A Meditation for the End of the Pentecostarion

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

With this Sunday, the services according to the Pentecostarion are concluded. The conclusion of the Pentecostarion services with the commemoration in honor of all the Saints, as His Grace Innocent,  Archbishop of Chersonese (refer to the Works of Innocent, Archbishop of Chersonese, Vol. 1, pp. 519-521 [Sochineniia Innokentiia, Archiep. Khersonskago, t. I, str. 519-521]) teaches, is the most suitable conclusion to the celebrations of the Lord. It is the goal for which our Savior left the earth and ascended to heaven and for which the Holy Spirit left heaven and descended to earth, - this high goal consists in nothing else than, as in the sanctification of the sinful human race, in leading all of us to heaven. But the choirs of the Saints of God make up the assembly of indisputable witnesses that this blessed goal be achieved, that the Savior who is ascended from us has definitely prepared a place for all His followers, that the Comforter who is descended to us really combines with the possibility that very carnal people may reside in the mansions of the Heavenly Father. How is it that all who were holy to God, now blessed with us, are not servile to us men? Because their glory is the glory of the Redeemer Son and the Consecrator Spirit: without the merits of the Son heaven would not be opened to any of them, but without the grace of the Spirit not any of them could possibly enter into the opened heaven. Therefore the present festival in honor of all the Saints also consists of the most natural and pleasing conclusion of the festivals of the Lord. Therefore it itself is the direct fruit of events remembered in them. But the marvelous sequence and the divinely-wise order of the festivals of the Holy Church, naturally, motivates us to ask ourselves: is there such a sequence of this kind of holy order even in our celebrations?

We have now passed through the entire cycle of celebrations, we have reached the end of festivals according to the season; but has their end and intention actually been accomplished by this very action? Have we come nearer to what the main end of all festivals and establishments of the Church consists in, all the mysteries and all its services, all our grateful and natural life that is for our sanctification in Christ? Now already completing the memory of all the Saints, can we say about ourselves, that we have become freer of all that is sinful, purer from all that is earthly and corruptible, one in spirit with all that is spiritual and heavenly? This is the natural and necessary fruit which the Church assumed to now see in us after so many celebrations of the light! She expected that the suffering of the Lord would shake the heart most persistent in sin, that with His Resurrection everything that has not yet had time to be completely suppressed by sin would revive in our spirit, that with His ascension to heaven the thought and wish for heaven would arise in the most indifferent soul, that with the descent to earth of the Comforter the weakest would convert and venture to walk the way of faith and love. Were these many expectations fulfilled? Is the harvest in us great after so long a sowing? What does our Lord now see nestling close to us from the height of the glory of His Saints? Although He sees some conformity with that great asceticism, is it He who lifted them up for us, being on earth? What did the Holy Spirit, who descended from the Father for us, find in us? Will they now find much joy in us, not looking at our celebration in their honor and our holy brethren in heaven? When we celebrate in their honor even they undoubtedly do not remain idle. We remember their acts and deeds, and they will examine our morals, paradigm of life and action. Seeing their labors and victories over the enemies of salvation, we should be calmed in spirit. Seeing our falling and changes in truth, they should be distressed about us. What, if they see nothing much in us, except the falling and changes? After this what does our celebration in honor of all the Saints mean for those very saints, if not the day of complaint against all of us sinners? Such are our festivals! The cycle of church festivals is bright and magnificent; the cycle of our festivals occurs in darkness and ugliness. In the church cycle the very laments terminate in the spiritual celebration; in our cycle the very celebrations often lead to spiritual laments. In the same vein, can we be glad when our Lord who ascended up for us sees that His suffering on the cross remains without any fruit for many of us, and that many of His followers live as if He did not also come for their salvation on earth? Can we be comforted when the Spirit Comforter sees how many will not remember anything about His presence among us, constantly breathe the spirit of the world and walk contrary to His inspiration of grace? Can our heavenly brethren accept our magnifications with joy when they find that our earthly brethren madly waste their precious grace inherited generally by all men, do not at all correspond to their heavenly nobility and walk in every evil, contrary to the will of the Heavenly Father? After this one remedy to make the present festival pleasing to our Savior, for the Spirit Comforter, and for all the Saints is to acquire for ourselves their lament for our sins. Repentance suddenly changes everything. When we shall begin to lament before God, then the inhabitants of heaven will be glad again, like they lamented when we are betrayed to temporal and sinful pleasures. But is the lamentation about sins acceptable for the conclusion of the celebration of the Church? For the righteous, certainly, it would not be acceptable; but for the sinners only more acceptable. The sick are also treated in the feasts; and what illness is more dangerous than sin? However, is what began the cycle of the sacred days now concluded? Is it not the memory of the Fall of Adam, and we who are all his descendants in the presence of Adam? Therefore is it not better to conclude it, not by our ascending, but through our repentance from our own fall? Thus the end will return to the beginning, and will return us to that blessed and unoriginate beginning, in which the souls of all the holy brethren are now blessed. "Do not hesitate", the Holy Scripture inspires each of us, "to turn to the Lord, nor postpone it from day to day"; "do not be confident of cleansing that you add sin to sin". "For suddenly the wrath of the Lord will go forth, and during the time of punishment you will perish" (Sir. 5:5-7).

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

First Sunday After Pentecost or All Saints Sunday

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

In the services for this Sunday over and above the usual glorifications of the resurrection of Christ, the choirs of all the Saints pleasing to God, who have shone through faith in the coming and the arrival of the promised Redeemer, together with those who exercised asceticism in piety are glorified. In the church hymns we magnify: patriarchs, forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, hieromartyrs, confessors, hierarchs, venerable and righteous fathers and mothers and all the Saints, who from the ages were well pleasing to God, and "above all" "our Sovereign Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary". In glorifying their memory, let us also ask their prayerful petitions before God for us. Since "by the Holy Spirit is every soul enlivened", i.e. is cleansed, renewed and alas settled, and since the divine grace of the Holy Spirit is consecrated, it has made our first-born brethren, written in the heavens, and made them our worthy prayer books before God, that, they have celebrated the most glorious descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and who glorified His beneficial power, consecrating the souls of all believers, then to properly glorify also those holy foster children of the grace of God, who were consecrated and perfected by the power of the All-holy and Life-creating Spirit of the Lord. This commemoration also fulfills the honoring and glorifying of those pleasing to God, who, owing to their numbers and their not being known, special commemorations were not established for them. Glorifying the saints and numbering them among the ranks or choirs, the Holy Church points out to us their various virtues for imitation.

The Orthodox Church honors various men pleasing to God who appropriated various names, corresponding to their various ascetic acts of virtuous life on earth. Such names are: patriarchs, forefathers, prophets, apostles, hierarchs, holy equal to the Apostles, Hieromartyrs, Great Martyrs, Venerable martyrs, martyrs, confessors, Venerable ones, Righteous ones, Disinterested ones and Blessed ones.

For Patriarchs, Forefathers and Fathers see under the Sundays before Christmas. 

Prophets are great according to the pious life of the men of the Old Testament who were selected by God Himself and were sent by Him to various places for predicting the future to the people, with regard to the coming of Christ, the Savior of the world, to earth.

Apostles are the great men of the New Testament, the people closest to Christ the Savior, His worthiest disciples and companions, who were sent by Him to various countries for the preaching of the Divine Gospel to the people.

Hierarchs and Fathers ("our Fathers among the saints") are the Eastern Patriarchs, the pious Popes of Rome, the Patriarchs, Archbishops, heirs to the Holy Apostles in the Christian Church and their great co-workers in preaching the Gospel and in their labor of true piety.

Holy Equal to the Apostles and Enlighteners are the men and women of royal or princely origin, but sometimes also of simple calling, who by their own preaching turned entire countries and peoples to Christ. Hieromartyrs are Christian bishops and presbyters who died from torture for their belief in Christ.

Great Martyrs are the pious men and women of various worldly ranks and positions, who courageously and with great patience thoroughly underwent various persecutions, tortures, and torments by their torturers for their holy Christian faith.

Venerable Martyrs are the pious and true ascetic men and women, included in the monastic calling, who suffered from the pagans and heterodox believers for their faith in Christ.

Martyrs are those men and women of various callings and positions, who without confusion, but sometimes even with joy, went one by one or in groups into the presence of their torturers, and there were tortured to death for their firm and unshakable confession of their faith in Christ.

Confessors and Passion-bearers are those great men of virtuous life of the Christian Church, courageously and fearlessly everywhere and always confessed their deep faith in Christ, who openly recognized themselves as true Christians, who endured torments and torture for this, but did not receive a martyr's death; some of them are called branded, because during torture special brands were put on the person.

Venerable Ones are the great, pious and Christ-loving men and women, desert-dwellers, hermits (who separated themselves from the world to the desert and there saved themselves in solitude), recluses (who voluntary enclosed themselves in separate caves and cells for their entire life) and pillar-dwellers (who practiced asceticism under the open sky on pillars, or high towers), silent ones (who voluntarily took up the asceticism of silence), and are all inclusive in the monastic calling.

Righteous Ones are the great men and women, who were glorified for their virtuous and pious life, zealous for the fulfillment of the commandments of God and for their unbowed observance of the truths of the Gospel teaching, not shirking their family or public obligations and living in the world. 

Disinterested Ones or Unmercenaries are men well pleasing to God who through their unmercenary labor for the benefit of their neighbors served the suffering and healed the sick.

Blessed Ones are the men and women of various callings and positions, who in carrying out their mortal life, both in the world and in the desert, with unusual reserve, with extreme deprivation and denial of every possible worldly good, but sometimes even with many varieties of foolishness, all this "for the sake of Christ".

The Holy Church has regularized the remembrance and honor of all righteous men who have moved in eternity because "righteous men", according to the word to God, "live for ever" (Wis. 5:15) not only in heaven, but also on earth; because "their memory" abides from generation to generation "with praises" (Prov. 10:7), and among the blessings before the eyes not only of God but also of the people; because they, being alive even in the Divinely sanctified ark of grace in time, have co-operated for the beloved by the "place where the glory [of God] dwells" (Ps. 25:8) for the entire eternity. We honor and magnify the saints of God and consequently all of them are our fathers and brethren according to the spirit of the Christian faith and according to that love by which they are indissolubly joined to us; wherefore true "love never disappears" (1 Cor. 13:8). Being one with us by nature, the saints pleasing to God also make us one with the Church of the Lord Jesus, who is the one foundation and the one Head, the one God and the one Savior, the one means of salvation and the one hope of the saved. Thus, the glorified Saints have a close and uninterrupted though invisible dialogue with us. We call on them in our prayers, as contributors to our salvation, as protectors and comforters in the afflictions and misfortunes laid on us, as defenders against the invisible powers of Hades, and we do this not in vain. The holy ones of God hear us when we pray, unite our entreaties to their prayers, lifting them up as pure and fragrant incense (Rev. 5:8) to the holy table of the Pantocrator, ask His Goodness for mercy on us, satisfy the justice that is so frequently irritated by our iniquities, and send mercy and the "grace from the One Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come" (Rev. 1:4) to us. Being in the kingdom of God, they "have already received the kingdom, the magnificent and quality crown from the hand of the Lord" (Wis. 5:16), but by the spirit of humility they will not die to compose "crowns" of the kingdom from themselves "and to offer" themselves "before the throne" of the Lamb (Rev. 4:10-11, 5:11-14), petitioning before Him, as "Mediator between God and men" (1 Tim. 2:5), that He be merciful to us sinners, carried away in the abyss of perdition and by the vanities of the world, both the impulses of the passions and temptations of the evil one. If the saints pleasing to God, neither looking at the spiritual height of their perfection and holiness, nor at their visible distance from us, will intercede to gaze upon on us, the proud and vain, with an eye of compassion and to save us by their prayers and mediation, then we all the more should also honor and glorify their memory from generation to generation, that, glorifying them, we glorify "God, Who is wonderful in His Saints" (Ps. 67:36), and, honoring them, we "honor grace with God, residing and acting in them, and the help from God we ask through them" (Orthodox Catechism). Besides, the gathering of most of all those saved, which "God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ", already "made us sit with Him on the heavenly" thrones (Eph. 2:4-6), evidently showing us all immensity of the power of the merits of the Savior and the power of saving grace, serves as vivifying and encouraging for us in the formidable arena of salvation, wherefore "through faith" in the Redeemer even we "have obtained access", to that same "grace", in which stood all those pleasing to God (Rom. 5:2). But, strengthening in us the hope of salvation, the commemoration of the blessed choirs of Saints also serves for us as the encouragement for unrelenting patience and self-denial. The Saints of God are blessed with light in the house of the heavenly Father, but the enjoyment of peace and unearthly joy is the reward and recompense for their labor and asceticism, that, having disdained the world with their good deeds, they steadily flowed "to the honor of the highest calling of God" (Phil. 3:14). Thus if we want to inherit salvation, to settle in heaven and to be blessed among those standing in the choir of the Saints, we should live holily and undefiled according to our "Holy calling" (1 Pet. 1:15). "The grace of God is saving for all men" (Tit. 2:11), but does not save anybody against their will; she is omnipotent, but not violent. "The heavenly Kingdom", even with the assistance of grace, "has suffered violence" (Mt. 11:12), and that only those admire it, who, prevailing completely over any sinful temptation, course their way to the Kingdom with effort and patience. (Sermons and Speeches of Sophronius, Bishop of Turkistan, Vol. 1, pages 90-102 [Slova i rechi Sofroniia, Episcopa Turkestanstskago, t. I, str. 90-102]).

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
As with fine porphyry and royal crimson, having been adorned with the blood of Thy martyrs shed throughout the world, Thy Church cries out to Thee: O Christ God, send down Thy bounties upon Thy people, grant peace to thy habitation and great mercy to our souls.

Kontakion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Like the beginning of our existence, the universe offers Thee, O Lord, the God-bearing martyrs as the first fruits of creation: through their prayers establish Thy Church, Thy habitation, in profound peace, and maintain it through the Theotokos, O Thou, Who art Great in mercy.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Rabbi Who Converted On Pentecost In 1952

The synagogue in Arta.

Among the many converts to Orthodox Christianity was the Jewish rabbi Paul Fotiou from the Hebrew community of Arta in Greece, who converted from Judaism and was baptized as an Orthodox Christian together with his family.

To read a little about the Jews of Arta, see here.

Archimandrite Nektarios Ziompolas writes the following about Paul Fotiou:

"I came to know Paul Fotiou from places and environments of holy churches in Athens where he preached, and repeatedly in conversations I heard him talk about his conversion from the Hebrew religion to the Orthodox Christian faith. When he spoke we heard him with awe and emotion and we had general questions. He intensely lived the sacramental life of the Church. His face and his character breathed respect, "smelling" like incense. I will mention one particular incident from my acquaintance with Paul Fotiou, of which I witnessed. From what I remember it happened between the years 1960 and 1962 in Athens.

It was Holy Thursday night and we were in a church in Athens for the Service of the Holy Passion. I was a layman then and I was found at the side of Paul Fotiou, next to the iconostasis before the icons of Christ and the Forerunner. When the beautifully voiced priest read the Gospel passage: "When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I am innocent of this man’s blood,' he said. 'It is your responsibility!' All the people answered, 'His blood is on us and on our children!'" (Matthew 27:24-25), Paul Fotiou fell sharply to the ground unconscious. And while the priest continued reading, we transferred him to the sanctuary. A doctor in the congregation immediately saw him and he did what was necessary, and soon he was recovered and did not want to leave before finishing the Service. Of course, the crowd of the congregation pretty much got news of what happened, and thought he fainted from standing. Few knew this happened at that moment when he heard the terrifying Gospel. In other words those words spoke within him, and he was quite touched, having lived after two thousand years the then foolish confession of his then patriots the Jews .... His heart converted from one lost to the real Messiah Jesus; he broke and realized the horrible crime in history that happened on Golgotha...."

Paul Fotiou wrote about his conversion in a booklet in Greek titled My Conversion to Christ, from which an excerpt is given below:

MY CONVERSION TO CHRIST

By Paul Fotiou

You are probably familiar from the newspapers of the great event which happened a decade ago, by the grace of the Lord, to me and my family, but perhaps not. It regards my return to Christ and my baptism on the feast of Pentecost in the year 1952 in the Holy Metropolis of Arta, of myself and my entire family. For me and my family this was a big milestone in our lives, so we always thank God, through Jesus Christ His Son and our God, for His grace and honor which He did to us, to invite us in His way to His salvation. Our gratitude to Him as well as our obligations for others is great, primarily to our brothers the Israelites, who by misinterpreting the Holy Scriptures violently reject and hate the already come Messiah Christ. Him whom our fathers handed over to a shameful death and His Father raised Him on the third day from the dead according to the Scriptures. Indeed, very exceptionally for them I write this booklet, to facilitate this with the help of the Holy Scriptures to bring them to want and come back and accept as their Savior Jesus, Who now will not come to save but to judge the living and the dead.

Appearances of the Lord Towards My Illumination

The first appearance of the Lord

It was the period of the Triodion, namely the second week of the Prodigal Son, a time when God calls us to repent and fast in order to celebrate the horrors of the Passion and Crucifixion. So then I saw in my sleep the following. I saw that I was doing Saturday Vespers while studying the Pentateuch from the parchment, from the passage of the Exodus from Egypt, and I saw there three Greek words in gold ink, which said: "Faith Freedom Nation".

Turning the next page I saw that I found myself in a big house and at the gate stood two soldiers.

At that moment our Lord Jesus Christ appeared. The Lord knocked on the gate and immediately I descended and opened it. Entering through Christ took from his pocket a picture with 360 people and gave it to me. Since I could not comprehend the interpretation of this photograph, He said: "So many of you left as hostages and so many of you returned from Arta, 360. It is time to repent for the sin of your fathers, which was My Crucifixion." He then showed me the holes in His hands. And having illumined the interpretation of the 26th chapter of Leviticus, He disappeared....

The second appearance of the Lord

After two months and since I continued to study various books of the Orthodox Church and followed the Divine Liturgies, we arrived at Holy Thursday. On the night of Holy Thursday I fell asleep very upset, because of what I had heard in church. And for the second time I saw Christ as follows.

I saw that I was with my family, that was exterminated in Germany, and we ate together in the hallway of my house. In an instant the door knocked and entered the postal distributor of Arta and he gave me a letter. I opened the letter and saw inside the photo that the Lord gave me the first time and a waiver of the Rabbi of the Jewish community. Again I was ecstatic with the photograph of 360 people. Then an unfamiliar voice sounded through the house, which told me: "So many of you left and so many of you returned. It is time to not hear anyone. Take your family and come with Me, the sin of your fathers is torturing you. Repent and come with Me to be saved."

From that moment my faith was inflamed further and announced to my family urging us all to go as soon as possible to Metropolitan Seraphim for catechesis and baptism. The next day I learned from a friend that my then brother Israelites had devised a plan to remove me from the synagogue if I went to synagogue on Saturday, as other Scribes and Pharisees in the days the Lord. So I avoided it and the third day of Easter we went to the Metropolitan for family catechism, giving promise to His Eminence that we will notify him ten days before our baptism.

The third appearance of the Lord

Forty days passed between Easter and Ascension eve evening, at which time is celebrated the Pentecost of the Israelites, and we had the habit of spending the night in different houses of more than twenty people each, to study the tradition of the Mosaic Law at Sinai. That night, along with my family, we were studying a book that had the conversation of St. Gregory the Archbishop with a Rabbi named Erwan, who had been invited by a king of Ethiopia to discuss Christ. The Chief Rabbi requested forty days time to study the Holy Bible and then discuss. After the end of the period he presented and discussed for three days and nights with seventy teachers. Eventually, the Israelites said they would believe, on the condition that the Lord would appear to them, which was done. But because of the small faith of the Jews, as soon as the Lord appeared to them "while the doors were shut" (He came on a cloud in the middle of the room) the Archbishop prayed and they were blinded. Then, while they were blind, the Archbishop urged them to be baptized. After baptism the eyes of their soul were opened and they believed in the Savior of mankind Christ together with the King and his court, a total of 1500 people around the city. It was midnight when I studied them, and I heard three knocks on the roof of my house and fearfully closed the book and went to lie down. Then I heard the door knock in my room and in came our Lord Jesus Christ, holding in his hand a piece of cotton smeared with oil and with it anointed me crosswise on the face and told me: "Paul, Paul, from tomorrow you will be mine. Whoever appears, do not be shaken, I will be in you." Immediately I got up and said to my wife and told the incident to all my family members to watch and not be shaken by any cowardice or the offering of money, as much as it may be, which unfortunately came the next day.

The Bribery Attempt

The next day, the first day of the Jewish Pentecost, there appeared the whole of the Community Council in my home around eleven o'clock in the morning to convince me with offering huge sums. This was even done by my relatives who arrived from Corfu. But forewarned by my Lord I was steadfast, along with my family, in the future correct faith with my baptism in the name of the Triune Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The 8th of June 1952

The next day I notified the Metropolitan of Arta Seraphim to baptize us. So Sunday, June 8, 1952, the day of Pentecost of the Orthodox Church, at 12 noon was my baptism along with the three members of my family before the clergy and the authorities of the city and many people, calculated at over three thousand.

The Epistle of Paul Fotiou, former Rabbi of Arta, to the Rabbi's and Leaders of Israel.

"Those who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away because of their sin; they will also waste away because of their fathers’ sins along with theirs. But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers — their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me..." (Leviticus 26:39-40).

My beloved Jews, behold the wonder of our daily destruction from the Germans, who unfortunately took us and annihilated us because of the sins of our fathers, who twisted the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and crucified the Messiah Christ, and the sin of the crucifixion was thrown upon us, when the avid Pharisees said before Pilate: "His blood upon us and upon our children" (Matt. 27:25) and the rest of the mob agreed saying "Amen" and He was taken away....

Finally, my beloved, we see in the Hebrew tongue one word greater in writing than any other words, which we shout out with melodic power and tone: "Remember the Law of Moses which was spoken at Horeb", etc. It is necessary to study every bit of this chapter together with the 26th chapter of Leviticus in which is written all the catastrophes of the Jews for disobeying the Law of God, to the point that we are a people accountable....

Beloved, I do not speak out of material interest, but I speak by the grace of the Holy Spirit which I received within me by our Lord Jesus Christ on the day of my baptism. I speak to you through repentance, both for me and for all of mankind unto our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah and Savior of all repentant sinners, and may we all one day become a flock under one Shepherd - Christ. Amen.

With love in Christ,

Paul Fotiou

Source: Translations by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Appearance of the Theotokos to a Greek Sergeant in 1941

T.T. 712 on 3 March 1941

The Sergeant Nicholas Gatsaros

To

The 1/40 Regiment of Ezones

In reference to the appearance of the Holy Mother of God and what she said to me.

I take this opportunity to inform you that yesterday, Sunday, March 2, 1941, at about 8 p.m., I was walking adjacent to the army encampment of the Second Regiment that was on a small elevation of about 300 meters high. I suddenly felt the need to move from where I was standing. A mysterious force appeared to move me in a specific direction. The wind had stopped blowing and it was a clear starlight night. In returning to my tent, I had not taken ten steps when suddenly a demure woman dressed in black appeared before me and blocked my path. I could see her face in the dim light. I was startled by this vision. When I recovered from this unexpected encounter, I realized from the history of the Church that the Panagia often appears to people either in visions, during sleep or during the military operations of our country.

I, a military engineer, knelt before her in order to kiss her hand. My emotions overwhelmed me and I began to cry. My feet and my lips were trembling for a long time. I then heard her speak to me:

“I am the Panagia.” She said, “Do not be afraid my child. I have appeared here to tell you three things that you should never forget.

1. This war was declared arrogantly without provocation by Italy against Greece. It is my will that Greece be victorious in this war.

2. This war has been declared against Greece so that the world will learn that it is being caused because the world is distancing itself from the Christian Faith. The Church’s holy mission has been blasphemed and condemned. The world has been moving toward immorality and debauchery and it must change its ways. It must learn that God exists and rules everything. Profound proof of this reality is the frequent miracles that are performed by the Saints of the Church of Christ.

3. The world must learn that justice will always prevail over force.

Tell and write all these things to the commanding officer so that they will not be misunderstood, since the Greek Army is under my protection and it will be victorious.”

The Panagia suddenly disappeared and my eyes became blinded. When I finally recovered a little, I immediately went to my tent where I told everyone what had happened to me.

Nicholas Gatsaros

After this appearance of the Panagia, all the soldiers gave donations to build a Church to the Panagia on the spot where she appeared.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Orthodox Theology and Psychotherapy

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: Blessed Elder Paisios of Mount Athos frequently had stated that some of the most serious problems experienced by contemporary humanity is the ever increasing spread of mental illnesses. Would it be right to think that these ailments of the soul have a spiritual background, and consequently, the only true psychotherapy for them should be the one which the Orthodox Church could provide?

Answer: Mental and spiritual illnesses, even illnesses of the body, are related to man’s existential problems, that is, his distancing from God and the entry of death to our existence. Sin is viewed as a spiritual illness. The death of the body, which we inherit from our parents and lies in our cells with the genes of aging, is a consequence of man’s distancing from God.

The Orthodox Church preserves this therapeutical method, the neptic tradition, which we may call Orthodox psychotherapy. According to St. Gregory Palamas, the Church is the Body of Christ and a communion of deification. The phrase “communion of deification” shows the way one experiences deification by Grace in his personal life.

Mental illnesses have repercussions on the body, the same way illnesses of the body affect the soul. Beyond this, there are neurological illnesses due to physical exhaustion, there are demonic influences, or sometimes God allows an illness for man’s spiritual aid. This is why in some cases illnesses of the body assist man’s spiritual life more than health does.

I believe that spiritual fathers who work on man’s therapy must distinguish between bodily, spiritual, psychological and demonic illnesses. This distinction is the objective of Orthodox theology. A theologian is Orthodox if he is able to discern between the created and the uncreated, the demonic and the divine, the psychological and the spiritual, the physical and the spiritual.

Since you mentioned Father Paisios, I have a personal view that on various illnesses he referred the ill ones sometimes to spiritual fathers, sometimes to physicians and other times to saints. He used to say often: “This kid needs a saint” and would send him to Saint Nektarios, to Saint Gerasimos, et al., while other times he would send him to physicians he knew.

Sobornost, September 2006.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Saint Ioannikios the New of Romania (+ 1638)

Saint Ioanichie the New (Feast Day - July 26)

Saint Ioannikios (Ioanichie) the New was born of pious parents from Muscel in Romania. From a young age he rejected worldly things and was pulled towards Cetatuia Monastery. For fifty years Saint Ioannikios lived in asceticism in a cave on Mount Negru Voda. His ascetic efforts, prayers for the whole world, his fasting, and his tears were covered with mystery. Only once a week a monk would come to bring him bread and water. Also the abbot of the monastery would come very often to bring him Holy Communion for him to receive.

Saint Ioannikios the New was the spiritual guide of the great prince Michael the Brave (1593–1601) and the ruler Matei Basarab.

The monk Ioannikios foresaw the year of his repose (1638) and inscribed it on the upper wall of the cave.

In 1944 Fr. Poimin Barbieri, abbot of the Cetatuia - Negru Voda Skete, as it was then called, was lowered through a hole into the cave, near a steep wall fourteen meters high, while behind him there was a cliff one hundred feet deep. Entering the cave with the monk Isidore, he found lying on a stone the relics of Saint Ioannikios. On a rock he found engraved in Cyrillic letters: "Ioannikios monk, 1638".

The relics of the Saint remained in a chapel of the Cetatuia Monastery from 1944 until 1948. That year they buried him near the door of the church.

In 1996 the chancellor was authorized by the local hierarchy to build a new cemetery when he refound the relics of the Saint.

Today the relics are in the Cetatuia Monastery. He was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Romania in June of 2009. His memory is celebrated on July 26.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Caution Regarding the "Prophecies" of Elder Paisios

By Theo

I met Fr. Paisios in 1975. Ever since I met him 30-40 times, almost every time by myself. I never heard him say "prophecies", such as when there will be wars, when we will take Constantinople, who will be commander-in-chief, etc. After his death I saw many "prophecies" distributed in magazines and books or disseminated by the media. I thought he might have actually said such things, but not to me. Until about a month ago when I heard from a friend of mine that the day before he visited the Holy Mountain and Fr. Isaiah, who was a novice of the Elder and now lives in his cell, told him that the Elder never uttered such "prophecies", and never referred to when there will be war, etc.

As for the politicians who "use" his name, the last time I met him, together with others, on 10/09/1993, which was election day, he told us with indignation about politicians of the then two major political parties who exploited his name (of course he never recommended a politician, for the people to vote for) to gain votes and how he supposedly "decorated" one of them when he met him.

The above demonstrates the unethical use of some holy people and Mount Athos by "well-wishers". Figures like Fr. Paisios aimed towards the depth of the soul, towards that which remains and leads us to Christ and eternity, and not to the frivolous and transient.

Let those who read such "prophecies" and recommendations be careful then, and not accept and propagate them so easily.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

A Balanced View Of Ecumenical Dialogue

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: The question of the participation of the Orthodox Church in what is called “ecumenical dialogue” with heterodox confessions raises great unease and disagreements inside the Church community. Between the overenthusiastic immersion in such rapprochement with the heterodox, which bleaches in a sense the boundaries dividing the Church and the world, and the often too easy scandalization by every move unjustifiably suspected of even slightly compromising the identity of the Orthodox Church as Una Sancta, which had led occasionally to schism, what is the right course that should be taken in dealing with this issue? Do you consider that such “ecumenical dialogue” could be of any use to the Church?

Answer: The two temptations you mention are dominant in our days. Sometimes there is an ultra-optimism leading to secularism and doctrinal minimalism, while sometimes there is a reaction leading to fundamentalism-fanaticism.

The point is not dialogue per se. The Apostles and the Fathers engaged in dialogue. The problem is a dialogue which alters theology as revelation of truth, and the Church as the unique Body of Christ, and pastoral care as the practice of the Church which leads to deification. The problem of the so-called Ecumenism lies on these points. The Orthodox Church is Ecumenical, that is, catholic-orthodox, because it possesses the wholeness of theology and the wholeness of life, but cannot be ecumenistic, that is, live a doctrinal minimalism and an ecclesiological aberration.

The fundamental point is that in such a dialogue between the Orthodox Church and other Denominations one must set an Orthodox ecclesiological basis and the participants must be people who live empirically the truth of the Church and have a patristic mind and view the doctrines in an inner way, not externally and conceptually. This means that they will see how the doctrine answers man’s existential problems, namely, what life is, what man is, and how man is united with God.

This is why in the Divine Liturgy we refer to the unity of faith and the communion of the Holy Spirit and not to the “union of the Churches” and the communion of firms, organizations, even “Christian” ones, nor to public relations actions.

From Sobornost, September 2006.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Wondrous Grave of Nicholas Motovilov

Nicholas Motovilov was a spiritual child of St. Seraphim of Sarov, and is most famous for writing A Conversation On the Purpose of the Christian Life, that occurred in November 1831 in the forest near Sarov between himself and St. Seraphim.

Motovilov throughout his life worked hard to bring to Russian public awareness the name of St. Seraphim, who was eventually canonized in 1903.

Motovilov died on January 17, 1879 and was buried at Serafimo-Diveyevsky Monastery, as foretold by St. Seraphim of Sarov. On his grave a large tree has grown, which the communists at one point tried to take down but were unable. Some see on the tree a miraculous formation of the head of a bear and the icon of the Theotokos of Umilenie. Both are known from the life of St. Seraphim, with the former being a close companion of St. Seraphim in the forest of Sarov, and the latter being the icon before which St. Seraphim hung on a tree and prayed while on the rock for a thousand days and later died while kneeling before.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Metropolitan Kallistos of Diocleia on the Economic Crisis

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diocleia recently spoke with Pemptousia regarding the financial crisis in Greece, which is relevant for other parts of the world as well. A partial transcript of the talk is below:

First of all, to me the problem arises from the problem that we do not distinguish between "what I want" and "what I need." I want many things, but do I need them all? The assumption in our western society has been that we should have a continuing rise in the level of our economic well-being, that people should have more and more material goods. Now perhaps we have to change our mind on that point. There are so many things that we expect to have, and that we demand, but that we do not really need. So the first thing is to distinguish between what I want and what I need.

Now people certainly need food, clothing, a home; they need also more than that to give them hope and joy in their daily life. But we cannot go on expecting, year by year, that we shall always have more material goods. We need to learn that to say, "Enough. I do not need all these extra things. I can do without them."

The resources of the world are not unlimited. But the problem is, they are very unjustly distributed. So many people have luxuries that they do not really require, and this means that other people are going hungry. So let us make that distinction. We have to stop saying, "I wish to have more," and to say, "I have enough." And we need, I think, to share far more, not only inside each country, but between different countries. In Britain certainly the gap between the rich and the poor is growing greater. This is something that we should take seriously. Something is very wrong in our society if more and more goods and benefits are being accumulated in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

So without wishing to seem too theological, I have to say what is required is repentance, metanoia, in the literal sense of the word. The Greek word means "change of mind." We need to have a new way of looking at ourselves and other people, a new way of looking at our society. We need in this way a kind of social repentance, which would also be for each of us a personal repentance; an ecological repentance, because one aspect of the present crisis is that we have lost a proper human relationship with the environment around us. We need to start again and to think once more.

Our Lord said, "Man will not live by bread alone," but man cannot live without bread. The Russian philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev said, "Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question." So that is that spirit that I would like to look at our crisis in, that we need to appreciate our responsibility to those who are in need, who do not have enough bread to eat, who are going hungry. And we need to change our own outlook, and to start again, distinguishing between our want and our need.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Pascha At White Castle

As a fan of Jon Hein and fast food, I decided to watch the new show "Fast Food Mania" a few days ago and was surprised to see featured in their segment on White Castle a Greek Orthodox priest who was inducted into the prestigious White Castle Hall of Fame, which apparently is harder to get into than Harvard University. 7,980 people have tried to get into the Hall of Fame since 2001, but only 80 have been inducted. One of them is Father John Stavropoulos. Here is why in his own words:

When I was the pastor of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio, on Easter Sunday night (every year) after having fasted from meat for 40 days, a group of my parishioners and I would leave the resurrection service, which ended at 2:30 a.m. We’d immediately head down the street to White Castle and we would break the 40-day meat fast.

Now, I am not talking about a few people. There were at least 35 to 40 cars in the drive-thru. So close to 200 people would crave Sliders® (normally Greeks eat lamb on that night), but we found that Sliders® were quick, easy, tasty and available. Each year for three years the good word got out that Father John was leading the caravan to White Castle.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Image of the Unbeliever

By St. Nektarios of Aegina

The unbeliever is the most unfortunate person among men because he is denied the single most precious thing in this world, faith, which is the only true guide toward truth and good fortune. The unbeliever is so unfortunate because he has been denied hope, the only constant support on the long road of life. The unbeliever is very unfortunate because he is missing the true love of people which surround his troubled heart. The unbeliever is most unfortunate since he is being denied divine beauty and the divine likeness of the Creator. This is the beauty that the Divine Artist has engraved in our hearts and which our faith has revealed to us.

The eye of an unbeliever does not see anything else in creation but the forces of nature. The brilliant icon of the Holy Creator and its marvelous beauty for him remain hidden and unknown to him. His vision is out of focus in the immensity of creation. He does not see the beauty of creation anywhere. He does not find the beauty of God’s wisdom. He does not marvel at the great power of God. He does not discover the goodness of God; divine providence, justice and the love of the Creator toward creation. His mind cannot go beyond the physical world. Neither can he go beyond the realm of his senses. His heart remains insensitive before the image of divine wisdom and power. Being like this does not give birth to any feelings of worship. His lips remain sealed. His mouth is motionless. His tongue is wearisome. Wearisome is his turmoil. His turmoil is pain and his pain is despair. All things until now that attracted his attention have lost their grace. This is so because all the joys of life that he experienced are unable to make him happy.

As long as the heart of man has been created so that God can dwell in it, the ultimate joy of man revels and rejoices in this goodness because this is found only in God. But from the heart of an unbeliever, God has departed. The human heart has limitless yearnings since it was created to contain and seek out the unlimited. As long as the heart of the unbeliever is no longer filled with the infinite God, everything around him groans with despair. He seeks and desires after things but nothing satisfies him. And this is so because all the pleasures of life are powerless to fulfill the emptiness of the human heart.

When the true pleasures and activities of the world are turned off, the heart is left with a feeling of bitterness. The vain glories of the world are turned into grief. The unbeliever ignores that the happiness of man is not found by indulging in worldly pleasures but are found in the love of God, which is infinite and eternal good. It is here where we find the misfortune of those who ignore God. He who denies God is like that person who denies his happiness and its unending blessedness. The unfortunate one struggles with the toilsome battles of life without the presence of God.

And so, in despair and with fear nestled in his heart, the unbeliever walks to his already opened grave. The miraculous work that unfolds before his eyes is played out on the world stage and is directed by divine wisdom, grace and power. All these things pass by him completely unnoticed. These things play a principal role in ones’ life with the assistance of harmony and divine goodness. Although the sweet water of the river of joy and happiness flows by his feet, he is unable in his disbelief to quench the dryness of his tongue. It is a thirst that burns him because the running water from the gurgling well is unshaken because his voice cannot be heard coming out of his chest, singing praises; glorifying and thanking God.

The joy that is unfurled in the universe has forsaken the heart of the unbeliever because God has distanced Himself from it. The emptiness has been filled with sorrow. It remains obstinate because of the absence of a desire to seek the spiritual has overwhelmed his soul. He is misled in this dark night without any light, a night where no beam of light enlightens his darkened avenues. There is no one to direct and guide his steps. In the race of life he is alone. He navigates life without the hope of a better life. He walks among many traps and there is no one to free him from them. He falls into these traps and is burdened by the weight of them. There is no one to relieve him of his sorrow.

The peace of the soul and the quietness of the heart have been banished by disbelief. Grief has bound up the depths of his heart. The joy which a believer finds in fulfilling the holy commandments and the joy that comes from a moral life is for the unbeliever unknown. Joy that comes from faith has never visited the heart of the unbeliever. The conviction which flows from faith in divine providence and which lighten the struggles of life is an unknown power to the unbeliever.

The feeling of thanksgiving and favor that comes from love is a great mystery to the unbeliever. The disbeliever who places material things first has limited true happiness for himself in a very limited circle of fleeting enjoyment. This is so because he is always attempting to satisfy himself with material things. The desire for virtue is for him completely foreign. He has not tasted the sweetness of this grace. The disbeliever has overlooked that which is the source of true joy and he is rushing without realizing it, toward the source of bitterness. Indulgence filled his worldly desires and in fulfilling them has only brought him nothing but emptiness. This emptiness brought faith but then slipped away and fell from his lips.

Oh, unfortunate slave of a difficult tyrant! How did they steal the joy of life from you? How did they rip away from you this profound treasure? You lost your faith. You denied your God. You denied His revelation to you and then you threw away the bountiful gift of divine grace. How unfortunate is the life of such a person! This life is filled with a whole host of troubles for the unbeliever because the delight of life has lost its flavor before his very eyes. Nature around him appears sterile and infertile because it does not fill him with any sense of joy and delight. He does not rejoice in any of the creations of God. A veil of grief envelopes all of nature and it no longer attracts a sense of fascination for him. His life has become an impossible burden and with the passing of time appears to him to be an unbearable hardship.

This is why despair appears before him like an executioner and terrible torturer. It terrorizes the unfortunate man. His courage has already abandoned him. His resistance is weakened and his moral moorings have since been corrupted by lack of faith. He appears like a man who is motivated completely by something else, that is, disbelief. He has surrendered his life to the fearful shackles of despair which are devoid of mercy and sympathy. The thread of his life is forcefully and cruelly cut off from the gifts of God and is hurled to the depths of perdition, to the darkness of hell from where he can only be saved when he is called by the voice of his Divine Creator. This is the Creator that he has denied all his life and now he must give account for his disbelief. Then he will be judged and will be sent to the eternal fire.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Orthodoxy and Bioethics

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

Question: When speaking about questions of bioethics, the usual attitude of the secular establishment is that these are morally “neutral” issues of science, and therefore, there is no place for religion or ethics in them. What should the Orthodox Church do in response and how it can make a difference in respect to these problems?

Answer: Bioethics is indeed the reaction of science itself to the potential negative applications of genetic engineering and molecular biology. That is, genetic engineering and molecular biology have advanced to discoveries which may exert a type of imperialism on mankind, the so-called genetic imperialism, on the one hand destroying man himself and on the other hand creating a genetic pollution to the environment. Because of this, several scientists have attempted to set some limits to this potential catastrophe and thus developed the science of bioethics which links genetic engineering with the humanities.

There are certain bioethics scientists who argue that bioethical problems are scientific and religions should keep out of them. However, the truth is that genetists, bioethicists and theologians all deal with man, thus they have a common objective, and man is a whole consisting of soul and body. If we restrict our attention only to the body, it is possible that we perceive man as a living machine and leave his existential problems unsolved. It is known that in the past, because medical science was to a large extent mechanistic, psychoanalysis developed in order to balance things.

For this reason, the message of the Orthodox Churches after the Constantinople Congress of September 2000, under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, mentioned that bioethical problems should be dealt with through biotheology, as well.

This is why in recent years many clerics and Synods of Local Churches deal with theological problems revolving around the beginning, the extension and the end of biological life, as well as with the protection of the environment.

Of course, Orthodox theology is not opposed to science, when the latter remains within its limits. It is the science of bioethics which sets the limits of science and Orthodox theology deals with man’s pastoral care and leads him from where science ends towards deification.

Sobornost, September 2006.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

A Convert's Reflection On Ecumenical Witness

Ecumenical Impact on Orthodox Witness and Mission: A Convert's Reflections

By Fr. John Reeves

Presented September 24, 2004 at the Conference:

"Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, Disenchantment"

The Aristotelian University

Thessaloniki, Greece

Twenty seven years ago (last week, in fact), I stood outside the doors of the St Seraphim Church, Dallas, Texas, awaiting reception into Holy Orthodoxy. I was asked whether I confessed the Orthodox Church as the Bride of Christ wherein was true salvation which was in the Ark with Noah at the Flood. I confessed it with all my heart. I believed it then. I believe it now.

Orthodoxy was for me the Pearl of Great Price. Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas had counseled me upon my entry into the Church that, as grave as the situation was in my Anglican life, there remained but one reason to convert to the Orthodox faith: Namely, that I believed it to be true. He, himself a convert from the Baptists while yet in his teens in the early 1940's, was the perfect one to give that advice.

Thus, I come before this august gathering of prelates and priests, of theologians and spiritual fathers, as an American, a convert to Orthodoxy, a "village priest," quite humbled by this privilege, to speak on a subject of concern to us all. I bring the perspective of one who has sought refuge in Orthodoxy from the doctrinal and moral morass afflicting many of our partners in the ecumenical movement.

In my seminary training, in an Episcopal seminary in the 1970's, I was alarmed by trends away from apostolic faith and witness then present in my denomination. Equivocation on the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the Miracles was readily accepted. Doctrine was nuanced away. Ordination of women to the priesthood was on the horizon. Advocacy for abortion, for which some Episcopal clergy were already providing "ministry services,"--(transporting young women to abortion clinics) -- and acceptance of homosexuality raised few eyebrows amongst faculty or most students.

Indeed, situational ethics were normative. Inclusive language was about to make its debut with little fan-fare. God, who had been our Father, now would also be our Mother. That the Episcopal Church would consecrate to its episcopate an openly homosexual priest, three decades later in 2003, or that Episcopal bishops are now authorizing rites for same-sex "holy unions" does not surprise me in the least. The die had been cast years ago. [See appendix.]

In a post-modern age, in which Americans fancy themselves to be living, truth is ultimately defined as what one wishes it to be for oneself. There are no absolutes. The ancient boundaries of faith and moral practice no longer apply. There are no meta-narratives. If Modern Man thought himself capable of discerning the Truth through reason, the Post-modern believes that individuals may come through experience to relative "truths," culturally determined, all equally valid. The Orthodox understanding that Truth is a person who is the definitive revelation of God to Man in the Person of Jesus Christ, that the Church is the ground and pillar of that Truth, that the faith we confess in word and in deed has established the Universe, runs counter to the basic tenets of the dominant, Post-modern religious culture of the majority of our ecumenical partners in America.

Orthodoxy, in the context of North American ecumenism, is somewhat unlike Orthodoxy in the Mother Lands and its historic relationship to the world-wide ecumenical movement. Lacking establishment by civil law and/or history, nationality and language, Orthodoxy is but a recent arrival in the consciousness of most Americans whether Christian or not. With the exception of Alaska and the original Russian Mission, the preoccupation of the majority of Orthodox Christians in the Americas has been one primarily of economic and/or religio-political survival. All too often, Orthodox Christians in America have preoccupied themselves with conforming to Western behavior and ethics. In fact, to paraphrase Fr. Alexander Schmemann, they have wanted not only to be Americanized, "but homogenized and pasteurized."[1]

In this cultural desire for upward mobility, homogenization and pasteurization, participation in organized ecumenical endeavors such as the National Council of Churches (NCC) and the World Council (WCC) has provided a measure of social acceptance to the children and grandchildren of immigrants. Indeed, both an Orthodox priest and an Orthodox lay woman have served as the National Council's president in America. Thus, I would argue, participation in ecumenical ventures has provided the Orthodox in America with acceptance and visibility, and, indeed, at times political influence, which otherwise might not be enjoyed. Yet this social acceptance and political influence has had a price, both in terms of mission and of Orthodox self-understanding in America, and elsewhere.

In 1995, I was privileged to speak on the subject of Evangelism at a conference held at Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, MA. It was jointly sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, St Augustine, FL and the WCC. I emphasized that evangelism involved a process of bringing individuals into the life of the Church and confessing the Orthodox Faith. Imagine my surprise to find that those who took audible exception to my presentation were two Orthodox bishops, both attending under WCC auspices. One queried why it was not enough merely to become "Christians", but not necessarily Orthodox Christians. Another protested similarly, vehemently denying that multiple Christ's were now being preached in America, as I had contended. Interestingly enough, he was not from America but Geneva, so I seriously doubted he was an expert on American religious life.

It was obvious to most, if not all, of those attending, that Orthodoxy seemed only a denomination to these bishops, a confessional community, part of an "invisible church", but not Una Sancta. It was truly astonishing and eye-opening. Such, can be, I fear the result of "working together ecumenically." The practical result is to reduce any concept of mission to that of pastoral ministry to one's own people in one's own lands, a sad identification of Orthodoxy as tribal faith rather than faith universal. Why then engage in mission at all?

If this be true for Orthodoxy in America, the impact on evangelism, on mission and witness, is indeed constricting. While St Innocent could rejoice at the prospects of Orthodoxy penetrating North America by means of missionary endeavor to draw Americans into Orthodoxy [2], such seems precluded by "working together ecumenically", if the reaction of those cited above is typical.

As a point of information, conversions to Orthodoxy in America are increasingly common, not because of marriage but by choice. The theological drift and moral relativism of the mainline confessions in the United States are a good part of the reason why. Fully 60% of the clergy in the Antiochian Christian Archdiocese and at least 30-40% of the priests in the Orthodox Church in America (Russian Metropolia) are converts, as are a majority of the OCA's bishops. At both St Vladimir's and St Tikhon's Seminaries, the majority of students studying for the priesthood are converts. Many new missions and parishes consist of virtually all converts, as well.

In fact, Orthodoxy in America experiences conversions at virtually twice the rate of the evangelical denominations while the mainline, ecumenical Protestants tend to post annual declines in membership. "How ironic that the very elements of Protestantism, the Liberal elements that have had the most to do with ecumenism, are the very elements that have become the most secularized and which represent less and less people as their numbers dwindle, plagued by the drumbeat of Protestant doubt," wrote convert Frank Schaeffer in his book, Dancing Alone.[3]

In America though, as in Europe, objections to ecumenism are at times met with arguments ad hominem. While those who object to ecumenism in the Mother Churches might be dismissed as "nationalists" and "xenophobes", likewise in America, those who question current ecumenical involvement are easily brushed aside with opprobria such as "traditionalists" or "converts", who lack the sophistication and the sobriety to make judgments or comments re: involvement in current ecumenical bureaucracies and the like. The epithets might be different but the message, and the method, is the same; and the arguments are ignored.

Perhaps, we merely embarrass or annoy them. But many of us oppose current ecumenical involvement because we have seen it from the other side. We have been members of many of the very denominations with which we partner. We know ecumenism first hand and we reject it. Suffice it to say, that many of us have converted to Orthodoxy in spite of Orthodoxy's ecumenical partnerships rather than because of them.

It has been said that there is more, true ecumenism taking place in America,ecumenism of a type which all Orthodox, I would think, might applaud,outside of, rather than inside, the institutionalized ecumenicalorganizations and bureaucracies. [4] In fact, those with whom we seem tohave the most in common in terms of faith and morals in the United Statesare those of the faith communities NOT associated with the NCC or WCC, suchas conservative Protestants and some Roman Catholic groups.So let me touch on a few of the theological and moral issues which ought tobe of greatest concern as we examine the question before us, issues whicheviscerate the liberal Protestant, and at times, even Roman Catholiccommunities in America, many of whom are our partners in ecumenicalundertakings. They are all interlinked and they herald the advent, Isuspect, of a New Religion.

THEOLOGICAL ISSUES--Advent of a New Religion?

Language and Re-Imagining

The case of inclusive language and the syncretism found at the WCC's GeneralAssembly, Canberra 1991, are but part of a new theology growing out of theabandonment of traditional theology. This demonstrates what history hasshown all along, that the Protestants are the inheritors of but a recenttradition, steeped in the tenets of and made possible by Western-Europeanrationalism and humanism.For the Protestant, man, (or rather now I suppose, humankind), is themeasure. Objective reality has been jettisoned in favor of a culturallydetermined one. That the ecumenical movement has definitely played a majorpart in attempts to redefine and to re-imagine Christian doctrine is nowbeyond dispute. Two examples can be readily examined effecting life in America. One is inclusive language, and the other, the re-imaging of God.

Inclusive Language

In "the mid-1980s, the National Council of Churches began publishing itsmulti-volume Inclusive Language Lectionary...which omitted male pronouns forGod and retranslated Jesus's traditional title, the Son of Man, as the HumanOne." [5] Despite Orthodox dissent, the influence of the inclusivistmovement has continued to be felt and promoted in ecumenical circles.

Coupled with an ecumenical convergence about worship the Presbyterian Church(PCUSA), the United Methodist Church, and the United Church of Christ (UCC),the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church all agree thatinclusive language is to be employed, though they treat it differently. Somemerely seek to remove (most) masculine nouns and pronouns, but others gofurther, much further.

The UCC, in fact, has been constrained to caution its clergy: "The recognition of our baptism by the ecumenical church is important to us, and the Book of Worship encourages the use of language recognized in most Christian churches: 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.' Feminine images for God may surround these words to enrich understandings and offer balance." (Emphases added.) [6] (One should note that the use of Trinitarian formulae is "encouraged," but not required!)

However, one of the feminine images for God permitted "to enrich understandings and offer balance" is the following prayer: "We give you thanks, O Holy One, mother and father of all the faithful... [7]

Likewise, the United Methodist Book of Worship provides this prayer: [#466:]"God our Mother and Father, we come to you as children," [8]

One thus finds an ecumenical trend towards a radically different doctrine of God, a Christology other than that of the Church:

"Gracious God,...you have brought us forth from the womb of your being andbreathed into us the breath of life..."[9]

"Our Father-Mother, who is in the heavens, may your name be made holy, mayyour dominion come, may your will be done..."[10] And many, many more. [See appendix.]

Re-Imagining: God is good, isn't She?

UCC theologian, Willis Elliott, worries that this is the advent of a new religion. By means of certain worship forms, a new religion is coming. This is where the path of ecumenical convergence is leading. [11] Perhaps a concern for more historic forms of worship has emerged in part because of Orthodox participation. Yet this convergence must be seen hand in hand with a new theology, not unlike the position of pre-exilic Jews who followed old ritual forms of Yahweh worship at the same time pagan idols were erected in the Temple.

This ecumenical convergence about worship cannot be described otherwise as but an ecumenical divergence from Orthodox Christology. The ancient landmarks that Jesus is Christ, that Jesus is Lord, that He is the Son of God, and that the first Person of the Holy Trinity is the Father, both his and ours, are being removed by our "partners" in ecumenical endeavors. Whatever de-mythologizing might have been contended with at the beginning of the ecumenical movement, what is now occurring can only be described as re-mythologizing: Re-Imagining/re-imaging.

An obvious case in point was the Re-Imagining Conference held in Minneapolis in November 1993. It celebrated the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women. "Wisdom/Sophia" was addressed as an alternative to and in distinction from the triune God, not merely a divine attribute, while a milk and honey ritual was offered as an ersatz eucharist. Worship of "Sophia" as goddess was definitely encouraged. [12]

Subsequently one of the conference organizers was discharged by her Presbyterian denomination only to be hired by the WCC as deputy director in Geneva.[13] Another co-convener of the conference, lesbian Methodist bishop, Jeanne Audrey Powers, was active for years in Faith and Order Work for the WCC.[14] Indeed, one might ask, "Whose faith and whose order?"

In the decade since the Re-Imagining Conference, advocacy for "Sophia" worship and rituals continues amongst certain of our ecumenical partners. Only this past June/July, during the Presbyterian General Assembly, Richmond, VA a meeting was held of "Voices of Sophia", a continuation of theRe-imagining/re-imaging movement, still invoking "Sophia" as a goddess. Whatever the Ecumenical Decade meant to Orthodox women, over a decade later,some of our ecumenical partners have yet to distance themselves from Sophia-worship. As one speaker said: "God is good. Isn't she?"[15]

Is this not that of which our Saviour warned, that many would come in his Name and say, Here is Christ, and there is Christ?

MORAL ISSUES

Abortion

Ecumenical dealing with the two most contentious moral issues in American society, abortion and homosexuality, indicate the failure to reach convergence, much less agreement, on the morals once delivered to the saints. For example, membership in both the NCC and WCC can be interpreted as endorsing a pro-abortion agenda, based upon statements and actions of the councils and its representatives.

Orthodox presence in the NCC has thwarted an attempt to proclaim a pro-abortion position officially, but its "witness" has not been sufficient to preclude then General Secretary Dr. Joan Brown Campbell's having gone on record for the NCC in support of a national health care reform proposal which included abortion coverage as an integral part, in 1993. Yet, both Roman Catholic Bishops and conservative Protestants, who are not NCC members, specifically denounced the abortion coverage provisions. [16]

Internationally, the World Council, for its part, in the mid '90's lobbied for the admission of feminist and pro-choice groups to attend the Beijing Conference on Women. [17] Likewise, concluding the Decade of Solidarity with Women, at Harare, 1998, the WCC issued a statement endorsing the concept of Reproductive Rights, a catch-phrase for abortion added after consensus was supposedly reached, much to the chagrin of Orthodox participants. [18]

Homosexuality

The other moral issue threatening the very fabric of society is, of course, the approbation sought by many secular forces to regard homosexuality as but an alternative life-style and homosexual marriage as a "holy union."

As with abortion, Orthodox presence has stalled acceptance into the NCC of a largely homosexual denomination, along with objections from some of the predominantly African-American Baptist council members. According to then General Secretary Campbell, the differing opinions on this issue, ranging from those of the Black churches and the Orthodox to that of the United Church of Christ, (which ordains openly gay and lesbian pastors), are all based in who the constituent bodies are. [19]

That is, Orthodox positions on homosexuality are viewed not as based on revealed truth but as opinions rooted in the cultures of the various member bodies. Thus, the Orthodox, like the Black Baptists, have their pigeon-hole, their historically determined niche. "Keep in it, conform to the stereotypes, and we will tolerate you." We Orthodox, after all, are seen as giving the movement its "integrity," to quote Ms. Campbell.[20] Yet, our "witness" seems to be nothing more than a patch on the quilt of multiculturalism rather than being the fabric of the apostolic faith. The most the Orthodox Churches have been able to do in the area of abortion or homosexuality is to preclude the adoption of positions officially favoring either. The behavior of our ecumenical partners otherwise exhibits even more dramatically the failure of our witness. Evidence of such can be notedin the following quote in 1996 by Dr Konrad Raiser, then General Secretary of the WCC:

"...the unity of the Christian Churches is facing serious new problems in the bosom of the World Council of Churches because of differences on matters of Christian ethics, such as contraceptives, sex education, and homosexuality," and he offered the further explanation that "many of the Council's 330 member-Churches unquestioningly accept homosexuality and have special ceremonies for all those homosexual couples who wish to seal their relationships with marriage." [21]

CONCLUSION: Truth and Falsehood

The interrelatedness of inclusive language and feminist theology, abortion and homosexuality, cannot be dismissed by anyone serious enough to be alarmed about ecumenism's role in current theological debate. In fact, the writings of feminist theologians would precisely tie all of these together and see them as parts of a whole. [22] The ecumenical convergence, to borrow a phrase, is one now so radically different from that of those early days ofthe World Council in Amsterdam. And it is a convergence that we lend credence to and "give integrity" to by our membership in and association with the institutionalized ecumenical movement.

Fr. Justin Popovich would offer us a critique of ecumenism, thus: "The contemporary dialogue of love, which takes the form of naked sentimentality, is in reality a denial of the salutary sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth (2 Th. 2:13), that is to say the unique salutary love ofthe truth. (2 Th. 2:10) The essence of love is truth; love lives and thrives as truth. Truth is the heart of each Godly virtue and therefore of love as well."[23]

His viewpoint is paralleled succinctly in the writings of German pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer in another context: "There can be no creedal confession without saying, 'In the light of Christ, this is true and that is false!'"

Even as we meet, an article has gone to press on the subject "Orthodox Christians and Public Life," for inclusion in the fall edition of Again Magazine. The author, Fr Patrick Reardon, a priest of the AntiochianChristian Archdiocese strongly advocates a serious realignment of Orthodox Christians in America in matters ecumenical.

He argues that the time has come to break off ecumenical relations with those liberal bodies such as are represented in the National Council of Churches if Orthodoxy is to have any major impact on American culture andsociety

"Some of these mainline Protestant churches should properly be considered part of the problem, not the solution...(I)t is in Orthodoxy's best interest to break off, cleanly and expeditiously, our inherited ties to the mainline Protestant churches in respect to social and political matters. Those alliances pertain to a decrepit, self-serving, superannuated ecumenism that has long outlived its favor with either God or man."[24]

So, let me repeat what I said at the beginning: Accepting the Orthodoxf aith, I confessed that this Church was the Bride of Christ in which was true salvation. I believed it then. I believe it now. I also believe that our ecumenical associations can, do, and will continue to have a cloying effect on the import of that confession, both in witness and mission.

Is it not high time to say, in the Light of Christ, what is true and what is false?Is not some form of disassociation the best way to say it? Is it not, as Fr Justin would warn us, the twelfth hour?[25]

To the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Notes

Schmemann, Alexander. Church, World, Mission. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1979. p. 202.

Garrett, Paul. St. Innocent: Apostle to America. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, p. 184.

Schaeffer, Frank. Dancing Alone. Holy Cross Press. p. 308.

George, Robert P. "What Can We Reasonably Hope For?" First Things, January 2000.

Niebuhr, R. Gustav. "The Lords Name: Image of God as He Loses Its Sovereignty in Americas Churches." The Wall Street Journal; April 27, 1992,A-4.

The Book of Worship. The United Church of Christ. "Baptism, " as quoted online: http://www.ucc.org/worship/tnch/baptism.pdf

Ibid.

The United Methodist Book of Worship. The United Methodist Church.#466.

The Book of Worship. The United Church of Christ. "Service of the Word II," as quoted online: http://www.ucc.org/worship/tnch/word2.pdf

The Book of Worship. The United Church of Christ. "Morning Prayer," as quoted online: http://www.ucc.org/worship/tnch/mp.pdf

Woodward, Kenneth L. "Hymns, Hers and Theirs." Newsweek. Feb. 12,1996, p. 75.

Small, Joseph D. and John P. Burgess. "Evaluating Re-Imaging". The Christian Century. April 6, 1994, p. 342-43.

Williamson, Parker T. "Sophia upstages Jesus at ReImagining Revival." The Layman Online, May/June 1998.

"Methodist Official Comes Out." The Christian Century. July 19-26, 1995.

Williamson, Parker T. "Staying Alive: Re-Imagining god group gathers at General Assembly." The Layman Online. Wednesday, June 30, 2004

"Religious Groups and Health Reform." The Christian Century. Oct. 6,1993. [At another time, Dr. Campbell discussed her role as spokesman for the NCC: "I try to root our statements in our theology and to make it clear we are speaking for the churches, not a secular organization." The Christian Century, Nov. 8, 1995. p. 1052 .]

"WCC Protests UN Plans for Women's Meetings." The Christian Century, 1995. p. 560.

"Together on the Way: Official Report of the Eighth Assembly." World Council of Churches.

"An Interview with Joan Brown Campbell." The Christian Century. Nov. 8,1995. p. 1052.

Campbell, Dr. Joan Brown. Address. Banquet. All-America Council of the Orthodox Church in America. Chicago. July, 1995.

Raiser, Konrad. "Unconventional Morality" Katholike, No. 2802, January 16, 1996. p. 4 [in Greek]. Viz, for example:

Pagels, "Images of God in Early Christianity;" Womanspirit Rising; Carol P. Christ laine H. "What Became of God the Mother? Conflicting and Judith Plaskow", Ed. Harper & Row, 1979. pp. 107-119.

Raming, Ida. "Male discourse about God in the liturgy and its effects on women" Lumen Vitae, Revue Internationale de Catéchèse et de Pastorale 55 (1999) pp. 47 - 57.

Mollenkott, Virginia Ramey. Sensuous Spirituality: Out from Fundamentalism New York: Crossroad. [Dr Mollenkott helped prepare the NCC's Inclusive Language Lectionary and participated in the Re-Imagining Conference in 1993.]

Popovich, Archimandrite Justin. Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ. Institute of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Inc. Belmont, MA. 1994. pp. 170 ff.

Reardon, Fr Patrick Henry. "Orthodox Christians and Public Life."

Again Magazine. Conciliar Press. Fall 2004. (Available on OrthodoxToday.org)

Popovich, op cit.

A longer, much earlier version of this article was published by "The Christian Activist" in 1996 with the title "The Price of Ecumenism: How ecumenism has hurt the Orthodox Church". The present article reflects a number of events which have transpired amongst our ecumenical partners since then.

Fr John Reeves is an Orthodox priest in the Diocese of Western Pennsylvania, OCA.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr