Machaerus: Beyond the Beheading of John the Baptist

August 24, 2012

Biblical Archaeology Society

Machaerus is the infamous setting of the beheading of John the Baptist. The historian Josephus corroborates a story from the Gospels in which John the Baptist condemned Herod Antipas’s marriage to his brother’s wife, Herodias. Herodias’s daughter Salome danced for her step-father, and when he offered to grant anything she asked, she demanded the beheading of John the Baptist. In “Machaerus: Where Salome Danced and John the Baptist Was Beheaded” in the September/October issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, excavation director Győző Vörös writes that “we can identify the very location of the party where Salome danced.”

While the beheading of John the Baptist lends the Herodian palace a special notoriety, Győző Vörös examines the archaeology and extended site history to show how the location of the Dead Sea fortress at Machaerus led to its special place in Herodian Judea. Looking across a longer expanse of history, the Hasmonean, Herodian and Zealot occupations at Machaerus tell the different stories of their respective periods, from regal luxury to the brutality of a Roman siege.

Machaerus was the easternmost of Herod’s renovated palatial fortresses. While Vörös insightfully notes comparisons to the other fortresses, Machaerus stands out because of its location east of the River Jordan. Rising majestically above the Dead Sea (see the cover of the September/October issue of BAR), the fortress could be seen from as far north as Alexandrium and as far south as Masada, and smoke signals from the citadel were visible in Jerusalem. In addition to its natural defensible position on a rocky hilltop, Machaerus served as the first line of defense—and warning—against any eastern invaders.

Machaerus was more than just a military outpost; the extensive renovations by Herod turned the originally defensive center into a lavish palace that set the stage for a (deadly) Herodian birthday party. In “Machaerus: Where Salome Danced and John the Baptist Was Beheaded,” Győző Vörös explores the archaeology, architecture and history of the site, telling Machaerus’s tale from the lower city to the citadel’s peaks, and from its Hasmonean origins to a cruel ending at the hands of the Roman army.

For more about Machaerus, read Győző Vörös, “Machaerus: Where Salome Danced and John the Baptist Was Beheaded.” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2012

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Isaiah's Prophecy of John the Forerunner

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"The voice of one that cries in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).

When a king wants to visit a certain place, he sends before him in advance his heralds. To an unusual king an unusual herald is appropriate. The herald of Christ the King in the wilderness was Moses; in Jerusalem, the Prophets; in Nazareth, the Archangel; in Bethlehem, the Magi of the East; on the Jordan, John. Not one king in the history of mankind has had such heralds.

St. John the Baptist was also as unusual and special as were the other heralds of Christ. He was the voice crying in the two-fold wilderness: in the wilderness of Jordan and in the human wilderness. Just as the wilderness of Jordan was fruitless and dry, so the wilderness of the human spirit, was unfruitful and dry. John was not able to make the human wilderness green and fruitful, but he cleared and plowed it and, in that way, was preparing the earth and leveled it [the earth] for the great Sower Who, by His coming, brings with Him the seed and the rain to sow the seed of knowledge and the rain of grace from on high to make it green and be fruitful.

By repentance, John prepared the way and by baptism in water, made the path straight. The way and the paths these are the souls of men. By repentance, the souls of men were prepared to receive the seed of Christ and by baptism in water to bury that seed deep in the earth of their heart. The proud and the lowly when they are immersed naked in the water are all as one, equal in their nothingness before the majesty of the All-glorious Christ the Savior: "Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low" (Isaiah 40:4). The word here is not about earthly valleys and hills but of lowly and proud men. As corpses in the grave are all the same before the eyes of a living man, thus all sinners, lowly and proud, slaves and masters are equal before the living God.

Such a wondrous vision was seen by Isaiah, the son of Amos, the prophet of the living God, the one and true God.

O Lord, Heavenly King, to Whom the heavenly hosts worship day and night, look down once again upon our nothingness and because of Your humiliation and passion for us, save us. Amen.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

John is the Voice, Jesus is the Word

By St. Augustine of Hippo

John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever.

Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart.

However, let us observe what happens when we first seek to build up our hearts. When I think about what I am going to say, the word or message is already in my heart. When I want to speak to you, I look for a way to share with your heart what is already in mine.

In my search for a way to let this message reach you, so that the word already in my heart may find place also in yours, I use my voice to speak to you. The sound of my voice brings the meaning of the word to you and then passes away. The word which the sound has brought to you is now in your heart, and yet it is still also in mine.

When the word has been conveyed to you, does not the sound seem to say: The word ought to grow, and I should diminish? The sound of the voice has made itself heard in the service of the word, and has gone away, as though it were saying: My joy is complete. Let us hold on to the word; we must not lose the word conceived inwardly in our hearts.

Do you need proof that the voice passes away but the divine Word remains? Where is John’s baptism today? It served its purpose, and it went away. Now it is Christ’s baptism that we celebrate. It is in Christ that we all believe; we hope for salvation in him. This is the message the voice cried out.

Because it is hard to distinguish word from voice, even John himself was thought to be the Christ. The voice was thought to be the word. But the voice acknowledged what it was, anxious not to give offence to the word. I am not the Christ, he said, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. And the question came: Who are you, then? He replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord. The voice of one crying in the wilderness is the voice of one breaking the silence. Prepare the way for the Lord, he says, as though he were saying: “I speak out in order to lead him into your hearts, but he does not choose to come where I lead him unless you prepare the way for him”.

What does prepare the way mean, if not “pray well”? What does prepare the way mean, if not “be humble in your thoughts”? We should take our lesson from John the Baptist. He is thought to be the Christ; he declares he is not what they think. He does not take advantage of their mistake to further his own glory.

If he had said, “I am the Christ”, you can imagine how readily he would have been believed, since they believed he was the Christ even before he spoke. But he did not say it; he acknowledged what he was. He pointed out clearly who he was; he humbled himself.

He saw where his salvation lay. He understood that he was a lamp, and his fear was that it might be blown out by the wind of pride.

Source: (Hom. 293, 3: PL 1328-1329)

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Forerunner of the Lord, John the Baptist

By St. Bede the Venerable

As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendour of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.

There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.

Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.

Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptized in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptize the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.

Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

Source: (Hom 23: CCL 122, 354, 356-357)

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Meteora's Prison for Monks

By John Sanidopoulos

I first travelled to Meteora when I was 15 years old with my mother and my grandmother. We only had a day and a half to visit all the monasteries there, so we hired a random taxi driver from neighboring Kalambaka to serve as our tour guide over our two day pilgrimage. The taxi driver was a very pious man, whose cab was decorated with many icons of saints, and he was very knowledgeable about all things Meteora. As we drove from one monastery to the next, one particular rock structure caught my eye that fascinated me. I asked the driver what it was. He told us that it was a prison for monks, where they repented for their sins. In my 15 year old immature imagination I thought of this as a place of punishment and exile. I imagined what life must have been like there, what sins would have brought them there, how they endured the harsh elements, how long they served their sentence, etc. It was a complete mystery, and to this day I never have come across any reliable texts concerning this prison of monks at Meteora, until recently after 21 years a speculation came to me that may not seem too improbable.

One of the most haunting and fascinating sections of The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus of Sinai is recorded in Step 5, where he talks about the repentance of the monks, whom St. John called "convicts", in a harsh secluded monastery known as "The Prison". When one reads this section, you could hardly believe that this was ever a real place, but St. John stayed at the Prison for a month, and recorded for us what he saw that made an extremely deep impression on him.

The Prison that St. John visited was where monks who had gravely sinned lived in extreme ascesis and gave extraordinary proofs of repentance, straining by their labors to receive God’s forgiveness. Far from appearing as extreme and intolerable, this Prison seemed rather to the Saint to be the model of monastic life: “A soul that has lost its one-time confidence and abandoned its hope of dispassion, that has broken the seal of chastity, that has squandered the treasury of divine graces, that has become a stranger to divine consolation, that has rejected the Lord’s command…and that is wounded and pierced by sorrow as it remembers all this, will not only take on the labors mentioned above with all eagerness, but will even decide devoutly to kill itself with penitential works. It will do so if there is in it only the tiniest spark of love or of fear of the Lord.”

If you have not read about the Prison described by St. John, I would encourage you to do so. It can be read here, between pages 29-34.

In 1959 Thomas Merton wrote a review for The Ladder of Divine Ascent in Jubilee magazine, where he praised it in many ways. However, he took exception to one section, and that was towards the chapter which describes the Prison. To him, it insulted his intelligence that St. John praised this form of asceticism and repentance, and he accused these monks of having various mental disorders. This proves that those who think according to the worlds standards and have distanced themselves away from the ascetical tradition of the Church and the way of the pious, see such things as utter follishness, insane, demented.

Regarding the prison for Monks at Meteora, which is known also as the Rock of the Holy Spirit, there are various traditions surrounding it with no positive identification. For example, we know that in the last half of the 18th century the Turkish-Albanians occupied this area and may have used it as a prison. In the beginning of the 19th century the Turks used the monasteries of Meteora as prisons and places of exile for punished clergy from Constantinople, but there is no record they stayed at the Rock of the Holy Spirit. In fact, no one knows if they were really ever prisons at all. It could have just been a place for ascetics to stay. But why call it a prison? There must be something to that tradition. Perhaps there was a certain resemblance to the way of life here that there was in the Prison described by St. John. It's all speculation, but a valid theory nonetheless.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The “Explosion” of Orthodox Christianity in Guatemala

Jesse Brandow

August 27, 2012

St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary

Whenever someone speaks of “American Orthodoxy,” there is usually an unspoken understanding that the term refers to North American Orthodoxy: the United States, Canada, and sometimes Mexico. This way of speaking is indeed convenient, considering that the majority of Orthodox parishes in the Western Hemisphere are still located in North America. However, in the past few years a great change has occurred in Latin America that makes it increasingly inaccurate to focus on North America as the western outpost of Orthodoxy. Just two years ago, in 2010, the Orthodox Church received a large group of Guatemalan converts numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Now Guatemala, and possibly all of Latin America, holds tremendous promise of becoming fertile ground for the Orthodox Christian Church.

The seed of Orthodoxy in Guatemala was planted by the nuns of the Hogar Rafael Ayau, an Orthodox orphanage in Guatemala City. Many people are familiar with the incredible work of Mother Inés, Mother Ivonne, and Mother María. In fact, just this year a group of seminarians from St. Vladimir's Seminary traveled with the seminary Chancellor/CEO Archpriest Chad Hatfield to see the work of the nuns and to assist at the orphanage. It is through these nuns that the Guatemalan soil was first prepared for the Orthodox Church.

Now, with the recent chrismation of a new group of Guatemalan converts that numbers between 100,000 and 200,000, the Orthodox Church is ready to blossom in Guatemala. The magnitude of the event cannot be overstated. Almost overnight, Guatemala has become the most Orthodox country in the Western Hemisphere (by percentage of national population). Furthermore, the Orthodox communities in Guatemala continue to grow rapidly and attract attention throughout Guatemala. There is still, however, little information available to the broader Orthodox world on the history and character of these new communities. For this reason, I traveled to Guatemala this summer, spending two months visiting many of the Orthodox parishes, meeting the leaders of the communities, and accompanying the bishop of the Guatemalan Church—His Eminence, Metropolitan Athenagoras—as he made his historic first visit to the new parishes in Guatemala. I returned to the United States with the desire to share what I saw and the conviction that the Holy Spirit is at work with power in Latin America.

The new Orthodox communities are in touch with the nuns of the Hogar, but they are an independent movement with a unique history. These communities are mostly made up of native Mayans and have roots in the Roman Catholic Church. They first began in the 1970s and 1980s as a Roman Catholic renewal movement called the “Charismatic Renewal in the Holy Spirit.” For various reasons, including the movement's charismatic prayer practices and emphasis on music in church services, the parishes of the Charismatic Renewal became estranged from the Roman Catholic Church. Many communities went decades without sacraments until, in the 1990s, a former Roman Catholic priest named Fr. Andrés Girón took the movement under his wing. A very prominent figure in Guatemala, Fr. Andrés had served in the Guatemalan senate, acted as an ambassador to the United Nations, and led a large movement for land reform among the rural poor of Guatemala. These activities were part of what caused Fr. Andrés to come into tension with the Roman Catholic Church, eventually leaving the Church before taking leadership of the parishes of the Charismatic Renewal.

It was through Fr. Andrés that the communities of the Charismatic Renewal began to move towards the Orthodox Church. Fr. Andrés first joined a non-canonical Orthodox group called the Society of Secular Clerics, and he was soon ordained a bishop in this group. However, as he became more familiar with broader Orthodox Christianity, Fr. Andrés sought out the canonical Orthodox Church. A number of priests from other countries came to evaluate the situation in Guatemala, and then in April of 2010, Fr. Andrés was received into the canonical Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

After Fr. Andrés entered the Orthodox Church, then began the process of ordaining priests, chrismating the faithful, and educating the hundreds of thousands of new Orthodox. Over the last two years, a total of eight priests who were originally ordained non-canoncially have now been ordained as priests in the Orthodox Church. One of those priests spent a year in Greece to learn about Orthodoxy and become an iconographer, and there are plans for other priests to spend time abroad growing in Orthodoxy. The priests have begun to train a large team of catechists to go into all the villages to teach the people about Orthodoxy. In addition, a missionary priest from Pennsylvania, Fr. John Chakos, has begun working in Guatemala to assist the Guatemalan leaders and teach the faithful.

While the eight priests of the Guatemalan Orthodox Church are familiar with Orthodox theology and history, the majority of the Orthodox faithful still have much to learn and need time to grow. Many parishes lack basic iconography and essential liturgical supplies, and the communities are still relatively unfamiliar with the Divine Liturgy and other Orthodox services. Nevertheless, the communities have the seed of powerful faith: parishes are always packed on Sundays, sometimes with close to a thousand people; lay leaders are well-versed in Scripture and deliver convicting sermons to the congregations; and many communities center all of their activities around the Church, with some villages faithfully tithing ten percent of their crops and money. The Guatemalan Orthodox are indeed still newborns in the Church, but they are already growing in the Orthodox Church and have reacted well to the changes that are being made to bring them closer to the fulness of the faith. These “little ones” of Guatemala, the newborn Mayan Orthodox, will not be turned away by the Lord.

As we continue to discuss the future of “American Orthodoxy,” we must not forget that the providence of God often guides the Church in unexpected ways, and His providence is now calling our attention to Latin America. When, in 1867, St. Innocent reflected on the sale of Alaska to the United States, he said, “I see in this event one of the ways of Providence whereby Orthodoxy will penetrate the United States.” These words are often recalled in discussions of American Orthodoxy, along with the stories of the rapid conversion of native Alaskans to the Orthodox Church. Now, in our lifetime, as many as 200,000 native Guatemalans have turned to the Orthodox Church—is this not the continuation of God's Providence in the Western Hemisphere? The Holy Spirit has opened a door for the faith to penetrate Latin America through Guatemala, and this event calls us to recognize and believe in the tremendous potential for the Orthodox Church to flourish in this hemisphere. We are called to stand with the Orthodox Christians of Guatemala: through prayer, through donations of liturgical supplies and monetary support, and through missionaries and teachers who will go to Guatemala to help the people learn and grow.

Finally, we are called to once again be inspired by the richness of “American Orthodoxy.” From the small wooden churches of Alaska to the large food festivals of Pittsburgh and Chicago, from the Orthodox parishes that dot South America to the Mayan communities that live under the volcanoes of Guatemala—the beauty of God's Church is alive and growing in the Western Hemisphere. Let us embrace the work of God's Providence, supporting the Guatemalan Orthodox Church and tending to the faith throughout all the Americas, so that the seed of American Orthodoxy will grow and blossom.

For more information on the Guatemalan Orthodox Church and my summer travels to the Guatemalan communities, see my blog, which has articles and pictures that give a fuller understanding of Guatemalan Orthodoxy. If you would like to know how you can support the Guatemalan Orthodox Church, please contact Fr. John Chakos, the missionary priest who is serving in Guatemala under the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC). You can also find articles by Fr. John Chakos about the Guatemalan communities on the blog of Pres. Alexandra Chakos.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Monk Moses of Platina Monastery

Maria Kirkulescu

February 2009

Lumea Credintei

A frozen forest, a small church, few monks - all young Americans, smiling. The tomb of Fr. Seraphim Rose is a short distance away, behind the church.The February night comes quickly.

We learn that there is only one cell for women with two beds. For men there is also only one cell, but with many more beds. Fr. Moses appears, a black man...very black. In the night one can only see his teeth, smiling as he gives us hospitality. He is tall, around two meters! He leads us to the cell where he has started a fire. Then I suddenly associated him with the icon of St. Moses the Ethiopian that I saw in the Church of St. Herman in Platina. It was like a living answer to my perplexity when I saw the icon among dozens of Russian icons of saints, at a far away place in America. The young "colored" Orthodox American monk did not receive by chance his name at his tonsure.

The next day we had breakfast, and we saw the obedience of Moses was in the refectory: he cooked, he quickly served, he read from a book while we were all eating. His hospitality was done with much love, with simple non-pretentious movements, and joy given from heart to heart. The young Orthodox American had these like St. Moses the Ethiopian.

If in 21st century America, where 1% of the population is Orthodox, someone can have as an example the asceticism of St. Moses the Ethiopian, then all is not lost.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Desecration of Crosses in Russia and the Russian Church

Top-less activist group FEMEN uses a chainsaw to cut-down a WWII memorial cross in a demonstration of support for Russian female activist group Pussy Riot. 

The Russian Orthodox Church said an antireligious campaign – in sympathy with Pussy Riot punk band – was under way after four large wooden crosses were destroyed over the weekend.

Fred Weir

August 27, 2012

The Christian Science Monitor

The Russian Orthodox Church is warning of an organized antireligious campaign under way against Christians in Russia, after vandals in two widely separated regions took chainsaws to four large wooden crosses over the weekend.

Church spokespeople maintain the damage was done by people who are either in sympathy or in league with the Pussy Riot collective, three of whose members were sentenced to two years in a penal colony earlier this month for profaning an Orthodox altar with an obscenity-laced "punk prayer" that called upon the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Vladimir Putin.

The four crosses were chopped down by unknown persons who left police no clues to their motives or identity. One was a large wooden crucifix erected to the memory of Soviet-era political prisoners in the far northern region of Archangelsk. Russian media reported three more wooden crosses were destroyed in Chelyabinsk region over the weekend, which is thousands of miles away in western Siberia.

A local priest in Archangelsk, Hegumen Feodosy, told the state-run Russia Today network that the destruction of the cross, just across the street from his church, was the latest in a series of arson and vandal attacks on religious symbols in his locality and around Russia.

"This comes in the context of all these incidents in recent months across the country, all this anti-church hysteria waged against our diocese, against the church authority, against everything sacred," he told RT.

But Pyotr Verzilov, a Pussy Riot activist and husband of one of the imprisoned women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, told journalists the group has no connection with the latest episodes of vandalism and doesn't approve of them. Two members of the group, which is a radical feminist "performance art" collective, reportedly fled Russia last week to escape police efforts to arrest them in connection with the Feb. 21 "punk prayer" in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Two weeks ago, in Kiev, members of a Ukrainian feminist "performance art" collective, Femen, chainsawed a large wooden Orthodox cross as an explicit protest against the Pussy Riot verdict. The Femen women argued they were cutting down the symbol of "a corrupt church" whose actions prop up the "dictatorship" of Mr. Putin.

"What we're seeing here are copycat acts, people who take a signal from what Pussy Riot did, and it could be very dangerous," says Alexei Mukhin, director of the independent Center for Political Information in Moscow.

"Having said that, however, it should be noted that the church leaders are not being entirely forthcoming here. They have a vested interest in portraying themselves as victims, especially since they failed so miserably in the Pussy Riot struggle," he says.

Church officials began seriously complaining of a wave of sacrilegious assaults early this year, citing the Pussy Riot affair and other acts of vandalism to suggest a wider conspiracy to undermine the church's prestige and authority in Russian society.

Pro-church commentators have been quick to argue that the weekend attacks on crosses, which are a fundamental symbol of Christianity, look like an unambiguous assault on religious believers and cannot be mistaken for a "political protest" as the women of Pussy Riot claimed they were carrying out.

"These actions clearly speak of the moral values ​​of those who are attacking the church," Father Vsevolod Chaplin, a leading church spokesman, told the independent Interfax agency. "With these symbolic actions they are seeking to impose their will on the majority of the population," he added.

At an April rally in Moscow of about 50,000 people called to defend the church from its enemies, Patriarch Kirill warned that individual acts of blasphemy and sacrilege presented a profound threat to social order.

"We are under attack by persecutors," Kirill said at the time. "The danger is in the very fact that blasphemy, derision of the sacred is put forth as a lawful expression of human freedom which must be protected in a modern society."

Some critics argue the main problem is not the acts of vandalism and profanity – however reprehensible they may be – but that the church has overstepped the bounds of secular society and is seeking to regain its traditional role as ideological gatekeeper of the Russian state.

In recent years, the church has been criticized for backing criminal prosecutions of artists and gallery directors who display allegedly blasphemous art works, for attempting to prescribe how Russian women ought to dress in public, and for being excessive in its demands for the return of historic church lands and artifacts that were nationalized and handed over to Russian state museums in Soviet times.

Several scandals have rocked the church in recent months, including blog-fueled revelations about the lavish lifestyles and wealth of Patriarch Kirill and other top clergy. This month, Russian media reported a still largely unexplained story about a senior priest at a leading Moscow church who, allegedly drunk and driving an expensive sports car with foreign diplomatic plates, plowed into two other cars, causing massive damage and several injuries.

During the presidential election campaign last winter, Patriarch Kirill publicly described candidate Putin as "a miracle from God," which many critics – including the women of Pussy Riot – took as a violation of Russia's strictly secular constitution and a sign of a growing political nexus between church and state.

"This is not a simple or one-sided issue," says Mr. Mukhin. "Now the church is trying to persuade everyone that there is a great monster menacing the church and society. Yes, vandalism is a threat, but the behavior and public actions of the church are agitating society and are part of the problem."

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Great Vespers at St. Kosmas Monastery in Ontario

Great Vespers was held at St. Kosmas Greek Orthodox Monastery in Bolton, Ontario on August 23, 2012 (the feast of the Monastery). Led by His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios, approximately 8,000 faithful participated. In addition to the many clergy who took part, also present was His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatius IV of Arta, who was visiting from Greece.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Video: Coptic Movie About St. Moses the Ethiopian

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Scientists and the Fathers of the Church

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

The Fathers of the Church studied the creation of the cosmos with a theological purpose. They renounced both materialism and metaphysics. Thus, the two philosophical orientations “in the beginning was matter” and “in the beginning was the idea” was contrasted with “in the beginning was the Logos”. God is a person, He is love, because love is an uncreated energy of God. Therefore God is neither an idea nor matter. Later they say that God created the cosmos “out of nothing”, “without the existence of matter” but with His word which is His uncreated energy, which creates created beings.

Contemporary scientists are divided into two categories in interpreting new discoveries. In the first category are those who accept that some power outside of space and time created the cosmos. In the second category are the agnostics and atheists who interpret the creation of the cosmos without believing in the existence of God....

According to the Fathers, scientists can study the cosmos, examine what it is, how it happened, but they cannot enter into other areas, such as the existence or non-existence of God. Besides, the work of science is one thing and the work of Orthodox theologians is another and there should be no conflict or confusion between them. Science investigates the created world, matter, atoms, molecules, protons, particles, cells, genes, etc., while theology, which is empirical, deals with how man can know the person of God with His uncreated energies. Science progresses in various discoveries which should benefit and not harm people, and Orthodox theology gives answers to the spiritual matters of man and how he can acquire unconditional love towards God and his fellow man, at a time not only when the “death of God” is preached, but also the “death of one’s neighbor”.

Finally, no matter how many discoveries science makes, man hungers and thirsts for a personal God, for unconditional love, inner peace and freedom, for spiritual completeness. He wants to know what exists beyond creation, what happens after death, what is eternal life, etc.

Man is not an unreasonable being, but develops culture, nurtures spiritual principles, searches for God and seeks to experience His love. Hence, science is trying to give an explanation for creation and the establishment of the cosmos, but that which has great significance is who created the cosmos and man. God is not an irrational force, nor a blissful being, but a person. He is the Logos who created the cosmos and within all of creation there are “logoi of being”, the energy of God.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Pateritsa (Staff) of St. Savvas the Sanctified

By John Sanidopoulos

When St. Savvas the Sanctified was near his end (6th century), he told his monks to watch for one day in the distant future when an archbishop, a man of God bearing the same name, would come from a far-off western land. The monks were to give this man St. Savvas' pateritsa (pastoral staff) and an icon of the Panagia. They would know it was the right man when at the moment of his paying veneration to the tomb the tied up staff will fall to the ground. Two hundred years later, St. John of Damascus added his own wonderworking icon of the Panagia Tricherousa (Three Hands) to this inheritance.

When St. Sava of Serbia visited the monastery of his namesake some 700 years after St. Savvas' death, the monks had still maintained the prophesy of their founder, and now found its fulfillment in St. Sava of Serbia. While he was paying veneration to the saint’s tomb, the staff fell down. The miracle repeated the next day, and all doubts of the monks were gone. They knew for sure then that the Serb Sava was the one they had been waiting for. This is how the much-revered icon of the Panagia of Three Hands (through which the miracle of the restoration of St. John of Damascus' hand was accomplished), as well as the pateritsa, came to reside at the Serbian Hilandari Monastery on Mt. Athos.

Today in Karyes there is a Cell which belongs to Hilandari Monastery that goes by the name Pateritsa. The ebony staff, made from the tusks of an elephant, is within a cabinet of the north aisle of the Chapel of the Transfiguration of the Cell.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Metropolitan of Aitolia: Encyclical On the Old Calendarists

Press Release

In the Holy City of Messolonghi, the 20th of August 2012

Metropolitan Kosmas of Aitolia and Arkanania visited on Sunday 19 August 2012 Paliambela Vonitsa, where he liturgized in the parish of the Holy Church of Saint Athanasios and informed the faithful of the recent issue created in the region because of the desertion from the Orthodox Church and the transition of Archimandrite Anatolios Psychogios to "Bishop" of the schismatic Old Calendarists.

His Eminence, speaking on the issue of the Old Calendarists, said among other things: "I ask God to enlighten Fr. Anatolios to return. I have the responsibility as a Bishop to inform everyone and I encourage everyone to have no spiritual communication or relationship... And of the same I ask that he come to repentance."

Metropolitan Kosmas of Aitolia and Arkanania, having previously contacted and informed the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, and explained the events competently to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, issued an Encyclical Note to inform the population, which was read in the Holy Churches of the region during the Divine Liturgy on 19 August 2012.

Also, the Metropolitan with the decision of Act no. 55/16.8.2012 revoked the granted license to liturgize in the private Holy Church of Saint Kosmas the Aitolos in Paliambela Vonitsa and "prohibits its liturgizing hereafter, duly ordering its closure."

Please find enclosed the text of the Encyclical, as well as the Act of the Metropolitan.

From the Press and Communication Office of the Holy Meteropolis.

+++

Encyclical

THE GREEK REPUBLIC

The HOLY METROPOLIS OF AITOLIA AND AKARNANIA

Archbishop Damaskinou 10

302 00 Mesolongion

Tel: 26310-22322, 22421

Fax: 26310-28701

Website: www.imaa.gr

E- mail: imaa@otenet.gr

In the Holy City of Messolonghi, the 17th of August 2012

Number Reference: 743

To All and Especially to the Parish Priests of the Most Sacred Regions of Amphilochia, Vonitsa and Katounes.

For the present, as your spiritual father, who loves you and ministers your salvation, I wish to inform you on a topic that arose recently in our region, and I ask that you listen carefully. I sincerely want to say and assure you that I am not moved by any agenda or personal ambition.

The only thing that stimulates me to update you is the glory of our Triune God and your salvation. Archimandrite Anatolios Psychogios is known to all. He originates from our region, and he previously founded and operated the "International Academy of Saint Kosmas Aitolos" in Paliambela Vonitsa, and many times we co-liturgized in various Holy Churches of our Holy Metropolis.

We honored him and received him with love in our Holy Metropolis. Unexpectedly however he joined the schismatic Old Calendarists, and was elected and ordained "Bishop" in the sectarian faction of "Archbishop" Auxentios.

We do not have the time right now to explain his joining the schismatics of the Old Calendar. But I have to acknowledge to you that the "Bishops" of the Old Calendarists neither have apostolic succession, nor canonical ordination, nor do their Mysteries have validity. So the salvation of Christians following them is dubious and weak.

Besides this, I ask and urge you all paternally, to have no spiritual relationship or dependence with the severed from our Church, Fr. Anatolios.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Divine Liturgy is the Greatest Mission of the Church

By Elder Sophrony of Essex

Our greatest missionary work in life takes place in the Divine Liturgy. The Fathers of the Church would always build an Altar of Sacrifice in whatever country or city they traveled to. And this is so, because when the heart is sweetened by the Divine Liturgy, it then seeks God. It then desires to live an Orthodox ecclesiastical life, the heart of which is the Holy Eucharist.

I told the brotherhood that it should always be a priority for it to perform the Divine Liturgy in the Monastery. The prayers of the Divine Liturgy should not be intoned for personal gratification because at that moment the priests are expressing the prayers of all those praying in Church. And for this reason the priests should not be praying with self-centered feelings. We do not celebrate as individuals.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Married Life and Praying Like Ascetics

By Elder Sophrony of Essex

There are some people who wish to incorporate married life with the sweetness of prayer, praying like the ascetics. But this effort cannot be accomplished. This is why married people become worried and distraught. The Prayer of the Heart requires purity of heart and body. We must discreetly guide and inform married couples that it is better to stop the Prayer of the Heart rather than to stop communicating with one another for the sake of the marriage. If the marriage fails then the husband will seek out another woman and most likely the wife will seek out another man, and if this happens, then all prayer is lost. When the family disintegrates then prayer is lost. Discreet coordination is required between the married and spiritual state guided by an experienced Spiritual Father.

Source

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Orthodox Christian Family Bullied in Uzbekistan

August 24, 2012

UZNews.net

Orthodox Christian Natalya Pleshakova, who is disabled from childhood, and her mother have been severely beaten up and tried in Tashkent.

Pleshakova, 26, disabled from childhood, will forever remember her day on 6 August.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning the gate of their house on Ok Yul Street in Tashkent was broken and six strong men with sticks and clubs stormed into their yard.

Natalya, who is on crutches, walked towards them hardly managing to cover herself. When she asked "Who are you?" she received a first blow and she was dragged to the kitchen.

What did the police look for?

What did six huge men who turned the house upside down need?

One of them looked for house documents while others collected icons, bibles, religious calendars and prayer books.

All this happened under the very eyes of a beat officer who filmed everything on his mobile phone, trying to catch Natalya or her mother Valentina Semenovna avoid hits or answer curses and insults.

Natalya, in handcuffs, managed to sneak into her room to make calls to police and an Orthodox church. When they saw her do that they seized her phone and beat her up again.

All this had lasted for four hours when a Damas minibus arrived with several officers with assault rifles in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas. Their leader said he was "Aziz from police". The women decided they were saved but not yet.

They were beaten up in front of neighbours who were called up as witnesses to represent a neighborhood committee.

Charges of missionary activities

The events unfolded in office 303 at Tashkent's Mirabad district police department where Natalya and her mother were taken.

There Natalya was offered to convert to Islam for its allegedly being better than Christianity, since it allows a man to have four wives. The young woman refused.

She then was threatened and beaten. Frightened and exhausted, Natalya was then forced to write a tender saying that she had stored 125 religious books and items, and "Aziz from police" dictated her titles which she heard for the first time.

"Aziz from police" said that there was nothing wrong in writing that it all belonged to a dead grandmother, and the knackered women were set free at about two in the morning.

Natalya called ambulance and was taken to hospital where her injuries were documented.

Trial

The following day the women went to the district prosecutor's office which refused to accept their complaint. Soon afterwards "Aziz from police" and the beat officer drove them to a court trial and the women were handed over to two officers.

Judge B Ermatov spent only five minutes on "hearing the case", the women said, and ordered them to go home without even reading out his ruling. Only a week later did they receive the ruling.

The judge decided that the women had resisted police and had stored the banned religious literature at home and conducted missionary activities. He fined them 20 minimum monthly wages each.

The Pleshakovs

Natalya's father died in the 1990s, and her brother lost sanity after a traffic accident. Her mother Valentina, who worked as a cashier at a barber's shop, had to deal with all this.

When her children got sick, Natalya could not help her mother or do housework, so Valentina had to give up her job to look after her children.

The family became impoverished, as Natalya's disability allowance is only 100,000 sums or $35 a month.

This money is not enough for essentials, let alone medicines Natalya badly needs. Now she has problems with her kidneys.

The women started frequenting Tashkent's Dormition Cathedral, where Valentina tries to be useful.

She washes dead bodies and reads the psalms. When they run short of money, Valentina, 54, begs outside the cathedral.

What is behind this horror?

The women said that someone wanted to appropriate a plot of land on which their house stands.

They have another property which costs tens of thousands of dollars.

The women, who have never seen such money, fear their house will be seized, especially after sanitary inspectors came to inspect their houses for the first time in decades. They may face fines.

Why should they be charged with being part of a sect being, or forced to change their faith?

Orthodox Christians were never persecuted in Uzbekistan in the past. On the contrary, President Islam Karimov personally ordered the expansion of the Dormition Cathedral.

The cathedral opened the country's first seminary, and there are now more Orthodox parishes in Uzbekistan than in tsarist times.

The Tashkent and Uzbekistan eparchy is against sects, and its Zhivoye Slovo and Vostok Svyshe publications prove it.

The current Metropolitan Vikentiy knows the women very well and allocated money for Natalya's treatment. He also complained to the State Religious Affairs Committee about the incident.

[I had to edit this article a bit to make it more readable, and eliminated the title which read: "Christian family converted to Islam, beaten, tried in Tashkent". In fact, the family never converted to Islam. I reposted this article to make these clarifications. - J.S.]

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Tomb and Relics of St. Kosmas Aitolos

By John Sanidopoulos

In the Albanian village of Kolikontasi of Great Mouzakia in Northern Epirus, in the historical Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos, lies the tomb of St. Kosmas Aitolos, the Equal to the Apostles. Today the Monastery surrounding the church goes by the name of St. Kosmas.

The Monastery of Saint Kosmas Aitolos was built between August 1813 and June 1814 by Ali Pasha of Tepelena when he acquired the Pashalik of Berat. When Ali Pasha entered Berat he remembered Fr. Kosmas, who was martyred there, and invited Metropolitan Ioasaph II of Berat to build a Monastery in the Saint's name and transfer his relics there, because he considered him to be a true man of God.

The relics of St. Kosmas rest in the Archdiocese in Tirana for security reasons. They rest in a simple wooden coffin. The skull was stolen in 1917 by Austria-Hungarians and likely rest today in a museum in Vienna. The lower jaw is in the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Andros. His right hand rests in the Church of Saint Kosmas in Konitsi. Also, portions of relics of his fingers and toes rest in many places, such as Ioannina, the Monastery of Dousikou, and other places. Portions of his relics were also given by Archbishop Anastasios of Albania to the Church of Greece, which rest in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. Another portion is in the Monastery of Saint Kosmas in Aitoloakarnania.

In 1984 Professors Panagiotis Christopoulos and P.B. Paschou visited the area by special permission of the Albanian regime, and brought publicity to the shrine.

As for how the Monastery survived the atheistic regime of Enver Hoxha, Christos Mitros from the city of Fieri, Albania has revealed the following, after his baptism as an Orthodox Christian:

"When in 1968 the law of the Albanian state prohibited any religious event, there came an order from Tirana to destroy the churches and for the crosses to disappear from the Christian graves. The Fieri police commander took with him a competent crew and went to the Monastery to destroy it. Knowing the devotion of the Greeks to St. Kosmas, he instructed to begin the work by demolishing first the tomb of the Saint. When workers gave the first blow to the church monument, then a loud roar broke the stillness of the area and a strong fire sprang from the grave of the Saint. Terrified bystanders fled and did not return despite threats coming from Tirana and despite the reassuring statement of the commander that supposedly a forgotten World War 2 bomb exploded. Therefore they did not desecrate the tomb of St. Kosmas and the grace-filled relics remained there as a balm on the wounds of Christians and the hope that the "the desirable will come" (Archimandrite Timothy Iliaki, The Supplication Canon to Saint Kosmas the Aetolian, New Philadelphia 1997, p. 61).

Read also: Προσκύνημα στον Tάφο του Αγίου Πατροκοσμά του Αιτωλού

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

St. Kosmas Aitolos and the Education of the Greeks

By John Sanidopoulos

One of the primary missions of St. Kosmas Aitolos (+ 1779) was to establish schools wherever he preached to prevent as well as reverse the Turkification of the Greek people and its future generations. His primary territory was in the regions of Epirus, Macedonia and Albania. At the time the majority of the Greek people were illiterate due to lack of schools, and education was seen as an essential tool in recovering their identity, remembering their history, and continuing their traditions. This eventually would help lead to the Greek Revolution of 1821.

St. Kosmas would say: "Open schools. You also, my brethren, be educated and learn letters, as much as you can. And if the fathers don't learn, then let the children be educated to learn Greek, because our Church is Greek. And if you do not learn Greek, my brother, you cannot learn what our Church confesses. It is better for you to have a Greek school in your land rather than springs and rivers, and as much as your child learns letters, then he is called a person."

Due to the efforts of St. Kosmas 210 Greek schools were established, and another 1,100 elementary schools operated so Greek children could learn to read and write. He did this while living in total poverty, having no home, no money, no clothes except for what he wore, and no bag to carry any belongings.

This was only one of the many contributions of St. Kosmas Aitolos to the Greek people, which ended with the sacrifice of his own life.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Beyond the Pussy Riot Sentencing

I will use this page as a resource for articles I find interesting and worth reading concerning the Pussy Riot case and its aftermath. It will be updated as new articles come forward.

Pussy Riot Sentences Split Russian Society

Pussy Riot's Crime and Unfair Punishment

Pussy Riot: A Complex View From Orthodox Moscow

Pussy Riot is the tip of the iceberg – 'there's a lot of intimidation going on'

Too Much Noise About Pussy Riot

Why Pussy Riot Is Not The Most Important Political Case In Russia

Pussy Riot Sentence Brings Dissent to the Masses

‘Jail for Sacrilege’: Vandalism by Pussy Riot supporters angers MPs

Pussy Riot as Modern Day Skomorokhi

Pussy Riot Trial Unleashes Putin’s Secret Weapon: The Orthodox Faithful

Pussy Riot, Holy Foolishness and Monk Punk

“Establishing an Orthodox Militia Will Lead to Civil War”

The Desecration of Crosses in Russia and the Russian Church

Pussy Riot Condemn the Cutting Down of Four Orthodox Crosses in Russia

After Pussy Riot Verdict, Christian Culture Warriors Run Riot in Moscow

"Free Pussy Riot" Written in Blood at Russian Murder Scene

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

What St. Kosmas Aitolos Asked For When He Preached

"I came to your village and I preached to you. It is thus just for you to pay me for my effort. With money perhaps? What would I do with it? My payment is for you to put the words of God in your hearts, that you may gain eternal life." - Saint Kosmas the Aitolos

«Ήρθα στο χωριό σας και σας κήρυξα. Δίκαιο είναι λοιπόν να με πληρώσετε για τον κόπο μου. Με χρήματα μήπως; Τι να τα κάνω; Η πληρωμή η δική μου είναι να βάλετε τα λόγια του Θεού στην καρδιά σας, για να κερδίσετε την αιώνια ζωή.» - Άγιος Κοσμάς ο Αιτωλός

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Panagia Demerliotissa of Farsala

The Church of Panagia Demerliotissa is found in Stavro Farsalon (in old Demerli, from which it is named). The icon of Panagia Demerliotissa is said to be one of the 70 icons of the Apostle Luke.

It is a single-spaced, oblong church with a narthex divided lengthwise into three pseudo-aisles with the use of wooden pillars. The middle aisle is covered by an arch. The church bears wall paintings from 1786 in three zones. It was painted by the disciples of Dionysios of Fournas from Evrytania. The wood engraved icon-screen belongs to the Mt. Pelion style and has many similarities with the icon-screen of the church of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple of Venetos. According to the founding inscription above the south entrance, the church was built in 1778.

In the church are saved the chain links which the Turks placed during the years of occupation when they attempted to use the church as a stable for their animals. The Panagia did not allow her house to be desecrated, so the first time the Turks entered and began to tie their horses the bells began to strike loudly by themselves. This was the last time an attempt was made for the church to be used as a stable.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Feast of Panagia Enniameritisa on Paros

Panagia Enniameritisa (of the Nine Days), otherwise known as Panagia of Naousa, is found in the village of Naousa on the island of Paros. It celebrates its feast on August 23rd, which is nine days after the Dormition of the Theotokos.

On August 23rd there is a pirate festival with a big feast representing the assault of the pirates on the villages of Paros. Fireworks, traditional music, dances, local food and wine compose this great feast.

The Pirates of Paros

Everyone is aware of the "Pirates of the Caribbean", but how many have even heard of the "Pirates of the Aegean"? Well, all you need to do is get your tickets booked and head to the picturesque island of Paros. It is always advisable to coincide your trip to Paros at the time of the colorful Barbarossa Pirate Festival, which is held every year on the 23rd of August.

This unique festival is a classic case of reenacting of the entire episode of an infamous pirate attack on the island of Paros, which is rather skillfully represented by the enthusiastic locals. There is tons of fun and one can be assured of hilarious and chilling scenes during this unique Pirate Festival.

Unbelievably, the quaint fishing vessels who play a pivotal role in the Festival, act in the guise of pirate ships and energetic locals, particularly the youths of Paros undertake the roles of pirates, protectors and believe it or not - dancing damsels in distress. A lot of times the casualty of Greek pirates surprisingly used to be a Greek island itself, which may sound odd, but is very true.

The island of Paros in particularly was witness to wave after wave of pirate attacks. As a ploy to rebuff the pirates, the people of Paros built impregnable “Skiathos” which were nothing but traditional Greek fortresses principally meant to ward off pirate attacks. But even these unconquerable “Skiathos” weren’t able to withstand the fierce attacks of the heavily-armed pirates.

The islands of Greece in general and Paros in particular has a long history of pirate attacks. According to a popular Greek legend, heavily armed pirates once kidnapped a beautiful Pelekas bride on the day of her wedding. This act of cruelty so shocked the bride’s mother that she cursed the pirates and as per legend they all were turned into stones, including her daughter who was taken into captivity, due primarily to some inappropriate use of words that were uttered in the curse. (Source)

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

The Hermitage of the Panagia of Grava in Patmos

The Hermitage of the Panagia of Grava is built on the west side of Chora in between the hill of Kalamoti and the Evangelismos Convent. It was founded around 1790 from the monk Gregory of Nisyros (April 22), the monk Niphonas and other monks, who fled Mount Athos during the Kollyvades controversy and ended up on Patmos. The small church is dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos and celebrates on the apodosis of the feast, which is the 23rd of August, every year.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

Elder Sophrony: The Basics of the Divine Liturgy

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Before I left the Holy Monastery I found an opportunity in a discussion to ask him [Elder Sophrony] about the Divine Liturgy, and he presented me with the basic teaching about it.

- "The Priesthood is not given to man as a reward for virtues, but as a gift for the edification of the Church. Someone becomes a Priest in order to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and to sanctify the people. Also, the Priesthood has a social significance, since he will deal with the construction of the church and the suffering of the Christians. So he also needs these qualifications, besides the spirituality."

- "The Divine Liturgy occurred one time forever. It has eternality. Every time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, we rise up to its height. If we live some aspects of the Divine Liturgy, then we will understand its greatness, as happened with St. Seraphim of Sarov who saw angels coming to the church during the Small Entrance. We follow the Divine Liturgy, because we do not live it, or until we live it."

- "The Divine Liturgy teaches us to live with the heart. By celebrating the Divine Liturgy we keep the command of Christ: 'Drink this in remembrance of Me' (Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24). That's why we say: 'Remembering this saving command....' This is not a psychological fact, but spiritual. Thus, every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, we are obedient to the word of Christ, and we penetrate the Divine Mystagogy in the Liturgy of Christ.

What God did once, remains now forever. This happens with the Divine Liturgy. One time Christ celebrated it in the Upper Room with the Mystical Supper, and this remains forever. The Christian, depending on the sacrifice he makes and his infiltration of Grace with this 'spirit' of the Divine Liturgy, receives Grace from God, and is purified of the passions. The Divine Liturgy in its perfection is the supplication and prayer for the entire world. This is the so-called royal officiation-priesthood. Thus, man reaches the end of the age. He does not wait for the day of the Lord, but this day of the Lord comes to him. So by Grace he becomes timeless."

From I Knew A Man In Christ: The Life and Times of Elder Sophrony, the Hesychast and Theologian (Οίδα άνθρωπον εν Χριστώ: Βίος και πολιτεία του Γέροντος Σωφρονίου του ησυχαστού και θεολόγου) by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr