| Does one need any “special conditions” in order to read Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers? Many people today read while taking public transport, since this is their only “free time.” Once one gets home after work and has taken care of all one’s household chores, it seems impossible to absorb anything serious… There is the practice, recommended by quite a few people with spiritual experience, of beginning one’s day with the reading of Holy Scripture – if only a few chapters of the Gospels. One should literally feed one’s soul with them, so that the Gospels might guide one in all the situations of life. Besides which, people do indeed feel tired in the evening – literally overloaded. The classical European tradition included reading the Bible as a family in the evening – which, incidentally, found expression in both literature and painting. Alas, this tradition belonged to other times, when life was more balanced. Their daily labor may have been physically difficult then, but their heads still remained in relative peace – unlike in today’s “information society,” when we hardly know who or where we are by the time we get home. In my opinion, therefore, it is best to read Holy Scripture at home in the morning. Sometimes people taking public transport read serious books. This depends more on whether someone is good at attentive reading. If one is, then one can read on the go – this is certainly better than just looking around. Spiritual literature: the word about God Which books, in your opinion, should every Christian read? One should certainly read Abba Dorotheos, the Russian ascetic strugglers Sts. Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius (Brianchaninov), and then The Philokalia . Properly speaking, The Philokalia is an anthology of patristic texts. I think it is impossible to tear oneself away from the first four volumes of The Philokalia . In St. Theophan the Recluse’s Russian translation, The Philokalia is suitable reading for all Christians, since St. Theophan attempted to adapt even the most difficult monastic and hesychastic texts for use by average people. Therefore, notwithstanding the misconception that The Philokalia is only for monks, it can and should be read by everyone. When becoming acquainted with spiritual literature one should start, as with regular literature, with the classics: first read the fundamental, essential works of the Holy Fathers, and only later read books by modern authors. There are, for instance, some very good books by Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain that have entered our life fairly recently. |
| Photo: Photosight.ru. Author: Siren1 When we had first come to our parish, many of the older parishioners expressed real concerns about our children not being in public schools. Now, however, the prevailing comment is totally in support of home schooling, and of our keeping the children out of the public school. We have heard many concerns about home schooling, and questioned ourselves thoroughly on these concerns, and discussed some of them at length. The most frequently repeated concern is about socialization for the children. The other concern is about our ability to teach advanced subjects to our children. At first glance the concern about socialization seems valid. However, in most homes this is not a problem. ‘First of all, we have an active family life and communicate freely with one another. Secondly, we are in Church and there our children’s friends vary widely in age, experience, and culture, but have a common Orthodox Christian foundation. Thirdly, the children are in town and in the stores and libraries and circulate successfully, without the aid of the “socialization” of a public school. The image of the children in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series rises to mind frequently, as well as all the pioneer and missionary children in the world. They tend to do well, even though they may only see other children who share their own values and culture infrequently. The concern about our ability to educate our children is also valid, but the history of home schooling shows the home to often be a healthier learning environment than the classroom. Every parent is a natural teacher. However, parents cannot teach all things. We, personally, certainly cannot do all of it. For reading, we didn’t need to teach our children to read; we only supported their efforts and they are fine readers. For math it has been the same. For history, biography, literature and science, the children are avid readers and gobble it up whether it is “assigned” or is for their own free reading pleasure. Of the more involved academic skills, we cannot really say from personal experience since our oldest child just turned twelve this year, but home school literature shows that home schoolers in general achieve their academic goals using a variety of resources other than the public school classroom that are available to the average family. There are the books available in nearly every subject. We have friends and neighbors in just about every major field of study who can often lend a hand to eager young learners. Recent statistics show that home schooled children as a whole score very highly on SAT exams. |
| How long it will take for the renewed theological understanding of the diocese to refashion the actual administrative life of each particular diocese, and indeed the larger church in the United States, is difficult to tell. As we have seen, the administrative development of the Orthodox Church in the United States has been one plagued with difficulties. But the fact that the renewed vision of the diocese is coming from many quarters is viewed by many as a hopeful sign. 325 PARISH LIFE Orthodox parishes have always been diverse in terms of both their size and their composition. By 1994, there were well over 1,500 Orthodox parishes in the United States, serving over 3 million parishioners. Some of these parishes include over 1,000 members. Others, considered to be missions, may include about 50 members. The vast majority of parishes average anywhere from 200 to about 500 members. Throughout the period between 1960 and 1980 especially, many of these parishes undertook major building or remodeling campaigns in conjunction with the move of parishioners to the suburbs. Often, the new buildings were constructed in a manner that clearly reflected the principles of traditional Orthodox architecture. As the Orthodox were able to construct their church buildings in suburban locations throughout the United States, they were not reluctant to let their distinctive church architecture publicly bear witness to their presence. In many cities, the distinctive dome of the Orthodox church building has become a very visible reminder of the presence of Orthodox Christians. While united in their profession of the same faith, the members of these parishes are quite diverse. Parishes in Alaska continue to bring together believers from the various Alaskan native peoples. Some parishes on the East Coast especially comprise newly arrived immigrants from wartorn Palestine and Lebanon. The vast majority of Orthodox parishes, however, comprise Americans of various ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some of these persons are the descendants of the Orthodox immigrants. An ever-growing number of others were raised in different religious traditions and subsequently chose to enter the Orthodox Church. |
| Chinese Christians Swelling In Number As Orthodox Christianity Gets Left Behind November 14, 2014 China, an officially atheist country that is converting into Christianity at breakneck speed, is bound to become the world " s largest Christian country with about 250 million faithful by 2030, save for one group-the Orthodox Christians. Yang Fenggang of Purdue University said that since the 1980s, the Chinese Christian community has been growing by an average of 10 percent per year. A Pew Research pegged their number at 67 million or roughly about five percent of the total population in mainland China in 2011. Unless something short of a miracle happens, however, the Orthodox Christian community-the supposedly prevailing Christian group because of its geographical and historical traces in China-will not see a rise in number. Present estimates suggest they are less than 0.1% of the population and will remain within their current number in the foreseeable future. Since the Communist Party of China (CPC) came to power, religions with western flavors have been tolerated but legally banned from the land. This is not the case with the Orthodox Christian church. According to an article published on The Economist, Orthodox Christianity has legal claims in China because it has historical roots in the land tracing as far back as the 17 th century. In northern China, two communities have been practicing the Orthodox faith for the last three centuries: the Albazinians who are of Russian descent and the Evenks who live near the Siberian border. The religion has since travelled to Harbin and Shanghai and has all but completely died during the communist takeover. At present, they are only numbering to about 15,000 Orthodox Christians who are largely untethered by priests and church leaders. Meanwhile, the Christian communities are swelling in mostly underground or " house " churches. Majority of Chinese Christians are forced to go underground because there are very few state-sanctioned places of worship in the country. |
| According to World Health Organization and UN data from 2005, Georgia has 19.1 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, one of the highest rates in Europe, although it is in the middle among former Soviet countries. The average woman in Georgia will have three abortions in her lifetime. To Ban Or Not To Ban Conservative forces in Georgia, including the influential Orthodox Church, see a broader problem and are urging an outright ban on abortions. In his Easter message this week, Patriarch Ilia II declared: “This happens because of the desire and decision of the parents. It is a horrible murder of an innocent, helpless creature. And the doctor is an accessory to this murder. When the country is in such a difficult demographic situation, I think that the government must pass a law banning abortions, with just a small number of exceptions, of course.” Feminists and other women’s advocates see the debate as a question of fundamental women’s rights. Tbilisi-based gynecologist Mzia Gambashidze says abortion bans are dangerous and counterproductive. “No bans! We had one under the communists and how many people died from unsanitary, illegal abortions? How many doctors were thrown in prison for performing them?” she asks. “This is not a way out of the current situation.” Gambashidze urges greater family-planning education to reduce the abortion rate. She recounts seeing patients who wanted abortions because they had been advised by their Orthodox priests not to use birth control. Nina Tsikhistavi, head of the Caucasus Women’s Network NGO, says the right to abortion must remain sacrosanct, although she, too, is concerned about the alarming figures on sex selection. Is Development The Answer? Lawmaker Khundadze agrees that an outright ban is no solution. “It is impossible to completely ban pregnancy termination, since that would increase the number of abortions done unprofessionally and that would lead to more deaths,” he said. “We will consider this topic together with the appropriate specialists at a session of my committee.” |
| Yoga and other eastern practices Valery Dukhanin In their quest for health, wellbeing, or even the development of esoteric powers, many of our contemporaries are turning their attention to various Eastern practices, particularly yoga. Yoga is advertised as a method that will help prevent illness, recover from illnesses that have already begun—even those that don’t easily yield to treatment; that will teach one to gain self-control and to influence others; and that will confer an influx of vitality. The majority of people are attracted to the external (so they think) aspect of yoga that improves health—therapeutic postures, cold baths, cleansing enemas, special breathing techniques and so on. The improvement of the working of one’s internal organs and system—digestion, potency, blood pressure, memory, and other organs—is set as the target. The average person believes that you can ignore yoga’s world-view and at the same time acknowledge its unique system of physical and mental development. Contemporary yoga uses traditional Hindu physical exercises—hatha yoga—similar to the physical exercises of the Chinese and ancient Persians. One also comes across such schools as raja-yoga and mantra-yoga—to which “transcendental meditation” is related, mystical Taoism, the methods of Tibetan Buddhism, breathing techniques and so on. What, however, does this wisdom of sunny India have in store for us? Yoga is a component of the philosophical-religious teachings of ancient and medieval India. It is a system of exercises, methods and techniques, the aim of which is not only to control the psychological and physiological processes of one’s system, but also to rise to a special spiritual state. Initially, the goal of yoga’s system of psychophysical exercises was to develop the soul’s independence from the body, so that after the person’s death the soul would avoid reincarnation and would dissolve into the primordial impersonal spiritual substance. The physical exercises developed in yoga, in point of fact, are religious rites that open a person up to meet Hindu “spirituality.” Yoga exercises in their direct application are tied to occult meditations, while various yoga postures identify a person with animals or even objects (for example, “the cobra posture,” “the cow’s head,” “a dog muzzle down,” and others). As a rule, special motions of the body, physical postures, holding the breath, and repetition of mantras are used, as well as visualization—a method of working with the imagination where a person closes his eyes and mentally draws some image in the darkness, and eventually he sees the thing that he has imagined very vividly and distinctly. Some poses arouse the sexual centers, in order to make use of sexual energy, to transform it and distribute it throughout the whole body to improve health and to invigorate. |
| That cosmopolitanism has almost vanished. Considered less as Turkish citizens than as an outpost of Greece, the Rum have endured what the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans, a moderate group that meets with Turkish ministerial officials to solve Rum-minority issues, describes as “systematic discrimination and harassment”. The Cyprus conflict of the 1950s to the 1970s provoked violent, governmentsponsored anti-Rum riots and 2,000 Rum buildings, including churches, schools, hospitals and 24 monasteries – some of them over a thousand years old – were confiscated. Most were sold or demolished. Father Samuel’s family was forced to leave Turkey, so he studied for the priesthood in Greece. Without Turkish citizenship, he is forbidden by law from working here as a priest. Yet, no priests can train here. Without priests, the Church cannot function. And without priests, there is no pool from which to choose the next patriarch, who must also be born in Turkey. When the 73-year-old Bartholomew retires or dies, it may prove hard to find his successor. Metropolitan Elpidophoros Lambriniadis is tipped as a possible patriarch, but he had to be persuaded to return from abroad, do national service and regain his Turkish citizenship. In future the Church may not be so lucky. “Why shouldn’t they study in their homeland?” asks Panos Anagnostopoulos, who assists at the Athens-based Halki Theological School Graduates Association, of which his father is president. “Halki is protected by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which the Turkish government – a democracy –has ignored.” I wonder how many Rum would want to study Orthodox theology, given that as few as 2,500 remain and their average age is 65. During the 1960s Panos Anagnostopoulos’s Rum primary school on Halki island had 60 pupils: since then, dwindling numbers have forced its closure, and throughout Turkey only 120 Greek-speakers remain in Rum-minority schools. Following the Istanbul riots of 1955, the Rum fled and others were deported. |
| Tweet Нравится The 700th Anniversary of Sergius of Radonezh: 8.6 Million Russian Residents Visit the Lavra Moscow, July 21, 2014 6% of the population of Russia has visited the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad; another 8% have not been to it but would like to visit it, reports the Sreda Research Service’s website. The founder of the monastery, St. Sergius of Radonezh, ranks as the second most frequently commemorated saint born in the land of Russia. According to the All-Russian survey, 6% of the residents of Russia have been to the Lavra. Muscovites are the most frequent visitors to the Lavra: every fourth citizen (25%) has already paid a visit there. The monastery is also visited more often than usual by residents of the Central Federal District (16% of the population 1 ), citizens with higher education (12%), residents of small cities with a population of between 50,000 and 250,000 (11%), Russian residents older than 60 years old (10%), citizens with the highest income (9%), as well as members of the Russian Orthodox Church (8%). The rarest visitors are workers, Russian residents with secondary and lower education, villagers, and residents of the Siberian Federal District. Those who have not yet been to the Lavra but have a desire to visit it make up 8%. Mostly, the desire to visit the monastery is expressed by Russian residents with leading positions (16%), Muscovites (15%), Orthodox Christians (belonging and not belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church – 13% and 14% respectively), and Russian residents with higher education (12%). In addition to this, Russian residents who are ready to take part in civic initiatives (18%) and those involved in charitable works (12%) speak of the desire to visit the monastery significantly more frequently than average. Rural residents, residents of the Siberian Federal District and residents of Russia who do not believe in God speak about the intention of visiting the Lavra most rarely. As part of the All-Russian representative poll, the Sreda Service asked Russians to give names of “Russian saints whom you know, who were born in the Russian land” (the question without tips or variants of answers). According to the poll results, the second most popular saint is St. Sergius of Radonezh – 14% of the citizens named him. St. Sergius is best known among Muscovites (29%), residents of the Central Federal District (23%), citizens older than 60 years old (21%) and Russian residents with higher education (21%). Blessed Matrona of Moscow takes the first place (as the poll results show), while St. Seraphim of Sarov ranks third. |
| The second stage is the spiritual component. The recovering addicts spend several months learning how to deal with their addiction through ascetic self-denial, learning the meaning of fasting, prayer, obedience and the holy sacraments. The third stage is adaptation, which some also call the “half-way house.” The recovering addicts, without losing touch with their mentors, begin to establish a life outside the center – finding jobs, building social contacts and learning how to live in a drug-free world. The average rehabilitation period in the parish is between a year and a year-and-a-half. No one is kept against their own will. Once residents feel they are able to live in a secular environment, they discuss it with a priest before leaving. The priests of the St. George’s parish believe that the rehabilitation method they have developed for treating addiction is successful, although they are not rushing to translate that success into statistics. “We no longer bother keeping numbers,” says Mefody. He believes this is a thankless task, as dependency remains latent for life: one can never tell when someone might falter. This is why the former residents refer to themselves as “recovering,” instead of“recovered.” Even so, Rev. Silvanus claims that more than half of their former patients remain “clean.”Those who slip back are not taken back at the parish: they set a bad example for the other inmates, and indulging them might derail the others. First published in Russian in Gazeta.ru . Source: RBTH Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. |
| Kabuki is a more popular entertainment including, like Noh, music and dance. In Noh the bridge is separated from the audience (like the main stage) through a gravel surround. In Kabuki, on the other hand, such a separation does not exist and audience and actors share the same world. From the 17th century on Russian icons began being influenced by Western styles of representation and used more and more Western models of Erwin Panofsky: Perspective as Symbolic Form (New York: Zone Book, 1991), p. 30. Ernst Gombrich: Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation (London: Paidon, 1960), p. 125. Byzantine art declined at the end of the so-called " Paleologian period " (1261-1453) just because " Western-style realism " had started to enter its aesthetics. As writes Kurt Weizmann: " While the East thought greater abstraction, western European art, from the beginning of the Gothic period, developed in the direction of naturalism that was incompatible with the spiritual concept of the icon. " Kurt Weizmann: The Icon (London: Evans, 1993), p. 9. Boris Uspensky: The Semiotics of the Russian Icon (Lisse: Peter de Ridder, 1976), p. 62 Ky ô gen is a comic interlude played during the Noh. In Chines and Japanese drawing between the 12th and 17th century one can find a highly developed art of linear perspective. See the hanging scroll by Du Jin: Enjoying Antiquities (15th century, National Palace Museum of Taipei ) and Tosa Mitsunobu’s Legends of the Founding off Kyomizu Temple (handscroll, 16th century, Tokyo National Museum). Cf. G ü nter Nitschke: " From Ambiguity to Transparency: Unperspective, Perspective and Perspective Paradigms of Space " in Supplement of Louisiana Revy 35-3, June 1995: " It is an unperspective or preperspective paradigm of space which unconsciously lingers in the minds of every average Japanese. The problem how to identify a space in the 3rd dimension did not arise in traditional Japanese cities since they did not develop a third dimension. " |
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