| После реставрации монархии (1660) в Англии вступили в силу строгие законы против проповедников, не имеющих дозволения гос. Церкви на свою деятельность. Б., отказавшийся оставить проповедь, был арестован (нояб. 1660) и отправлен в бедфордскую тюрьму, в к-рой (с небольшим перерывом в 1666) провел 12 лет. Формально находясь в заключении, он пользовался относительной свободой и мог посещать семью. В эти годы Б. написал 9 книг, в т. ч. свою духовную автобиографию «Изобильная благодать, изливающаяся на главного грешника» (The Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. L., 1666), и начал работать над кн. «Путешествие пилигрима» (The Pilgrim " s Progress. L., 1678). Среди проч. сочинений, написанных в эти годы,- небольшая поэма «Тюремные размышления» (Prison Meditations. L., 1665), руководства к духовной жизни «Стану молиться духом» (I Will Pray with the Spirit. L., 16632) и «Христианское поведение» (Christian Behaviour. L., 1672), 2 книги стихов - «Одно только нужно» (One Thing is Needful. L., 1680) и «Гевал и Гаризим» (Ebal and Gerizzim. L., 1680), с размышлениями о смерти, Страшном Суде, рае и аде), и кн. «Святой Град» (The Holy City. L., 1666), повествующая о грядущих временах, когда на земле будет установлена истинная Церковь и христиан не будут преследовать за веру. В 1672 г. Б. получил свободу и вернулся в свою церковь в Бедфорде, где он к тому времени был избран пастором. Согласно изданной кор. Карлом II «Индульгенции», он официально получил от гос-ва дозволение проповедовать, объездил значительную часть Англии, собирая толпы слушателей и часто проповедуя под открытым небом. Его духовный авторитет в народе намного превосходил авторитет местного епископата гос. Церкви, так что простые люди называли Б. «епископом». В марте 1675 г. он вновь оказался в тюрьме, где провел 6 месяцев. Во время второго заточения Б. окончил кн. «Путешествие пилигрима». После освобождения написал еще ряд лит. произведений, в частности аллегорический рассказ «Жизнь и смерть мистера Бэдмана» (The Life and Death of Mr. Badman. L., 1680), повествующий о порочном, лицемерном и бесчестном (впрочем, не слишком удачливом) дельце, прожившем жизнь безбожника и умершем без покаяния, повесть «Священная война» (The Holy War. L., 1680) об освобождении города Души, захваченной Дьяволосом, а также вторую часть кн. «Путешествие пилигрима». В последние годы жизни Б. был окружен лит. славой и народным почитанием. В авг. 1688 г. он отправился в Лондон, по пути в столицу попал под проливной дождь, заболел и через неск. дней умер в доме одного из своих друзей. |
| The study examines the Islamic " gang culture " inside the Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire, which houses around 500 of the most dangerous prisoners in Britain. Researchers from the Cambridge Institute of Criminology who wrote the report found that more than one third (39%) of the prisoners at Whitemoor are Muslims. Prisoners told the researchers that they had felt overwhelming pressure to convert. In some instances, they said, Muslim inmates had left Islamic literature in their cells and ordered them to " read this. " In other instances, inmates were promised that if they converted to Islam, they would be safe from physical assault. The report states that if loners, including sex offenders, converted to Islam, fellow Muslims would defend them; they could thereby gain safety from a large and dominant group. Others used their newly acquired faith as a tool for status in establishing influence. Non-Muslims and prison officers inside Whitemoor described Islam as an " organized gang " and a " protection racket, " which " glorified terrorist behavior and exploited the fear related to it. " Prison guards said there were " proper Al-Qaeda " members in the prison who were regarded with " awe " by younger inmates. Some prisoners described Whitemoor as a " recruiting drive for the Taliban " and fertile ground for hatred and a new generation of extremists. Guards also said they had a policy of " appeasement " towards the powerful and growing Islamic prison population, particularly convicted terrorists who were feared to be recruiting future extremists. The report states: " The threat of assaults motivated by religious fanaticism or extremist ideology added weight to the atmosphere at Whitemoor, " and continues: " The new population mix, including high numbers of Muslim prisoners, was disrupting established hierarchies in the prison. Social relations among prisoners had become complex and less visible. Too much power flowed among some groups of prisoners, with some real risks of serious violence. There were high levels of fear in the prison. In particular, there were tensions and fears relating to 'extremism' and 'radicalization.' " |
| The holy hierarch’s first arrest took place on March 30, 1922. This was the beginning of many years of prison trials for Vladyka Afanasy. However, as strange as it may seem, the imprisoned bishop counted his own situation as easier than the lot of those who, remaining in freedom, had to endure enormous pressure from the renovationists. He even called prison an “isolation from the renovationist epidemic.” Vladyka’s path from prison to prison and exile was endless and excruciating. Of the prisons, there were: Vladimir, Taganka in Moscow, Zyryansk, and Turukhansk. Of the camps, there were: Solovki, Belomor-Baltisk, Onega, Marii in Kemerovo province, Temnikov in Mordovia… On November 9, 1951 the sixty-year-old bishop’s final term of prison camp ended. However, even after this he was kept in total uncertainty of his future, and then settled involuntarily in an institution for invalids at Potma station in Mordovia, where the regime differed little from a prison camp. The archpastor could be arrested right on the road, as once happened to him while travelling around the Yuriev-Polsky region. From 1937-38 he was arrested a number of times, and prepared for immediate execution. At the beginning of World War II, Vladyka was sent by prisoner convoy to Onega prison camp in Archangelsk province on foot, and the prisoners had to carry their belongings. As a result of the strenuous travel and hunger, Vladyka became so weak that he was seriously preparing for death… The Onega camps were exchanged for indefinite exile in Omsk province. In one of the state farms near the city of Golyshmanovo, Vladyka worked as a night guard of the vegetable gardens. Then he was transferred to the city of Ishim, where he lived on the aid sent to him by his friends and spiritual children. In winter 1942, Bishop Afanasy was unexpectedly sent by convoy to Moscow. The investigations went on for a long time. He was interrogated around thirty different times, usually at night. The interrogations would last four hours, but one time they lasted a whole nine hours. Sometimes it would take four hours to write only one page of protocol, and sometimes, more than ten pages… Not once did Vladyka betray anyone under interrogation, nor did he incriminate himself. |
| Латинская патрология Великанов П., прот., Гуляев Д.А. Практика meditatio в трудах преподобного Иоанна Кассиана Римлянина//Христианское чтение. 2023. С.39–55. Статья прот. Павла Великанова и Д. А. Гуляева посвящена описанию практики meditatio, то есть «размышления над Священным Писанием», в «Собеседованиях» прп. Иоанна Кассиана Римлянина. Авторы статьи отмечают связь между учением о молитве, анагогическим толкованием текстов Писания и meditatio в трудах прп. Иоанна Кассиана. В статье описываются различные формы этой практики, встречающиеся у древних подвижников, показывается суть практики повторения одного стиха псалма как непрестанной молитвы, отмечается ее распространение и влияние. Согласно выводам авторов, практика meditatio в понимании прп. Иоанна Кассиана, связанная с погружением в текст Писания и краткой повторяющейся молитвой, является ступенью к стяжанию созерцания. Лысевич А., свящ. Амвросиаст о предведении Божием//Библия и христианская древность. 2023. 3 (19). С. 72–79. В статье рассматривается решение Амвросиастом проблемы соотношения предведения Божия и свободы человеческой воли, которое оказалось весьма важным для последующей латинской традиции. В статье представлены размышления Амвросиаста о призвании Божием и отпадении некоторых лиц от сонма «избранников». Автор статьи приходит к выводу, что хотя Амвросиаст и допускает такие формулировки предопределения, которые на первый взгляд умаляют человеческую свободу, однако при более детальном рассмотрении выясняется, что толкователь указывает на свободу как основание предведения: именно актуальное состояние человека является причиной Божественной воли о нем в данный момент, хотя Бог и заранее знает, как человек распорядится своей свободой в дальнейшем. Лысевич А., иер. Некоторые необычные экзегетические приемы Амвросиаста в «Комментарии на Послание апостола Павла к Римлянам»//Богословский вестник. 2023. 3 (50). С. 187–201. Статья посвящена исследованию экзегетического метода Амвросиаста. Несмотря на приверженность к буквальному методу толкования, Амвросиаст иногда прибегает к типологическому и аллегорическому методам; по словам автора статьи, причиной этого является кажущаяся противоречивость поясняемого текста или потребность привести текст в соответствии с собственными мыслями толкователя. Автор статьи обращает внимание на своеобразный экзегетический прием Амвросиаста, который условно называется «номинальным герменевтическим правилом» и согласно которому каждый комментируемый отрывок Писания толкуется в связи с употребляемым в нем именем Божиим, которое принимается за указание на конкретное Лицо Святой Троицы. Этот прием, по словам автора статьи, применяется Амвросиастом для выявления дополнительного смысла текста, исходя из этимологии имени Божия, употребляемого в комментируемых отрывках. |
| My Freedom in Prison A Conversation with Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid (Vranishkovsky) “We learn the most from what we have experienced ourselves; and it’s not important whether it brought us pain or joy. Before the mystery of life, the one who looks the most serious and responsible is the one who accepts life as joyful sorrow,” says Archbishop Jovan, imprisoned for a number of years in Idrizovo. “Why did you betray us, priest?” was what the policeman asked Archbishop Jovan (Vranishkovsky) in Skopje’s Izidrovo prison, letting him know how little he respects his ecclesiastical rank and what he thinks of his mission, which Archbishop Jovan considers his life’s work. This mission is to return the faithful of Macedonia to unity with all the other Orthodox Churches. Archbishop Jovan was once consecrated (the youngest bishop at the time) in the uncanonical Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC), and later became Metropolitan of Veleshko-Povardar. From that moment, in 2002, he was the only Macedonian hierarch who responded to the call by Serbian Patriarch Pavle to return to canonical unity with the Serbian Orthodox Church, and legal processes began against him. He was sentenced for “self-rule,” “inciting religious and national strife,” and embezzlement. Nevertheless, the policeman did not ask him about the first, second, or third counts. He just asked him straight out: “Priest, why did you betray Macedonianism?” If you read this episode in the book by Archbishop Jovan, Freedom in Prison, you get the impression that the Macedonian policeman was not particularly interested in hearing an answer. But Archbishop Jovan answered that he did not betray “Macedonianism” by taking a step that he is convinced will return the Orthodox Church of Macedonia to the boundaries and unity with all the rest of the Orthodox Churches. Because of his mission, he has become one of the rare bishops—if not the only bishop—in twenty-first century Europe who has been to prison for his religious convictions. It is no secret that he was offered pardon of all his accusations if he would only leave Macedonia. This is sufficient proof that they were groundless, and shows how determined Archbishop Jovan was to remain in his own country, with his own convictions. In early February (of 2014), Archbishop Jovan was released on probation after over two years in prison. |
| “ Now lettest thou Thy servant depart…” The Bolsheviks closed Sretensky Monastery in 1925. Holy Hierarch Hilarion (Troitsky), a brilliant theologian, unsurpassed orator, and a courageous and faithful confessor of Christ, was one of the last of the monastery’s abbots. Although Vladyka Hilarion headed the monastery for less than a year, he did much for it as well as for the whole Russian Church during that brief period of time. After all, when Patriarch Tikhon appointed Bishop Hilarion—he was a close assistant to the Patriarch—as abbot of Sretensky Monastery with an elevation to the rank of archbishop, the monastery was in the grips of the renovators. This was one of the centers in Moscow of renovationism. St. Hilarion returned the monastery’s brothers and parishioners, who had been deceived by the renovationists’ cunning speech, to the bosom of the true Church; he accepted their repentance, and re-consecrated the Holy Table, the altar, the church, and the entire monastery. This was a cleansing of all the defilement of false teaching, and the spiritual renewal of the monastery. St. Hilarion never doubted that God’s Church would withstand everything, although he saw how monasteries and churches were being closed and razed all over, how clergymen were being thrown into prison and murdered, and how the Orthodox laity was being persecuted. The saint carried along his thorny path of trials and torments to the end his belief, steadfastness, and hope that the Lord will not abandon His faithful. He instilled these spiritual qualities in his spiritual daughter, Liubov Timofeevna Cheredovaya. Liubov Timofevna was a spiritual daughter of St. Hilarion. She first met him when she was twenty-six years old. In 1929, Vladyka Hilarion departed to the Lord as a martyr and confessor. He died in Petrograd, in a transit prison, from a serious illness brought on by prison and the camps. He was in the transit prison on the way from Solovki to Central Asia, where he was being taken under guard to finish off his prison term. Only a few people came from Moscow to his funeral, amongst whom was Liubov Timofeevna. She was thirty at the time. In place of the handsome giant they once knew, they saw in the coffin a bent old man, completely gray. That is what the tortures and camps had done to him. All her life, Liubov Timofeevna was absolutely sure that Vladyka Hilarion was a great intercessor before the Lord, a saint, a hieromartyr and confessor. And she said many times that she would not die before Vladyka Hilarion had been canonized. |
| In October 1996, the first Convocation for Orthodox Christian Prison Workers was held in St Augustine, Florida. The Convocation was blessed with the presence of Bishop BASIL Essey of the Antiochian Archdiocese. In 1999, for reasons of health and exhaustion, Father Duane requested that Metropolitan PHILIP appoint a new head for OCPM. I was named the new director, and Father Duane continues to serve as consultant to my staff and me as needed. At the request of Metropolitan PHILIP, Father Duane has initiated a prisoner aftercare program. Though housing is not provided through this program, Father Duane ministers daily through spiritual and practical guidance, encouragement, friendship, and caring. As of March 2001, he is in regular contact with forty-three former prisoners and their families, and the number is growing. Many contact him daily for spiritual guidance and direction. In addition, Father Duane continues his weekly individual correspondence with eighty-seven prisoners, with some of whom he has corresponded for more than thirty years. What We Do How do we pastor the flock of Saint Silas? We visit prisons, and we help to train others to do this as well. Hundreds of men and women hunger for the Holy Apostolic Faith. We are here to train you to go into the prisons that may be in your local area. We have available Orthodox catechetical materials especially designed to train potential prison workers. We also provide icon prayer cards, catechetical workbooks, and Orthodox prayer books that help the imprisoned faithful. Aside from the Bible, the most requested books are the Orthodox Christian Journey series, consisting of four books — Orthodox Christian Journey, Orthodox Christian Catechism, Orthodox Christian Prayerbook, and Orthodox Christian Readings. All are written in everyday American language, easily read and understood, filled with profound truths of the Holy Orthodox Faith. A self-directed study book to be used in conjunction with Orthodox Christian Catechism is also available. By using these materials, many prisoners transform their prison cells into prayer cells. |
| : «La Sagrada Escritura brota y crece, por decirlo así, con aquellos que la leen. Los lectores no instruidos son llevados a explorarla, mientras que los que son instruidos la encuentran siempre nueva» (Diadema de los monjes 3 [PL 102, col. 598 A ]). La oración contemplativa Para transmitir expresivamente el carácter frecuente, diligente y repetitivo que era propio de la actividad de orar, la gente de la Edad Media gustaba comparar a los monjes con animales rumiantes. Numerosos son los textos que señalan esto. Hay uno en la Vida de san Gerardo de Brogne que defiende la legitimidad de aplicar a la actividad espiritual palabras que designan las varias etapas del rumiar (masticación, sentido del gusto, digestión y sus efectos) (Vida de Gerardo 20). T ales imágenes intentaban mostrar la importancia de incorporar la Palabra de Dios en la vida de uno para llegar a asimilarse a la divinidad y nutrir la oración . Todas estas prácticas constituían lo que la Edad Media llamaba «ejercicio espiritual,» y el hecho de que esta expresión era deliberadamente usada en singular es indicativo de la unidad que existía entre los varios «ejercicios.» La lectio, la meditación y la oración eran inseparables del ascetismo y de la penitencia; como la última, presuponían el arrepentimiento y se suponía que llevaban a la «contemplación.» Contemplatio era un término frecuentemente asociado a la lectio, la meditatio y a la oratio. Dicho término debe ser comprendido apropiadamente. No designaba sola o primariamente (como era con frecuencia el caso en los períodos posteriores) estados altamente elevados de oración que pertenecen al orden de la vida contemplativa y son excepcionales y raros. Las palabras que aquí han sido usadas – oratio, lectio, meditatio, etc. – designan las actividades y actitudes espirituales que juntas constituyen la «oración contemplativa.» Descripciones de esta oración contemplativa se hicieron especialmente frecuentes en las Vidas de los santos desde el principio del siglo XIII, antes de convertirse, en siglos posteriores, en el objeto de relatos más desarrollados e incluso de verdaderos tratados. Pero lo que se dice en estos documentos, hagiográficos o de otra clase, corresponde con lo que revelan las más antiguas fuentes. Era siempre cuestión de una sola actividad unificada y de una sola vida contemplativa, en que la oración estaba rodeada de otras actividades espirituales que la preparaban y extendían. Si de ordinario el acto de la oración era breve , el estado de oración podía y debía ser habitual y continuo . Estaba constituido por una actitud durable de meditación y concentración en Dios, como resultado del cual todo se convertía en oración y anhelo . Esta última palabra revela la razón para toda esta actividad: |
| But when conversation touched upon the relations of the regime to the Church administration, he would say, “One must be in this situation at least a while, otherwise it’s impossible to describe. This is plainly Satan himself.” Archbishop Ilarion was in the Solovki camps until the winter of 1929, when he was sent into exile to Central Asia. On the way, he contracted typhus and died in the Petersburg Prison on 15/28 December. Six years in the camps had transformed the once tall, broad-shouldered knight of a hierarch into a pitiful, grey-haired old man. His body was given to his close relatives, who buried it in the cemetery of the Novo-Devichiy Convent in Saint Petersburg. Bishop Maxim of Serpukhov (Mikhail Alexandrovich Zhizhilenko) was born in 1885, in Kalisha, Poland, to the family of a public prosecutor. He completed medical studies at Moscow University, and worked as a psychiatrist. From 1914 he was a military medic. In 1920, he became the chief physician for the Taganka Prison in Moscow. Though he secretly received priestly ordination, he continued to function as a doctor, thus becoming a physician for both body and soul. While still free, he slept on bare boards, ate prison food, and distributed his entire salary among the prisoners. In connection with the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, Dr. Zhizhilenko was secretly tonsured into monasticism, receiving the new name Maxim, thus carrying out the will of the late Patriarch Tikhon. Not long afterward, there appeared in Serpukhov the Catacomb bishop Maxim, whom the people recognized as the “doctor of Taganka.” The restraining influence of Bishop Maxim brought all eighteen churches in Serpukhov, and those of many nearby cities, into the opposition, i.e., rejection and dissociation from the resolutions of Metropolitan Sergius. His influence even extended to the Moscow clergy, and in mid-1929 he was arrested and sent to Solovki. The arrival of Bishop Maxim in the camp brought about great changes in the attitude of the imprisoned clergy. |
| His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia likewise wrote to Patriarch Pavle in support of Archbishop Jovan, who, he noted, “is now in a Macedonian prison for responding to Your Holiness’ call to actively seek to heal church division and for restoring communion with Your Holiness.” His Beatitude Metropolitan Herman of the Orthodox Church in America sent a similar appeal to Patriarch Pavle, stating, “We take our stand alongside the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church in asking that all possible moral and legal actions be undertaken to secure the freedom of Archbishop Jovan. The prayers of the hierarchs, clergy, monastics and faithful of The Orthodox Church in America most certainly continue to be offered to God in hope and expectation of the healing of the schism which separates so many of the Orthodox people of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from the Serbian Patriarchate and all the other canonical Orthodox Churches.” In addition, human rights groups have condemned the government’s actions. Sadly, none of this has had any effect, and Archbishop Jovan continues to sit in a prison cell in Macedonia. In his only interview since being imprisoned [as of the date of this article], Archbishop Jovan said that he would not “beg the mercy of anyone but Our Lord Jesus Christ.…My example is insignificant. No one anywhere should be punished for having a different belief.… Each believer has to be prepared in advance to suffer for Christ, because He, being absolutely innocent, suffered for the salvation of us all.… I am prepared to leave prison immediately but also to remain for the rest of my life. That will not be decided by politicians or earthly courts. I do not put my faith in human rulers but in our merciful Lord Jesus Christ.” May God grant His Eminence Archbishop Jovan, together with the clergy and the faithful of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Ohrid, the strength and patience to endure these latest persecutions of Christ’s Church. |
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