| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation All Hell Breaks Loose: Orthodox Christian Thoughts on the High Incidence of Rape on American College Campuses Source: Eastern Christian Insights How sad that our culture has produced so many people today who lack the moral and spiritual vision necessary to recognize the sanctity and gravity of the intimate union of those created male and female in God’s image and likeness. Priest Philip LeMasters 08 June 2014 The shocking statistics on the number of American female college students who are victims of rape provide a window on the moral and spiritual corruption of our society. Especially when seen in the context of the culture of promiscuity, drunkenness, and illicit drugs prevalent on many campuses today, the high incidence of such assaults makes glaringly obvious that something profoundly important is missing from our age of alleged liberation and equality between the sexes. A key dimension of the problem is that mainstream American society now acknowledges no moral standard other than consent between adults when it comes to sex. Most college students are adults only in a legal sense—not in terms of maturity, judgment, or understanding the consequences of their actions. Throw in hormones, insecurity, consumption of substances that impair judgment, and misguided understandings of masculinity; it is not hard to predict the results. Of course, communication on such matters between men and women often remains a challenge even under the best circumstances for full-grown, sober adults. Since consent requires effective communication, rational thought, and knowledge of the consequences of one’s actions, it is not likely to be found among drunk teenagers away from home for the first time and living among strangers. If consent is the only relevant factor in the ethics of sex and nothing intrinsically right or wrong is at stake in these matters, I fear that few will take them seriously in our age of hedonistic self-indulgence. American youth grow up in a culture where music, movies, television, and the internet celebrate promiscuity and graphic violence even as they deride chastity, even in what is considered fairly tame programming. Many consider pornography a harmless form of entertainment with no recognition of its damaging, addicting effects that put major roadblocks in the pursuit of a decent, not to mention a holy, life. Throw in the large number of parents who indulge their children, shelter them from even small struggles and failures, and consequently hamper their moral development. It is not surprising that all hell often breaks loose as a result. |
| Ibid., 99, 100, 107, 114. Ibid., 99. Ibid., 102. Ibid., 103, 104. Ibid., 108. Ibid., 109. Ibid. 110, 111. Darwin, Origin of Species, 459. For a decent historical study on this, see for example Gertrude Himmelfarb, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1962). Darwin was not as open-minded as people thought he was. “Former Darwin enthusiast St. George Mivart published anonymous articles critiquing Darwin’s theory. A gifted zoologist, Mivart would eventually publish a volume titled The Genesis of Species, an influential book that raised serious questions about the limits of natural selection, especially in its application to man. Far from rejecting Darwin wholesale, Mivart continued to embrace evolution and believe that the physical capacities of human beings had developed from the lower animals. But he continued to insist—like [Alfred] Wallace—that man was radically unique from the rest of creation and had a soul. Egged on by Thomas Huxley, Darwin became increasingly bitter over his former disciple’s criticisms, despite Mivart’s attempts to be personable in private correspondence and his public praise of the ‘invaluable labours and active brains of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.” John G. West, Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science (Wilmington: ISI Books, 2007). See Denis L. Krebs, The Origins of Morality (New York: Oxford University, 2011), 41-42. See Denis L. Krebs, The Origins of Morality (New York: Oxford University, 2011), 41-42. Ibid. Friedrich Hansen, “Putin Stands Up to Western Decadence,” Asia Times, February 28, 2014. Owen Matthews, “Vladimir Putin’s new plan for world domination,” Spectator, February 22, 2014. Ibid. Ibid. Owen Jones, “David Cameron and the cynicism of comparing Putin to Hitler,” Guardian, September 3, 2014. Michael Kelley, “11 Prominent People Who Compared Putin To Hitler,” Business Insider, May 23, 2014. Paul Johnson, “Is Vladimir Putin Another Adolf Hitler?,” Forbes, April 16, 2014. |
| Acest exemplu mrturisete despre faptul c puterea credinei, puterea duhului biruie chiar cele mai grele circumstane exterioare. Nu exist om, care de la natere i pân la moarte se delecteaz cu fericirea i bunstarea. Fiecare îi are scârbirile sale – familiale, casnice, la cineva nu e în regul la serviciu, cineva a pierdut serviciul, cineva nu are suficiente mijloace ca s triasc decent singur i s asigure pe apropiaii si. i iat, cutând ci omeneti pentru soluionarea acestor probleme pmânteti, cotidiene, noi trebuie întotdeauna s ne sprijinim pe credina noastr, ca s pstrm calm duhul nostru, ca s nu pierdem reperele în via, ca s nu greim valorile, s nu pierdem adevrul lui Dumnezeu. Dar anume acest adevr ne ajut s trim. Câte s-au oferit oamenilor pe parcursul civilizaiei omeneti! Ce învminte, idei, construcii politice! i doar fiecare din cei care au propus, a fgduit fericire. Precum i azi muli promit fericire. i unde sunt toate aceste teorii? Toate aceste construcii, idealuri? Ele toate au plecat în neant, ele au fost uitate. Iar ceea ce am învat din Evanghelie, din chipul blând al lui Hristos Mântuitorul, este viu pe parcursul la dou milenii. Astzi credina noastr cretin capt o importan deosebit, deoarece muli, ispitindu-se i amgindu-se, pierd aceast credin i conving pe alii s se lepede de ea. Îns poporul nostru, care a trecut prin anii ateismului, cunoate c dac îi pierzi credina, pierzi totul. Eu vorbesc acestea toate nu în baza unei înelepciuni sau cunotine personale, dar în baza experienei noastre comune istorice, a experienei Bisericii. Pstrai credina, educai puterea duhului i atunci vieii fi puternici i capabili s soluionai i acele sarcini de via, de care depinde calitatea vieii voastre. Sunt foarte bucuros s vd aici i tineret, i copii. Una din sarcinile noastre cele mai importante – este a transmite credina celor care o motenesc, tinerei generaii, care azi este supus unor influene foarte puternice informaionale. Prin aceste influene deseori se distrug sau se încearc a distruge idealurile morale evanghelice. De aceea sarcina Bisericii i a prinilor, i a buneilor este a ajuta tinerilor s îneleag unde este adevrul, i unde este minciuna, a le ajuta s-i gseasc drumul corect în via. De aceea contientizarea responsabilitii pentru educarea cretin a tineretului trebuie s fie strâns legat de înelegerea faptului c prin aceast educare noi înarmm tineretul, îi conferim putere, folosind-o pe care va putea îi tri demn propria via. |
| Astzi pe Athos, cu participarea poporului nostru credincios, se realizeaz mari lucrri de reparaie i restaurare, atât în aceast mnstire, cât i în alte lcauri sfinte – atât slave, cât i neslave. Aa a fost dintotdeauna: Rusia niciodat nu a precupeit propriile surse pentru susinerea Ortodoxiei. Este suficient a merge prin lcaurile sfinte ale Athosului, ca s vezi c în fiecare din ele au rmas semne ale dragostei poporului nostru pentru Sfântul Munte Athos. i cele mai mree chivote, panicadile, odjdii de o frumusee uimitoare, vasele pentru oficierea serviciului divin – toate acestea le rupea de la inim poporul nostru, nefiind bogat, pentru a-i revrsa dragostea asupra acestui sfânt loc. Astzi acelai lucru se întâmpl. Rusia înc nu este atât de bogat, ca toi oameni s duc un trai decent. Sunt foarte muli dintre cei care sunt nevoiai, în special în localitile rurale, în Extremul Nord, în Siberia, în Extremul Orient, oamenii triesc mult mai srac decât în rile europene, dar credincioii au suficient dragoste pentru Athos, ca s rup ceva de la sine i s expedieze pe Sfântul Munte i în alte locuri ale pelerinajului evlavios. O atenie deosebit o merit acei oameni, care prin averea lor personal, influen politic contribuie la renaterea Athosului. Actualmente în aceast mnstire se efectueaz lucrri de reparare i restaurare de proporii, care sunt realizate de fundaia, creat acum câiva ani de Preedintele de atunci al Rusiei D.A. Medvedev i de Patriarh. Sub copreedinia noastr aceast fundaie colecteaz mijloace pentru a restabili pe deplin pierderile, pe care le-a avut de suferit mnstirea „Sfântul Pantelimon”, Vechiul Rusik, Xilurgu, Noua Fivaida i alte locuri ale prezenei noastre. Printre aceste persoane se afl A.D. Beglov, care reprezint Preedintele Rusiei i care este însrcinat din partea statului s fie responsabil pentru activitatea fundaiei. Ieri Alexandr Dmitrievici m-a însoit, mi-a povestit despre acele mari lucrri, care sunt deja realizate i inima mea se bucura. Îns multe mai sunt înc de fcut. |
| The Greatest Accomplishment In my view, there is no greater accomplishment in life than successfully rearing a child. How do we measure this success? If our child grows up to love God, care for others and earn an honest living, we have succeeded. Anything beyond this is a bonus. Orthodox Christian success cannot be measured by monetary income, worldly titles or degrees, or what the world might consider “prestige”. To be God-loving, church-centered, caring and to earn an honest living – these are our major goals for our children. They will not be better people is they become doctors or lawyers, nor will they be any lesser if they drive trucks or switch boxcars for a railroad. The difficulty of successfully raising children is very great in our era, but it does not equal the difficulty the children themselves have in developing into decent, Orthodox adults. Children today are faced with temptations, distractions and spiritual warfare which our generation never even dreamed possible. It taxes all a young person’s moral and spiritual resources to resist the immense pressures put upon them by peer groups, television, public advertising, and an increasingly degenerating educational system, and even by teachers and community leaders. It also taxes the inner resources of the parents to teach, influence, endure, understand and guide their children as they struggle through the maze of contemporary life. Television, advertising and even public schools are teaching our children a set of values and “facts” which are often contradictory to, and opposed to, what we are teaching them. We do not even need to enumerate specific problems such as drugs, alcohol, rank materialism and undisciplined sensuality. It is an observable reality that many members of the younger generation do not know how to work properly, wish to depend on government programmes, and want “something for nothing.” Material expectations are high, while spiritual values have a very low priority. Under our present conditions, the concept of the parish as an extended family is extremely important. We depend on our extended families as support groups, as patterns and role models for our children and for our young families. The values, concepts and ethos evident in our extended family units penetrate and help shape our young. They absorb ideas, ways of thinking and their world-view from the environment which they are most exposed to. Since peer pressures are great, the peer influence of our extended Orthodox parish family can be vital in helping to offset the peer pressures in public schools and neighborhoods. |
| В 1525 г., например, явилось «Topi biblici или краткое руководство для юных христиан» Иоанна Тольца. Тогда же Дитрих издал Summarien zur alten und neuen Testamente или сборник извлечений из библии, а Валентин Тротцендорф выпустил в свет Rosarium или сборник библейских изречений. Сокращенная библия в рассматриваемое время начала уже проникать и в школы. В 1528 году Саксонским школьным положением было определено, чтобы в школах из библии читали и изъясняли Евангелие Матфея, а для более взрослых детей допускалось и чтение посланий ап. Павла к Тимофею, или же 1 послания Иоанна и кн. Притчей. Других книг ученики не должны читать, потому что, говорилось в положении, «бесполезно обременять юношество трудными и возвышенными книгами, как делают некоторые учителя, изучая ради тщеславия кн. Исайи, послание к Римлянам, Евангелие Иоанна и др.». По примеру саксонских школ и в школах веймарских, брауншвейгских и пфальцских принято было в рассматриваемое время читать только избранные отделы, а не всю библию. По мере того как крепла идея школьной библии, умножались попытки издания этой библии, при чем, конечно, постепенно уяснялись задачи и характер издания. В 1582 г. Мих. Неандер высказывал мнение, что детям должно дать в руки такую малую библию, в которой бы были собраны все замечательные места Св. Писания, говорящие de omnibus capitibus doctrinae christianae, de vita pia decent, de sanctis moribus. Неандер предполагал сделать извлечение из всех библейских книг, по порядку глав, на двух языках – латинском и немецком, и текст снабдить краткими примечаниями. В виде опыта Неандр и издал такую сокращенную библию под заглавием: Panareton sive Biblia latina germanica. Несколько позже явилось другое подобное издание библии с указанием отделов, назидательных для школьников и народа. Это издание было сделано Паппом. Отношение немецких педагогов к вопросу о школьной библии изменилось несколько с возникновением пиетизма. В это время является стремление поднять значение библии в системе воспитания и образования, и многие педагоги начинают требовать введения в школах обязательного чтения всей библии. |
| De laps. c. XVII. XXIX. XXXV, ibid. p. 480. 489. 491. …nec remittere aut donare indulgentia sua servus potest, quod in Dominum delicto graviore commissum est.., (ibid. c. XVII). Martyres aut nihil possunt, si Evangelium solvi potest, aut si Evangelium non potest solvi, contra Evangelium facere non possunt (ibid. c. XX, p. 483). Mandant martyres aliquid fieri; sed si justa, si licita, si nou contra ipsum Dominum a Dei sacerdote facienda… (ibid. c. XVlll, p. 481). Oro vos, ut… sollicite et cauto petentium desideria ponderetis, inspiciatis et actum et opera et merita singulorum, ipsorum quoque delictorum genera e qualitates cogitetis,… (Epist. X ad martyr. et confessor. n. 3, in Patrolog. T. citat, p. 255). …quorum poenitentiam satisfactioni proximam conspicitis… (ibid. n. 4, p. 256). «Во всех же надлежит приимати в рассуждение расположение и образ покаяния» (прав. 12). «Врачевание же измеряти не временем, но образом покаяния» (канон. посл. к Аматфилох. пр. 2). «Все же сие пишем ради того, да испытуются плоды покаяния. Ибо мы не по одному времени судим о сам, но взираем на образ покаяния» (там же, прав. 84; снес. 7). «Для проходящих покаяние ревностнее, и житием своим показующих обращение ко благому, позволительно устрояющему полезное в церковном домостроительстве сократити время слушания и скорее приводити оных к обращению: подобно сократити время и сего, и скорее допустити до приобщения, сообразно с тем, как он собственным испытанием дознает состояние врачуемого» (кан. посл. к Литоию, пр. 4). Папа Иннокент. Epist. ad Decent, c. VII. Собор. Анкир, прав. 5; Никейск. 1, пр. 12 и др. Никейск, 1, пр. 12; Григор. нисск. пр. 2.5; Карфаг. IV, can. LXXVI. LXXVIII. Как подтверждает История, по сознанию даже историков римской Церкви: см., например. Fleury, 4 Discour. sur l " hist. eccles. n. 2 et 16. Fleury, Hist. eccles. T. VI, livr. 104, chap. 48, ed. 1840. V. О ТАИНСТВЕ ЕЛЕОСВЯЩЕНИЯ § 229. Связь с предыдущим, понятие о Елеосвящении и его названия |
| St. Nicholas touched upon the activity of Buddhism in other countries; for example, in describing the Boxer uprising in China he writes with a certain irony that the Buddhists “have extracted for their religion from the Chinese complications all the capital that could have possibly been extracted. They have left only one question unanswered, and that is: Were the boxers Buddhists? If yes, then how does Buddhism avoid responsibility for their outrageous cruelty?” (IV, 491). At the same time he expresses great respect for the steadfastness of the Chinese Christians, who died as martyrs for Christ during this uprising. The saint also knew of the nascent Buddhist proselytism among Western peoples: “There are also bonza in San Francisco who preach Buddhism, and there are a few American converts. Temples have been built on the Hawaiian Islands; the bonza there copy the Christian missionaries—they have services and sermons on Sundays, and do charity work” (IV, 459). Here we see the same missionary flexibility in Buddhism that St. Nicholas noticed in relation to its spread in Japan. St. Nicholas recalls also “Otani Kozui, the head of the Buddhist sect “Nishi Honganji. “He was educated in England… currently the best person in Buddhism by his morality and activity; he sends missionaries to preach Buddhism in Christian countries, and in America there are already many converts to Buddhism” (V, 499). He writes that in Ninai “The bonza … catechize the locals with the preaching that, “As soon as a foreigner appears here, convert him to Buddhism, because what is Christianity compared to Buddhism!” (IV, 120). Notable is the history of the attempt to convert the Ain, an aboriginal people from the Kuril Islands who had received Orthodoxy from St. Innocent of Alaska when the islands were part of the Russian Empire (they were given to Japan in 1855) (see: IV, 79, 174, 283). A bonza settled from Honganji to Shikotan island with the aim of proselytizing. From 1899 to 1902, he put great effort into preaching Buddhism to the Orthodox Kurillians, with the support of the local authorities who considered this important for cutting off any possible influence from Russia on these local people. The preacher put maximum effort into adapting his teaching to the audience, using the same methods that helped Buddhism penetrate and take hold in Japan. “James related how the bonza, still living on Sikotan, try to confuse the Sikotan Christians and lure them into Buddhism: ‘Your God and our God are one and the same, but you are now Japanese, and therefore it is decent for you to have the Japanese faith, which is almost the same as your current faith,’ he insists to them. Fortunately, the Sikotan people are not ignorant in their faith and there souls are loyal to it. They only laugh at the bonza” (IV, 353). |
| – Your Holiness, was the problem of the faithful in Ukraine raised at your meetings with the Council of Europe Secretary General T. Jagland and Commissioner for Human Rights D. Mijatovic? What agreements did you manage to reach? And what hopes do you pin on the visit you made to Strasbourg? – I constantly raise the topic of Ukraine, especially here, in Strasbourg, because this topic directly concerns human rights and religious freedom. In a European country, the rights of an enormous number of the Orthodox faithful were grossly violated. I will not enumerate all these violations; they are well known, but they have resulted in people’s real suffering only because they wanted to remain Orthodox and to remain members of the Russian Orthodox Church, affiliated to their Ukrainian Orthodox community. The latest changes that have taken place in Ukraine in connection with the election of a new president inspire hope, of course. I am familiar with the thoughts of many Orthodox Ukrainians; they connect this election with positive changes in the sense that the discrimination on the grounds of the Orthodox people’s affiliation with a certain Orthodox jurisdiction will be stopped, and everybody will have equal rights. I share these hopes of Ukrainians in connection with the election of Mr. Zelensky as new president and very much hope that the boorish policy – absolutely inadmissible not only in Europe but also in most countries of the world, when decent citizens are discriminated and that not on the ground of faith but on the grounds of affiliation with a particular organization – will go out of the Ukrainians’ life for good. I think these hopes were shared by my interlocutors here in Strasbourg. – Your Holiness, how can your meeting with the commissioner for human rights influence the situation in Ukraine? – We had a very open, and I would say benevolent, discussion on all these issues. Of course, each impression is subjective but I hope that a subjective impression reflects an objective situation. All that has happened even not to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or to the Church as an institution but to ordinary believers, who were driven away from their churches and assaulted bodily, is not a tale or a fantasy – all this is recorded on video and reflected in appropriate documents. There are living witnesses to this. All this cannot but worry a normal person, the more so those who are responsible in Europe for human rights and religious freedom. |
| Este important i exteriorul arhiereului, comportamentul lui. Cuvintele apostolului Pavel adresate ctre tânrul episcop Timotei îi pstreaz actualitatea pân în zilele noastre: „ F-te pild credincioilor cu cuvântul, cu purtarea, cu dragostea, cu duhul, cu credina, cu curia” (1 Tim. 4:12). Iar noi uneori uitm c aceste cuvinte nu sunt doar o inscripie obinuit pe reversul crucii preotului, dar sunt acel model care este msurariul oricrei fapte, a oricrei zile din via. În situaia când episcopul sosete la o nou catedr, când se creeaz o nou eparhie sau se reorganizeaz viaa unei eparhii deja existente, este necesar a ine minte despre faptul c episcopul trebuie s fie „blând, panic, neiubitor de argint” (1 Tim. 3:3). Arhiereul trebuie prin cuvinte i comunicare exterioar s atrag inimile oamenilor ctre Dumnezeu i Biseric. Simplitatea în comunicare, lipsa de conflicte, dorina pentru un dialog fresc vor face mai mult decât un comportament mânios i severitatea care merge contrar raiunii, dar în pas cu trufia. Datoria episcopului este atenia fa de trebuinele slujitorilor bisericii i ale lucrtorilor eparhiali. Soborul arhieresc de anul trecut a decis de a forma în fiecare eparhie, unde este posibil, câte o Comisie eparhial de tutel care trebuie s urmreasc ca în eparhie s nu existe clerici sau lucrtori eparhiali, vduve sau copii orfani ai lor, care ar duce lips, care sunt neasigurai cu cele necesare sau preoi ieii la odihn i pensionari care au muncit în instituiile bisericeti. În acele eparhii unde nu este posibilitate a crea o comisie aparte, funcia ei o poate realiza, cu o binecuvântare special a Patriarhului, o alt instituie eparhial. Îns arhipstorul nu poate delega pur i simplu grija pentru bunstarea clericilor la o comisie în sperana c astfel va fi soluionat problema. Fiecare Preasfinit, iar aceasta este deosebit de adevrat în condiiile unei eparhii mici, este chemat s ptrund personal în detaliile activitii acestei comisii, s urmreasc ca i condiiile casnice ale clericilor, asigurarea lor material s le permit lor i familiilor lor s duc o via decent. |
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