Message In A Bottle: A Miracle of the Archangel Michael Panormitis

The Archangel Michael Panormitis, apart from the countless confirmed miracles that he has done and is doing for hundreds of years in this Holy Monastery of Symi, performs (as we shall see below) a timeless (over the centuries), while globally unique, miracle for those who are believers in various parts of the world and are unable to bring themselves to the monastery.


The monastery is located in the southern tip of the island and is built on the beautiful bay of Panormos, which even from the first Christian centuries was one of the central locations of devotion to the Angels. Todays holy church (in which rules the miraculous icon of the Archangel Michael) was built in 1783, and the iconography was done in 1792 by two indigenous painters, the monks Neophytos and Kyriakos Karakosti. Lastly, above the main gate of the monastery is the famous Belfry of Panormitis (built in 1911), which resembles Russian Bell Towers.

So the great and timeless miracle mentioned above has happened and is happening to anyone with true faith in the only true God, the Lord Jesus Christ.


He who is unable at present to visit the monastery, can in a small bottle, either from bottled water or juice (preferably plastic, to be more resistant), place incense, a paper with a list of names of whoever one wants prayers for under "For the Health of the Living" and "For the Repose", and a piece of paper with the name, address and telephone number of the sender. It may also include a letter to the monastery, on any matter of concern which the petitioner would like to become a matter of prayer in the holy monastery.

Having placed all these offerings to the Archangel and closed the bottle, the petitioner can, either from a port or a ship found in the open waters, throw the bottle into the sea, after praying to the Archangel Michael Panormitis and asking him to lead it himself to the Monastery of Symi.


The Panormitis will receive the bottle with the offerings contained within and it will eventually reach Symi in the bay of the Monastery, or otherwise become entangled in fishing nets off the island. In every case, however, the final destination will be to land intact in the hands of the people of the monastery, who in turn (as confirmation of the miracle, "to the glory to God") will send back a thank-you letter to the faithful who sent it, thanking him for the offerings.

In the holy monastery are kept till our day offerings, which traveled alone for the Panormitis from around the world (for example from Australia) and from different eras.

In the old days, the faithful sent in the way mentioned above their offerings in glass bottles, and even boxes!

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Read also: Holy Panormitis Monastery of the Archangel Michael in Symi

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Saint Lazarus the Wonderworker of Mount Galesion

St. Lazarus the Stylite (Feast Day - November 7)

Saint Lazarus the Wonderworker of Mount Galesion near Ephesus was born in Lydia, in the city of Magnesium. An educated young man who loved God, Lazarus became a monk at the Monastery of Saint Savvas, the founder of great ascetic piety in Palestine. He spent ten years within the walls of the monastery, winning the love and respect of the brethren for his intense monastic struggles.

Ordained to the holy priesthood by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, St Lazarus returned to his native country and settled near Ephesus, on desolate Mount Galesion. Here he saw a wondrous vision: a fiery pillar, rising up to the heavens, was encircled by angels singing, "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered."

On the place where the saint beheld this vision, he built a church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and took upon himself the feat of pillar-dwelling (stylite). Monks soon began to flock to the great ascetic, thirsting for spiritual nourishment by the divinely-inspired words and blessed example of the saint, and a monastery was established there.

Having received a revelation about the day of his death, the saint told the brethren. Through the tearful prayers of all the monks, the Lord prolonged the earthly life of St Lazarus for another fifteen years.

St Lazarus died at 72 years of age, in the year 1053. The brethren buried the body of the saint at the pillar upon which he had struggled in asceticism. He was glorified by many miracles after his death.

St Lazarus is also commemorated on July 17 (to celebrate the translation of his holy relics).

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For a more detailed biography, read here.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
In thy vigilant prayers, thou didst drench thy pillar with streams of tears; by thy sightings from the depths, thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a shepherd, granting forgiveness to them that came to thee, O our righteous Father Lazarus. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
With great joy, the Church of Christ doth glorify thee on this day with psalmic hymns as a great light unto us all; hence never cease thou to intercede with Christ to grant the forgiveness of sins to all.

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Metropolitan Hilarion Speaks On the Coming Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church

November 3, 2011
Mospat.ru

On 2 November 2011, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), visited the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and at the invitation of Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga.

Metropolitan Hilarion met with the members of the Academic Board, faculty and students of the Academy. Attending the meeting were Archbishop Ionafan of Tulchin and Bratslav and Bishop Amvrosiy of Gatchina, rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary. Metropolitan Hilarion is accompanied by the DECR vice-chairman, hegumen Philaret (Bulekov); archpriest Vladimir Shmaliy, vice-rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate School; and Director of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charity, Leonid Sevastianov.

Bishop Amvrosiy of Gatchina introduced Metropolitan Hilarion to the audience and enumerated his scholarly titles and degrees. He said that the Academic Board of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary decided to confer a title of doctor of theology honoris causa on Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk in consideration of his numerous theological transactions and his extensive scholarly and theological work.

Archpriest Kirill Kopeikin, secretary of the Academic Board, read out Metropolitan Hilarion’s curriculum vita, and Bishop Amvrosiy of Gatchina handed a cross and diploma of the doctor of theology to Metropolitan Hilarion and gave him a book with a dedicatory inscription of Metropolitan Vladimir of St/. Petersburg and Ladoga.

The DECR chairman thanked the Academic Board for the privilege of being made doctor of theology and delivered a lecture, which he dedicated to the memory of Metropolitan Nikodim.

Metropolitan Hilarion spoke of the inter-Orthodox cooperation in the preparation to the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, the pre-Council process and expectations.

He noted that preparations for the Council cause bewilderment in certain circles. Some marginal mass media launched a campaign against the convening of the Council, while some websites misinform the public by citing the sayings of the Holy Fathers arbitrarily taken out from the context. The believers are frightened that the Council will be an “anti-Christ” council as its decisions would run contrary to the teaching of the Church, its dogmas, canons, and rules.

“Such arguments have no ground and indicate the lack of knowledge or a deliberate distortion of historical facts and the tradition of the Church,” Metropolitan Hilarion said.

He assured all those doubting that the Council will not be the Eighth Ecumenical Council and will not rescind or review the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. “The Council will not cancel fasts, nor will it introduce married episcopate or allow a second marriage to clergyman. It will not recognize the authority of the Pope of Rome over the Orthodox Church or sign union with the Catholics. The long and short of it is that the Council will do nothing of that what some “defenders of Orthodoxy” fear, displaying zeal that exceeds reason. In case something adverse to the spirit and the letter of the Seven Ecumenical Council happens, the Russian Orthodox Church will renounce this Council and its decisions as she renounced the Council of Ferrara and Florence in 1441. I believe, however, that the other Local Orthodox Church will renounce it, too.”

Metropolitan Hilarion hopes that in case the Local Orthodox Churches surmount internal differences and ‘with one heart and one mouth’ witness their inherent unity, the Council will be an important and remarkable event. ‘Undoubtedly, it will strengthen Orthodox cooperation and will help to formulate and voice the pan-Orthodox position on a number of topical issues, thus consolidating the Orthodox Church and making it capable of meeting the challenges of the time. The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church could be a real Triumph of Orthodoxy provided that convictions, traditions and views of all Local Orthodox Churches are taken into account in the spirit of brotherly love and mutual respect,” the DECR chairman said.

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President Dmitry Medvedev Speaks On the Revival of Orthodoxy in Russia

Medvedev: Orthodoxy Is Russia's Guardian of "Indisputable Truths"

November 7, 2011
Interfax

President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday credited Orthodox Christianity with helping Russia preserve its traditional values and counteract doctrines that "give rise to social strife, hostility, violence, instability in our country, which, unfortunately, actually pervert people's mentalities."

"Valuable and productive trends, very often very doubtable factors find their way into an open society - doubtable ideological constructs, all kinds of rubbish that is essentially destructive," Medvedev said at a meeting with the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and members of the country's Orthodox community.

The country needs "the solidarity of all healthy public forces" to resist such trends, the president said.

"We must find enough energy and will to promote what are traditional values for our country. This is especially important in this complex and rapidly changing world, in the global information space, which creates not only advantages but also very serious challenges. For our country, Orthodoxy is the guardian of such intransient values and indisputable truths," he said.

Orthodoxy "helps tremendous numbers of our people not only to find their place in life but also to understand what would seem to be pretty simple things," Medvedev said.

"For example, such things as what it means to be Russian, what the mission of our people is, what made our nation great and gave it a unique identity in a definite period and what, at some point, gave a lot of trials to our nation and the Orthodox Church," he said.

Revival of Orthodoxy in Russia a Miracle, says Medvedev

November 7, 2011
Interfax

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has spoken of the fruitfulness of cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and government and public institutions and called the revival of Orthodox Christianity in Russian in the past two decades a miracle.

"Speaking of what has happened in these 20 years from the viewpoint of my feelings as an Orthodox Christian, it is simply a miracle. Frankly speaking I could not imagine 15-20 years ago that the revival, the recovery of faith for an enormous number of our compatriots would proceed at such a speed," Medvedev said at a meeting with the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and members of the country's Orthodox community.

He attributed this largely to the efforts of the Patriarch, clergymen and donors and also the attitude of the state.

"Today thanks to our joint efforts, thanks to the efforts of the Holy Patriarch the Church is fruitfully cooperating with government bodies, with public institutions. In the past few years we succeeded with several very important initiatives the need for which had been widely discussed but which had not been implemented for various reasons. I am very glad that these state and Church undertakings did materialize in the past few years," he said.

Medvedev said that he meant primarily the introduction of the foundations of religious culture in the school curricula.

He said that presently the subject is taught at 10,000 schools in 21 regions Russia. Starting with next year the foundations of religious culture will be taught in all Russian schools.


Patriarch Kirill On the Uniqueness of the Orthodox Revival in Russia

November 7, 2011
Interfax

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes that the people has revived in Russia together with the Church in modern times.

"What has happened in the expanses of Holy Rus in 20 years has not happened ever throughout the history of the human race. Not a single country, not a single civilization, not a single religious group, not a single Church has experienced what we have - the magnificent revival of Orthodox Christianity," he said at the opening of an exhibition and forum 'Orthodox Rus' on Friday on the Day of the feast of Our Lady of Kazan icon.

He said that this manifests itself in thousands of restored churches, in hundreds of monasteries, educational institutions, hospices, social centers, schools for adults and children, in collaboration with the Armed Forces and in work in places of confinement.

"In these 20 years not only did the Russian Church revive from the viewpoint of the revival of its monuments, our people revived because churches are never built or restored, if there is no need for them, if there is no powerful movement from grassroots, if these churches are not filled with people," he stressed.

The "Symphony" of Church and State

November 7, 2011
Interfax

A high-ranking Russian Orthodox Church priest has highly commended President Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with representatives of the Orthodox public, saying that the Russian Orthodox Church will continue its policy of crafting a "symphony" in the relationship between the church and state.

"An important event has occurred at the exhibition and forum - the president has met with representatives of various strata of our Church body for an essential, serious and committed discussion," head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told a roundtable at the 10th exhibition and forum, Orthodox Rus, in Moscow, devoted to the 20th anniversary of the revival of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Father Vsevolod was commenting on President Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia's visit to the exhibition and their subsequent meeting with representatives of the Orthodox public.

It was the first meeting, which was devoid of "pomposity and formal rigor, but was a serious dialogue between the state leader and the Orthodox public," he said.

"In my opinion, the meeting helped the president move closer to the people, make his position clearer to them, and speak his mind and share his innermost feelings with them. The words spoken by the president were heard and appreciated," he said.

It is important, said Father Vsevolod, that the president used the word "symphony" to describe the relationship between the church and state.

"We must not and we will not lay this word aside. We do live in a secular state, which is normal, but our society is largely made of Orthodox Christians. Therefore, the symphony of the church, state and society is a natural thing. It is a relationship within one body, not between things of differing nature - the body that largely belongs at once to the people and to the Church, which is Jesus Christ's body," he said.

A "symphony is as possible, as a Christian policy, economy and culture is possible and needed," Father Vsevolod said.

During the meeting, the president made several statements. He said the values traditional for the state must be further promoted. "The Orthodox Church is the keeper of these values and truths of monumental importance for our state," he said. Medvedev also spoke about the role the Orthodox community is playing in Russia's development, describing it as "people with an extremely powerful inner energy and strong moral values." Hopefully, the state will rely on them, he said.

Medvedev also announced that he would ask the Defense Ministry to increase the corps of military clergy and he supported the idea of expanding theologian culture and secular ethics programs at schools, if the parents do not object.

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An Orthodox View of Contemporary Economics, Politics, and Culture

In 1967, following two decades of progressively harsher persecution of religion under communist rule, Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha triumphantly declared his nation to be the first atheist state in history. Hoxha, inspired by China's Cultural revolution, proceeded to confiscate mosques, churches, monasteries, and shrines. Many were immediately razed, others turned into machine shops, warehouses, stables, and movie theaters. Parents were forbidden to give their children religious names. Anyone caught with bibles, icons, or religious objects faced long prison sentences. In the south, where the ethnic Greek population was concentrated, villages named after saints were given secular names. For the religious, a long nightmare of persecution and martyrdom was to follow.

Hoxha's campaign destroyed life and property, but could not kill the spirit. The government eased its official policy of religious persecution in the late 1980s and finally lifted the ban on faith observances in December 1990. Today, Albania's religious roots are being watered again. The Muslim majority (about seventy percent of the population) is rebuilding its institutions, as are the Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic minorities.

In 1991, into this milieu of despair and destruction, came Anastasios, the newly appointed Archbishop of Tirana and all Albania. Anastasios, a former dean of theology at the University of Athens and an expert on world religions, set to work heroically rebuilding the Orthodox Church. According to one count, 1,608 Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed during the communist persecution.

In Albania, Anastasios turned the Marxist program upside down; he focused not on the state, but the person.

"The secret of substantive change, the guarantee of change, and the dynamic through which change occurs all lie hidden within the process of restoring and purifying the human person," he says.

Anastasios' ecumenical vision for social change, seen through the lens of Orthodox theology, has been admirably captured in a new collection of essays from St. Vladimir's Seminary Press titled Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concerns. The essays, published during a period of 30 years, touch on topics such as human rights, Islam, globalization, and Church and culture. The book serves as an excellent introduction to the Orthodox mindset, and its interpretation of divine life and worldly affairs through scripture, holy tradition, and a trusty reliance on Greek patristics.

Anastasios' understanding of social and political events is, of course, characteristically rooted in the miracle of Easter. While not denying that it was the cross that reconciled humanity with God, Anastasios points out that in Orthodox Christianity the "emphasis on the Resurrection is the crucial element in the Christian ethos of the east; it pervades every thought and action, intensifies faith in miracles, and deepens the certainty that every impasse in human life will ultimately be overcome."

And what better place to hope for miracles than in Albania?

Laboratories of Love

In the essay "Orthodoxy and Human Rights," Anastasios takes a critical view of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and the later development of these declarations into exhaustive lists of economic, social, and political rights. Anastasios makes an important distinction between rights declarations, and their enforcement through legal and political forms of coercion, and Christianity's preferred method of persuasion and faith. "Declarations basically stress outward compliance," he says, "while the gospel insists on inner acceptance, on spiritual rebirth, and on transformation."

Anastasios reminds us of Christianity's contribution to the development of political liberty. "Human rights documents," he says, "presuppose the Christian legacy, which is not only a system of thought and a worldview that took shape through the contributions of the Christian and Greek spirit, but also a tradition of self-criticism and repentance." Those words should be hung from banners everywhere new constitutions and declarations are being drafted.

Anastasios rightly discerns the secularizing motive and thrust behind much of what passes for human rights activism these days. He points out that a predominant ideology behind these declarations advances the "simplistic" view that people are radically autonomous beings, capable of advancing on their own innate abilities. This strict reliance on logic, the "deification of rationality," is but a short step to the logical denial of faith in a living God. Anastasios asks: Are human rights simply and merely an outcome of human rationality, or are they innate to the human personality?

"Rights declarations are incapable of inducing anyone of implementing their declarations voluntarily," he concludes. "The hypocritical manner in which the question of human rights has been handled internationally is the most cynical irony of our century."

Anastasios' solution to the problem of human rights is thoroughly Orthodox: "The power and means for promoting worldwide equality and brotherhood lie not in waging crusades but in freely accepting the cross." He urges a radically personal solution, one that takes as its model the saint, the martyr, and the ascetic. Here Anastasios draws on the traditional Orthodox understanding of freedom, which is ordered and tempered by ascetical practice, self-control, and placing limits on material desires. Churches are to become "laboratories of selfless love," places where the Kingdom of God is manifest on earth. "Our most important right is our right to realize our deepest nature and become ‘children of God' through grace," he says.

Lest this approach be interpreted as a justification of passiveness and quietism, Anastasios also urges Christians to exercise their ethical conscience in the world. "Christians must be vigilant, striving to make the legal and political structure of their society ever more comprehensive through constant reform and reassessment," he says.

Globalization and the Church Fathers

In his essay on "Culture and Gospel," Anastasios reminds us of Christianity's emphasis on the "immeasurable importance of the human person and personal freedom." At the same time, he rightly warns of an interpretation of life that sees everything from a material, economic perspective. This tension between personal freedom and a distrust of the exclusively economic view carries over into his essay on "Globalization and Religious Experience." Here, unfortunately, he falls into an interpretation of economics and trade as functions of, as he puts it, "several hundreds of multinational corporations with power over the worldwide production and distribution of goods and information." He claims that the disparities between the "privileged" and the "deprived" are growing wider everywhere and cites one writer who claims that "only 20 percent of the population derives any benefit from free commerce."

Anastasios' distrust of economic globalization puts him at odds with the experience of Orthodox cultures-indeed back to the Byzantine era-which were always energetic traders. Indeed, one the biggest factors in the globalization of trade in the twentieth century was the remarkable growth of Greek merchant shipping on a global scale. Still, it is not wealth itself that Anastasios condemns, but what he perceives as powerful and rapacious economic powers that hoard it and consume it. In this, his outlook is entirely consistent with the views of wealth and poverty formulated by the Greek fathers.

In "The Dynamic of Universal and Continuous Change," Anastasios cites numerous Patristic sources to show that wealth is best understood in the context of stewardship. "If you exceed what is reasonable in wealth, you fall short to the same degree in love," said Basil the Great. And St. John Chrysostom: "Failing to give the poor some of what we possess is the same as robbing them and depriving them of life; for the things we are withholding belong to them, not to us." Greed is the culprit. And that is a vice even the poor can succumb to. "Many of the poor, who lack material wealth, happen nevertheless to have extremely greedy intentions," Chrysostom said. "The fact that they are poor does not save them, for they are condemned by their intentions."

Anastasios' cure for the ills of secular human rights movement-a personal dedication to living out the Gospel-is really the only cure for the world's economic evils or for that matter any other social ill. The root problem is selfishness, that pervasive evil. Such a solution may seem naïve or simplistic to the secular minded. And even the religious would not go so far as to put the lawful regulation of society on the honor system. Yet, outside of coercion and control, what else has ever worked?

Anastasios points out that spontaneous, brotherly love is Christianity's quintessential message:

"We have a duty to live out conscientiously the mystery of our faith-at the heart of which lies the rediscovery of the one, universal and divine koinonia-so that we can offer, without seeking anything in return or any worldly reward, the kind of genuine love that reveals the life of the Trinitarian God."

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Objectivity of Science Undermined

Science has no boast if not objective. It is objectivity that supposedly sets science apart from all other modes of inquiry: following a “scientific method” that guarantees objective truth about the natural world. Results are reported in peer-reviewed journals that weed out mistaken ideas. After publication, other scientists can replicate any published results, making science a self-correcting process that refines its objectivity over time. Most insiders and philosophers know that the picture is highly flawed, but the vision persists that science is objective. Recent articles raise awareness of some of the problems with the portrayal of scientific objectivity.

Fiery Feyerabend: Paul Feyerabend was a fiery philosopher of science who fiercely attacked the concept of scientific objectivity. He died in 1994, but a new anthology of his writings has come out, The Tyranny of Science, Oberheim E, editor (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011). Two reviews were published in PLoS Biology earlier this month (Ian Kidd, Axel Meyer). Although both reviewers think his reputation for the “worst enemy of science” is overblown, there is no question Feyerabend warned of treating science as an objective process. He worried that it could be a threat to democracy – an elitist society unanswerable to the people. Meyer quoted him saying, “The separation of state and church must be complemented by the separation of state and science, that most recent, most aggressive, and most dogmatic religious institution.” Many regard his views as extreme, but Feyerabend did raise a number of issues that are still taken seriously. Kidd, commenting on the 1990s debates about objectivity vs constructivism (the idea that science “constructs” reality rather than “discovering” it), remarked that “There is some truth to such charges” as Feyerabend raised.

Consensus bashing: In Nature earlier this month (published online 5 October 2011 Nature 478, 7 (2011) doi:10.1038/478007a), a headline read, “The voice of science: let’s agree to disagree.” Subtitle: “Consensus reports are the bedrock of science-based policy-making. But disagreement and arguments are more useful, says Daniel Sarewitz.” That represents severe erosion of the bedrock. His first line: “When scientists wish to speak with one voice, they typically do so in a most unscientific way: the consensus report.” Sharing recent examples of the politics that stifle minority opinions, Sarewitz advised more debate and less consensus. For example, “much of what is most interesting about a subject gets left out of the final report.” Take-home paragraph:

"The very idea that science best expresses its authority through consensus statements is at odds with a vibrant scientific enterprise. Consensus is for textbooks; real science depends for its progress on continual challenges to the current state of always-imperfect knowledge. Science would provide better value to politics if it articulated the broadest set of plausible interpretations, options and perspectives, imagined by the best experts, rather than forcing convergence to an allegedly unified voice."

Conflict of interest: The field of bioengineering is a good place to look for demons undercutting objectivity. The lure of fame or money clouds the objectivity of some researchers, while products of bioengineering – including human cloning – overlap with ethics, philosophy, and theology in big ways. In a Nature book review about Jonathan Moreno’s new book The Body Politic: The Battle Over Science in America (Bellevue Literary Press, 2011), reviewer Kevin Finneran used the eye-catching headline, “Bioethics: Brave new politics” (Nature 478, 13 October 2011, pp. 184–185, doi:10.1038/478184a). Emphasizing the fact that today’s science cannot remove itself from society, Finneran said, “The age of bioscience has become the age of biopolitics.” Apparently Moreno wrote his book with a political bias of his own: “Moreno devotes much of the book to a critique of what he sees as a neoconservative hostility to science, and explains how science can be a key ingredient of a progressive political agenda.” That doesn’t sound objective; in fact, Finneran felt that “Moreno’s analysis focuses too heavily on the neoconservatives,” while he himself showed he had some heart for conservative concerns: “The challenge is to maintain this human side of science when the research, to many people, seems to be a threat to what is essentially human.”

Smear review: Many have questioned the value of peer review in recent years (a relatively recent convention in science, dating largely from after World War II). Virginia Gewen, writing in Nature this month (478, 13 October 2011, pp. 275–277, doi:10.1038/nj7368-275a) joked a little about the naivete of rookie reviewers. In “Rookie review,” she revealed a bit of the good-old-boys’ club mentality among seasoned reviewers. Rookies (who incidentally never receive much training on how to review a paper) think they are supposed to tell the truth: one Nature editor explained why she sought out rookies as reviewers: “they are politically naive enough to tell the truth,” implying that is the exception to the rule for more seasoned reviewers. Yet even with that saintly attribute, rookies tend to give inconsistent grades, or overestimate their objectivity. Gewen also touched on the issues of disclosure of bias, conflict of interest and politics that cloud the objectivity of peer review in general.

Anthropology: Can science answer big questions like “What is man’s place in nature?” Sites like New Scientist don’t hesitate to ask. What, though, gives a scientist more power of place to discuss such things than a theologian or philosopher? All have access to the same basic scientific facts. Botanist Sandra Knapp gave her opinions on this key question with hat tips to Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Darwin. Proceeding on to the opinions of Melanie Challenger, author of On Extinctions, Knapp discussed other questions far beyond the data of any scientific method: are humans natural? What is naturalness? Knapp concluded that Challenger’s book “doesn't offer answers to any of the complex questions it raises, but it will make you pause to consider your own relationship with the natural world that surrounds you.” If science can only ask questions, and not provide answers, then it would seem to be one among many valid modes of inquiry.

Aesthetics: Can art free itself from anthropo-centrism? What would a universal art look like? It might be pretty bland. Imagine a Bach concerto with a quarter of its notes mutated back to randomness by the law of entropy. Think of a painting with nothing but a uniform shade of tan. Those are some of the things Jonathan Keats (no relation, as far as we know, to the English romantic poet John Keats) tried to visualize by taking the Copernican principle to the extreme in his new San Francisco exhibit, “The First Copernican Art Manifesto.” Keats didn’t even intend his art for humans. Science Magazine entertained the radical idea (“Random Samples,” 21 October 2011: Vol. 334 no. 6054 pp. 295-297, DOI:0.1126/science.334.6054.295-a), but didn’t explain how the Bach composition arose in the first place without intelligent design, or how astronomers determined the average color of starlight was tan without intention and purpose. Indeed, the color of the universe is highly localized to stars and galaxies. A question of definitions also arises. If there is no intelligent viewer, is there art?

What you are not told: Dr. Jennifer Rohn, an insider in the world of academic research, writes a blog called LabLit. Guest blogger Matthew Hall, in the October 21 entry, revealed “The untold story: what doesn’t make the cut in scientific papers.” Hall argues that reproducibility is rare in science. Few read a paper’s protocol and try to reproduce the experiment. Besides, most research papers are so boring! “Given that protocols aren’t as useful as one is taught in History and Philosophy of Science courses, why can’t they be more personal?” He recommends writing scientific papers like stories. Perhaps many already do. How would anybody know without trying to reproduce the experiment?

Analyze the analyzers: An article on Medical Xpress claims that a new field is emerging: the Psychology of Science. The bumper states:

"You've heard of the history of science, the philosophy of science, maybe even the sociology of science. But how about the psychology of science? In a new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, San Jose State University psychologist Gregory J. Feist argues that a field has been quietly taking shape over the past decade, and it holds great promise for both psychology and science."

While an interesting trend, it raises the question of the objectivity of the psychologist. Who will analyze the analyzer, and so on ad infinitum?

We hope these short forays into questioning the objectivity of science provide some snack food for thought. There are much richer meals in books and lectures. Don’t be a dupe and merely assume that someone who calls himself or herself a scientist has a corner on objectivity. Scientists can be very adept at math, jargon and specialized fields of inquiry, but at the conclusion of any paper, every citizen has a responsibility to weigh evidence, evaluate reasoning, and consider influences that led to the conclusion.

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The Spiritual Love of Saints Galaktion and Episteme

Holy Martyrs Galaktion and Episteme (Feast Day - November 5)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Both Galaktion and Episteme were born in the city of Edessa, in Phoenicia. Galaktion's mother was barren until she was baptized. After her baptism, she converted her husband [Cleitophon] to the true Faith, baptized her son Galaktion, and raised him in the Christian Faith. When Galaktion was old enough to marry, his good mother, Leukippa, entered into rest, and his father betrothed him to a pagan-born maiden named Episteme. By no means did Galaktion want to enter into marriage, and convinced Episteme to be baptized, then to be tonsured a nun at the same time that he became a monk. Both of them withdrew to Mount Publion (near Mount Sinai) - Galaktion to a monastery and Episteme to a convent. They proved to be shining lights in their monasteries. They were first in labor, first in prayer, first in humility and obedience, and first in love. They neither left their monasteries nor did they see one another until just before their death. A fierce persecution began and both of them were brought before the tribunal (in Alexandria). When the pagans mercilessly whipped Galaktion, Episteme wept. Then they whipped her. After that, they cut off their hands, their feet and then their heads. Their friend Eutolmios took their bodies and honorably buried them. Eutolmios had been a slave of Episteme's parents, and then a monk with Galaktion. He also wrote the life of these wonderful martyrs of Christ who suffered and received their wreaths in heaven in the year 253.


The Spiritual Love of the Saints

Physical love, in comparison to spiritual love, is less than a shadow is to solid substance. Brotherhood and sisterhood of the blood and body is nothing compared to the brotherhood and sisterhood of the spirit. Galaktion's father betrothed him to the maiden Episteme. Galaktion baptized Episteme and, after that, both received the monastic tonsure. Their physical love was replaced by spiritual love, a love as strong as death. So great was Galaktion's spiritual love for Episteme that he never desired to see her with his physical eyes. Neither physical contact nor closeness are necessary for spiritual love. So great was Episteme's spiritual love for Galaktion that when she heard that he had been taken for torture she ran after him, begging him not to reject her, but to receive her as a fellow sufferer, as he was her spiritual father and brother. When the merciless torturers flogged holy Galaktion's naked body, holy Episteme wept. However, when the torturers cut off their hands and feet for Christ, both rejoiced and glorified God. So great was the power of their love for our Lord Jesus Christ, and so great was the spiritual love with which they loved each other. Truly, physical love is like a colorful butterfly that quickly passes, but spiritual love is enduring.

HYMN OF PRAISE: The Venerable Martyrs Galaktion and Episteme

Galaktion, and Episteme with him,
Abandoned the world of passing smoke,
Crucified the passions of the body,
And ascended to heaven in spirit.
Their hearts remembered Christ with every beat,
And were crucified with love for Him.
Then the tormentors arrived.
Galaktion went to his torture,
And Episteme hurried after:
"Slower, Brother," she said, "do not hurry!
I was baptized by your hand,
Now take me with you to torture!
Even though I am unworthy, Brother,
I am willing to die for my Christ."
Galaktion, and Episteme with him,
Proclaimed Christ to the unbelievers,
And in bitter tortures they breathed their last.
They gave their souls to Christ:
Now they live with angels in Paradise -
Galaktion and Episteme.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since they possessed Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by their prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
The Martyrs of Christ, received you in their companies, who through mighty trials contested most resplendently; O renowned Galaktion and thy hallowed spouse and co-sufferer, Episteme, ye both entreat the one God and Lord in behalf of us all.

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The Great Wager Between Believers and Unbelievers

By Photios Kontoglou

On Pascha [Easter] Monday, in the evening after midnight, before lying down to sleep, I went out into the little garden behind my house. The sky was dark and covered with stars. I seemed to see it for the first time, and a distant psalmody seemed to descend from it. My lips murmured, very softly: “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at the footstool of His feet.” A holy man once told me that during these hours the heavens are opened. The air exhaled a fragrance of the flowers and herbs I had planted. “Heaven and earth are filled with the glory of the Lord.”

I could well have remained there alone until break of day. I was as if without a body and without any bond to the earth. But fearing that my absence would disturb those with me in the house, I returned and lay down.

Sleep had not really taken possession of me; I do not know whether I was awake or asleep, when suddenly a strange man rose up before me. He was as pale as a dead man. His eyes were as if open, and he looked at me in terror. His face was like a mask, like a mummy’s. His glistening, dark yellow skin was stretched tight over his dead man’s head with all its cavities. He was as if panting. In one hand he held some kind of bizarre object which I could not make out; the other hand was clutching his breast as if he were suffering.

This creature filled me with terror. I looked at him and he looked at me without speaking, as if he were waiting for me to recognize him, strange as he was. And a voice said to me: “It is so-and-so!” And I recognized him immediately. Then he opened his mouth and sighed. His voice came from far away; it came up as from a deep well.

He was in great agony, and I suffered for him. His hands, his feet, his eyes — everything showed that he was suffering. In my despair I was going to help him, but he gave me a sign with his hand to stop. He began to groan in such a way that I froze. Then he said to me: “I have not come; I have been sent. I shake without stop; I am dizzy. Pray God to have pity on me. I want to die but I cannot. Alas! Everything you told me before is true. Do you remember how, several days before my death, you came to see me and spoke about religion? There were two other friends with me, unbelievers like myself. You spoke, and they mocked. When you left, they said: ‘What a pity! He is intelligent and he believes the stupid things old women believe!’

“Another time, and other times too, I told you: ‘Dear Photios, save up money, or else you will die a pauper. Look at my riches, and I want more of them.’ You told me then: ‘Have you signed a pact with death, that you can live as many years as you want and enjoy a happy old age?’

“And I replied: ‘You will see to what an age I will live. Now I am 75; I will live past a hundred. My children are free from want. My son earns a lot of money, and I have married my daughter to a rich Ethiopian. My wife and I have more money than we need. I am not like you who listen to what the priests say: “A Christian ending to our life …” and the rest. What have you to gain from a Christian ending? Better a full pocket and no worries … Give alms? Why did your so merciful God create paupers? Why should I feed them? And they ask you, in order to go to Paradise, to feed idlers! Do you want to talk about Paradise? You know that I am the son of a priest and that I know well all these tricks. That those who have no brains believe them is well enough, but you who have a mind have gone astray. If you continue to live as you are doing, you will die before me, and you will be responsible for those you have led astray. As a physician I tell you and affirm that I will live a hundred and ten years …’”

After saying all this, he turned this way and that as if he were on a grill. I heard his groans: “Ah! Ouch! Oh! Oh!” He was silent for a moment, and then continued: “This is what I said, and in a few days I was dead! I was dead, and I lost the wager! What confusion was mine, what horror! Lost, I descended into the abyss. What suffering I have had up to now, what agony! Everything you told me was true. You have won the wager!

“When I was in the world where you are now, I was an intellectual, I was a physician. I had learned how to speak and to be listened to, to mock religion, to discuss whatever falls under the senses. And now I see that everything I called stories, myths, paper lanterns — is true. The agony which I am experiencing now — this is what is true, this is the worm that never sleeps, this is the gnashing of teeth.”

After having spoken thus, he disappeared. I still heard his groans, which gradually faded away. Sleep had begun to take possession of me, when I felt an icy hand touch me. I opened my eyes and saw him again before me. This time he was more horrible and smaller in body. He had become like a nursing infant, with a large old man’s head which he was shaking.

“In a short time the day will break, and those who have sent me will come to seek me!”

“Who are they?”

He spoke some confused words which I could not make out. Then he added: “There where I am, there are also many who mock you and your faith. Now they understand that their spiritual darts have not gone beyond the cemetery. There are both those you have done good to, and those who have slandered you. The more you forgive them, the more they detest you. Man is evil. Instead of rejoicing him, kindness makes him bitter, because it makes him feel his defeat. The state of these latter is worse than mine. They cannot leave their dark prison to come and find you as I have done. They are severely tormented, lashed by the whip of God’s love, as one of the Saints has said [St. Isaac the Syrian]. The world is something else entirely from what we see! Our intellect shows it to us in reverse. Now we understand that our intellect was only stupid, our conversations were spiteful meanness, our joys were lies and illusions.

“You, who bear God in your hearts, Whose word is Truth, the only Truth — you have won the great wager between believers and unbelievers. This wager I have lost. I tremble, I sigh, and I find no rest. In truth, there is no repentance in hell. Woe to those who walk as I did when I was on earth. Our flesh was drunk and mocked those who believed in God and eternal life; almost everyone applauded us. They treated you as mad, as imbeciles. And the more you accept our mockeries, the more our rage increases.

“Now I see how much the conduct of evil men grieved you. How could you bear with such patience the poisoned darts which issued from our lips which treated you as hypocrites, mockers of God, and deceivers of the people. If these evil men who are still on earth would see where I am, if only they were in my place, they would tremble for everything they are doing. I would like to appear to them and tell them to change their path, but I do not have the permission to do so, just as the rich man did not have it when he begged Abraham to send Lazarus the pauper. Lazarus was not sent, so that those who sinned might be worthy of punishment and those who went on the ways of God might be worthy of salvation.

“He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness yet more; and he that is filthy, let him he made filthy yet more. And he that is righteous, let him do righteousness yet more; and he that is holy, let him be made holy yet more” (Apoc. 22:11).

With these words he disappeared.

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On Zeal For the House of God

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"For the zeal of Thy house has eaten me up and the reproaches of those who reproach Thee have fallen on me" (Psalm 69:9).

The heavens are the house of God. The Church of God is the house of God. The bodies of believing people are the house of God. Wherever God is, there is the house of God; and where the house of God is, there is holiness. Men dishonor the holiness of God's house, and the royal prophet is provoked and burns with zeal. He takes upon himself all the offenses against the holy things of God, and they fall upon him like a fire that enkindles him with even more zeal.

Men desecrate the heavens when they do not believe that which God Himself revealed to mankind for the sake of their salvation. When men oppose or pervert the truth, as do the heretics, or when, of their own free will, they conceive of Christ according to their corporeal understanding, or when they have doubts about angels and saints, the Judgment, and the Eternal Kingdom of Christ, and refuse to consider the eternal punishment of unrepentant sinners - in all this and more, men attack the house of God and desecrate its holiness like savage animals. This causes zeal against the opponents and the blasphemers of God to rise in the hearts of the righteous.

In the same manner, men attack the house of God's holiness when they behave unworthily toward the Church of God, when they are negligent concerning the Church's ordinances, when they are slothful toward ecclesiastical commandments and malicious toward the servants of the Church. Again, zeal for the holiness of the house of God is inflamed in the hearts of the righteous and the devout.

Finally, the corrupting of the human body, the surrendering to passions, the service of sin, abduction, murder, brutality, drunkenness and other wicked actions, are all attacks on the holiness of God's house. It is all blasphemy against God and against man. Again, the fervor of the zealots of holiness rises up and shines as a heavenly flame before men. O my brethren, let us look at Christ's zeal for the holiness of God's house, and the zeal of the apostles and the Holy Fathers of our Orthodox Church. Let us have more zeal for our salvation than the devil has, day and night, for our destruction.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the Model of our zeal for holiness, grant us a spark of Thy zeal that we may be like Thee in zeal, and be saved by Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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An Invitation From The Pope To Elders Paisios and Porphyrios

A female American professor once told an Orthodox clergyman the desire of the Pope to invite Elder Paisios and Elder Porphyrios to the Vatican. The response of both was the following:

"No, we cannot go. Because the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope are not ready. They have very much egoism. They not only want to subjugate us, but they do not believe we have the truth. There is no need to go. We would better help the situation by our prayers."

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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Depictions of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

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Video: The Judean Desert Monasteries

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Video: The Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives

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Video: The Church of Saint John the Forerunner in Jerusalem

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Video: The Monastery of Saint Martyrius in Israel

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Video: The Monastery of Saint Euthymius in Israel

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Coptic Christian Student Murdered By Classmates for Wearing a Cross

October 30, 2011
AINA

In mid-October Egyptian media published news of an altercation between Muslim and Christian students over a classroom seat at a school in Mallawi, Minya province. The altercation lead to the murder of a Christian student. The media portrayed the incident as non-sectarian. However, Copts Without Borders, a Coptic news website, refuted this version and was first to report that the Christian student was murdered because he was wearing a crucifix....

Both parents confirmed that Ayman's classmates, who were present during the assault and whom they met at the hospital and during the funeral, said that while Ayman was in the classroom he was told to cover up his tattooed wrist cross. He refused and defiantly got out the second cross which he wore under his shirt. "The teacher nearly chocked by son and some Muslim students joined in the beating," said his mother.

According to Ayman's father, eyewitnesses told him that his son was not beaten up in the school yard as per the official story, but in the classroom. "They beat my son so much in the classroom that he fled to the lavatory on the ground floor, but they followed him and continued their assault. When one of the supervisors took him to his room, Ayman was still breathing. The ambulance transported him from there dead, one hour later."

Read the rest here.

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Greeks Seek Return To Constantinople Amid Debt Woes

October 30, 2011
Today's Zaman

The hardship brought on by Athens’s present fiscal woes is prompting many Greeks to consider looking for opportunities in neighboring İstanbul, says a study published in the Sunday pages of the Greek newspaper Proto Thema.

According to the paper, officials from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and other Greek organizations based in İstanbul have been flooded with calls and letters from Greeks eager to get advice about finding work and housing in İstanbul. At least a decade of fiscal austerity looms in Greece, even after bailout countries agreed to a comprehensive relief plan at last week’s summit of European leaders.

The chair of İstanbul’s Union of Greek Foundations, Andonis Parizianos, was quoted by Proto Thema as saying that many Greeks are now considering registering for graduate school and seeking white collar jobs in the indebted country’s eastern neighbor. Officials at the patriarchate, meanwhile, note that some Greeks considering the move are descendents of Greek families who lived in İstanbul 50 years ago, before the last mass exoduses of İstanbul’s Greek population in the 1950s and 1960s.

Turkey’s ethnic Greeks, who numbered over 115,000 in the 1930s, began to leave Turkey en masse after the 1955 İstanbul riots. The riots saw the looting of Greek property and the murder of as many as 30 ethnic Greeks at the hands of nationalist mobs who were incited by falsified reports that Ataturk’s childhood home in the Greek city of Thessaloniki had been bombed. Turkey’s Greek population suffered another drastic decline in 1964, when roughly 12,000 ethnic Greeks who lacked Turkish citizenship were deported by the government. The two incidents, coupled with continued discrimination in the following decades, largely erased the presence of Greeks in İstanbul.

Today, the nationalist mentality that fostered such ethnic violence has largely evaporated, says Odisseas Vuçinas, a Greek psychologist who recently moved to İstanbul. “Turks have a positive attitude towards us.” he told Proto Thema.

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The Theological Legacy of Fr. John Romanides Ten Years After His Repose

(02/03/1927 - 11/01/2001)

The dogmatic teaching of the ever-memorable Fr. John Romanides ... opened new, as well as traditional-patristic, roads for contemporary Orthodox theology.... You achieved to transmit correctly the thought and words of the ever-memorable Theologian of the 20th century, who was a child of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, producing spiritual sap from the healthy roots of the reverent and holy-bearing Cappadocia from where he was from, and who was given to discern and to proclaim the truth that true Theology is not moralism or academic scholasticism, but the experience of purification, illumination and theosis.

- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

I remain, from the beginning, immovable in my opinion that we can easily refer to a "pre-Romanides" and a "post-Romanides" period in the area of our Theology, as well as our academics. Because he by the Grace of God and his deep paternal nature, opened to us the road to freedom from our scholastic oppression, leading us once again to the empirical theologizing of our saints - Prophets, Apostles and Fathers. He restored thus the true understanding for the terms "theology" and "theologian", yet identifying the objective contents of the terms "East-West", in their spiritual dimensions. I often ask myself, with full gratitude, what would we be theologically without Fr. Romanides.

- Fr. George Metallinos

I theorize that the work of Fr. John Romanides is a continuation from the fourteenth century and resembles the work of Saint Gregory Palamas, who faced Barlaam and the Barlaamites. Fr. John Romanides with power, determination, and theological adequacy faced the Barlaamites of our era and presented the value of Orthodox teaching outside of the stochastic, moralistic, idealistic, and religious, magical admixture. For this he has the love of Saint Gregory Palamas and the Hesychast Fathers.

- Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos and taken from my book Essays In Honor of Protopresbyter John Romanides (1927-2001) available through Mystagogy Bookstore.

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Video: Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos Lecture on Fr. John Romanides

(1) IPS HIEROTHEOS VLACHOS - CONFERINTA DE LA IASI DESPRE PARINTELE IOANNIS ROMANIDIS from Gheorghe Filip on Vimeo.

Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos speaks concerning Fr. John Romanides in Romania on October 14, 2011.

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Former Transylvania Metropolitan Andrei Saguna, Canonized in Sibiu

October 30th, 2011
Nineoclock

Metropolitan Andrei Saguna, former Metropolitan of Transylvania between 1864 and 1873, was canonized at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu on Saturday, in a ceremony attended by about 10,000 people, according to Mediafax news agency. Among those who attended the Sibiu ceremony were President Traian Basescu, Social Liberal Union leader Victor Ponta, Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Sibiu Mayor Klaus Johannis, Economy Minister Ion Ariton, Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi and other officials. The service was also attended by local authorities and representatives of several religious denominations in Romania.

The Holy Liturgy held in the cathedral on the occasion was conducted by about 50 Romanian and foreign priests, led by Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel and Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria.

At the end of the canonization service, Transylvania Metropolitan Laurentiu Streza urged all those present in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu to respect the “eight-word testament left by Andrei Saguna: “Keep peace, maintain good ties, do not fight.”

President Basescu also held a speech after the service, saying that Saguna “understood that school, education, culture are a people’s elements of eternity.” “Such a forefather today becomes a saint and I will not miss the opportunity to bow to the holy church figures present here and to Saint Andrei Saguna,” Basescu ended his speech, according to Mediafax.

But the president’s presence at the service and his discourse were heavily criticized by PRM leader Vadim Tudor, who also slammed Transylvania Metro­politan Church officials who allowed the head of state to give his speech in the church. “Now he’s talking in the church, he can no longer speak in public because people boo him and he ended up speaking in church. This event was politicized,” Vadim Tudor said.


Proclamation Of The Canonization Of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania

Today, 29 October 2011, the proclamation of the canonization of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania, took place in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu, in the presence of the Greek and Romanian hierarchs. Many representatives of the state institutions, and Mr. Traian Basescu, President of Romania, too, were present, as well as representatives of the government, of the sister Churches, local authorities, archpriests, priests, professors and people of culture, young students and pupils, and thousands of faithful who wanted to attend.

The feast began with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy officiated by the two patriarchs, together with the group of hierarchs, priests and deacons.

After the Divine Liturgy, the proclamation ceremony of the canonization of Saint Metropolitan Andrei Saguna began with the speech of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel who spoke about the worship of the saints in the Orthodox Church, especially about Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna: “Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna unfolded a special activity marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. One says the Holy Spirit does not appear in the lazy bored humans. Whenever somebody is lazy and bored it is a sign that he or she does not have the Holy Spirit in him or her. The Holy Spirit is shown in the people full of faith, of enthusiasm, of living the desire to love God and help his fellow beings. Saint Andrei Saguna impresses us with his unlimited love for Christ, for His saints and His Church. We are surprised how much could write and work this man. He built hundreds of Romanian schools in Transylvania and two high schools. He set up Telegraful roman newspaper, which has appeared uninterruptedly till today, as missionary means of spreading faith and defending the Romanians unity and dignity in Transylvania. He translated the Holy Scriptures in four volumes and praised Saint Simeon Stefan whom we shall proclaim saint tomorrow, after the Holy Synod approved his canonization, in Alba Iulia, because he translated the New Testament into Greek. Saint Andrei Saguna bequeathed us the church statutes which our Church still uses in large part. He fought a tireless fight for defending Orthodoxy and dignity of the Orthodox in Transylvania.”


Further on the synodal Tomos was read by His Grace Ciprian Campineanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch and Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

There followed the speech of the Patriarch of Alexandria who appreciated that “as soon as I end this pilgrimage to Romania I will go back to Africa and continue my missionary journeys to 18 countries and I will take with me this joy I lived these days over here. This is why I feel I shall go back much strengthened and feel stronger when I go for 7 or 8 hours on the roads still unused in the tropical forests of Africa, fully convinced that Your Beatitude’s prayers will accompany me, as well as those of all hierarchs, clergy and Christian righteous from here, from Romania.”

His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostom spoke, in his turn, about the importance of this special event.

The Metropolitan of Patras offered His Eminence Laurentiu of Transylvania an epitrachelion and a hierarch’s omophorion, and a blessing cross for the Metropolitan Cathedral “on behalf of the clergy and righteous people of Patras city”.

His Eminence Metropolitan Laurentiu expressed in his speech his joy to have lived this blessed moment, and offered, in the end, the Patriarch of Romania, a blessing cross, an icon of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania, three original writings of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, as well as an album dedicated to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu. His Eminence has also offered the Patriarch of Alexandria a blessing cross and an icon of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, while His Eminence Metropolitan Chrisostom offered him the icon of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, as well as to all the members of the delegation.

To end with, the President of Romania, Mr. Traian Basescu eulogized the personality of Saint Hierarch Andrei Saguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania.

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Video: The Monastery of Saint David in Evia

The Monastery of Saint David is dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Savior, yet associated with Saint David who lived his monastic life here in the 16th century. The feast of Saint David is November 1st and the Transfiguration is celebrated on August 6th. Within the church are the relics of St. David, his censor, his priestly stole, and other treasures. South of the Monastery is the cave of St. David, amidst many other chapels dedicated to various saints. 1,000 kilometers north of the Monastery is the Holy Spring, which according to tradition was created by St. David when he hit a rock with his cane.

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Video: The Holy Belt of the Theotokos in Russia

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Indictment Against Spat On Jerusalem Priest Quashed

Greek Orthodox cleric was sued for punching haredi man who spat in his direction in 2008.

Jeremy Sharon
October 31, 2011
Jerusalem Post

In a rare ruling, a judge in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court dismissed an indictment filed against a priest who punched a haredi yeshiva student in the face for having spat at him as he passed.

In June 2008, Greek Orthodox priest Martarsian was walking along The Armenian’s Street, in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, when the yeshiva student spat toward the ground in his direction.

The priest then punched the man in the face, causing him to bleed.

The priest did not dispute that he had punched the man, but asked that the indictment be dismissed in accordance with a clause in the law that allows for charges to be dismissed “if the indictment contravenes the essence of the principles of justice and fairness.”

Judge Dov Pollock said in his ruling last Tuesday that the court had heard evidence of daily incidents in which Christian clergy were spat upon by members of the ultra-Orthodox community, something which, the judge added, has been occurring for a number of years and which the police has not acted to prevent.

“Needless to say, spitting toward the accused when he was wearing the mantle of the church is a criminal offense,” the judge said.

Those who do this “hurt not only the people they spit at, but the image of our country, tourism and our values.”

The judge criticized the priest for taking the law into his own hands but said that it was equally deplorable that the authorities do not take the required action to uproot the phenomenon through prosecution and education.

“It is intolerable that a man of the Christian faith should be demeaned because of his religion, in the same way that it is for a Jew, Pollock said.

“The Jewish people experienced a long history of Christian anti-Semitism that brought great suffering to Jews and Judaism,” the judge continued.

“However, with the realization of the return of the Jewish people to sovereignty and independence, the state must strive not to look back but to establish a country that guarantees freedom of religion and worship to every religion, a state where every person is equal before the law without distinction of race or religion. These things are the cornerstone of the Declaration of Independence, and the rock of the foundation of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state.”

The plaintiff told the court that he had not spat at the priest to degrade him but because he suffered from a medical complaint that caused him to produce a lot of saliva.

Pollock dismissed this argument owing to the fact that he had not produced any medical documentation to substantiate the claim, nor had he needed to spit during the duration of the court proceedings.

“The defendant is being prosecuted for having, in a single incident, punched a man who spat in front of him, after having suffered years of being spat at and demeaned while wearing the mantle of the church, and having never received any response from the authorities for this distress,” the judge said.

He ruled that the indictment represented a contravention of the principles of justice, for which he was dismissing the charges.

Shahar Ilan, vice president of Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality, applauded the ruling and called on rabbis and leaders of the haredi community to denounce the phenomenon of members of their community spitting at Christian clergy.

“The haredi leadership has to understand that the fact that we have established a Jewish state brings responsibility, Ilan told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

“We have to prove that we don’t treat people from other religions as Jews were treated in the past. The idea that we came here and treated others as we were treated is simply insufferable.”

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, co-founder of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, also welcomed the ruling.

“The crime this man committed by spitting at the priest was embarrassing him. This yeshiva student was in return embarrassed by having been struck by the priest, so I hope it was a lesson well learned for this particular yeshiva student,” Riskin said.

“The haredi community’s attitude to the Christian church stems from the pogroms carried out by Christians mobs against Jews in Europe for hundreds of years, incited by members of the Christian clergy, Riskin said.

“But times have changed and a whole new era of Jewish-Christian relations and understanding has dawned upon the world, and the haredim – and all Jews – should understand this and act accordingly.”

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Jesus Likes Halloween a Little Bit, Doesn't He?

Jeff Kinley
October 17, 2011
The Huffington Post

Every year Christians face a cultural dilemma, beautifully articulated by a 5-year-old boy's announcement to his parents upon returning home from school one day.

"Mom and Dad, Jesus hates Halloween!" Then, pausing, he mumbled, "But He likes it a little bit, doesn't He?"

And therein lies the conundrum of the Christ follower -- what to do with Halloween. Traditionally, Christians and anything related to the horror genre have not mixed well. Like oil and vinegar. Church and State. Alcohol and tattoos.

Some Christians even go so far as to claim Halloween is, in reality "Devil's Birthday." Really? Never mind the Bible doesn't say that. Note to self: File under "Christian Superstitions."

What that little boy was really trying to communicate was, "Mom and Dad, can I dress up like a pirate and get some candy this Friday night?"

But the dilemma remains concerning this perennial predicament. What are Christians supposed to do with the hoopla and festivities surrounding this evil holiday? Are we to ignore it? Pretend it doesn't exist? Lob "Gospel Grenades" of condemnation at those who celebrate it? Hand out religious pamphlets instead of candy to trick or treaters? Or offer an alternative, like a Harvest Festival, Fall Carnival or even "Reformation Day Celebration"?

Unfortunately, many people's only exposure to Christianity is when the "religious right" is condemning or complaining about something -- culturally or politically. However, that's changing in a lot of communities. Christians are waking up and engaging culture instead of merely vilifying it. The apostle Paul was a master at observing culture and redeeming it for God's purposes -- using customs, practices -- even idols and quotes from secular poets to illustrate biblical truth. While in Athens, he used a pagan Greek word for 'God' (theos) to build a verbal bridge communicating who the true God (Jehovah) was (Acts 17:23).

In reality, a lot of church members are huge fans of the horror genre in books and movies, and untold numbers wait with baited breath to catch the highly anticipated second season of AMC's The Walking Dead (or TiVo-ing it to watch after Sunday night Church).

Enter a new book: "The Christian Zombie Killers Handbook: Slaying the Living Dead Within." Officially releasing this week worldwide, the title is sure to arouse curiosity, combining two seemingly contradictory terms. I wrote this book, in part because I've always been a fan of the horror genre. But anther dilemma: how to reconcile that to my faith without compromising or stretching the truth?

As it turns out, that part was easy as zombies are a powerful metaphor paralleling a core theological truth. George Romero, legendary director and godfather of zombie films, has said, "I've always liked the monster within idea. I like the zombies being us."

Bingo, George. And that's precisely why zombies are so disturbing. We see a mirror of humanity when looking into their dark sockets. They're messy, smelly and they want to consume our flesh and brains. They don't go away just because you wish it so. They don't even stop chasing you when you shoot them, unless of course you shoot them in the head. They're just pure evil and you never know when they're going to lumber up behind you and bite a bloody hunk of meat out of your trapezoid muscle.

But back to the idea of "stinky Christians." The bite of this zombie metaphor cuts even deeper now. There's a spiritual parallel in their insatiable craving for self-satisfaction. The Bible describes this as the "old man" or "old self" (Rom 6:6), also commonly referred to as the "sin nature." It's the part of us that resists God and runs from Him. It even hates Him. It's the immaterial, mystical part of our soul that wants our own way over God's way. And though as Christians this evil entity has no legal authority over us anymore (Rom 6:6-11), we still feel it creeping up on us. Like, every day.

This creates tension. And confusion. And frustration. But Christianity typically avoids messiness. We don't like friction in our faith. We prefer order and predictability. Smooth sailing is our journey of choice. But God likes to throw a wrench in the gears every now and then, to challenge us. To get us to think. To engage. And to find new ways to live out faith our in the marketplace. In doing this, we Christians discover we aren't really any "better" than anyone else. This zombie inside us smells as putrid as any portrayed by Hollywood. And though we have accepted Christ's atoning sacrifice on our behalf (Col 1:13-14), we still struggle with many of the same temptations and sins as the rest of humanity (Rom 7:15-25). We become acutely aware of an inner beast that constantly moans and gnaws at our spirit.

"The Christian Zombie Killers Handbook" offers escape, survival and a win over the zombie inside. This book shows you how to slay the living dead within. With its unique blend of fiction, graphic novel inspired illustrations, and spiritual guidance, it delivers a fresh, relevant look at the doctrines of sin, grace, salvation and the inner conflict we all face.

In the end, this annual Fall dilemma is much deeper than culture, Halloween, TV shows and trick or treating. The real issue is "What do I do with this rotting corpse?"

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Tricks in the Treats: The Myth of Poisoned Halloween Candy

Eryn Brown
October 29, 2011
Los Angeles Times

Every year, parents and police departments worry about tricks in their kids' Halloween treats: razor blades in apples, poison in candy bars.

But incidents of candy poisoning are very, very rare -- if they exist at all.

"There have never been any substantiated cases of strangers tampering with Halloween candy," said Susan Whiteside, in an email to Booster Shots Friday. Whiteside is a spokesperson for the National Confectioners Assn., which provides an FAQ on Halloween candy safety and coordinates with law enforcement to track reports of tainted treats.

The Los Angeles Times has written about popular misconceptions about tampered Halloween candy. In this report from 1985, Anne C. Roark noted that one L.A.-area hospital had been X-raying candy for four years and never found anything. Four years later, columnist Mike Spencer pounded the message home, calling candy poisoning "a myth."

Both stories featured the work of sociologist Joel Best. In the 1980s, Best was a professor at Cal State Fresno; today he teaches at the University of Delaware. He has devoted almost 30 years to debunking the "Halloween sadism" myth, addressing it in books and scholarly papers and at great length on his website (where you can find updated information, including a catalog of reports of Halloween poisonings that later turned out to have other explanations).

"Halloween sadism is best seen as a contemporary legend (sometimes called an urban legend,)" he writes on the website. "Contemporary legends are ways we express anxiety. Note that concerns about Halloween tend to be particularly acute in years when some sort of terrible recent crime has heightened public fears."

Best points out, for example, that the Sept. 11 attacks were followed by warnings against visiting malls on Halloween.

(For more on Best's work, check out this interview, posted on Tuesday, with USC sociologist Karen Sternheimer. This lengthy Snopes.com discussion of Halloween poisonings also mentions his research.)

It still makes sense to look over kids' candy haul before letting them dig in. This Halloween safety site from the Centers for Disease Control advises trick-or-treaters to "eat only factory-wrapped treats" and to "examine all treats for choking hazards and tampering before eating them." In addition to more predictable warnings, the Food and Drug Administration cautions against tasting raw cookie dough and recommends making sure juice or cider served at parties is pasteurized.

For the most part, the dangers lurk elsewhere: in those creepy decorative contact lenses that give you lizard eyes (which are often sold improperly and used incorrectly, according to the FDA); in fireworks; in choking; and especially, with inattentive or drunk drivers. Want a safe Halloween? Make sure your little Angry Bird, astronaut or witch looks both ways before crossing the street. Carrying a flashlight is a good idea too.

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The Houdini Séance

By Stephen Wagner
About.com

It was the night of October 31, 1936. Halloween night. The men and women sat at the round table with joined hands. They awaited the message - the message they had hoped for every Halloween night for the past 10 years. But the message did not come.

Finally, one woman rose from the table and announced to the others - and to a listening radio audience - "Houdini did not come through," she said. "My last hope is gone. I do not believe that Houdini can come back to me, or to anyone...The Houdini Shrine has burned for ten years. I now, reverently... turn out the light. It is finished. Good night, Harry!"

The woman was Bess Houdini, wife of the famed magician and escape artist. And this was the last séance she would participate in to try to contact her dead husband. But the séances themselves did not stop. Every October 31, from 1927 up to the present day, a séance has been conducted with hopes of contacting the spirit of Harry Houdini. So far, the great Houdini has not made his presence known.

The Houdini séance has been a Halloween tradition since the first anniversary of his death. The magician died at the age of 52 on October 31, 1926 from peritonitis - an internal infection - as the result of a ruptured appendix.

Shortly before his death, Houdini made a pact with Bess that if he could, he would return and make contact with her from the other side. They devised a coded message that only he and Bess knew; this would prove that it really was Houdini breaking through from the afterlife. But after 10 séances in 10 years, Bess had not received her beloved husband's personal message.

Oddly enough, Harry Houdini did not necessarily believe that spirits of the dead could be contacted. Aside from his fame as a stage magician and astonishing escape artist, Houdini was just as well known - especially in the later part of his career - as a debunker of spirit mediums and phony séances. He felt, however, that if it were possible for anyone to come back, he would find a way to do it.

In the 1920s, spiritualism was at a new height in the US and Britain. There was a strong, popular belief in the notion that it was possible to communicate with the dead through séances and channeling psychics knows as mediums. The movement had begun in the mid-1800s, grew in popularity over 20 years, then slowly fizzled out toward the turn of the century as more and more mediums were exposed as frauds. But after World War I, there was a resurgence in the spiritualist movement as many families longed to contact those who had perished in battle.

And the mediums were right there to fill the need for a public so willing to believe. The best mediums were masterful tricksters and showpeople, and their séances were thrilling multimedia performances of spirit channeling, levitating tables, floating instruments that played themselves, written messages from the dead and spontaneous manifestations of ectoplasm. The performances were ingenious and succeeded in fooling many otherwise intelligent people. Houdini, being a magician and a rather ingenious fellow himself, knew that these séances were just clever hoaxes.


HOUDINI VS. THE MEDIUMS

Early in his career, however, Houdini wasn't above staging some phony séances of his own. According to Houdini: A Magician Among the Spirits, "Houdini hosted special Sunday night performances for the California Concert Company, a Midwestern medicine show, in 1898. During séances, Houdini floated tables and played musical instruments while tied to a chair. After the company disbanded, he and his wife Bess continued to give séances for local union halls and dime museums until they signed with the Welsh Brothers Circus later that same year. In 1899, Houdini's career skyrocketed and he left the medium business behind."

In the 1920s, Houdini became an active crusader against the spirit mediums he felt were exploiting gullible people who grieved for lost loved ones. As he traveled the country performing his act, he would seek out the local mediums and expose their deceptions. Because he was so well known, Houdini often attended these séances in disguise. In 1922, Scientific American magazine asked him to join a "psychic committee" to help investigate the claims of mediums. The magazine offered a cash prize of $2,500 to any medium who could produce a supernatural manifestation to the satisfaction of the committee. No one ever won the prize.

One of the most famous mediums to take on the challenge was a beautiful young woman named Mina Crandon, who gained renown as "Margery, the Boston Medium." But she too failed under the sharp eye of Houdini, who caught her levitating the table with her head and ringing a bell with her foot. Houdini later offered Crandon $5,000 if she could demonstrate any supernatural phenomena on stage in her home town of Boston. She declined the invitation.

Naturally, Houdini was not popular among mediums around the country, as he was a threat to their livelihood. His crusading also made him an adversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, esteemed author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, who was a staunch believer and advocate of spiritualism, and a defender of Mina Crandon. After Houdini and the Scientific American committee denounced Crandon, Doyle wrote an article for the Boston Herald criticizing the committee. Houdini, in turn, threatened to sue Doyle for his "harsh remarks."

ANNUAL SÉANCE

Since the Halloween night when Bess Houdini turned off the light at her husband's portrait, the séances to contact the dead magician have continued in many parts of the country, both officially and unofficially. It may be impossible to tell whether or not Houdini is really being channeled at any of these annual séances because the secret coded message Houdini devised with his wife has since been revealed - by Bess herself.

"The message was based on both sentimentality and an old vaudeville mind-reading routine," according to Houdini - magictricks.com. "The message was, 'Rosabelle- answer- tell- pray, answer- look- tell- answer, answer- tell.' Bess's wedding band bore the inscription 'Rosabelle,' the name of the song she sang in her act when they first met. The other words correspond to a secret spelling code used to pass information between a magician and his assistant during a mentalism act. Each word or word pair equals a letter. The word 'answer' stood for the letter 'B,' for example. 'Answer, answer' stood for the letter 'V.' Thus, the Houdinis' secret phrase spelled out the word 'believe'."

In 1929, a young medium named Arthur Ford claimed he had successfully received the secret message from Harry Houdini. Upon investigation, however, it was discovered that Ford's claim was a hoax. Bess, it seems, had inadvertently revealed the message to reporters more than a year earlier.

Even though Bess gave up the séances herself, she asked magician Walter B. Gibson to carry on the October 31 tradition. For many years, Gibson, along with several other magicians, held the séances at the Magic Towne House in New York City. Countless other "unofficial" Houdini séances have been held by local psychics across the country throughout the years - all in good fun, but with no definitive proof of so much as a "hello" from Harry Houdini.

Today, the official Houdini Séance is held at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And true to the times, they have been conducting séances on the Internet.

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