| Patriarch Kirill congragulates Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and all Ukraine on his 70th birthday Source: DECR Natalya Mihailova 07 November 2014 His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has sent the following congratulatory message to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine on the occasion of his 70th birthday: Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine Your Beatitude Beloved in the Lord, I am glad to cordially congratulate you on your 70 th birthday. Already in your early youth, you decided to dedicate your life to the service of God and His Holy Church. From that time till your mature years, you have followed Christ with courage and patience, faithful to your calling and unshakeably committed to the all-good will of the Heavenly Lord. The promise of Christ that “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother… for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Mt. 19:29) is being fulfilled in your life. On all the paths of your service, the Lord has invariably strengthened and blessed you. For the last years, you have gained high spiritual authority, wisdom and rich pastoral experience, which you generously share with fellow archpastors, clergy and the faithful of the Church. The years of your Beatitude’s 70 th birthday have become for you a time of calling to a new lofty feat. It is not an easy feat, but it has had to happen according to the word of the Gospel: “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl” (Mt. 5:15). In your election to the old and glorious see of the Metropolitans of Kiev, just as in all your life lived in monastic efforts and humble obedience to the Mother Church, we see an edifying action of Divine Providence, which leads a Christian from strength to strength (Ps. 84:7) and enkindles in each of us the fire of faith necessary for our growth till we “attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). The important service of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church entrusted to you at a time difficult for canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine requires a special ability for sacrifice, courage and devotion. It is not the love of power or vanity of this world that has elevated you to this high see but meekness with which you have emulated Christ the Founder of Feat Who “a bruised reed will not break, and a smoldering wick will not snuff out” (Mt. 12:20). I trust that this humbleness and all-conquering love of Christ will give you the power to bear without stumbling the primatial cross, so that the words of the holy apostle may be fulfilled: “And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever” (1 Jn. 2:17). |
| The Ascension. Giotto, c.1305, Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua, Italy Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession (Heb. 4:14). Let us follow along now mentally, brethren, with the sacred writers, depicting the path of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, in the glory of His Father. This path, ending with His Ascension to the Father (Jn. 20:17) and His receiving of the Heavenly glory which He had in His Divinity before the world was (Jn. 17:5), commenced with His sufferings. Ascending up far above all heavens, our Lord had to descend first into the lower parts of the earth (Eph. 4:9-10) to disappear into the bowels of the earth, into the depths of the abyss, and be cut off from the land of the living that, having made Himself an offering of propitiation (Is. 53:8-10) for the sins of man, He could present Himself as our High Priest, able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Heb. 4:15). And we see how this bearer of man’s sin, forsaken among the dead and reduced into the dust of earth (Ps. 88:5, 21:15), is the Victor over hell and death , and binds the strong man, that is, the devil (Mt. 12:29). He Who cometh from Edom … glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength (Is. 63:1), and ascended on high , receives rather the spoils of human souls saved by Him (Ps. 68:18), as the King of glory, entering through the gates of Heaven itself, to appear there as the Forerunner and Intercessor for us (Ps. 23:7-10; Heb. 6:20, 12:23-24). If, brethren, such is the path of the Ascension of Christ Himself into His glory (Lk. 24:26)—that is, a path of suffering and death—then can our path be otherwise? If He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn. 14:6), then how can we come to God the Father, if not by imitating our Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 13:15)? If our Lord Jesus Christ sits on the right hand of God, then set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth , for if we have died with Him, then, according to the apostle, our lives must now be hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:1-3). Let us mortify our earthly passions and thoughts (Col. 3:5) in order to have our citizenship in Heaven (Phil. 3:20), and with our purified minds to follow Christ, the Lord of our lives, Who has ascended into Heaven and is drawing us there where He is. Let us prepare our minds with contemplation and prayer for that spiritual joy with which the apostles were filled as they stood watching Christ as He ascended from Earth to Heaven, and afterwards returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Lk. 24:52; Acts 1:10-12). |
| But during a time when you are disturbed, when a brother is opposing you, restrain your tongue so as not to say anything at all in anger, and do not allow your heart to exalt itself above him; but remember that he is your brother and member of Christ, and an image of God who is being tempted from our common enemy. Take pity on him so that the devil, having wounded his irritability, will not take him captive and kill him by means of remembrance of evil, and so that because of our lack of attention a soul for whom Christ died might not perish. Remember that you also are sometimes conquered by the passion of anger, and judging by your own infirmity, have compassion for your brother, give thanks that you have found an occasion to forgive another so that you also might receive from God forgiveness of your great and numerous sins; for it is said, Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven (Luke 6:37). Do you think that your brother will be harmed by your long-suffering? But the Apostle commands us to conquer evil with good, and not good with evil (Rom. 19:21). The Fathers also say that if while giving a scolding to another you are drawn into anger, you will fulfill only your own passion; and no rational person will destroy his own house in order to build the house of his neighbor. But if disturbance continues in you, force your heart and pray, saying: " O Merciful God, Who lovest mankind! Thou Who hast created us from nothing in Thine unutterable goodness in order to enjoy Thy good things, and Who hast called by the Blood of Thine Only-Begotten Son our Savior us who have stepped away from Thy commandments! Come now, help our infirmities; and as once Thou forbade the stormy sea, so now also forbid the disturbance of our hearts so that both of us Thy children, deadened by sin, might not in one hour be deprived of Thee, and so that Thou mightest not say to us: What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to destruction? (Ps. 29:9), and Verily I say unto you, I know you not (Mt. 25:12), because our lamps have gone out for want of oil. " |
| Homily delivered by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Kiev Laura of the Caves on the commemoration day of St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles admin 29 July 2013 July 28, 2013 His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia delivered this homily after the festive liturgy celebrated by the heads and representatives of Local Orthodox Churches and an assembly of bishops from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova, who came to Kiev for the celebrations marking the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, at the cathedral square of the Kiev Laura of the Caves: I wholeheartedly greet you on the occasion of the feast of the Baptism of Rus’! We have counted off 1025 years of our common history which has developed under the cross of St. Andrew the First Called. And today the whole plenitude of the Orthodox Church, through her primates, bishops and priests, has assembled here, in the Kiev Laura of the Caves, to thank God before this very cross of St. Andrew for the fact that the apostle’s prophecy about Orthodoxy in our lands, about the truth shining forth in them, has come true. We all have been brought together by the power of God as One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. What is the foundation of our unity? Why are we all together in the Orthodox Church despite the hard conditions of our life in history? – Because the foundation of our life is the foundation stone which is our Lord Jesus Christ. Precisely for this reason the word of God states: On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Mt. 16:18). They will not overcome it because what lies in the foundation of the Church is not human wisdom or human power but the power of God. This power of God is almost never realized in human power because the Lord said, My power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The whole history of Christianity in Rus’ shows this human weakness of ours. But if we were the only foundation of the building that Christ has built, would it withstand the pressure of various ethnic and cultural factors and especially the tremendous influences from outside, which for centuries have worked to undermine the unity of the Church, to weaken her witness? Christ is the foundation stone of our Church’s and our life. |
| Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis and Preveza (March 3, 1933–June 23, 2012) is a well-known hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1959 he graduated from the theological department of Athens University. He was ordained a deacon and then priest, preached in the Messina metropolitanate, and served as secretary of the Synodal representation. On March 1, 1980 he was consecrated a bishop with the rank of metropolitan of Nikopolis and Preveza. He participated as chairman of the Church of Greece’s work on the Inter-Orthodox preparatory commission for one of the Pan-Orthodox pre-council meetings on December 11–16, 2009. He is the author of ecclesiastical works entitled, The Fifth Ecumenical Council (which received an award from the Athens Academy of Sciences), The Mark of Antichrist in Orthodox Tradition, and How did I come to know Christ? The following sermon was given by Metropolitan Meletios on the Gospel reading (Mt. 4:12–17) on the Sunday after Theophany, January 14, 2007. Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis Are we spiritually close to Him? We have celebrated the great feast of the Theophany . Christ came to us, having become a man, walked in the world and arrived at the Jordan, where He was baptized for our sake, for the sake of our salvation. St. John the Forerunner saw Him, recognized Him, gave Him honor, worshipped Him, glorified Him, and said to the people that He is the One , which taketh away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). This is the Kingdom of God. For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matt. 4:17). The Kingdom of Heaven has become closer to us. Stretch forth your hands that you might touch Him. Open your eyes that you might see Him. Clear your ears that you might hear Him. God came into the world to reign. To reign where? In us! In our minds and hearts. And if He does not reign in us—in our minds and hearts—then He will not reign “outside” of us either, and our works will not be pure, they will not become the works of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is close to us. It should be spiritually close to us! But we have to understand: Are we spiritually close to Christ, or far away from Him? We repeat: spiritually close to Him. A person can be in the Church without being spiritually close to Christ. He can even receive the Body and Blood of the Lord, but still not become close to Christ. |
| The Law of Love/Православие.Ru The Law of Love And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise Lk. 6:31 St. John of Kronstadt The Holy Evangelist Luke speaks in today's Gospel about the teaching and commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ about how we should be with people in society, so that we might please both God and people, make also a good name for ourselves, have a good conscience, and be made worthy of the promised, incorruptible Heavenly Homeland for our wise behavior in our earthly homeland (Lk. 6:31:36). What wise, lofty, saving, and truly divine teachings and commandments! But how badly our daily life conforms to them! The Lord teaches us to treat people as we would have people treat us; that is, simple-heartedly, well-wishing, sympathetically, patiently. He set our own selves as a measuring stick for our relationship to other people; and this measuring stick, this scope, is love. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church (Eph. 5, 29). But in community it often happens to the contrary—peoples' relationships to each other are often quite wrong, not distinguished by a spirit of simplicity and sincerity, love and good will, love of peace, meekness and condescension, purity and holiness, sympathy and compassion, and Christian patience. They are often distinguished by a spirit of insincerity and duplicity, coldness and haughtiness, deceit and ill will, or impurity and sensuality, low egoism and self-seeking. The root, cause, or source of one or another way of treating one person or another is within a person's heart. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things (Mt. 12:35). This occurs either from his natural character traits, or from an either good or bad upbringing; from various passions, inclinations, or habits—for example, of seeking certain pleasures; from either good or bad examples; from life circumstances; from more or less comfortable material standards; from the milieu in which he lives or his standing in society; from various life lessons or trials; and finally, from how much he has been or not been penetrated with the Gospel spirit of Christ. |
| What would you now, brethren, from the ministers of the word? The Word Himself is no more! The Word, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, born for our salvation, the Author of every quick and powerful (Heb. 4:12) word, is silent, dead, buried, and sealed up. The more plainly and convincingly “to show man the path of life” (Ps. 16:11) this very Word came down from heaven and put on flesh; but men would not hearken unto the Word, they tear His flesh, and lo, “He is cut off out of the land of the living” (Is. 53:8). Who then shall now give unto us the word of life and salvation? Let us hasten to confess the mystery of the Word which shall disarm His persecutors, and restore Him to souls ready to receive Him. The Word of God is not bound by death . As a word from the lips of man dies not entirely away at the moment its sound ceases, but rather gathers new strength, and passing through the senses, penetrates the minds and hearts of the hearers; so also the Hypostatical Word of God, the Son of God, in His saving incarnation, whilst dying in the flesh, “fills all things” (Eph 4:10) with His Spirit and might. Thus when Christ waxeth faint and becometh silent on the cross, then is it that heaven and earth raise their voice unto Him, and the dead preach the resurrection of the Crucified, and the very stones cry out. “And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose” (Lk 23:45; Mt 27:51-52). Christians, the incarnate Word keepeth silence only in order to speak unto us with greater power and effect; withdraws, that He may the more inwardly “dwell among us” (Jn 1:14); dies, that He may grant us His inheritance. Assembled by the Church to hold converse with the departed Jesus, listen ye unto the quick and powerful word of the dead (Heb 4:32); listen ye to the testament He has left unto you, “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me” (Lk 22:29). |
| Dieses erstaunliche und tiefe Erlebnis des „Gott mit uns“ stellt das Wesen des geheimnisvollen, verborgenen Lebens der Kirche dar. Erinnern wir uns daran, dass, da der Allmächtige selbst – das A und das O, der Erste und der Letzte (Offb 22, 13) – die menschliche Geschichte umarmte und versprach, bei uns alle Tage bis an der Welten Ende (Mt 28, 20) zu bleiben, uns die alarmierenden Umstände der heutigen Zeit keineswegs Furcht machen und uns ängstigen sollen. Indem wir die große Liebe des Heilands erwidern, lasst uns lernen, uns dem Herrn völlig anzuvertrauen und auf seine gütige Vorsehung zu hoffen, um bis zum Zweiten herrlichen Kommen Christi und bis an das Ende der Welt (Apg 1, 8) freimütig und freudig bezeugen zu können, dass Gott mit uns ist! PATRIARCH VON MOSKAU UND DER GANZEN RUS’ Weihnachten 2023 / 2024 Moskau Die Weihnachtsbotschaft ist auf folgende Sprachen verfügbar: Belarussisch English Estnisch Französisch Griechisch Italienisch Kasachisch Kirgisisch Lettisch Litauisch Russisch Traditionelle Chinesisch Ukrainisch Usbekisch Vereinfachte Chinesisch Print-Veröffentlichung Teilen: Patriarch Seine Heiligkeit Patriarch Kyrill: die russische und die serbische Kirche können einen gemeinsamen Beitrag zur Heilung der Leiden der orthodoxen Familie leisten 16.03.2024 Der Vorsteher der Russischen Kirche leitete die Plenarsitzung der XXXII. Internationalen Weihnachtslesungen 24.01.2024 Seine Heiligkeit Patriarch Kyrill: der Patriarch von Konstantinopel ist kein freier Mann 07.01.2024 Weihnachtsbotschaft des Patriarchen von Moskau und der ganzen Rus " KIRILL 06.01.2024 Die Heilige Synode nahm mit Zufriedenheit das hohe Niveau der interreligiösen Beziehungen in Russland zur Kenntnis 27.12.2023 Der Präsident Russlands W.W. Putin und Patriarch Kyrill sprachen auf der Sitzung des XXV. Weltrussischen Volksrats 28.11.2023 Die Erklärung des Heiligen Patriarchen Kyrill im Zusammenhang mit den Ereignissen auf dem Territorium des Flughafens Machatschkalas 30.10.2023 Seine Heiligkeit Patriarch Kyrill legte Berufung im Zusammenhang mit der Prüfung des Gesetzentwurfs Nr. 8371 durch die Werchowna Rada der Ukraine ein 19.10.2023 Die Erklärung des Heiligsten Patriarchen Kyrill in Zusammenhang mit der Wiederaufnahme des Kriegsgeschehens in Bergkarabach 19.09.2023 Die Rede des Heiligsten Patriarchen Kyrill auf dem II. Gipfeltreffen Russland-Afrika 27.07.2023 Der Heiligste Patriarch Kyrill: die Handlungen des Patriarchats von Konstantinopel haben den Weg für kirchliche Missverhältnisse geebnet 19.07.2023 Der Heiligste Patriarch Kyrill: wir freuen uns auf beliebige Missionen, die auf die Überwindung des tragischen Konflikts in der Ukraine und die Auferhaltung des berechtigten Friedens gerichtet werden 29.06.2023 Die Anrede des heiligsten Patriarchen Kyrill anlässlich des Tages Afrikas 25.05.2023 |
| Шесть новозаветных З. б. имеют параллели в апокрифическом «Евангелии Фомы» (Мф 5. 3=Ev. Thom. 54; Мф 5. 6=Ev. Thom. 69b; Мф 5. 11=Ev. Thom. 68-69a; Лк 11. 27-28=Ev. Thom. 79a-b; Лк 23. 29=Ev. Thom. 79c). Кроме того, в этом апокрифе содержится еще 6 особых З. б., приписываемых Иисусу Христу (Ev. Thom. 7, 18, 19, 49, 58, 103). Лит.: George A. La «forme» des béatitudes jusqu " à Jésus//Mélanges Bibliques rédigés en l " honneur de A. Robert. P., 1957. P. 398-403; Dupont J. Béatitudes égyptiennes//Biblica. 1966. Vol. 47. P. 185-222; idem. Les Béatitudes. Bruges, 1958-1973. 3 vol.; Hauck F. μακριος etc.//TDNT. 1967. Vol. 4. P. 362-370; Dodd C. H. The Beatitudes: A Form-critical Study//Idem. More New Testament Studies. Grand Rapids, 1968. P. 1-10; Lipinski E. Macarismes et psaumes de congratulation//RB. 1968. Vol. 75. P. 321-367; K ä ser W. Beobachtungen zum alttestamentlichen Makarismus//ZAW. 1970. Bd. 82. S. 225-250; Schweizer E. Formgeschichtliches zu den Seligpreisungen Jesu//NTS. 1972/1973. Vol. 19. P. 121-126; K ä hler C. Studien zur Form- und Traditionsgeschichte der biblischen Makarismen: Diss. Jena, 1974; Guelich R. A. The Sermon on the Mount: A Foundation for Understanding. Waco (Tex.), 1982; Betz H. D. Essays on the Sermon on the Mount/Transl. L. L. Welborn. Phil., 1985. P. 17-36; Lambrecht J. The Sermon on the Mount: Proclamation and Exhortation. Wilmington (Del.), 1985; Broer I. Die Seligpreisungen der Bergpredigt. Bonn, 1986; Fitzmyer J. A. A Palestinian Collection of Beatitudes//The Four Gospels: FS F. Neirynck/Ed. F. Van Segbroeck et al. Louvain, 1992. Vol. 1. P. 509-515. (BETL; 100); Puech É . The Collection of Beatitudes in Hebrew and in Greek (4Q 525 1-4 and Mt 5. 3-12)//Early Christianity in Context/Ed. F. Manns, E. Alliata. Jerusalem, 1993. P. 353-368. А. А. Ткаченко Рубрики: Ключевые слова: АНТИЛЕГОМЕНА термин, возникший в процессе формирования канона новозаветных книг обознач. оспариваемые книги, IV в. ЕВАНГЕЛИЕ весть о наступлении Царства Божия и спасении человеческого рода от греха и смерти, возвещенная Иисусом Христом и апостолами, ставшая основным содержанием проповеди христ. Церкви |
| CANON Literally, " a rule. " It describes (1) the inspired Books of the Bible—the Canon of Scripture; (2) the rules and decrees issued by the early Church (see Acts 15:23-29) and by Ecumenical Councils—Canon Law; and (3) certain parts of worship, such as the Liturgical Canon or the Canon of Matins. CHRISMATION The sacrament completing baptism, whereby one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit through anointing with the Chrism, a specially prepared oil which must be consecrated by a bishop. On several occasions in Acts, a baptized Christian received the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of the hands of an Apostle (see Acts 8:14-17; 19:6). Chrismation is a continuation of that ancient practice in the Church. CHURCH The faithful are called out of the world to be the Church: the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the New Israel, the ark of salvation, the assembly of the faithful. Through the Church, Christians are united to Christ and to each other. In this community, the believer receives the grace of God through the sacraments and hears the truth of the gospel. This mystical transformation of people into one body in Christ takes place in the Eucharist. Because Christ is the Head of the Church, the Church is a reflection of the Incarnation, with both human and divine qualities (see 1 Cor. 10:16, 17; Gal. 6:16; Eph. 4:12; 5:22-32). COMMANDMENT The Law of God, given first in the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, and completed or fulfilled by the teaching of Christ (Ex. 20:1-17; Matt. 5:1—7:27; John 15:12). COMMUNION (Gr. koinonia) A common union of the most intimate kind, enjoyed by Christians with God and with each other in the Church. This communion is especially realized in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist (John 6:56; 1 Cor. 10:16, 17). CONFESSION (1) The avowal or verbal witness of faith in Christ, leading to salvation (Rom. 10:9). (2) The sacrament of the forgiveness of sins, whereby the repentant sinner confesses his sins to Christ in the presence of the priest, who pronounces God’s of those sins (John 20:22, 23; 1 John 1:9). |
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