| The vaccine production is concentrated around Moscow. Even if it is produced in another city: for example, as the “Biocad” plant operates in St. Petersburg, the vaccine will still be brought to the capital for quality control and registration with Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor). — I had an assumption that the further the regions are from the center, the less they are provided with vaccines. But the vaccine is not more available in the Central Federal District, and less available in the Far East. That is, vaccination is equally difficult to receive in all federal districts. At the same time, there are regions that are well provided with the vaccine both in the center and in the outskirts of the country, – explains Dragan. According to the report, everyone can get vaccinated in the Sakhalin region since December 2020. “According to my data, this region is in the TOP-3 in terms of the percentage of the vaccinated people”, – the expert notes. In the neighboring Amur region, only doctors, pedagogues, and employees of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) are vaccinated, and mass vaccination is going to start before the end of winter. “There are no objective reasons why the situation in the Sakhalin region is much better than in the Amur region”, – says Dragan. The vaccination availability is also not related to the population size. — Both in the Tatarstan and Khabarovsk regions, 3 thousand people were vaccinated. Yet, 4 million people live in the first region, and three times less that number live in the second region, – the Pravmir source gives an example. The number of vaccine doses is also not related to the number of coronavirus cases. Although, the analyst had such theory as well. — The Kemerovo and Volgograd regions are two regions with a comparable population. According to official statistics, 1% of the population (slightly less than 28 thousand people) had COVID-19 in the Kemerovo region, and the Volgograd region had one a half times more cases, which is 1.6% of the population (more than 40 thousand people). However, the vaccination availability in the Kemerovo region is average: anyone can get a vaccine. The vaccination availability in the Volgograd region is limited, only priority groups are vaccinated. Here is another illustrative example: the Belgorod and Tyumen regions have 1.5 million people living in each region, 1.6-1.7% of the population had COVID-19 according to the official statistics. However, the availability in the Belgorod region is average, but in the Tyumen region, the vaccine is not available at all. |
| Out of two hundred and eighty letters by Archimandrite John (Krestiankin, +2006) collected in a volume published during the author’s life by the monastery where he lived and worked, 182 are replies to women correspondents, compared with 82 addressed to men and 16 that either cannot be positively identified or are addressed to married couples. That is more than double the number! Similarly, in a truly fundamental research work on Fr. John of Kronstadt (+1908), Nadieszda Kizenko writes that “women twice as often as men wrote him long letters asking for spiritual counsel, describing their lives in great detail” (127). A collection of letters written by Hegumen Nikov (Vorobiev, +1963) contains 334 letters, 237 of which are replies to female correspondents, only 72—to men, and 25 could not be identified or are addressed to couples. Lest anyone think that the publishing establishment harbors an anti-male bias, a collection of letters of Saint John Chrysostom contains only 32 letters to women compared to 82 to men. Of those 82 letters, however, many can be classified as “business” rather than “letters to spiritual children”: 28 are to bishops, 21—to presbyters, and of the remaining 33 many are to government officials, and are of a character strikingly different from that of the 17 letters to Deaconess Olympiada (or Olympias), for example, which average more than nine pages per letter. We can also recall the letters of Archpriest Avvakum Petrov (+1682) to his spiritual daughters Theodosia Morozova, Evdokia Urusova, and Maria Danilova; the letters of Elder Paisios (Eznepidis, +1994) to the sisters of Saint John the Evangelist Convent; and the special spiritual bond that Saint Seraphim of Sarov shared with the sisters of the Diveyevo convent. However, leaving the intricacies of monastic relationships to those who possess a personal first-hand experience with the angelic life, we shall return to the discussion of matters parish life. In a rather unscientific and unreliable way based mostly on almost eight years of personal experience as a parish priest, I shall propose that women typically have a richer spiritual life than men, at least, if we gauge this on the length and content of their confession. This may draw the attentions of some parish priests who are usually also—at least based on the vocational choice they have made—predisposed to having a somewhat richer than average spiritual life. Noting another intriguing connection between parish priests and women (nuns, in particular), Kizenko asserts that |
| So, defying my impression from the Web, I picked up the phone and made some calls. While this particular story had a happy ending, many similar ones do not. The lesson is clear: An average Internet surfer, potential visitor or local resident certainly isn’t going to go the extra mile to uncover your community’s vitality if they are unimpressed with what they find on your parish Web site. And that’s more than an opportunity for evangelism lost. In today’s online culture, a poor Web site could even affect your parish’s ministry to existing parishioners. According to the Barna Research Group, Americans of all ages use the Internet as a way to explore their own faith and different faith traditions in a private, non-threatening environment. Soon, that sort of Internet-based religious activity will be the normal course of action for any interested person — seeker or parishioner. In fact, a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicates that only 15 percent of Americans are currently “off the network,” meaning they are completely without Internet-based access to news, information and interaction. Even more significantly, 51 percent are regularly engaged in various forms of what has been dubbed “Web 2.0”, a new culture of sorts, in which participants use various forms of online media and technology to regularly consume information and communicate with the world of cyberspace. That means that your parish’s online presence is more important to its ministry and religious education efforts than ever before. And the old patterns of static Web sites, without regularly updated content or the opportunity for user participation, aren’t going to hold people’s attention. While all of this may sound like bad news, it’s actually an amazing opportunity for ministry and religious education. Social trends like Web 2.0 are so powerful and pervasive because of the technological advances that have allowed average people to produce a variety of attractive and interactive Web sites without much difficulty. In other words, the hard work has already been completed. All we, as Orthodox Christians, have to do is tap in to existing resources. |
| After the New Year’s holidays, the number of donations was greatly reduced. Donations to the environment increased The growth of charitable donations to the environment occurred after the environmental disaster in Kamchatka. There, in September 2020, a massive death of sea animals was recorded. The topic of ecology became the main topic in the media. Last October, the number of donations to the environment increased by 21% compared to the previous month, while one-time payments more than doubled – they increased by 113%. This was the highest rise in donations for this line of philanthropy in an entire year, excluding New Year’s. Although people also supported environmental projects last spring, there was no such leap. The average donation to the environment in 2020 was 539 rubles. Human rights During the pandemic, human rights became one of the areas that people supported the least. One-off donations to this area increased in May. A sharp rise in donations to human rights support was recorded in January, 2021. The rise in donations was 200% compared to December, 2020. Meanwhile, December, as noted above, is one of the most successful months for fundraising activities of nonprofit organizations. One-time donations to human rights increased by 8 times in January 2021 compared to December, 2020. The average donation to human rights support in 2020 was 1,001 rubles. 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. |
| How did the pandemic change charity? Photo: freepik Experts from the Need Help Foundation and CloudPayments have studied how charitable donations have changed in 2020 and 2021. If at the beginning of the pandemic, people willingly helped those who were most affected by coronavirus, then by the end of the year the share of support for environmental projects increased. Helping Physicians and Those Affected by the Pandemic Last spring the number of donations to nonprofit organizations increased. People were actively making one-time payments. There was also a steady increase in recurring payments. The benefactors’ activity was noted by nonprofit organizations which support socially vulnerable groups of the population and doctors. People wanted to support those who were most affected by the pandemic, including the elderly, doctors, and low-income citizens. Last April one-time donations increased by 136% compared to March, 2020 and these were the peak values. At the same time, recurrent payments grew from 4 to 17% from last March to May. This difference in growth rates between one-time and recurrent payments is typical for emergency situations. People most of all helped socially unprotected groups. Later, they started to donate to help doctors more. The average donation to medicine in 2020 was 938 rubles. The average donation to socially unprotected groups of the population was 1,082 rubles. Growth of auto payments In 2020, Russians more often chose to support different foundations systematically. In January 2021, the number of auto payments increased by 1.5-2 times compared to January 2020. Meanwhile, the number of recurrent payments to medicine and to socially vulnerable groups has doubled. Whom people helped in December 2020 The share of one-time donations to nonprofit organizations traditionally increases in December. Moreover, the growth is noted in all areas of charity. In December donations to socially unprotected groups increased by 96%, by 34% – to doctors, by 220% – to the environment compared to November, 2020. |
| Greeks Relying on Church Food Banks Mission, supported by the Greek Orthodox Church is organizing food banks at the church of Agii Apostoli in central Athens. Every day more and more Athenians are queuing to receive food. According to euronews, the Greek Orthodox church supported Non-governmental Organisation ( NGO ), Mission, distributes food daily to Greeks who have been hit by the economic crisis and austerity measures, and who are struggling to feed themselves and their families. Father Isidoros who was present at the food distribution said, “The volunteers are eager and motivated to help people who are in need. Any one of us could be in their place tomorrow, could be in need in the near future. We must think of society as a net, and when this net breaks we are all in danger.” The most recent surveys carried out in Greece show that 34.6% of the population lives in poverty, 10% higher than the EU average. Unemployment continues to rise and there is no sign of any change in this trend in the near future. Furthermore, the survey showed that 14.1% of households in Greece live in constant fear of loosing their main source of income. Euronews reporter Theodora Iliadi said, “these are ordinary people. People who have lost their jobs and have had their lives turned upside down. More and more Greeks are facing severe financial difficulties and are having to increasingly rely on help provided by the Greek Orthodox church through their NGO, Mission. Thousands of people will celebrate Christmas with special meals that are being delivered over the coming days.” Source: Greek Reporter 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. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| 6940 Dahl, «History,» 134. Aune, Eschatology, 91, compares Isaiah " s ascent in Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 6–11. 6941 Discrepancies concerning chronology or other details proved useful in discrediting opposing arguments (Dionysius of Halicarnassus Lysias 15; Acts 24:11; Cicero Vat. 1.3). 6942 This is probably also the implication if one reads, «You have been seeing Abraham for less than fifty years?» (cf. Delebecque, «Contemporain,» who connects this reading with the claim in 8:58). 6943 Jub. 23:8–15, esp. 23:9–10 (over three jubilees). Although Gen 25gives him 175 years, he lived 995 in T. Ab. 1:1A. In rabbinic texts, old age (and senility) started with Abraham (Schiffman, Law, 33). In some early-third-century traditions, he recognized God as his creator around the age of fifty (Gen. Rab. 30:8; 46:1; Pesiq. Rab. 21:12; but this is likely ad hoc: cf. Gen. Rab. 64:4; 95:3; Num. Rab. 18:21; Song Rab. 5:16, §1, which vary between the ages of forty-eight, one, and three). 6944 Pace Stauffer, Jesus, 59. Irenaeus Haer. 2.22 similarly thinks Christ over fifty at his crucifixion (though thirty at his baptism), using this long ministry against the gnostics. 6945 Meier, Marginal Jew, 1:379; cf., e.g., the objection in Gen. Rab. 38:13. Edwards, «Fifty,» suggests that it means less than one jubilee; but cf. Buchanan, «Age.» 6946 Bernard, John, 2(citing Num 4:3 ); cf. Calvin, John, 1(on John 8:57 ). Lightfoot, Gospel, 197, notes that fifty represented a person " s average «working life» ( Num 4:3, 39; 8:24–25 ). 6947 Dionysius of Halicarnassus RA. 4.29.3; some locations had laws excluding from office those under thirty (Cicero Verr. 2.2.49.122). Dionysius of Halicarnassus, LCL 2n. 1, cites also Solon 27. Aristotle claimed that fifty was the upper age for the best procreation (Aristotle Po1. 7.14.11–12, 1335b). Athenians over fifty spoke first in the assembly (Aeschines Timarchus 23; Ctesiphon 4). 6948 So to give counsel (m. «Abot 5:21); for the meturgeman (b. Hag. 14a). To be an elder, one should be sixty (m. »Abot 5:21). |
| 6967 See Brown, John, 1:360, citing also Ps 90:2 . 6968 Dodd, Interpretation, 95; Freed, «Samaritans Converts,» 252. 6969 See evidence in Odeberg, Gospel, 308–10. 6970 See Harner, I Am, 15–17; Bell, I Am, 195–98 (who sees it also in 8:18,24,28, on pp. 185–94). 6971 Stauffer, Jesus, 176–78; Harner, I Am, 57; Bauckham, God Crucified, 55. For a summary of views, see Kysar, Evangelist, 119–20; for a thorough collection of Jewish sources, see Williams, I Am He (unfortunately too recent for me to treat as fully as it deserves). 6972 See m. Sukkah 4:5; b. Sukkah 45a; 53a, bar. (also Hillel in m. " Abot 1:14, but not clearly at Sukkoth); Marmorstein, Names, 73. Sanders, Judaism, 143,180, says that the divine name was mentioned on the Day of Atonement. 6973 Dodd, Interpretation, 94, 350; Stauffer, Jesus, 91, 179; Harner, I Am, 18, 61; Davies, Land, 295. That Scripture proclaimed God " s character at the festivals (Stauffer, Jesus, 174) may also prove relevant here. 6974 If the Tetragrammaton was uttered with its vowels by priests in the temple (Hayward, Name, 99; Sipre Num. 39.5.1–2), this may have been more widely known (cf. Acts 19:13–14). Normally, however, it was forbidden (Josephus Ant. 2.276; Sir 23:9–10 ; 1QS 6.27–7.1; m. Sanh. 7:5; t. Ber. 6:23; Sent. Sext. 28; cf. the special writing of the Tetragrammaton at Qumran noted in Siegel, «Characters»). 6975 Thus many doubt that the claim stems from Jesus in these particular words (Harner, J Am, 65). 6976 Motyer, Father the Devil, 209; Blomberg, Reliability, 149, 162, suggesting that Jesus merely claims to bear the divine name like some exalted angels or humans. These examples, while real, come from mystical fringes and would not likely have come to the minds of the average hearer of Jesus even in the story world. 6977 Reim, Studien, 260–61. 6978 Stauffer, Jesus, 124, finds Ani Hu from Isa 43 in Mark 14:62 , but that text does not support his claim (cf. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, 55). 6979 See Keener, Matthew, 66–67,130–31,346–48; Witherington, Christology, 221–28; see our introduction, ch. 7, on Johannine Christology. |
| Thus the Babylonian chronicles, the Uruk kinglist, and the royal inscriptions firmly establish the length of the NeoBabyloman era. And yet this is just a beginning. We must still wait to be introduced to the strongest lines of evidence in support of the chronology presented in the table above. Their added testimony should establish beyond any reasonable question the historical facts of the matter. B2: Economicadministrative and legal documents Literally hundreds of thousands of cuneiform texts have been excavated in Nlesopotamia since the middle of the nineteenth century. The overwhelming majority of them concern economicadministrative and private legal items such as promissory notes, contracts (for the sale, lease, or gift of land, houses, and other property, or for the hiring of slaves and livestock), and records of law suits. These texts are to a great extent dated just as are commercial letters, contracts, receipts and other vouchers today. The dating is done by giving thejwr of the reigning king, the month, and the day of the month. A text concerning ceremonial salt from the archives of the temple Eanna in Uruk, dated in the first year of AwelMarduk (the Evilmerodach of 2 Kings 25:2730 written AmelMarduk in Akkadian but postvocalic m was pronounced w), is given here as an example: Inasillâ has brought one and onehalf talents of salt, the regular sattukku offering of the month of Siman for the god Usuramassu. Month of Simanu, sixth day, first year of AmelMarduk, the king of Babylon. 207 Tens of thousands of such dated texts have been unearthed from the NeoBabylonian period. According to the wellknown Russian Assyriologist M. A. Dandamaev, over ten thousand of these texts had been published prior to 1991. 208 published since, but the majority of them are still unpublished. Professor D. J. Wiseman, another leading Assyriologist, estimates that “there are probably some 50,000 texts published and unpublished for the period 627539” B.C.E. 209 Thus there exist large numbers of dated tablets from every year during the whole NeoBabylonian era. Dr. Wiseman’s estimate would give an average of nearly 600 dated texts from each of the eightyseven years from Nabopolassar to Nabonidus, inclusive. |
| In 1945–1946, an article of Norman Snaith argued that «Paraclete» meant a «convincer,» based on the term " s etymology. 8587 Although such a sense would not be unrelated to the more common forensic usage suggested below, this sense cannot be regarded as established as the most natural reading of the term, since etymology is inadequate to establish meaning (as is now generally recognized). Others have applied the cognate παρακαλω in such a way as to establish a connection with παρκλησι,ς, preaching and teaching. 8588 To be sure, the Spirit in this context empowers the church for proclamation. Johnston argues (probably rightly) that John 14shows that the Paracletés function is to be fulfilled through (rather than independently from) the ministers of the word. 8589 Although these functions are attributed to the Johannine Paraclete, they are never expressed in terms of παρκλησις, and one is again left to draw an inference from a verbal cognate while ignoring the normal sense of the noun. 8590 Several other proposals have been offered that look for functional parallels to the Paraclete concept without seeking a linguistic parallel per se. Ahmad Shafaat argues for the Geber («man») of the Qumran Thanksgiving Hymns and Rule of the Community as back-ground for the Johannine Paraclete. 8591 Eskil Franck, in a learned study, suggests that the background for the Paraclete figure, who functions as a teacher, is the meturgeman in the synagogue. 8592 Although this could be part of the context for understanding the conceptual range of teaching, it fails to cover most of the functions ascribed to the Paraclete in the Farewell Discourses. It also presupposes that the meturgeman was found in the average Palestinian synagogue of the first century C.E. or perhaps even in the Greek-speaking Diaspora, a premise open to challenge. 2B. Forensic Interpretation of the Paraclete Although the proposed forensic background is not the only background for the Johannine Paraclete (perhaps the most essential is, of course, the Spirit in early Judaism and Christianity), it is likely an important one. |
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