| Pity the child whose mother did not teach him to pray, and pity the mother who left this sacred duty to others. It is remarkable that children never doubt the existence of God. Their barely sparkling consciousness is nevertheless somehow capable of grasping the idea of Divinity. The Savior’s words, Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (Mt. 11:25, Lk. 10:21) opens a lawful field for drawing very necessary conclusions. Having begun his religious life early, the infant soul can advance very far in his religious development while yet in infancy. He can contemplate the mysteries in which, for example, the two famous cherubim in the painting, “The Sistine Madonna” by Raphael are engulfed, placed as they are on the boundary between two worlds. There were incidents in the earlier years of persecution against Christians when babes at the breast were eager to go to torments for Christ together with their parents, and thus they became conscious confessors and martyrs. Whoever has had the chance to observe the facial expressions of infants who have just received Communion can catch in these basically inexpressive faces an extraordinary mark of holy purity, joy, and concentration… This feeling that the soul itself has, what it turns itself toward like a sunflower to the sun—all this must be strengthened, cultivated, and deepened in children. From the very earliest, most tender age, children should be given Holy Communion as often as possible, even every week. Like grafting a wild branch onto a good tree, nothing more readily transforms a soul into a cluster on Christ’s vine than its frequent immersion in Christ’s holiness at His table. The famous spiritual father and preacher, Archpriest Alexei Petrovich Kolokolov, once told how his spiritual daughter was given in marriage to a titled man who later manifested signs of mental illness. The doctors were afraid that the children would be abnormal. For his own part, Fr. Alexei offered what he had in his own hands—spiritual medicine. He advised the mother to commune her three boys from that marriage as often as possible from the earliest months of their lives. They all grew up to be healthy and normal men. |
| In the light of Christ, in the light of the Holy Spirit, looking into the depth of the human heart and seeing there an image of the workings of various passions, the holy fathers and teachers of the Church call vainglory a multiform passion, the most subtle and difficult to fathom. All other passions disturb a person's peace and are quickly reproached by the conscience, while the passion of vainglory, to the contrary, flatters the fallen son of Adam, brings him supposed delight, and appears to be a spiritual consolation—a reward for his good deed. All other passions can be directly counteracted by their opposite virtues: gluttony is counteracted by abstinence, anger by meekness, and love of money by generosity. Vainglory apparently cannot be counteracted by a single virtue. Like a thief, it steals from a person his remembrance of God, His unspeakable magnificence, His unspeakable sanctity, in Whose sight even the heavens are not clean (cf. Job 15:15), and draws fallen man into admiring himself with approval and pleasure. I am not as other men are (Lk. 18:11), it says. In its blindness, from its own self-satisfaction, vainglory thanks God, forgetting that fallen man can only be thankful to God when he sees the multitude of his own sins and weaknesses; a vision united with the vision of the Creator's inexpressible beneficence for His creation—perishing creation. Vainglory rejoices when it sees that a person is rich in virtues. It hopes to turn every virtue into a sin; it hopes to make every virtue a cause and reason for that person's condemnation at Christ's Judgment. It attempts to prophecy! It brazenly strives to work miracles, and dares to temp the Lord! Foreign to spiritual gifts, it seeks to represent itself as having them, or at least to induce the suspicion in other people that it possesses something supernatural. It deleteriously seeks to console itself through this deception. It is near the ascetic when he fasts, when he prays, when he gives alms, when he keeps vigil, and when he kneels, attempting to steal the sacrifice brought to God, and defiling it with man-pleasing, to render it useless. It stalks the slave of Christ in the solitude of his cell, in his reclusion. Not having an opportunity to bring the ascetic soul-destroying praise from onlookers, it brings him praise in his thoughts. It paints human glory delusively in his imagination. Often it acts without thought and fantasy; but it can be recognized only by the heart's absence of blessed contrition, blessed remembrance of and contrition over sins. " If you do not have heartfelt lamentation, " said one great father, " you have vainglory. " |
| ‘Together we seek to draw the public attention to the suffering of our brothers in the Middle East and North Africa, in Kosovo and Metohija, and now in south-east Ukraine, where the blood of Orthodox Christians is spilt, churches of God are defiled and destroyed, scores of refugees with no roof are exposed to continued danger coming from radical forces motivated by the ideology of ethnic and religious intolerance’. Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill said, ‘The Lord Jesus Christ says, He who does not gather with Me scatters (Lk. 11:23). Therefore we are not surprised to see that those who have renounced the unity of the Church by going into schism are now destroying the unity of their people and country through aggressive propaganda of war, encouraging violence and slurring the canonical Church in Ukraine accusing her of a lack of patriotism only because she calls to peace and people’s accord’. His Holiness also spoke about the unity of the Orthodox Church which should be manifested at the Great Council of the Orthodox Church under preparation. ‘We expect from the forthcoming Council the adoption of documents addressed to our contemporaries – all those for whom the voice of the Orthodox Church has authority and power… We expect the documents to deal with pressing problems of the day, not problem which have become irrelevant things of the past’. The preparations of the Pan-Orthodox Council, he said, should be carried out in the spirit of unanimity ‘so that the Council could have an opportunity to address the whole world with a bright and strong prophetic message. It is such a message that the world expect from us today’. In conclusion of his remarks, His Holiness thanked all the bishops, priests and lay people for having undertaken to come to Moscow for the St. Vladimir celebrations. Metropolitan Apostolos of Mileta greeted Patriarch Kirill on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and all the representatives of Local Orthodox Churches. He spoke in detail about the historical journey made by the Kiev principality and its rulers to the adoption of Christianity and the significance of the personality of St. Vladimir, who ‘not only asserted Christian faith in the Russian land but also became a reformer who brought in culture, playing the same role as Constantine the Great did for Byzantium’. |
| Juan, severo asceta, no pudo satisfacer con su llamado a la contrición y al arrepentimiento a fariseos y escribas, quienes aguardaban al Mesías como a un gran Rey-Conquistador. Tampoco Jesucristo, Quien a diferencia de Juan, no se rehusaba a compartir la mesa con pecadores para salvarlos, pudo complacerlos. «Mas la Sabiduría ha quedado justificada por sus hijos.» Estas palabras son explicadas por el Bienaventurado Teofilact: «Desde el momento, dice Cristo, en que ni Mi vida ni la de Juan los complace y ustedes rechazan todos los caminos hacia la salvación, entonces Yo – la Sabiduría Divina – estoy justificado ante Mis hijos pero no ante los fariseos.» Por «hijos de la Sabiduría» se entiende al simple pueblo judío, publicanos y pecadores arrepentidos, aquellos que creyeron de todo corazón en Cristo y recibieron Su Divina enseñanza: ellos «justificaron» a Dios y Su Sabiduría, son ejemplos demostrativos que el Señor, fiel y sabiamente, dispuso la salvación de la humanidad. Y a ellos les fue revelada la Sabiduría Divina, inaccesible a los orgullosos fariseos. Recriminación a las ciudades impías. ( Mt. 11:20–30 ; Lk. 10:13–16 y 21–22). Cristo, con gran pena en el corazón, pronuncia Su «lamento» por las ciudades de Corazaín y Betsaida, situadas respectivamente al norte y al sur de Cafarnaum, pues a pesar de haber visto muchos de Sus milagros, no se habían arrepentido. Nuestro Señor las compara con las ciudades paganas de Tiro y Sidón, en la vecina Fenicia, las que el día del Juicio serán tratadas con menos rigor que las ciudades judías. A estas últimas les fue dada la posibilidad de salvarse pero rehusaron arrepentirse, como sí lo hizo en su momento Nínive con cilicio (tosca vestimenta que ocasionaba dolor físico) y ceniza (era señal de profunda contrición permanecer sentado sobre ceniza cubriéndose la cabeza con ella), fruto de la predicación de Jonás. Nuestro Señor también anuncia la destrucción de Cafarnaum por su extrema altanería debida a su prosperidad material. Cristo compara la impiedad de Cafarnaum con la de Sodoma y Gomorra, castigadas por Dios y destruidas con una lluvia de azufre y fuego. |
| The Lord predicted the persecution of Christians in the world: ‘They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake…’ (Lk. 21:12). In my report on the Persecution and Discrimination of Christians in Today’s World: Causes, Scale, Prognoses for the Future’ made at the above-mentioned conference on November 30, 2011, in Moscow, I cited many facts of the persecution of Christians. Therefore in this survey of the situation in the world I would like to make today, I will dwell mostly on the facts that have taken place since that time. A matter of the greatest concern is the recent increase in anti-Christian actions in the two countries in which Christians comprise at least 10% of the population, namely, in Egypt and Syria. According to the 2007 data, there were 107 million people in Egypt, most of them being Arabs – 91,9%. Almost all of them (90% of the population) confess Islam. Christians live mostly in Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities. They comprise about 10% of the population. After the events of January-February 2011, a clear tendency has developed to make the sharia the only legal system in that country. It should be taken into account that those who demand the introduction of the sharia today are usually adherents of radical views whereby Christians are equated with pagans and should be converted therefore to Islam. I believe the sharia should be applied to Muslims alone; it by no means should be applied to Christians. It is my conviction that both Christians and Muslims should have the same rights and guarantees granted by the state. Throughout 2011, Christians in Egypt continued to be objects of attacks. In my report I have cited many examples of this. The authorities of that country, instead of protecting Christians, have sometimes themselves become sources of violence towards them. On October 9, the Copts organized a demonstration in the Egyptian capital, but armed forces under the command of the Egyptian Military Council broke it up and as a result over 20 Christians were killed and over 200 injured. Christians were literarily crushed by military vehicles. |
| Hochgeweihte Oberhirten, hochwürdige Väter, hochverehrte Mönche und Nonnen, liebe Brüder und Schwestern! In dieser lichthellen Nacht erleben wir geistig erneut die Freude, dass die Welt ihren Heiland aufgefunden hat. Wir schauen erneut den Sohn des lebendigen Gottes, der in der Krippe von Bethlehem liegt. Erneut hören wir in unseren Herzen die Engelstimme, lobpreisend den Schöpfer und Erlöser: „Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe und Frieden auf Erden und den Menschen seines Wohlgefallens“ (Lk. 2, 14). In dem wir das Lob der Himmelsheere beachten, begreifen wir, dass die Geburt Christi von außerzeitlicher Bedeutung erfüllt ist und einen direkten Bezug auf das Schicksal jedes Menschen hat. Sogar derjenige, der noch nicht von der Großtat des Heilands weiß, kann nun die Erkenntnis der Wahrheit gewinnen, Kind Gottes werden und das ewige Leben erben. Die Geburt Christi eröffnet uns die Wahrheit von uns selbst und macht möglich, diese Wahrheit zu verstehen und sich anzueignen. Erinnern wir uns, dass der erste Mensch vom Schöpfer als vollkommen geschaffen worden war, „als Bild und Gleichnis Gottes“ (1 Mos. 1, 26). Aber Adam, der das Gebot übertreten hatte, entstellte die Absicht des Schöpfers über sich. Da die Menschheit die lebendige Gemeinschaft mit Gott verloren hatte, versank sie mehr und mehr in den Abgrund der Sünde und des Stolzes. Und dann der Herr, der seine Schöpfung liebt und ihr Rettung wünscht, sendet seinen Eingeborenen Sohn in die Welt, der die Ganzheit der menschlichen Natur wiederhergestellt hat und der neue Adam geworden ist. Christus hat uns das Vorbild des der göttlichen Absicht angemessenen Lebens gegeben. Dieses Vorbild ist ein zuverlässiger Orientierungspunkt, der uns hilft, vom Wege nicht abzuweichen, und die einzige wahrhafte Richtung zu bekommen, die zur Fülle des Lebens führt, sowohl in den Bedingungen des irdischen Seins, als auch in der Ewigkeit. Wir beschreiten diesen Heilsweg, wenn wir den Rufen Gottes folgen. Ein solcher an uns gerichteter Ruf steht im 1. Korintherbrief vom heiligen Apostel Paulus: „Darum so preist Gott an eurem Leibe und in eurem Geiste, welche sind Gottes“ (6, 20). Dies bedeutet, dass wir nicht nur Gott durch Gebete und Gesänge das Lob emporsenden, sondern auch durch gute Werke zugunsten des Nächsten, zugunsten des Volkes und der Kirche. |
| It is also to fulfill the words of the Lord, give alms (Lk. 12:33), that pilgrims from both the laity and the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church regularly leave donations on the canonical territory of the Constantinople Patriarchate. This is not considered interference in its affairs, and does not at all provoke angry Synodal protests. It also must be added that Patriarch Kirill’s letter, as it states in the text, was not only the result of his own soul’s urgings and sympathy for a suffering man, but also the fulfillment of his archpastoral duty to his own flock. Many Orthodox people in Russia, the Ukraine, Belorussia, and Moldova, including the author of these lines, were sincerely grieved by the news of Fr. Ephraim’s arrest. The proof of this is the thousands of signatures already found on a petition in support of the archimandrite. With all due tact and Christian nobility, our Patriarch decided to bring our pain to the attention of those who can decide whether or not to release Fr. Ephraim during the investigation. In fact, if the Patriarch of Constantinople would have used Patriarch Kirill’s letter, along with the voices of support from other Local Churches, to actively defend the abbot of Vatopedi Monastery, he would have indeed strengthened his authority in the Orthodox world, and would most likely have led to Fr. Ephraim’s release. Instead, through its strange statement, the Constantinople Patriarchate has primarily given Fr. Ephraim’s opponents an excellent excuse to ignore the voices of the Orthodox world; and secondly, he has compromised himself not only before Mt. Athos and the Russian Church, but before all Orthodox Christians, including Greeks. Yes, not everyone in the Greek world loves the Russian Orthodox Church, but even its fiercest critics, hand on heart, have to admit in this case that if they were to find themselves in Fr. Ephraim’s shoes they would much rather see Moscow’s attitude toward their misfortune than Constantinople’s. The above-mentioned Bishop Amvrossios of the Greek Orthodox Church makes yet another point: “If the Russian Patriarch has inadvertently interfered in the affairs of another Patriarchate, why then aren’t the Churches of Greece, Cyprus, and Bulgaria also cited? Their leaders made similar statements. It would appear that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is essentially contradicting itself and is acting unilaterally.” |
| The Russian Orthodox Church was particularly grieved to learn about the recent decision of the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople to allow a second marriage for clerics. This decision constitutes a violation of the sacred canons (Canon 17 of the Holy Apostles, Canon 3 of the Council in Trullo, Canon 1 of the Council of Neocaesarea, Canon 12 of St. Basil the Great), as well as tramples on the pan-Orthodox accord and, in fact, rejects the results of the Council held in Crete in 2016, the recognition of which the Patriarchate of Constantinople actively tries to gain from the rest of the Local Churches. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, in its attempts to assert authoritative powers in the Orthodox Church, which it has never had, is now interfering in the church life in Ukraine. In their statements the hierarchs of the Church of Constantinople go so far as to call Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine “uncanonical,” based on the fact that he does not commemorate the Patriarch of Constantinople. Meanwhile, earlier, during the Synaxis of the Local Orthodox Churches in Chambésy in January 2016, Patriarch Bartholomew publicly called Metropolitan Onufry the only canonical Primate of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. On the same occasion the Primate of the Church of Constantinople gave a promise that neither during the Council in Crete nor afterwards he would make any attempts to legalize the schism or to grant autocephaly to anybody on a unilateral basis. We have to state with regret that this promise has now been broken. The unilateral, uncanonical actions of the See of Constantinople in the territory of Ukraine, committed while ignoring completely the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, indicate a direct support for the Ukrainian schism. It constitutes a great temptation among the millions-strong flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that the Patriarchate of Constantinople, considering itself to be the Mother Church for the Ukrainian Church, gives to its daughter a stone instead of bread and a serpent instead of a fish (cf. Lk. 11:11). |
| John Anthony McGuckin Calendar JOHN A. MCGUCKIN The calendar, in Orthodox usage, signifies the manner in which the yearly cycle of liturgical feasts is arranged in the church. From the very beginnings of the Christian Church there was a marked desire among believers to celebrate liturgically that central moment of salvation history: the monumental events surrounding the Lord’s death and resurrection, the great Paschal Mystery which included his cross and his glory as one. Liturgically separated out, so as to provide pause and meditative space for the faithful to “ponder these things” ( Lk. 2.19 ), the Paschal Mystery itself refuses to be divided up by aspect or human chronology. It is one living reality, not a series of disparate events. So, to that extent, it is impossible to set apart the Lord’s ministry from his sufferings, for they make a seamless weave. It is impossible to separate Great Friday from Pascha Sunday, or to divide out the mystery of Ascension and Pentecost. It is only a time-bounded chronological mindset that sets them in different chronological sequences. In God’s work of salvation it is not Chronos (time sequence) that matters but Kairos (the timeless moment of the opportunity of Grace). Pentecost and Pascha are not just things of the past, they are things of the present moment of God’s glory, and of the church’s future hope – its eschatological reality. The calendar, therefore, is a meditative aid to realize the complexity of the eschatological Kairos which the church senses as profound Mystery of Christ. It is not meant to be a ground plan, objectively real and definitive, as much as a cycle of recurring and elliptical reflections on the central mystery of the Word’s redemption of his people. Liturgically, the calendar revolves around Pascha. The Paschal cycle begins four weeks before Lent opens, with the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (announcing the overarching theme of repentance). Prior to Pascha come the Sundays of Great Lent, each with their own theme and motif, announced in the gospel of the day as well as in certain “saints of repentance” who are commemorated (Mary of Egypt, for example, or John of the Ladder), and also the Entry to Jerusalem. |
| Usually, “universe” did not refer to the whole world as such, but only to those of its parts where there was civilization. The rulers of big kingdoms were called the “kings of the earth,” as for example, King Cyrus of Persia is called in the Bible (Ezra 1:2). So, when the Greaco-Roman civilization was united under the Roman emperors, the Roman Empire began to be called the “world.” It is precisely in this sense that St. Luke used this word speaking about the Nativity of Christ in his Gospel:”In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered” (Lk.2:1). In fact the term “oikoumene” implied not so much a populated space as a cultivated space of ancient civilization. Other cultures had their own “worlds,” and such understanding of the term had lasted for many centuries. For example, sending a copy of the Kormchaia Kniga (the Pilot Book) to Metropolitan Cyril II of All Russia in 1262, Bulgarian ruler Jacob Svetoslav wrote: “Let the Russian world be enlightened by your word.” When in 325, St. Constantine the Great, Equal-to-the-Apostles, summoned bishops from all over his Empire to Nicaea to discuss general ecclesiastical problems, that gathering got the name of an “Ecumenical Council.” Thus, an institute of all-imperial level came into being, which at the call of the emperors on especially important occasions brought together bishops from all over the vast Roman state to consider such problems under the chairmanship of the most authoritative bishops, who with the time began to be called “heads of the fathers” – Patriarchs. Most frequently the epithet “of the whole world” in the sense of “empire-wide,” “state-wide” was used by Justinian the Great (527-565) in legal texts. The words “world,” “world-wide” referred to the territory of the Empire as a whole are often to be found in his legislative acts. Thus, the Emperor’s novella 109 of 541 offers a detailed explanation of the supreme church institutes – the Ecumenical Councils and Patriarchates in the following way: “Just as the fathers did, we call ‘heretics’ those who are adhering to different heresies… as in fact are all who are not members of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of God, in which all the most holy Patriarchs of the whole World – of Western Rome, of this royal city, of Alexandria, of Antioch and of Jerusalem – t ogether with all the most reverend bishops subordinate to them, unanimously proclaim the apostolic faith and holy tradition.” So, according to the imperial legislation, the Orthodox faith was proclaimed together by five “Patriarchs of All the World” in unity with the bishops subordinate to them; and it was precisely to witness this unanimity that the emperors used to call together Ecumenical Councils. |
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