| Bishop Peter of Cleveland participates in celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the canonization of St John of Kronstadt in the fatherland Source: ROCOR On June 14, 2015, the 2 nd Sunday of Pentecost and feast day of All Russian Saints, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia led the 25 th anniversary celebrations of the canonization in Russia of St John of Kronstadt. The event was held in the town of Sura, Pinezhsk region of Archangelsk oblast, the birthplace of the saint. Photo: http://www.patriarchia.ru/ The Patriarch officiated at Divine Liturgy in Dormition Church at St John the Theologian Convent, founded in 1899 at the initiative of St John of Kronstadt. Among other hierarchs and clergymen, His Holiness was joined by His Grace Bishop Peter of Clevelend, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America; Protopriest Michael Protopopoff, Administrator of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand; Protopriest Alexander Belya, Dean of the New York Deanery of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York, Rector of St John the Forerunner Church in Brooklyn, NY; Protopriest Sergy Baburin, Rector of St John of Kronstadt Church in Hamburg, Germany (Diocese of Berlin and Germany) and Protopriest Michael Taratuchin, Rector of St John of Kronstadt Church in Utica, NY. Singing at the service was “Artos” Choir under the direction of Margarite Krasova from St Petersburg. After the augmented litany, His Holiness prayed for peace in Ukraine. The celebration in Sura drew representatives of 138 dioceses of Russia, the near and far abroad, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Iran, Canada, Norway, Pakiston, the USA and Chile, and bishops and clergymen, members of the so-called “family of St John of Kronstadt” from 22 nations. This network is a series of “sister” churches, parishes and social establishments dedicated to the memory of Righteous John of Kronstadt, bound by common prayer and the desire to help and support each other. It was formed in 2009 to mark the 100 th anniversary of the saint’s death. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion leads celebration of the 300th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary Source: DECR Photo: mospat.ru On July 4, the 2 nd Sunday after Pentecost and the Sunday of All Saints Who Shown Forth in the Land of Russia, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Nizhny Novgorod to mark the 300 th anniversary of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary. Metropolitan Hilarion, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, presided over the service. Concelebrating with Metropolitan Hilarion were Metropolitan Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, Metropolitan Zinovy of Saransk and Mordovia, six bishops, and many clerics, including the ordained graduates of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary. Liturgical hymns were sung by the choir of the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky, choir of the Nizhny Novgorod seminary, choir of the ‘Pokrov’ center, and choir “Unity’ from the Republic of Srpska. Requiem litany was said for the late lecturers of the seminary during the Liturgy, after which the graduates of the seminary and of the ‘Pokrov’ center greeted the archpastors and other concelebrants and expressed their gratitude for the celebration. Metropolitan Georgy thanked the archpastors for common prayers and congratulated those present on the 300 th anniversary of the theological school, mentioning that many graduates have left their mark in the life of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese and of the Russian Orthodox Church as a whole. He said: ‘The troubled years had not spared our theological school, but it revived thirty years ago and since then has educated over one thousand pastors now serving in fifty-six regions of our country. The Church places special emphasis on the education and training of pastors.” Metropolitan Hilarion read out the congratulatory message from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on the occasion of the 300 th anniversary of the Nizhny Novgorod theological seminary and addressed the faithful, saying in particular that every time he comes there he feels joy seeing that much is being done for the revival of the Church and the improvement of people’s life. He continued to say: “A theological school is meant not only to give knowledge, but to educate future pastors who should be worthy of their noble and responsible ministry. Education is very important today, as young people can be influenced by secular ideology and different challenges of our time. It is time to gather stones now – to revive spiritual life after years of persecution. The Church has ample opportunities for education, and our task is to educate new pastors making their souls shining with the flame kindled in the hearts of the apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ.” |
| Metropolitan Onuphry: One Who’s Grateful to God Receives Even More Blessings When a person considers themselves unworthy of Divine gifts, their spiritual condition is correct. A person who humbles themselves and thanks God for what he or she already has, receives even more blessings said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral of the Svyatogorsk Lavra on October 10, 2021, the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, reports the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Speaking about the spiritual lessons of the Gospel parable about the miraculous fishing (Luke 5: 1-11), the metropolitan noted that the first thing this story teaches us is the power of faith. “One’s faith makes a person capable of containing the uncontainable. The Gospel says that the righteous by faith “quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight” (Heb. 11:34). Faith makes a person a victor over the devil and over every evil in the world. Faith makes a person capable of containing eternal life and eternal salvation,” said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. He reminded those present that there is faith of the mind and faith of the heart. “Faith of the mind is when we recognize God, but we do not live by the rules of faith, and live by our own rules. This faith is insufficient for salvation. Faith of the heart is born from the fulfillment of the Divine commandments,” the metropolitan explained. The second lesson we learn in this parable is to strive for humility. “We all live by God’s mercy, God’s power, and God’s grace. If a person correctly organizes their spiritual life, then their spiritual feats increase their humility. We must consciously say: “Lord, I am not worthy of what I have!” When a person considers themselves unworthy of Divine gifts, their spiritual condition is correct, ”said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. |
| Metropolitan Onuphry: Trials Are Given to Us for Our Spiritual Perfection The preaching of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called inspired our people, who have overcome all trials with dignity said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on December 13, 2020, the 27th Sunday after Pentecost, the commemoration day of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, reports the Information and Education Department of the UOC. According to Metropolitan Onuphry, the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called is our teacher, educator and intercessor. The seeds of faith, sown by him on this land, have given fertile sprouts at different times. “Today nearly all of our people are baptized in the Name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe with honor that we are spiritual children of the Apostle Andrew. But we must remember that in order to be true children of the Apostle Andrew, and to be his followers, we must try to fulfill the laws, rules, and teachings of St. Andrew in our lives,” said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. As the metropolitan noted, the Holy Apostle Andrew brought to this land a message about the sacrifice of Divine love, and this message inspired people. “For God so loved the world that “He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”(John 3:16). This commandment, this message about the sacrifice of Divine love inspired our people, raised them to a new level of spiritual development. And history shows that the people who populate these places have gone through all of the trials that God had sent us for our spiritual improvement with dignity. We have withstood everything, we have endured everything and we believe and hope for the mercy of God that [we will see] the times to come,” His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry emphasized. At the end of his sermon, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church noted that if we live according to the Sacred laws – the laws of love and mercy – then we will really be followers of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. |
| Patriarch Kirill: Faith Gives People True Freedom and Unites Them with God Photo by Oleg Varov/foto.patriarchia.ru A person who believes in God is filled with tremendous power, because knowledge is revealed through faith. Faith brings a person into living contact with the Lord, and everyone who turns to God with faith gains a special life experience said His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, in his sermon on February 7, on the 35th Sunday after Pentecost, the feast day of the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. “All atheistic work aimed at destroying the faith in our country consisted of rationally, relying supposedly on some scientific achievements, proving that there is no God. The unfortunate propagandists simply did not realize that they were using a completely different method of persuasion than the one through which people come to believe in God. Referring to some scientific achievements, some logical reasoning, atheists tried to convince believers that faith in God is insignificant, because there is no God,” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said. “Why didn’t it achieve their goal? Because people’s faith is not based on human knowledge, but on real spiritual experience – the experience of contact with Divine power. And this is not self-hypnosis, because no self-hypnosis could give people the strength to meet torture, death, to stand against the wall to be executed [by a firing squad]. They had to answer the question, “to be or not to be?” If you remain a believer, you will die. If you renounce the faith, you will live. What self-hypnosis could there be? Everything fades into the background, the moment of truth comes, the main moment of human life – and at this main moment people, not through logical proofs, but through real experience of communication with God, declared their faith and did not betray the Lord,” he noted. “Faith not only unites a person with God. Faith raises a person, faith gives him some wings that help him soar over the commonplace, over human prejudices and preconceptions, over certain kinds of thoughts and words, over any fashion. I’m not talking about a fashion to dress a certain way, but a fashion for certain thoughts, for politics, and for certain patterns of behavior. Faith equips a person with such knowledge that he soars above the entire everyday life and becomes invulnerable. Anything that easily enslaves a person, everything that brings him into captivity of other people’s thoughts or actions, cannot enslave a sincerely believing person,” the Patriarch stressed. |
| Primate of Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Liturgy at the Church of Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Havana On February 14, 2016, the 37th Sunday after Pentecost, the Forefeast of the Meeting of the Lord, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Russian Orthodox church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Havana. Concelebrating with His Holiness were: Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol and Brovary, Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Bishop Kallistrat of Gorno-Altaysk and Chemal; Bishop Anthony of Bogorodsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad; Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; archpriest Andrey Milkin, head of the Patriarchal Protocol Service; and Rev. Alexander Volkov, head of the Patriarchal Press Service. Among those who attended the service were c lerics of the Church of St. Nicholas in Havana (Patriarchate of Constantinople) and Mr. Raúl Castro Ruz, President of Cuba’s Council of State and Council of Ministers. During the service, the Gospel, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer were read out in the Church Slavonic and Spanish languages. The Gospel reading was followed by a homily delivered by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. After the Liturgy, Archpriest Dimitry Orekhov, rector of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, greeted the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and presented him with a Kazan icon of the Most Holy Theotokos with images of the Holy Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles and St. Cyril Equal-to-the-Apostles. In his primatial homily, Patriarch Kirill expressed his joy over an opportunity to celebrate the Liturgy at an Orthodox church in Havana: This time my visit to Cuba coincided with an event of great significance for the history of Christendom. I had a meeting, brotherly, open and full of love, with the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis. For all the still existing theological differences between the Orthodox Christians in the East and Catholic Christians in the West, we are well aware today of our shared responsibility for what is going on with people. |
| The Apostles’ Fast begins today, on the second Monday after Pentecost (the day after All Saints’ Sunday), and continues until the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on July 12 (Julian Calendar). The idea that any Westerner has about fasting is strongly linked with renunciation‚ with giving-up‚ with sacrificing something for God. In the Eastern Orthodox Church however‚ fasting achieves a much richer meaning. Fasting is not only about giving-up‚ but it is actually more about gaining‚ about being able to reach things that are possible only through this spiritual exercise. In a legalistic understanding of salvation some believe that Christ has come on earth to fulfill a duty‚ to repair an offense that man has brought unto God. His sacrifice on the Cross satisfies this need and mankind enters again in God’s favors. From this perspective fasting is a similar symbol: a personal sacrifice that one makes to step back into God’s grace. This can be anything ranging from giving up chocolate to abstaining from Facebook for the Lenten period. But such frivolous renunciations really don’t cut it into the genuine meaning of fasting. God doesn’t need any of these sacrifices as He does not need the whole burnt offering of the Old Testament anymore. It is us‚ not God‚ who need the fasting rule. Reducing the fasting to a symbol‚ to a mere idea of fasting‚ the entire exercise of a fast is perverted. Fasting becomes a theoretical notion that can be achieved through an act that involves little or no effort because‚ at the end‚ is not the fasting that is important‚ but only the idea of fasting. This intellectual reduction is yet another symptom of our brokenness‚ of the ontological separation between mind and heart. The mind creates an entire new reality that we confuse many times with the true authenticity of existence that only a heart open to God can see. In this world‚ made-up by our minds saturated with secular values‚ the importance of the complete involvement of the body in fasting is forgotten‚ because for the mind a symbol is enough. But man does not exist in a fantasy of the mind‚ but lives in the real world‚ as a true person‚ body and soul‚ both physical and spiritual. |
| Tweet “Don’t Call Us…We’ll Call You” - The Pentecost of Evangelical Orthodox Christians at the Phanar SOURCE: orthodoxytoday.org By George Matsoukas Fr. Peter Gillquist As we celebrate Pentecost 2006, it is useful to remember Pentecost Sunday, June 2, 1985. That is the date and feast day that the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its Holy and Sacred Synod of Bishops chose to refuse an audience with the party of 18 Evangelical Orthodox Christians whose 12 year journey to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church led them to the Church of St. George at the Phanar, Istanbul, Turkey. Some of the details of this journey have been chronicled by Father Peter Gillquist in his book “Becoming Orthodox " . The 18 Evangelical Orthodox Christians at the Pentecost services, the first kneeling service they witnessed, included their top leadership: Father Peter Gillquist the presiding leader, Father Gordon Walker, leader of the members of the movement from the East and Father Richard Ballew, the leader of the members from the western part of the USA. Representing the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese was Father Gregory C. Wingenbach, presently serving in Missoula, MT, assigned to accompany the group - only hours before those from the east coast were to depart from Kennedy Airport, NYC. He replaced then Bishop (now Metropolitan) Maximos of Pittsburgh, who arranged for the delegation to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synod, and who supported and guided their journey to Orthodoxy. Dr. Apostolos Athanasakes, Chairman of the Department of Classics, University of California at Santa Barbara, was also part of the delegation and served as the guide to the group. The Secretary to Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios, Metropolitan Bartholomew, the present Patriarch, when pressed by the group, told them after the service that the Patriarch and Holy Synod were glad they were on a pilgrimage to the Holy Mother Church but they could not meet with the Patriarch. This interaction took less than two minutes. |
| His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon Presides at 130th Anniversary Celebrations of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago, IL Source: OCA Photo: oca.org On June 11-12, 2022, on the weekend of Holy Pentecost, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon presided at the celebration of the 130th anniversary of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago, IL. Upon arrival, His Beatitude and Deacon Peter Ilchuk, Deacon to the Metropolitan, were greeted by His Grace Bishop Daniel of Santa Rosa, Locum Tenens of the Diocese of the Midwest. The celebrations began on Saturday evening with the All-Night Vigil service for Pentecost presided by His Beatitude and concelebrated by Bishop Daniel, Priest Alexander Koranda, Cathedral Dean, Archpriest Tarasiy Maxim, Archpriest Herman Kincaid, Deacon Peter Ilchuk, Protodeacon Thomas Keith, and Deacon Paul Garklavs. His Grace welcomed His Beatitude following the Vigil and a meal was hosted by the parish immediately after the service. The next morning, Sunday, June 12, Metropolitan Tikhon was greeted by Bishop Daniel of Santa Rosa and the clergy of the cathedral where His Beatitude then presided at the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. His Beatitude gave the sermon where he exhorted the faithful to remember new life offered to Christians in the Holy Spirit: “This is the season of sanctity; this is the season of the spirit. This is not the beginning of a normal in-between time – of ordinary time understood as something pain or drab. Instead, this is the season when we celebrate the work that Christ came to accomplish and has accomplished. That work is the making of saints through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.” At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, the Metropolitan presided at the celebration of the Vespers of Pentecost and the kneeling prayers. Following the Vespers service, Bishop Daniel presented him with a panagia which belonged to Archbishop Paul of blessed memory in gratitude for His Beatitude’s care and leadership. His Beatitude then presented the cathedral community with relics of Saint Tikhon of Moscow. Finally, Father Alexander welcomed His Beatitude on behalf of the community and presented him with paintings of Holy Trinity cathedral, painted by Olga Garklavs. Concluding the Sunday celebrations were a community photo and lunch held at a local restaurant. |
| Assembly of Bishops issues Orthodoxy Sunday message Source: OCA Natalya Mihailova 21 March 2016 On Saturday, March 19, 2016, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America issued a message marking the Sunday of Orthodoxy. The full text appears below. SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY 2016 Desert, rejoice, with the whole inhabited world; all you mountains, drop down sweetness; hills, be glad, for Christ, the Word, has given peace to those on earth, and to the godly Churches unity of faith. —Synodikon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Ninth Ode To the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of Parish Councils, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Members of Philanthropic Organizations, the Youth and Youth Workers, and the entire Orthodox Christian Family in the United States of America: Beloved brothers and sisters, As we celebrate the great feast of Sunday of Orthodoxy and mark the restoration of the holy icons in the Church, we join our own family and friends in our parishes not only to bear holy icons in our hands, but to also become living icons of Christ and, by God’s grace, to proclaim our common Orthodox faith in the world. This year, a unique opportunity to make such a proclamation of unity will be offered to the world when the Holy and Great Synod of all autocephalous Orthodox Churches is convened on the Day of Pentecost on the island of Crete. After decades of planning, Hierarchs from every local autocephalous Church will meet in Council to discuss important matters related to both internal Church life and to Church-world engagement. Among other important issues, the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church will undertake the matter of the so-called “Orthodox Diaspora,” and, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will usher in the next phase of our common experience as Orthodox Christians in the United States. Certainly, the Holy and Great Council is a most important event for the Orthodox Church. More than this, however, it represents an important moment for the entire world because, through this manifestation of divine communion and fraternal unity, the entire world shall witness the salvation of God (Luke 3:6). |
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