| Newsweek Scholarship: So Sloppy It’s a Sin Source: Straight from the Heart Just in time for Christmas, Newsweek continued the media’s predictable and venerable tradition of trashing the Christian Faith. (Expect the next instalment just around Easter time.) To be precise, on December 23, it published a piece by Kurt Eichenwald entitled, “The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin”. The intended victims of the annual seasonal assault are listed in the opening paragraph as those who “waves their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnation of homosexuals…they are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch”. Mr. Eichenwald is on a roll, and seems to be clearly enjoying his righteous indignation at those doing the screaming. His strategy throughout the article leans mostly to showing how unreliable the Bible text actually is, and you would never guess from his own vitriolic vituperation heaped on those “who appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats” that many thoughtful Protestant Christians retain their faith in the reliability of the Biblical texts and do not actually scream about homosexuals or Democrats. Protestants like Bishop N.T. Wright (the Anglican Bishop of Durham) seem not to be on his radar. I did not expect Mr. Eichenwald to know that thoughtful conservative Catholics exist, much less thoughtful conservative Orthodox. But thoughtful conservative non-screaming Protestants are not that hard to find. But it appears that screaming at the screamers is much easier, and makes for juicier print. A complete and detailed refutation of every error in the piece would require more space than available in a blog like this. Perhaps an examination of just a few of Eichenwald’s errors may serve to reveal the sloppiness of his scholarship and the essential worthlessness of his attempted assault. First of all is his claim that no one has actually read the real Bible, but “at best we’ve all read a bad translation—a translation of translations of translations of hand-copied copies of copies of copies, and on and on, hundreds of times…About 400 years passed between the writing of the first Christian manuscripts and their compilation into the New Testament.” To read this you would think that Mr. Eichenwald had never heard of textual criticism, or read anything about the creation of the New Testament canon. So, leaving the over-heated rhetoric to Newsweek , let’s recall a few facts. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Suffering Itself is Worthless Source: Predanie (Russian) Vladimir Berkhin 25 April 2018 Yes, quite often repentance is understood as self-flagellation and self-condemnation, consistent long-term and extremely painful (which is a prerequisite) admitting oneself to being completely and absolutely wrong and very bad. A significant part of penitential prayers is based on such rhetoric, sometimes using exceptionally strong imagery: “ For just like a swine lying in the mud, so I serve sin”, “From sullied lips, from an abominable heart, from a tongue impure, from a soul defiled”, etc. Everyone who read it remembers. It entered the language, into the mass consciousness. When one reads about someone “repenting”, one imagines how they beat themselves in the chest, tear their shirt, knock their head on the ground, in other words they are humiliated in every possible way and suffer. Suffer terribly. Actually, a strong connection has formed in people’s minds that “repentance” equals “suffering”. Everyone remembers Eustace the Dragon from the “Chronicles of Narnia” whose skin was peeled off and everyone remembers that he was in pain too. There is even an idea, which is usually not expressed aloud, that the more painful is the better. Repentance is thus more effective. The more you treat yourself like dirt and the harder you criticize yourself is the better. It means that you have repented. No, we, of course, all read that repentance is a joyful process, some even remember the words “joyful grief”, which sound like something only saints could do, some special people, not us, but someone better. We are left with repentance, which we read like “we are left with suffering”. Everything in the world can be divided into two groups: not even good and bad, but valuable and worthless. The valuable is good in itself, no matter what. In fact, the only valuable one is God, Who is the source of everything precious. Everything else can be valuable in relation to Him. People are of value, because they are loved by God and were redeemed by Him. Even very bad people. Even completely disgusting ones are still valuable. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Dostoevsky and the Gospel A lecture by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, rector of the Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies, president of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association, delivered at the National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute” “I am a child of this age, a child of unfaith and doubt, up to this day and even…to the coffin lid… And yet God gives me sometimes moments of perfect peace; at such moments I feel that I love and believe, that I am loved by others; and during such moments I formulated a creed of my own wherein all is clear and holy to me. This creed is as simple as this: I believe that there is nothing and no one more beautiful, deeper, more sympathetic and more reasonable, courageous and more perfect than Christ…” That was what in February 1854 Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky said in his letter to Natalia Dmitrievna Fonvizina, the wife of a Decembrist, who had followed her husband to Siberia. Four years earlier, when Dostoevsky, convicted to penal servitude, shackled, arrived at the Tobolsk prison, she had got permission to see him and other convicted Petrashevtsy. She handed each of them a copy of the Gospel, the only book that the inmates of the penal colony were allowed to have and read. So, writing his letter four years afterwards, having served his sentence of penal servitude and while waiting for the departure to Semipalatinsk for the military service as a common soldier, Dostoevsky was telling Fonvizina about his “creed,” that was not just a read-out fr om her gift-book, but an outcome of his horrible experience gained through suffering. The copy presented to Dostoevsky by Fonvizina was the first edition of the Russian translation of the Gospel done under the leadership of Archbishop Philaret (Drozdov) later to become the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. The translation came out in 1823, during Emperor Alexander I’s reign, two years before the Decembrists uprising. Before the appearance of the Russian translation, the Gospel had been available only in Slavonic, while the educated class had been using the French version. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Russian, Polish Churches in Joint Reconciliation Call admin 09 September 2012 Photo: RIA Novosti In a joint circular message read out to all congregations on Sunday, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Polish Roman Catholic Church called on their faithful and peoples to put centuries of Russian-Polish disagreements behind them and enter a new era of religious rebirth and reconciliation. They said the disagreements were the result of human fallibilities, conflicting political interests and also prejudices which no longer matter in the modern world. In Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the message was read out after a patriarchal service held in memory of Russia’s victory in the 1812 war with Napoleon. Source: Voice of Russia Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Russian, Polish Churches in Joint Reconciliation Call admin [caption id="" align="" width="" caption="" ][/caption] In a joint circular message read out to all congregations on Sunday, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Polish Roman Catholic Church called on their ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Number of Orthodox Church Members Shrinking in Russia, Islam on the Rise – Poll admin 18 December 2012 Moscow, December 17, Interfax – Orthodoxy is the most common religion in Russia. 74% call themselves Orthodox believers, while 7% say they are Muslims. Less than 1% profess other religions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others), the Levada-Center analytical center told Interfax on Monday. The center polled 1,600 people in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions in late November. The share of Orthodox believers in the country has dropped by 6%, from 80% in 2009, while the share of Muslims has grown by 3% to 7% in the same period. The number of people who do not designate themselves as either religion is up from 8% to 10%. The number of atheists is down from 6% to 5%. 76% of Russians who describe themselves as Orthodox believers are church-goers. 33% of them go to church to light a candle and pray; 29% attend baptisms, church weddings or burial services, and 11% attend church services or liturgies. 29% go to church whenever they wish, 8% have been to a cathedral on an excursion, and 7% go to church to make a confession and take communion. 61% of the respondents said they had never opened the Bible. Of those who did, 24% read the Gospel, 16% read the Old Testament and 11% read the New Testament. Source: Interfax-religion Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Number of Orthodox Church Members Shrinking in Russia, Islam on the Rise – Poll admin Moscow, December 17, Interfax - Orthodoxy is the most common religion in Russia. 74% call themselves Orthodox believers, while 7% say they are Muslims. Less than 1% profess other religions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others), the Levada-Center analytical center told Interfax on Monday. The ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| Archpriest Nikolay Kotsiuban read out a message sent by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on the occasion of the festive divine services in Tokyo. Hieromonk Nicholas (Ono) of the ROC Tokyo representation read out the Japanese version of the Patriarchal message. Mr. A. Bondarenko, a counsellor of the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, read out a massage of greetings from Russian Federation Ambassador to Japan M. Galuzin. The Japanese Orthodox Church conveyed to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia a vestment fabric made according to the old Japanese weaving tradition in Kyoto. In the afternoon, Archbishop Seraphim of Sendai said a prayer at the tomb of St. Nicholas of Japan and the Office for the Dead was said at the graves of the late hierarchs of the Japanese Autonomous Orthodox Church. Archbishop Seraphim was assisted by Archpriest Nikolay Katsiuban, Rev. Michael Tainaka and Rev. Paul Nakanisi. Praying at the thanksgiving and Office for the Dead were clergy of the Japanese Autonomous Orthodox Church and the Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Tokyo. The festivities will be crowned by a visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Japan to take place when the epidemiological restrictions are lifted. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Anniversaries of Orthodoxy in Japan Marked in Tokyo Pravmir.com team In 2020 the Japanese Orthodox Church celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Japan, 50th anniversary of the autonomous life of the Japanese Orthodox Church as part of the Moscow Patriarchate and 50th anniversary of the canonization of Nicholas of Japan ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Launches Official Community Blog Site Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America NEW YORK – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America officially launched its community blog site giving the faithful an opportunity to read thought-provoking articles on a broad spectrum of issues. Natalya Mihailova 23 April 2014 With the changing landscape in communications initiated by mobile technology, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is responding to the needs to share the Good News of the Holy Gospel in fresh and creative ways and to provide insights and strategies for the various ministries and programs of the Church. The blog site will make it easier for people not only to learn about the faith but to also engage each other electronically by entering user feedback. There are currently four blogs associated with Archdiocesan departments on this site: Internet Ministries, Religious Education, “The Ladder” (Youth and Young Adult Ministries), and “Faith Matters” (Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations). The site will be expanded in the future to encompass additional Archdiocesan Departments and ministries. To explore these blogs and learn more about the Community Blog Site, please visit blogs.goarch.org . To learn more about becoming a blog contributor, please email: Blogs@goarch.org Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Launches Official Community Blog Site Natalya Mihailova NEW YORK – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America officially launched its community blog site giving the faithful an opportunity to read thought-provoking articles on a broad spectrum of issues Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| Our union with God is a continual transformation into the likeness of God, which is the likeness of Christ. I, like many of you, have come to the Orthodox Church from a Protestant background. Every once in a while, a Protestant will ask me the question: “Are you saved?” It is difficult to answer this question in a way that a Protestant would understand, because the Protestant conception of salvation is so different from our Orthodox understanding. Recently I read Clark Carlton’s book The Life. He is a former Protestant himself, and well understands the Protestant mind. He makes the insightful point that, in Protestantism, salvation means simply changing God’s attitude toward you, so that you can go to heaven. According to this understanding, it literally only takes a few minutes to be “saved.” In Orthodoxy, on the other hand, salvation is viewed in maximal rather than minimal terms. In his book Orthodox Spiritual Life according to St. Silouan the Athonite, Harry Boosalis of St. Tikhon’s Seminary writes: “For the Orthodox Church, salvation is more than the pardon of sins and transgressions. It is more than being justified or acquitted for offenses committed against God. According to Orthodox teaching, salvation certainly includes forgiveness and justification, but is by no means limited to them. For the Fathers of the Church, salvation is the acquisition of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. To be saved is to be sanctified and to participate in the life of God – indeed to become partakers of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4).” In Orthodoxy, salvation means not simply changing God’s attitude, but changing ourselves and being changed by God. Salvation ultimately means deification; and deification, as we have seen, entails transformation. It is being united with God ever more fully through His Grace, His Uncreated Energy, in which He is fully present. As we participate ever more fully in God’s life through His Grace, we become ever more deified, ever more in the likeness of Christ. Then, at the time of our departure from this life, we can dwell forever with Christ in His Kingdom because we “look like Him” spiritually, because we are shining with the Grace of God. |
| Neusner has both defenders 1548 and challengers in the field. One of his most vocal challengers has been E. P. Sanders, 1549 who argues, among other things, that Neusner is extremely inconsistent in his own writings. 1550 Neusner in turn criticizes Sanders for arguing for commonalities in early Judaism so banal that his «common Judaism» offers little of substance 1551 –which I believe most scholars who have read Sanders» work will regard as a caricature of his actual position. Neusner " s consistent preference for detail and documents, yielding distinct «Judaisms,» is one legitimate perspective; but like our attempt at a broader portrait from Josephus and Greco-Roman sources, Sanders provides more evidence for common ground among pious Judeans than Neusner acknowledges. Probably more than any other scholar, Neusner has properly drawn our attention to the importance of taking into account the distinct documents in which rabbinic traditions appear; 1552 thus, for example, if we cite for a tradition seven rabbis, all of whose citations appear in Gen. Rab., one may suspect that the editor of Gen. Rab. had something to do with the presentation of this view. 1553 (In fact, due to space constraints, I have cited traditions by document and only rarely by attribution anyway, though my personal notes include the attributions.) But Neusner " s critique of Vermes " s attempt to set early Christianity in a Judaic context 1554 is overstated. A thorough study of, say, Matthew, would focus on that document and perhaps traditions shared with other gospels; but one wishing to describe early Christianity or, for that matter, the first-century eastern Mediterranean world, or even elements of ancient Mediterranean culture in general, would nevertheless not be wrong to cite various NT documents for ideas illustrating some of the thought of the day, provided we cast the net as widely as possible and do not pretend that our samples represent a monolithic «early Christianity.» In his early three-volume work, The Rabbinic Traditions about the Pharisees Before 70, for instance, 1555 Neusner shows the tenuousness of attributing particular sayings to pre-70 sages when the attributions surface only later in rabbinic literature. 1556 At the same time in this work (perhaps more so than in more recent ones) he «takes seriously» post-70 attributions in Tannaitic collections and regards «post-140 attributions as absolutely reliable.» 1557 (Getting attributions right was at least formally considered important in the early post-70 period.) 1558 In this work he regards many thematic traditions in the Shammai and Hillel Houses as genuinely pre-70 though «the actual formulation and wording of pericopae» is generally later. 1559 In a more recent work he warns that attributions to Hillel are no more necessarily correct than rabbinic attributions to Jeremiah or Moses, the historical authenticity of which we invariably reject. 1560 |
| Tweet Нравится About Archimandrite John Krestiankin On February 5, 2006, Russia " s beloved elder, Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), reposed in the Lord. The Pravdoliubov family, full of priests and even new martyrs, lived in Ryazan Province, where Fr. John served for many years in various parishes. This family has produced even more priests, one of whom serves in the Resurrection Church in Moscow, and has written his recollections of a life-long relationship with the wise spiritual instructor. Archimandrite John (Krestiankin). For a long time, I did not write my recollections of Fr. John (Krestiankin). It seemed to me that everyone was writing their own. I thought, they will write everything they can! But when I read what many people really did write, I also wanted to write—especially since throughout many years of hearing confessions, I often cited Fr. John " s opinion on the most varied issues. I worked on my recollections throughout Great Lent of 2005, finished them on Pascha, and sent them to Pechory. Fr. John read these notes and approved them. He did not ask that anything be removed, had no problems with them, and now these notes are very, very dear to me. After all, Fr. John read them himself, and agreed with everything! He did not say that I wrote anything from my own self… Thus, these recollections are valuable no matter how they have been written in that Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) himself approved of them. My parents, Archpriest Anatoly and Olga Mikhailovna Pravdoliubov, were always very close to Fr. John (Krestiankin). When Fr. John served in the village of Troitsa-Pelenitsa (Yasakovo) in Ryazan diocese, my father was serving during those years in the town of Spassk-Ryazansky. These parishes were very close to each other and my parents often visited with Fr. John. Even then, they related to him as to an elder, although Fr. John was only four years older than my father. They were especially close during the time that Fr. John served at his last parish in Ryazan diocese—the St. Nicholas Church in the town of Kasimov. We children also remember that time well, for we were already sufficiently grown. We remembered the long Church services Fr. John served—All-Night Vigil with a litya, akathists, and very long sermons. |
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