| And for the same reason it is said, as I have already quoted, by this same prophet, The earth of the wicked shall fall. It is obvious that those translators who use a different word for men do not mean to include only males, for no one will say that the women who sinned shall not appear in that judgment; but the male sex, being the more worthy, and that from which the woman was derived, is intended to include both sexes. But that which is especially pertinent to our subject is this, that since the words All flesh shall come, apply to the good, for the people of God shall be composed of every race of men – for all men shall not be present, since the greater part shall be in punishment – but, as I was saying, since flesh is used of the good, and members or carcasses of the bad, certainly it is thus put beyond a doubt that that judgment in which the good and the bad shall be allotted to their destinies shall take place after the resurrection of the body, our faith in which is thoroughly established by the use of these words. But in what way shall the good go out to see the punishment of the wicked? Are they to leave their happy abodes by a bodily movement, and proceed to the places of punishment, so as to witness the torments of the wicked in their bodily presence? Certainly not; but they shall go out by knowledge. For this expression, go out, signifies that those who shall be punished shall be without. And thus the Lord also calls these places the outer darkness, Matthew 25:30 to which is opposed that entrance concerning which it is said to the good servant, Enter into the joy of your Lord, that it may not be supposed that the wicked can enter there and be known, but rather that the good by their knowledge go out to them, because the good are to know that which is without. For those who shall be in torment shall not know what is going on within in the joy of the Lord; but they who shall enter into that joy shall know what is going on outside in the outer darkness. Therefore it is said, They shall go out, because they shall know what is done by those who are without. |
| In the first half of 2020, there was no significant difference in the dynamics of RSV and influenza in the northern hemisphere. Restrictive measures in most countries began to be introduced after the cold season began to decline. But Australia closed borders, obliged people to limit contact, introduced mandatory wearing of masks, home schooling and remote work just in the middle of spring, when the cold season begins in the southern hemisphere. But unexpectedly, it never appeared in 2020. As Australian epidemiologists found out , the number of influenza infections fell by 99.4%, RSV – by 98%. Considering that during the pandemic, doctors tested patients with respiratory symptoms much more often than in previous years, this decrease cannot be explained by the insufficient volume of analyzes – there were just noticeably more analyzes than usual. The obvious reason for the disappearance of influenza and RSV is general quarantines, masks and a ban on mass gatherings and unnecessary contacts, in general. The example of geographically isolated Australia clearly showed that these measures work perfectly not only against SARS-CoV-2, but also against respiratory viruses in general. By September 2020, there were no intra-community transmissions of the coronavirus in the country, so the measures began to gradually loosen up. And then the most interesting thing occurred. Since the end of September – that is, in the middle of the Australian spring – there has been a sharp increase in the number of RSV cases on the mainland. Another article , published by Australian epidemiologists, provided data on RSV up to the end of December – and the number of reported cases had already exceeded the usual peak of RSV, which in Australia occurs in mid-July, and there is no sign of slowing down. Moreover, another parameter of RSV epidemics has radically changed. It is the age of the sick. Usually, the bulk of patients who come to the attention of doctors because of the virus are babies from 7 to 12.5 months. In 2020, the average age of children with detected RSV turned out to be much higher – 18.4 months. |
| It should be pointed out that even before the independence of Ukraine was declared, the Russian Orthodox Church in October 1990 granted independence in governance to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The status, which the Ukrainian Church received at that time and enjoys to this day, provides for full independence in all its internal affairs including the election and consecration of bishops, establishment and abolishment of dioceses, canonization of saints and many other things. At the same time, according to this status, the self-governed Church in Ukraine preserves spiritual unity with the Moscow Patriarchate. But even this unity with the Russian Church, which does not presuppose any administration from Moscow, was rejected by not numerous but very active nationalistic groups. Having adopted their rhetoric, the Ukrainian authorities set themselves the task to obtain autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church. The implementation of this plan appeared not easy in a situation when a majority of the episcopate, clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church did not support the idea of autocephaly. However, the authorities of the country soon found an ally in the person of then Metropolitan Philaret (Denisenko) of Kiev and All Ukraine. For Metropolitan Philaret, the prospect of becoming the head of an autocephalous Church was attractive for at least two reasons. First, it met his power ambitions since, as the locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne and one of the most obvious candidates in the 1990 Patriarchal elections, he still failed to become Primate of the Russian Church due to the least number of votes for him. At the same time, Philaret was aware of his shaky situation as many Ukrainian bishops and clergy were dissatisfied with his dictatorial manner of governance, and there were even more of those who heard about the Metropolitan of Kiev’s private life incompatible with the monastic vows. The status of Primate of an autocephalous Ukrainian Church was seen by Philaret as a guarantee of immunity and life-long ruling and gave hope for becoming eventually the Patriarch, though not that of Moscow but of Kiev. |
| Particularly, Open Doors, through its “Free to Believe” campaign, is rallying concerned Americans to press their representatives to reach out to countries that abstained from last year's GA vote on the resolution. Countries that abstained included Belize, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Guatemala, and Zambia. Open Doors is also targeting countries that voted “yes” last year but are not member states of the OIC, which boasts itself as the second largest inter-governmental organization in the world after the United Nations and claims to represent “the collective voice of the Muslim world.” Presently, OIC's member states and allies have a majority in the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council, but if nations such as the Dominican Republic and Thailand change their " yes " votes to " no " this year and are joined by some of those who abstained in 2009, a defeat of the resolution is possible. “It is important to encourage key countries to change their vote on the resolution,” Open Doors noted. “These countries are not easily influenced by American citizens. But, they are more receptive to pressure from our legislators. That’s why Open Doors is urging persons to send a message to their legislators, asking him or her to ask key countries to change their vote on the Defamation of Religions Resolution,” the watchdog group added. According to Open Doors, an estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Christians in Muslim-dominated countries, especially, are facing increased persecution. Over the last few weeks churches in Indonesia have been attacked and forced to close and a mob of Pakistani Muslim extremists shot and beat dozens of Christians, including one cleared earlier of “blasphemy” charges. As part of its campaign, Open Doors has launched a website on which it has provided a sample letter for people to send that includes the necessary information for elected officials to lobby the target U.N. country missions. |
| It happened in the late 1960’s. As everyone knew, all citizens of the Soviet Union were supposed to participate in the elections. They brought a ballot box to the monastery and placed it in the refectory, where the brothers dropped their votes, grumbling, after the mid-day meal, under the Superior’s observation—rendering to Caesar that which is Caesar’s. Well, somehow the first secretary of the Pskov regional committee of the Communist Party found out that some ignorant monks had been allowed the ridiculous privilege of voting for the invincible block of communists and nonpartisans in their very own historically outdated monastery, and not at the polling station. The first secretary of the Pskov regional committee of the Communist Party was full of disdain, and castigated his inferiors mercilessly for such condescension toward a non-laboring element. He then commanded speedily that henceforth and forevermore, the black-robes shall come to vote for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR like all other soviet people—at their local polling station, according to their place of residence! It was then that Fr. Nathaniel whispered in the ear of the Father Superior that extraordinarily subtle advice. On election day (and this was on a Sunday), after the festal Liturgy, the monks solemnly processed through the monastery gates. Two by two, in an extensive line, heartily singing the troparia, the monks processed through the entire town to the polling station. Heavy religious banners furled over their heads, crosses and ancient icons were born at the fore, in the usual ecclesiastical manner. But that was not all. Just as before any important work, the clergy began by serving a moleben, right there in the polling hall. The mortally frightened bureaucrats tried to protest, but Fr. Alipy sternly cut them off, ordering them not to obstruct citizens in the fulfillment of their constitutional duty as their custom dictates. After casting their ballots, the brothers then returned to the monastery in the same solemn procession. |
| The US-backed Kiev aviation authorities re-directed international passenger airlines to fly over war zones bristling with anti-aircraft missiles while Kiev’s jets bombed the rebellious cities and towns. One flight was shot down and nearly 300 civilians perished. Immediately an explosion of accusations from Kiev blaming Russian President Putin flooded Western media with no real facts to explain the tragedy/crime. War-crazy President Obama and the slavering prime ministers of the EU ejaculated ultimatums, threatening to convert Russia into a pariah state. ‘Sanctions, sanctions, everywhere . . . but first… France must complete its billion sale to the Russian navy.’ And the City of London exempts the Russian oligarchs from the ‘sanctions’, embedded as they are in London’s money-laundering, parasitical FIRE (Fire, Insurance and Real Estate) economy. The Cold War has returned and has taken an ugly turn… with exceptions…for business. Confrontation among nuclear powers is imminent: And the maniacal Baltic States and Poland bray the loudest for war with Russia, oblivious to their positions on the front lines of incineration… Each day Israel’s war machine chews up more bodies of Gaza’s children while spitting out more lies. Cheering Israeli Jews perch on their fortified hills to celebrate each missile strike on the apartments and schools in the densely populated Shejaiya neighborhood of besieged Gaza. A group of orthodox and secular entrepreneurs in Brooklyn have organized group tours to visit the Holy Sites by day and enjoy the Gaza pyrotechnics by night . . . night goggles to view the fleeing mothers and burning children are available at a small extra charge… Again the US Senate votes unanimously in support of Israel’s latest campaign of mass murder – no crime is depraved enough to ruffle the scruples of America’s leaders. They hew close to a script from the 52 Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations. Together they embrace a Beast from the Apocalypse gnawing on the flesh and bones of Palestine. |
| This means that doctors in Belgium are taking decisions about ending the lives of their patients into their own hands when they themselves decide that an agony has gone on long enough and also, to use the quote reported by Cohen-Almagor, when they want to “facilitate” the death of the “terminally ill, demented and inhumanly deteriorated patient.” In other words, this designates patients who are considered no longer fit to live. According to the report, doctors in Belgium are acting on the grounds of “compassion” in “futile medical situations.” But Cohen-Almagor does point out how difficult it is to define when a situation is “futile,” and to estimate how long a patient actually has to live, whereas Belgian doctors who admit having resorted to the deliberate shortening of lives through this form of “involuntary” (and illegal) euthanasia are prepared to state that on average, they have shortened their patient’s life by one week or more in 6.4 percent of cases. The report observes that “deliberately ending the lives of patients without their request is taking place in Belgium more than in all other countries that document such practices, including the Netherlands,” a fact that Cohen-Almagor judges to be “worrying.” While the practice appears to be receding, respect for life at its most fragile is certainly receding at the same time as acceptance of euthanasia has become mainstream. The Belgian Society of Intensive Care Medicine issued a statement in 2014 placing the “responsibility” of end-of-life decisions on the intensive care physician. While the doctor is expected to seek a “consensus” with the patient’s near and dear ones “the final decision is made by the care team” who should discern whether the patient has “no prospect of a ‘meaningful recovery,’” whatever that may mean. There is no question of what the patient’s desire may be. And so euthanasia, which was legalized in order to respect patient autonomy, has made physicians comfortable with the idea of hastening death and patient autonomy might very well be on its way out. |
| What’s in the Stars? A Close Look at Astrology Millions of people apparently not only consult their horoscope daily, but base their day " s activities on what the stars supposedly tell them to do. They eagerly test all the events of a day and deceive themselves into believing that things turned out just the way the horoscope said. Many claim it is only an innocent pastime, and others see nothing in it contradictory to religion. Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas and the South 29 January 2009 Source: Orthodox Research Institute (…For at it they who worshipped the stars, were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of righteousness, and to know Thee the Orient from on high…”) (The Christmas Troparion) The average person today likes to think of himself as a product of the scientific age. He often flatters himself with the thought that he is superior to his ancestors, not standing in awe of the natural world, having no fear of the unknown, and being free from superstition. He is reluctant to believe anything that cannot be proven logically or scientifically and rejects what he often refers to as “myth” in religion: man’s creation from nothing, his fall, the promise and the coming of the Savior, salvation and life in the world to come. Twentieth-century man has been described as man “come of age”, too sophisticated and knowledgeable to accept these things as literally true, and he takes this description of himself very seriously. He doubts that the Supreme Being, whoever He may be, could have any interest inn or plan for man and the rest of creation. For the advocates of twentieth-centuryism, man is entirely on his own and has to work out his own destiny and the meaning of his existence. In rather glaring contradiction to all this theorizing and self-satisfaction of modern man and his exaggerated ideas about himself, stands one unquestionable fact: …man is as superstitious (today) as at any time in recent centuries. There are more “psychics” and “mediums”, more “seers of the future,” more “fortune tellers,” now than at any time in recent centuries. Hundreds of cheap publications, usually available not only in newspaper and magazine stores, but even in the super-markets, carry the “predictions” of self-styled “clairvoyants,” tales of the supernatural, accounts of communication with the dead and experiences with demonology. |
| Nevertheless, the effects of the brutality meted out to the Orthodox Church in Russia for over a period of seventy years cannot be eradicated overnight. St. Catherine's OCA Church shares with her sister Russian parishes not only the joys of spiritual regeneration but also the myriad tribulations that sudden freedom can bring. The communist bureaucracy has left a legacy of inertia, inefficiency and corruption that will take generations to overcome. This has entailed frustrating delays in the return of all of the church property. The shadow of the past still hangs over St. Catherine's in the form of the rectory, which is now occupied by the Federal Security Service (the former KGB). However, these considerations pale into insignificance when confronted by the mammoth cost of financing the church restoration project. The needs of the church far outweigh the sacrificial contributions that Russian parishioners make and have always made out of love for the Church. Economic reform in Russia in recent years has meant that prices for materials have soared to world levels or above, while the average monthly salary for Russians remains at the equivalent of St. Catherine's Church, while representing the interests of a Church from the most affluent country in the world, finds itself in the paradoxical situation of being one of the poorest parishes in Moscow. The needs of the church are formidable: a new iconostasis has to be constructed and new icons painted, the parish house needs major remodelling, new window frames are urgently required to replace the rotting old ones; the list can go on. Yet it is the ardent belief of those who are labouring for the growth of St. Catherine's OCA Church and her unique mission that with the grace of God these needs can be met so that she can truly be an embodiment of Universal Orthodoxy. The Byzantine double-headed eagles which adorn the surrounds of St. Catherine's gazing in the direction of both East and West are an eloquent symbol of the spiritual bridge that is being formed between Orthodox of the old and new worlds. It is our hope that this bridge will last well into the next millennium. |
| “The absolute chronology of the Babylonian first group of kings is easy to establish because, as has been mentioned, Ptolemy quotes the report of an eclipse in the time of king Mardokempados. Even more important, this absolute chronology has been independently confirmed by cuneiform texts from Babylon which contain astronomical observations. These number more than 1000 pieces of daytoday astronomical observations of positions and phases of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, beginning around 650 B.C. and continuing, in increasingly dense numbers, into the first century before the beginning of our era. Thanks to these astronomical diaries, numerous overlaps with the royal list in Theon’s Handy Tables have been established, always in agreement. In other cases, the lengths of the reigns of individual kings in Theon’s royal list can be confirmed by the careful study of the dates given in contemporaneous economic and administrative texts found in Babylonia; this is possible because for parts of the period covered by the royal list, we have so many of these texts that they average out to one every few days. In this way namely, by using Theon’s royal list, Babylonian astronomical diaries, and Babylonian dated tablets–one is able to establish with confidence the absolute chronology back to the middle of the eighth century B.C., i.e. the reign of king Nabonassar of Babylon.” (A. J. Sachs, “Absolute dating from Mesopotamian records,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Ser. A, Vol. 26,1971, p. 20; emphasis added) As Professor Sachs points out in this statement, the Royal Canon has been gradually replaced in recent times as the foundation of ancient chronology by the many native sources from Babylonia, in particular by the great number of astronomical cuneiform documents, which provide “numerous overlaps” with the Royal Canon, “always in agreement,” thereby replacing it at these many points. The earlier role of the Royal Canon as the foundation of ancient chronology has dwindled to a fraction of the period it covers. At some points, it is still needed as a trusted complement because of its proven reliability. Depuydt, a renowned Egyptologist and specialist on ancient chronology who has been examining the history and reliability of the Royal Canon for a long time, aptly describes the shifting foundation of the chronology of antiquity: |
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