 2011
The Sun

Alice, 63 — once barred from performing at a venue over claims his show was anti-Christian — is a substitute teacher at his local church.

He said: "You should see the look on people's faces. 'Alice Cooper teaching Bible class? But he's the spawn of the Devil!'"

The reformed alcoholic — whose shows involve fake blood, electric chairs and snakes — holds the lessons in Arizona, US.

Alice — real name Vincent Furnier — added: "Surely people get it by now — Alice is just a character. Alice hates going to church, but I go every Sunday."

School's Out star Alice, whose dad was a pastor, said he cleaned up his act after daughter Calico was born in 1981.

He said: "Before Cali came along I was living Alice's life. Every day was just one big party, fuelled by a bottle of whisky and case of beer."

The Byzantine Empire Comes To Life For Presbyterian School 7th Graders

October 18, 2011
Your Houston News

When you’re neighbors with vestiges of ancient cultures, a walk around the block can be a real history lesson.

Such was the case recently for seventh graders at Presbyterian School, located in the Museum District.

Presbyterian School counts among its neighbors the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, the Rothko Chapel and the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, many of which bring to life elements of the Byzantine Empire’s Greek culture. Utilizing the close proximity of these neighboring institutions, history teacher Kathy Webb took the entire seventh grade (students and faculty) on a walking tour to see some Byzantine life in the 21st century.

The Byzantine Fresco Chapel and the Rothko Chapel are a part of the Houston Menil Collection near the University of St. Thomas. The Byzantine Fresco Chapel displays the only intact Byzantine frescoes of this size and importance in the entire western hemisphere. Students had the opportunity to view the work of Francois de Menil, the architect of the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, who executed his mother's vision for a "chapel museum" as a repository for frescoes recovered from Cyprus in the 1980s. Presbyterian School students had the good fortune to visit the frescoes this fall since they will be permanently returned to Cyprus in 2012.

Student Connor Watson said, “There were many paintings and idols in the Byzantine Chapel. We even studied a lot about one of the idols, and it ended up being there. That was very cool.”

Following the visit to the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, students walked to the Rothko Chapel, which is a non-denominational chapel founded by Francois de Menil’s parents, John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art. Students learned that the Rothko Chapel was a chapel with many paintings which could be interpreted as anything you can imagine from it. The Rothko Chapel also has no lights and only uses the light from the sun. Rothko would consider this “Natural Light” which he used in everything he made or painted.

Topping off the walking tour was a visit to the Original Greek Festival, sponsored by the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Students were able to feast on Greek gyros and dolmades. What do Presbyterian School students think about Greek food? As one student shared: “This festival had amazing food, maybe even the best I’ve ever had. The food was so good that I would consider it the best part about the trip. I thought the field trip was amazing.” After tasting Greek fare, students took in much of the Byzantine culture through the festival displays of religious artifacts/icons, Greek music and folk dancing. Students also toured the Cathedral sanctuary to see up close the iconostasis, a wall of religious paintings, which divides the nave and the altar and holds many of the icons from the original 1917 church.

Agapius the Syrian: The Origins of Idolatry

By Agapius the Syrian

It is written that when the languages of the tribes of the children of Shem, Ham and Japheth, son of Noah, were divided in all the climates on the surface of the earth; when they had occupied their areas and when each language, each people and tribe had moved away into an unspecified region of a climate of the earth, as we described, the people began to make war on each other, one against another. Each tribe and each people chose a head of an army, who led their troops and led them into battle, going at their head. It is told that once, when some of the chiefs of the warriors and commanders of the troops returned victorious and triumphing to their companions, their people and their tribe, the people took them as their masters because of their victory and for their chiefs, renowned and famous for their exploits, their wars and their success, they set up idols bearing their names and resembling them, so that these idols recalled the memory of those who had made conquests to their profit and had returned victorious to them. A long time after this, people started to show veneration towards them and to offer sacrifices to them, initially as a testimony of veneration for them and to remember the victories which they had gained; then when misfortunes occurred, when their enemies, wanting revenge, inflicted on them all kinds of evils and wounds, they came to these idols, beseeching their help. For this reason, in the times that followed, the worship and the veneration of the idols were introduced by the living themselves of the heroes; devils, according to what is written, spoke to the men from the interior of these idols.

Source: Universal History

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Video: A Ghostly Encounter In Greece

As a young girl in Greece, Georgia Triantafillou saw a horrifying spectre. She recounts her exhilarating drama of a supernatural encounter through interview, re-enactment and archival photography.

Part One

Part Two

Ghostly Encounters, Season 1 Episode 29, "When Folk Tales Come True"

Epistle to Diognetus: The Christian Way of Life

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.

They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

To sum up all in one word-what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures.

The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

Monday, October 17, 2011

New Trailer - 'The Stylite: A Matter of Faith'

A spec trailer for a new documentary about a monk who hopes to live atop a 140ft rock outcrop in the central Imereti region of the Republic of Georgia. He would be the first in 600yrs. This trailer was cut from footage captured during our first research trip and a short documentary is coming soon. Join the growing international community around this project about a modern day Stylite and help us bring the feature length version to a theater near you.

Official Website

Read also:

Documentary On A Modern Day Stylite

Georgian Monk To Mount Katskhi Pillar As A Stylite

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Translation of the Relics of St. Kyranna

On 11 October 2011 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited the Church of the Archangels in the village of Ossa in Lagada to venerate the recently discovered holy relics of the Holy New Martyr Kyranna. He was met by Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens, Metropolitan John of Lagada, many more bishops and priests, and a multitude of people who gathered for the Doxology.

After Metropolitan John spoke about the life and martyrdom of St. Kyranna, as well as the miraculous discovery of her holy relics in recent days, the Ecumenical Patriarch spoke about the mindset of St. Kyranna, and noted that she should be an example and model for our times. He supported this by quoting St. John Chrysostom, who said: "Those who honor the martyrs, should imitate the martyrs."

After this priests bore the relics of St. Kyranna in a larnax and began a procession to transfer the relics from the old church to the new church built in honor of the Saint. Women threw flowers before the relics on the way, while children ran to venerate the relics of the Saint or grab a blessing from a priest. When the relics arrived inside the church, they were placed in front of the Holy Altar where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew venerated them, followed by the Archbishop of Athens, the Bishops and all the people. Shortly afterwards the Ecumenical Patriarch was presented the manuscript of the Service to Saint Kyranna by Tryphon Tsombani, a professor of the Theological School of Aristotle University.

Read also:

Saint Kyranna the New Martyr (+1751)

The Recent Discovery of the Relics of Saint Kyranna the New Martyr of Ossa

Photos: The Church Where the Relics of St. Kyranna Were Discovered

A Miracle of Panagia Gorgoepikoos in Poland

The parish of Saint John the Theologian in Terespol, a small town situated on the borders of Poland and Belarus, welcomed the icon of Panagia Gorgoepikoos on Saturday 8 October 2011 with great reverence and celebration. It was welcomed to the city by dozens of priests and hundreds of faithful upon its arrival from Greece. The icon arrived to the church after processing approximately 1 kilometer through the city, where it was received by Metropolitan Savvas of Poland. After bringing the icon into the church, Metropolitan Savvas went on to relate the miracle which inspired the commissioning of this icon to be painted for this church.

This icon of Panagia Gorgoepikoos was painted in the Monastery of Dochiariou on Mount Athos, where also is housed the original prototype. A boy from the parish of Saint John the Theologian in Terespol had a paper icon of Panagia Gorgoepikoos which began to flow myrrh. The paper myrrh-gushing icon was then brought to the church for veneration, on which is preserved the spot where the myrrh flowed from. To honor this miracle, the icon was painted from its original monastery and delivered amidst a great celebration.

Friday, October 14, 2011

St. Basil the Great: Where Did You Find Your Property?

By St. Basil the Great

They say: whom do I wrong by keeping my property? What, tell me, is your property? Where did you find it and brought it to your life? Just like someone in the theatre, who had a seat and then stopped those who entered, judging that what lies common in front of everyone to use, was his own: rich men are of the same kind. They first took possession of the common property, and then they keep it as their own because they were the first to take it. If one had taken what is necessary to cover one's needs and had left the rest to those who are in need, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, no one would be in need.

Isn't it true, that you fell off the womb naked? Isn't it true, that naked you shall return to the earth? Where is your present property from? If you think that it came to you by itself, you don't believe in God, you don't acknowledge the creator and you are not thankful to Him who gave it to you. But if you agree and confess that you have it from God, tell us the reason why He gave it to you.

Is God unjust, dividing unequally the goods of our life? Why are you rich, while the other is poor? Isn't it, if not for any other reason, in order for you to gain a reward for your kindness and faithful providence, and for him to be honored with the great awards of patience? But you, having gathered everything inside the bosom of avarice which is always empty, do you think that you wrong no one, while you strip so many people?

Who is the greedy person? It's him, who doesn't content himself with what he has. And who strips? He who steals what belongs to the others. And you think that you are not greedy, and that you do not strip the others? What was granted to you, in order for you to take care of the others, you took it and you made it your own. What do you think?

He who strips the clothed is to be called a thief. How should we name him, who is able to dress the naked and doesn't do it, does he deserve some other name? The bread that you possess belongs to the hungry. The clothes that you store in boxes, belong to the naked. The shoes rotting by you, belong to the bare-foot. The money that you hide belongs to anyone in need. You wrong as many people as you could help.

From Homily On Avarice 7.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Saint Zlata (Chryse) the New Martyr

Saint Zlata (Chryse) the New Martyr (Feast Day - October 13)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Zlata was born of poor peasant parents (who also had three other daughters) in the village of Slatina, in the province of Muglin. She was a meek and devout girl, wise in the wisdom of Christ and golden, not only in name but also in her God-fearing heart. Once when Zlata went out to get water, some shameless Turks seized her and took her to their home. When one of them urged her to become a Moslem and be his wife, Zlata fearlessly replied: "I believe in Christ and Him alone do I know as my Bridegroom. I will never deny Him, even though you subject me to a thousand tortures and cut me into pieces." When her parents and sisters found her, her parents said to her: "O daughter, have mercy on yourself and on us, your parents and sisters; deny Christ in words only, so that we can all be happy, for Christ is merciful. He would forgive such a sin, committed due to the necessities of life." Her poor parents, sisters and relatives wept bitterly. However, the noble soul of St. Zlata resisted such diabolical snares. She answered them: "When you counsel me to deny Christ the true God, you are no longer my parents or my sisters. I have the Lord Jesus Christ as my father, the Theotokos as my mother, and the saints as my brothers and sisters." The Turks then cast her into prison for three months, flogging her every day until her blood soaked the ground. Finally, they suspended her upside down and lit a fire, to suffocate her with the smoke; but God was with Zlata, and gave her strength in suffering. At last they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces. Thus, this brave virgin gave her soul up to God, and went to dwell in Paradise in the year 1796. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes for a blessing.

Read also: Saint Chryse (Zlata) the New Martyr by St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

HYMN OF PRAISE: The Holy Great-Martyr Zlata of Muglin

The Turks tortured St. Zlata of golden heart,
Tormented her to death for Christ the Living God.
Golden Zlata wept not, nor did she waver,
But surrendered her whole heart to the Lord of Heaven.
The tears of parents and sisters were in vain:
Zlata sought delight through sufferings, true delight-
The delight that Christ prepares for wise virgins,
The joy that the Bridegroom bestows upon faithful brides.
The cage of the body of Zlata the Golden was destroyed,
And her soul was freed from its fragile prison.
Zlata rose up to Paradise, joyful in soul,
Taking her place among the royal, holy angels.
St. Zlata, once a poor peasant girl,
Is now glorified in Paradise as a queen.

The Bus-Church of Father André Strebkov

Father André Strebkov has transformed his bus into a mobile church to be used for missionary purposes - celebrating the Divine Liturgy and offering confession in the villages of Tatarstan of Russia.

St. Isaac the Syrian Celebrated in Qatar

On Tuesday 28 September/ 11 October 2011 the feast of St. Isaac the Syrian was celebrated in Qatar. Qatar is the place where St. Isaac lived his hard ascetic life, and for the first time the church dedicated to him celebrated an all-night vigil in memory of this great mystical teacher of the spiritual life. The day of September 28th to honor this Saint was established in recent times by Elder Paisios the Athonite, who also wrote hymns for the feast.

Source for Photos

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: On the Origin of Evil

We need a theology that will answer the atheist position about evil, about the process imputed to God since Jean Paul Richter, Nietzsche, and Dostoevsky (think, for example, of the arguments presented by Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov). We must abolish once and for all that image of a "diabolical God" who, from all eternity, controls everything and thus appears as the only source of evil. Our God is the Theos pathon, the crucified God about whom the Fathers spoke long before Moltmann! The creation of other freedoms - that of man, and also of angels - implies an incredible omnipotence and, simultaneously, an extreme weakness. God, in a certain manner, must remove himself to allow space for these other freedoms. He enters into a tragic love story. Deep inside man is the memory of "paradise", but also of a break, of a departure along the paths of freedom, like that of the prodigal son in the parable. And this freedom is strengthened through opposition - through forgetfulness. The prodigal son moves away from his Father, and this separation brings death. Though the Father does not desire this separation, because he has no conception of evil, he accepts the son like so many blows to the face. Just think of the images of Christ attacked, bound, and struck on the face, both in eastern art: the icon of the totally humiliated Christ over the prothesis table in Greek churches of the 16th-18th centuries - and in western: that Christ painted by Fra Angelico in the convent of St. Mark in Florence standing blindfolded as hands emerge out of the abyss, out of nothingness, to strike him.

For man, fascinated by the death which he conceals within himself, bears as well the agony of crime: against the "other" or against the self. How many murders we commit in spirit! This is why the Fathers of the Desert used to say that slander, contempt of the "other", is the greatest of sins! Thus humanity - which is composed of infinitely intertwined relations - allows the world to slide toward the nothingness out of which it was drawn, in the aptly worded remark of St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Chaos returns, a chaos which the powers of darkness - which are at once within and outside us - pervert: the suffering of children, absurd wars, monstrous cosmic catastrophes. God - having become a king with no kingdom, in the words of Nicholas Cabasilas - supports the world from beyond, until the "yes" of a woman allows him to return to the heart of his creation to restore it sacramentally, to tear humanity away from nothingness and to restore to each of us our vocation of "created creator".

But the incarnate, crucified, and resurrected God can act, can bring light and peace, only through hearts that freely open to him. He is not the God of "holy wars", or even of supposedly "just wars". He is not the God of the Crusades, but of the life-giving Cross.

The experience of evil ultimately proves to humanity its meaningless. Through suffering - and the worst is to discover how much we make others suffer - man reaches repentance. And Christ - who is freedom itself - resurrects his freedom from within, without the least amount of restraint. Then man accedes not only to the good - for the good judges and condemns those who are "evil" - but to a kind of supra-good which allows the transforming power of God to shine, bringing pardon and opening up the future. "Woman, where are they?" Jesus asks the woman caught in adultery. "Has no one condemned you?" "No one, Lord", she answers. "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again" (Jn. 8:10-11).

From Conversations With Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I by Olivier Clement, pp. 164-166.

St. Symeon the New Theologian: When Shall the Day of the Lord Come?

By St. Symeon the New Theologian

Woe to those who say, "When shall the day of the Lord come?" and they don't care to know and understand that day. For the Lord's Presence in the faithful has already come, and is continuously coming, and to all those who wish for it, has arrived and is firm. Because, if He is indeed the light of the world (John 8.12) and to His Apostles has said, that with us until the end of time He will be (Matt. 28.20, cf. Matt. 1.23), how, being with us, will He come? Not at all. For we are not sons of darkness and sons of night, in order for the light to overtake us, but sons of light and sons of the Lord's day, hence and living in the Lord we are, and dying in Him and with Him will live, as Paul says (Acts 17.28).

About this also the Theologian thus speaks, Gregory: "What the sun is to sensible things, this exactly is God to spiritual things."

For He will be the future age and the eternal day and kingdom of heavens, bridegroom and bed and earth of the peaceful and divine paradise and king and servant, as He Himself has thus spoke: "Blessed are those servants, whom their Lord will come and find awake. Verily I say to you, He will lie them in comfort and He will be prepared to serve them" (Luke 12.37).

From the Ethical Homilies 10.

Confession of the Blind Woman: Gerondissa Xeni Of Aegina (1867-1923)

Confession of the Blind Woman

People, hear and pity me, for this, my situation,

and pray to God for me, to give my wretched soul salvation.

Believe me, all of you, my brethren, truly I'll explain,

in me is found abundantly the works I now will name.

If you would like to know which virtues I have called my own,

I'll tell you: naked is my soul of good in every form.

Utterly devoid of virtue, sentenced to be damned,

and by every purity most utterly abandoned.

Poverty past bounds is mine, and wounds and ill diseases,

and being lost forever in the folds of death's deep creases.

Severe insentitivity and stupor overcome me,

anger, pride, hard-heartedness and evil have undone me.

To virtue I am cold as ice, but warm to wickedness,

always ready for laughter's lure and for talkativeness.

Instead of being compunctionate I'm totally unfeeling,

instead of weeping constantly, I laugh, the wretched worldling!

But there is something yet, that hides so perfectly these evils.

How long will I so fool the world, though I am like the devils,

with my false piety, fake virtue and hypocrisy?

When the world regards me highly, I rejoice and boast,

but when they criticise me, even kindly, I am sad, and mope.

Whomever of you knows me, I exhort you to feel pity,

and when reminded of me, weep for my iniquity.

Beg our God that someday He enlightenment will send me;

and by your prayers, my brethren, I hope that He will save me,

and from my somber wickedness and evil, He will free me.

Source

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

New Book - Greece’s Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis

{The following is the last in a series of four guest posts from Herman A. Middleton, author of Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece (featuring eight Greek Orthodox monastic elders), and translator of the recently released Greece's Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis (a study of one of modern Greek literature's finest writers). It is about his new book that he now writes. (The first, second, and third posts are posted elsewhere, for which see below.)}

In previous posts, I have looked at Dr. Anestis Keselopoulos's book, Greece's Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis from a variety of angles.

In the first post I discussed my impetus for translating the book. In the second post, I looked at Papadiamandis's biography and work, and considered why he is a seminal figure in both the Greek as well as the wider Orthodox world. In the third post I looked more closely at the book itself, what it contains, and many of the issues it touches upon. In this final post, I wanted to discuss in greater detail the significance of Papadiamandis for the West, in particular the example of Papadiamandis as an artist-evangelist, and as an example that can inform and instruct artists desiring to create faith-inspired work.

To begin, though, permit me to share a personal story that ties in with this topic. In previous posts on my blog, I have touched upon the important role that reading The Brothers Karamazov played in my conversion to Orthodoxy. I was studying academic theology at an Evangelical Protestant college, and was tired of dry Biblical interpretations and academic arguments. At the heart of the Orthodox understanding of theology is Evagrius of Pontus's celebrated saying: "The one who prays is a theologian; the one who is a theologian, prays." Without an active prayer/spiritual life one cannot be a theologian. It was not a surprise, then, that my conversion to Orthodoxy was largely influenced by the stories of others who had faith/prayer/spiritual lives and who experienced God's grace. I sensed that these were not simply fictional stories, but that they touched upon truths that I had personally never experienced.

I mention my story to underline the significance Papadiamandis (as Dostoevsky) has for the West and for Orthodox mission in particular. When it comes to religion, our society is largely jaded, fatigued by polemic and the hypocrisy of many religious people. It has always been true that it is not intellectual arguments, but encounters with love and grace that convert people to Christ. This has never been more true than today, when romantic notions of faith and holiness that make the spiritual life seem beautiful or easy ring particularly hollow. It is the realism of artists such as Dostoevsky and Papadiamandis that has the power to touch human hearts.

Papadiamandis's obvious affection for and championing of the weak, maligned, and downtrodden, and his refusal to pass judgment make him accessible to skeptical humanists. His obvious humanity is attractive, and makes reading his stories easier for modern sensibilities. Papadiamandis offers much more than this, however.

Because Papadiamandis's stories are set in a society that is both deeply and broadly Orthodox, the western reader is given insight into a profoundly Christian world, a world that (more or less) no longer exists in the West. Papadiamandis offers a vision of what a Christian society looks like, and of what a Christian in a Christian society looks like. In his Introduction to the book, Fr. Alexis Trader asks the question,

"Can an American living in such a complex society with people traumatized by a diversity of psychological disorders gain [the] honesty, [the] simplicity, and [the] humility [of the faithful of Skiathos]? If he has the opportunity to immerse himself fully in the life of the Church and if the wise precepts of the Fathers for the liturgical life and the life in Christ are implemented, all things are clearly possible through the grace of Christ. In fact, the point of Papadiamandis's narratives is that the downtrodden, wounded, and despised can be transfigured into the glorious people of God through the Church's divine worship."

Truly Christian art works in synergy with the grace of God to bring about healing and wholeness. Papadiamandis's descriptions of the Christians and the Christian society of Skiathos have the potential to engender this healing and to inspire this wholeness.

As I mentioned earlier, realism is an important characteristic of Christian non-liturgical art. Also, Christian art makes use of the "language" of Christianity (symbolism, language, history, etc.), even if it doesn't deal with overtly "religious" themes. Both Papadiamandis and Dostoevsky use this language, though neither one could be accused of writing "religious" literature. In a world where sentimental and simplistic pop "Christian art" is a market of its own, Papadiamandis offers another vision, another way of understanding both art and Christianity that has the potential to be profoundly redemptive. In the Translator's Foreword to the book, I go into more detail regarding the particularly "Christian" aspects of Papadiamandis's art.

[Learn more about Greece's Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis.]

Posting Schedule:

Blog Post #1: September 30th, Byzantine, TX

Blog Post #2: October 4th, Eighth Day Books Blog

Blog Post #3: October 6th, Bombaxo

Saint Philotheos Kokkinos (1300 - 1379)

He was born in Thessaloniki around 1300; his mother was a convert from Judaism. He entered monastic life, first at Mt. Sinai, then at Mt Athos. First he lived his monastic life at Vatopaidi Monastery, where he formed a relationship with St. Savvas the Fool-For-Christ (for whom he became a biographer), then went on to Great Lavra Monastery, where he formed a relationship with St. Gregory Palamas (for whom he became a biographer). The so-called "Hesychast controversy" was then raging, and St. Philotheos became one of the firmest and most effective supporters of St. Gregory Palamas (November 14) in his defense of Orthodoxy against western-inspired attacks on the doctrines of uncreated Grace and the possibility of true union with God. It was St. Philotheos who drafted the Hagiorite Tome, the manifesto of the monks of Mt. Athos setting forth how the Saints partake of the Divine and uncreated Light which the Apostles beheld at Christ's Transfiguration. In 1342 he became abbot of the Monastery when Makarios became Metropolitan of Thessaloniki. He wrote two works on the Taboric Light and a treatise against Akyndinos in 1346. In 1351, he took part in the "Hesychast Council" in Constantinople, and wrote its Acts.

In 1353 he was made Patriarch of Constantinople; he stepped down after one year, but was recalled to the Patriarchal throne in 1364. He continued to be a zealous champion of undiluted Orthodoxy, writing treatises setting forth the theology of the Uncreated Energies of God and refuting the scholastic philosophy that was then infecting the Western church. Despite (or because of?) his uncompromising Orthodoxy, he always sought a true, rather than political, reconciliation with the West, and even worked to convene an Ecumenical Council to resolve the differences between the churches; this was rejected by Pope Urban V. In 1368 he led the synodal decision to proclaim St. Gregory Palamas a Saint and ordained the Second Sunday of Great Lent to be his feast. St. Philotheos composed the Church's services to St Gregory Palamas. This holy Patriarch was deposed in 1376 when the Emperor Andronicus IV came to the throne; he died in exile in 1379. His tomb at the Monastery of Akatalyptos Maria Diakonissa became a place of many miracles.

St. Philotheos is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent and on October 11th. He is a Protector of Orthodoxy alongside Sts. Photios the Great, Mark Evgenikos, and Gregory Palamas.

'Life of Brian' Would Be Risky Now, Says Terry Jones

Monty Python star claims making satire now would be too risky following resurgence in religious belief.

October 10, 2011
Guardian.co.uk

Monty Python's Terry Jones has revealed that he would shy away from making the comedy Life Of Brian today, because of a resurgence in religious belief.

Jones directed and acted in the 1979 film, starring John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle, which sparked a religious storm and accusations of blasphemy.

Opponents of the comedy, which was a worldwide box-office success, claimed it made fun of Jesus.

But Jones told the Radio Times: "I never thought it would be as controversial as it turned out, although I remember saying when we were writing it that some religious nut case may take pot shots at us, and everyone replied: 'No'."

The 69-year-old said: "I took the view it wasn't blasphemous. It was heretical because it criticised the structure of the church and the way it interpreted the Gospels. At the time religion seemed to be on the back burner and it felt like kicking a dead donkey. It has come back with a vengeance and we'd think twice about making it now."

Asked whether he would make a similarly satirical film about Muslims, he said: "Probably not – looking at Salman Rushdie [whose controversial book The Satanic Verses forced him into hiding for 10 years].

"I suppose people would be frightened. I think it's whipped up by the arms industry."

Jones was interviewed by the magazine to mark a BBC4 comedy drama, Holy Flying Circus, about the opposition to the film.

The BBC is also reconstructing the TV debate Friday Night … Saturday Morning, which took place between Cleese and Palin and the Bishop of Southwark, Mervyn Stockwood, and Malcolm Muggeridge, who thought the film was blasphemous.

Jones said of Monty Python's Life Of Brian: "I'm amazed we're still discussing it, and I don't know why. There's lots of other good stuff around. I suspect it's overrated although it's pretty good. Our aim was to make a funny film, but there's nothing wrong with giving a bit of offence as well.

"I've seen it a couple of times and probably enjoy it more now because of its celebrity. Personally, though, I prefer Buster Keaton." He added: "It was one of the first comedy shows made in colour. If it had been scheduled a month or two earlier it would have been in black and white."

He said of the BBC's new drama: "The programme is very funny, but it's a mix of fantasy and reality. The portrayal of BBC executives (as over-the-top and dim-witted) is probably the only realistic part."

Not a Single Christian Church Left in Afghanistan, U.S. State Department

Edwin Mora
October 10, 2011
CNS News

There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.

This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime.

In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country.

The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the Statet Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last month and covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

“There is no longer a public Christian church; the courts have not upheld the church's claim to its 99-year lease, and the landowner destroyed the building in March [2010],” reads the State Department report on religious freedom. “[Private] chapels and churches for the international community of various faiths are located on several military bases, PRTs [Provincial Reconstruction Teams], and at the Italian embassy. Some citizens who converted to Christianity as refugees have returned.”

In recent times, freedom of religion has declined in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.

“The government’s level of respect for religious freedom in law and in practice declined during the reporting period, particularly for Christian groups and individuals,” reads the State Department report.

“Negative societal opinions and suspicion of Christian activities led to targeting of Christian groups and individuals, including Muslim converts to Christianity," said the report. "The lack of government responsiveness and protection for these groups and individuals contributed to the deterioration of religious freedom.”

Most Christians in the country refuse to “state their beliefs or gather openly to worship,” said the State Department.

More than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in the decade-old Afghanistan war, according to CNSNews.com’s database of all U.S. casualties in Afghanistan. A September audit released jointly by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and the State Department’s Office of Inspector General, found that the U.S. government will spend at least $1.7 billion to support the civilian effort from 2009-2011.

According to that report, the $1.7 billion excludes additional security costs, which the report says the State Department priced at about $491 million.

A March 2011 report by the Congressional Research Service showed that overall the United States has spent more than $440 billion in the Afghanistan war. Christian aid from the international community has also gone to aid the Afghan government.

Nevertheless, according to the State Department, the lack of non-Muslim religious centers in Afghanistan can be blamed in part on a “strapped government budget,” which is primarily fueled by the U.S. aid.

“There were no explicit restrictions for religious minority groups to establish places of worship and training of clergy to serve their communities,” says the report, “however, very few public places of worship exist for minorities due to a strapped government budget.”

The report acknowledged that Afghanistan’s post-Taliban constitution, which was ratified with the help of U.S. mediation in 2004, can be contradictory when it comes to the free exercise of religion.

While the new constitution states that Islam is the “religion of the state” and that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam,” it also proclaims that “followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law.”

However, “the right to change one’s religion was not respected either in law or in practice,” according to the State Department.

“Muslims who converted away from Islam risked losing their marriages, rejection from their families and villages, and loss of jobs,” according to the report. “Legal aid for imprisoned converts away from Islam remains difficult due to the personal objection of Afghan lawyers to defend apostates.”

The report does note that “in recent years neither the national nor local authorities have imposed criminal penalties on coverts from Islam.” The report says that “conversion from Islam is considered apostasy and is punishable by death under some interpretations of Islamic rule in the country.”

Also, in recent years, the death punishment for blasphemy “has not been carried out,” according to the State Department.

According to the State Department report, the United States continues to promote religious freedom in Afghanistan--even though the country no longer has even one Christian church.

“The U.S. government regularly discusses religious freedom with government officials as part of its overall policy to promote human rights,” according to the report.

According to the State Department report, more than 99 percent of the population, estimated between 24 and 33 million people, is either Sunni (80 percent) or Shia (19 percent) Muslim. Non-Muslim religious groups, including the estimated 500 to 8,000 strong Christian community in the country, make up less than 1 percent of the population. Other non-Muslim groups in the country are Sikhs, Bahais, and Hindus.

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