| 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 Clergy and their wives invited to participate in special August 7 webinar Source: OCA Natalya Mihailova 05 August 2015 A special invitation has been extended to all clergy and their wives of the Orthodox Church in America to participate in a special webinar titled “Passion-Bearing Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Health and Marriage” at 1:30 p.m. [EST] on Friday, August 7, 2015. The webinar—available at no cost to participants—is being made available by the Center for Family Care of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Clergy and their wives may register to participate on-line here . Facilitating the webinar will be Deacon Dr. Stephen Muse, who will address the spiritual roots, signs and symptoms of compassion, fatigue and burnout and suggest safeguards to prevent the conditions that are common to those in ministry and their families. “The expertise of Deacon Stephen will be known to many, both from his previous presentations to the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America and his recently published books, When Hearts Become Flame and Being Bread , published by Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press,” said Priest Nathan Preston, Administrator of the OCA’s Department of Pastoral Life. Deacon Stephen also conducts the week-long “Clergy-in-Kairos” wellness program for clergy and clergy couples at the Pastoral Institute in Columbus, GA. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Clergy and their wives invited to participate in special August 7 webinar Natalya Mihailova The webinar—available at no cost to participants—is being made available by the Center for Family Care of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Clergy and their wives may register to participate on-line here. Facilitating the webinar will be Deacon Dr. Stephen Muse, who will address 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. |
| 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 Restoration of revered Cyprus monastery ‘symbol of unity’ Source: The Bismarck Tribune Menelaos Hadjicostis 12 November 2016 NICOSIA, Cyprus — Work carried out jointly by Greek and Turkish Cypriots to restore an Orthodox Christian monastery was hailed Monday as a symbolic milestone for unity and peace on the ethnically divided eastern Mediterranean island. Associated Press Photo Situated on the northeastern tip of the Karpas peninsula in Cyprus’ breakaway Turkish Cypriot north, the monastery is dedicated to one of Jesus’ first disciples, St. Andrew, and has long been revered by both Orthodox Christian Greek Cypriots and Muslim Turkish Cypriots. The monastery was built on the spot where it’s said St. Andrew’s ship dropped anchor until winds could pick up. A fresh-water spring from where water still flows is said to have miraculously helped restore the sight of the captain’s blind son. In gratitude, the captain built a small church atop the spring. Two years of work to restore the monastery’s crumbling church wrapped up Monday at a cost of 2.23 million euros million). Tiziana Zennaro with the United Nations Development Program that is overseeing the work said a second, year-long restoration phase of adjacent buildings and a medieval chapel will begin early next year. “The monastery of Apostolos Andreas, as you all know, is both a landmark and a symbol for Cyprus,” Zennaro said. “Today it’s a symbol of perseverance, unity and peace.’ A 1974 Turkish invasion that followed a coup aiming at union with Greece left the island divided. A key phase of U.N.-backed reunification talks is now underway in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland. Hundreds of churches, religious sites and monuments in the north were left to ruin following the island’s split — “sacrificed” to politics, said Ali Tuncay, a Turkish Cypriot member of a committee tasked with restoration work. |
| Then the Primates had a talk. Addressing the high guest, Patriarch Kirill said, ‘I wholeheartedly thank you for your coming to us to share the joy of all our people who celebrate the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’. I am also glad that you and I meet frequently. We remember your coming to Moscow for the centenary of the restoration of Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church and the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. At that time you had an opportunity to visit St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to see our church life not only in the capital city but also in other places’. Patriarch Kirill underscored that the celebration of the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ is associated for the Russian faithful with special spiritual experiences. ‘The baptism of Prince Vladimir really changed the course of history of the Slavic civilization and the consequences of the adoption of Eastern Christianity had a decisive importance for the formation of our national self-awareness and our culture’, he said. ‘Our people took Orthodoxy so close to heart’, he continued, ‘and it took root in their life so rapidly also because Prince Vladimir himself showed an example of how much his life might change under the influence of the preaching of the gospel. Before his baptism he was a very cruel ruler who actually had no moral constraints. He used to ruin the lives of the women who became his victims. And now this terrible man, through the power of God’s grace, changes in no time. Certainly, it could not stay unnoticed by people, and Prince Vladimir’s personal example was very important for all the people’. His Holiness noted that historians offered different explanations why Prince Vladimir adopted Christianity from Byzantium and said, ‘Perhaps, as a statesmen he had some political considerations but no political motives could change his personality, his soul, but only the grace of God could. That is why our people embraced Orthodoxy as a faith improving a person and that is why the Christian peaching became so attractive for our people. The subsequent history was marked with a multitude of saints, their images have gone down our history and folklore, and it is the personalities of saints that have formed the moral ideal of the Russians’. |
| Underpraised children Bad attitude to oneself is most often rooted in one’s childhood. It happens to children who grow up without parents or in problem families, where parents don’t care. Psychologists say that if a father leaves the family, it can ruin a child’s self-esteem, because the child is sure that it wouldn’t have happened if he or she were good enough. A person with such attitude may, however, have grown up in a normal family with loving parents, who just forgot to praise him, but didn’t forget to criticize. A family psychologist and mother of 8, Ekaterina Burmistrova comments, “A small child ‘molds’ themselves and their self-esteem by watching the parents’ reactions. People with low self-esteem are those whose parents thought that it is fundamentally wrong to praise children. Or whose parents, while struggling with the kid’s misbehavior (as most children have discipline problems), criticized not the misbehavior itself, but the child. It wasn’t like ‘you did a bad thing,’ but like ‘you are bad.’ Go to a playground and you might hear somebody say to their child, ‘You’re a bad boy! I won’t love you!’ just because the kid misbehaved.” Being afraid of praising their child, parents often think that they impede the development of pride and teach their kid humility. But it frequently leads to the opposite. The child doesn’t receive any positive feedback and can’t handle it, which often results in demonstrative misconduct or pathological shyness, in constantly comparing oneself to others. According to psychologist Ekaterina Burmistrova, parents sometimes think that their child’s humility should manifest itself as unconditional obedience or being afraid of expressing one’s opinion, which they force upon their child. “I’ve come across cases when parents, while trying to instill humility, spanked their child yelling, ‘Be humble, your sin is called pride, but this is more likely to teach their child to hold grudge or be cruel. You can’t beat them into humility, it can only be taught by setting an example of your own life.” |
| La rândul su, Întâistttorul Bisericii Ortodoxe Ruse a spus: «Sanctitatea Voastr, Preafericite Printe Patriarh al Antiohiei i al Întregului Orient, Înalt Presfiniile i Preasfiniile Voastre, dragi prini, frai i surori! Am intrat cu o emoie deosebit în aceast catedral. Ultima dat când am fost aici, aceast catedral arta mai mult ca o ruin. i cu bucurie i cu recunotin adus lui Dumnezeu vzând aceast frumusee restaurat, mrturisesc c Dumnezeu n-a permis ca sfinenia s fie batjocorit, i biserica s-a pstrat, i astzi, o putem vedea cu toat frumuseea ei cea de la început. Vizitele pe care le-am efectuat în Liban mi-au lsat întotdeauna amintiri deosebite, pentru c acest pmânt este o parte din ara Sfânt. Pe acest pmânt au clcat picioarele apostolilor, de acest spaiu este legat începutul existenei cretine a Bisericii. De acest pmânt sunt legate faptele mari care au fost svârite în Biserica Antiohiei. Aici au fost scrise operele Sfinilor Prini, a celor mai renumii scriitori i gânditori bisericeti. Aici au aprut primele opere ale renumiilor canoniti, juriti bisericeti care au participat la crearea codului de legi al imperiului Bizantin, cunoscut sub numele de Codicele lui Justinian. Acest pmânt este de asemenea cunoscut i prin cei care au aprat Ortodoxia de eretici i schisme. A fost acel loc de care au depins destinele Bisericii Ecumenice. Aceast mreie a Bisericii Antiohiene, dobândit prin ostenelile Sfinilor Apostoli Petru i Pavel, a dinuit secole de-a rândul i acum îi manifest în chip deosebit prezena aducând în sânul societii multiculturale a Libanului acea mrturie a valorilor cretine, a care a fost prezent în Seria i în alte ri din Orient. Noi toi apainem împreun Unei singure Biserici Ortodoxe, în care dispar toate acele hotare naionale i politice. Trim o singur via comun, oriunde nu ne-am afla din punct de vedere fizic, — în Liban, în Siria, în Ucraina, în Bielorusia sau în alt ar, pentru c suntem cu toii unii într-o singur Biseric — Biserica Ortodox Ecumenic care-i pstreaz mreia i sfinenia Tradiiei lsate de Sfinii Apostoli. |
| Upon receiving his education, the future hierarch received monastic tonsure at the Kiev Caves Lavra with the name Theodosius, in honor of St Theodosius of the Caves (May 3). Metropolitan Dionysius (Balaban) of Kiev made him archdeacon of Kiev’s cathedral of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) , and then appointed him steward of the episcopal household. Soon he left Kiev and went to the distant Krupitsky monastery near Baturino (in the Chernigov diocese), which was famed for its strict monastic life. There he was ordained to the holy priesthood, but remained there only a short time. In 1662, St Theodosius was appointed Igumen of the Korsun monastery in Kiev diocese, and in the year 1664 he was made head of the ancient Kiev-Vydubitsky monastery. This monastery had fallen into the hands of the Uniates and Poles at the beginning of the seventeenth century and was in complete ruin. Thanks to the energy and initiative of St Theodosius, the Vydubitsky Mikhailovsk monastery was quickly restored. He was particularly concerned with the order of church services. He formed an excellent choir, which was famed not only in Little Russia, but also in Moscow. St Theodosius sent his singers to Moscow in 1685 to instruct their choirs in Kievan chant. As a strict ascetic himself, St Theodosius was concerned with the spiritual growth of his monks. He founded a small skete on the island of Mikhailovschina, not far from the monastery, for brethren wishing to live in solitude. He appointed the hieromonk Job (Opalinsky), one of the most zealous monks of his monastery, to organize and administer the skete. St Theodosius had to live through some quite difficult days, enduring many sorrows. He and other Igumens were accused by Bishop Methodius of Mstislav and Orshansk of betraying Russia in a supposed correspondence with the enemies of Russia. On September 20, 1668 St Theodosius explained the matter. On November 17, 1668 the lie was exposed, and St Theodosius together with the other Igumens were vindicated. Archbishop Lazar (Baranovich) esteemed the high spiritual qualities of St Theodosius and befriended him. He called him “a sheep of the flock of Christ, teaching by humility,” and he prophetically expressed the wish that the name of St Theodosius might be inscribed in Heaven. |
| The future of Hagia Elia, along with its sister churches, remains far from secure. Arguing that the Karaköy tourism hub will mean more jobs and prosperity for Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan strongly backs the redevelopment project. Tenants in the area already have received legal notices to vacate their premises. For now, Hagia Elia has not received an eviction order. Naki Demirçivi, one of a group of lawyers representing the church, said that previous experience in fighting city re-development schemes does not offer much hope for Hagia Elia’s preservation. “Ultimately, the developer can do whatever he wants to do. There are many ways of circumventing restrictions. All we can do is delay their plans,” Demirçivi claimed. For some of those attending the early August services at Hagia Elia, the redevelopment of the Karaköy neighborhood, with its century-old churches, could prove just as contentious as Gezi Park . “This [Karaköy redevelopment] is an enormous project [and] they don’t tell you what is going to happen,” said 40-year-old parishioner Maria. “We feel very bad because what they [are] doing in Istanbul now is terrible. They are going to ruin the city. They don’t have any respect for the city, for the architecture.” For Deacon Vissarion, who conducted Hagia Elia’s reopening service, saving the church is important not only for Istanbul’s small Russian-Orthodox population, but for everyone living in the city. “[The church] is a very basic part of the multi-cultural part of Constantinople, of Istanbul,” he said. Source: Eurasianet.org Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Turkey: Istanbul Redevelopment Plan Threatens Historic Russian Orthodox Church Dorian Jones [caption id="" align="" width="" ] A worshipper attends a service in the Hagia Elia Church, which opened its door after 41 years in a bid to save it from developers. The Russian Orthodox church was erected on the top of a five-story ... 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. |
| Thus, homosexuality, in the understanding and experience of the Church, becomes a source of violence against a healthy and moral order of things. The number of people born with hormonal imbalances (hermaphrodites, etc.) is not large. The fact that in our times the number of people with sexual abnormalities (sodomites and lesbians) is growing daily shows that we are talking about other factors encouraging strangeness and total abnormality. Concealed behind this has been, and still is, a crisis of morals and a crisis of deep meaning in life. All civilizations past and present attest to this, according to the wise apostle of the nations, Paul: God gave such darkened and blind human generationsup unto vile affections (see Rom. 1:26). c) In all other respects, doesn’t the so-called “pride parade,” the first of its kind in world history, organized exclusively on territory located in the developmental heights of Euro-American civilization, presage the ruin of this civilization? It would be interesting to shed light upon what is hiding behind the very name, “pride parade,” from the psychological and anthropological point of view. Behind the verbal triumph and boastfulness of the societal demarche of “gay paraders,” is there not actually concealed the inner suffering, despair, and sadness of the parade’s participants? Is this not a clownish scream emitted from their loss of moral and spiritual equilibrium, and their existential instability? Healthy and true love never had and never will have need of such ostentatious boasting, intrusiveness, and effect. Doesn’t the subconscious realization that this barren eros leads to death and destruction, that its nature is suicidal and perverse, force the gay paraders to run away from themselves and from the edge of the abyss over which they dance the dance of death? This kind of love is narcotic—the most dangerous kind of narcotic. One must never lose sight of the eternal image of Sodom and Gomorrah: these cities and their inhabitants were destroyed, burned in fire and brimstone precisely because they turned the natural use of the male and female into that which is unnatural (see Rom. |
| One of the major ways the Serbian population contributed to Los Angeles was through their construction work. " At one time, the entire Southern California construction [business] was dominated by contractors and workers of Serbian heritage, " Cheyovich explained. " The freeways, pipelines, sewer drains and street projects have barriers inscribed with the names you see in this cemetery. They helped build Los Angeles. " Their numbers increased after the destruction and economic ruin of World War One forced more Serbians out of their homelands in search of a better life. A particularly interesting refugee was His Serene Highness Prince George Imerentinsky. A handsome Georgian royal, he was a prince of the Bagrationi dynasty of the Imereti. He grew up in Moscow and became a page of honor to the Russian Czar in 1892. After a military career as a lieutenant colonel, he went into exile after the Russian Revolution. He settled in Los Angeles, one of a number of former royals and aristocrats to do so. He died in 1932, and was buried in the Serbian Cemetery, a simple flat stone the only marker of this once highly decorated man. By the early 1950s, more and more Serbian-Americans (including many new immigrants fleeing communist regimes after World War Two) were moving to the more hospitable, middle-class suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley. In 1963, a new church hall was built in San Gabriel. Services and activities were increasingly moved to the new hall. In 1984, a grand new St. Sava Church was built in San Gabriel. The old St. Sava continued to be used, primarily as a funeral chapel. The cemetery remained the main resting place for Serbians in the Los Angeles area. Holy men of the Serbian Orthodox Cemetery were buried at the cemetery, including Bishop Gregory Udicky, Father Vladimir Mrvichin, Father Marko Malovrazich and Father Mirko Vuisich. A Continuing Legacy I can only say that the early pioneers would be so proud that their sacrifices were not in vain. The membership and officers continue to strive to perpetuate ideals that they had instituted. They maintain intense fervor to maintain the grounds as they were intended. Each year, we have a number of burials but we continue to initiate new members who are desirous of participating and also choose this as their final resting place.- Iliya Cheyovich |
| Early in 2013 it was announced that the Hagia Sophia/Ayasofya in Trabzon (Byzantine Trebizond) would reopen as a mosque. With its rich Byzantine fresco program lovingly restored, the 13 th -century building has been a museum for the last half-century. Never the focus of controversy, the reconversion seems to have been instigated solely on the basis of its name. A major force behind the conversion movement, Vakiflar (Ministry of Pious Foundations) Director Adnan Ertem proclaimed that, of the Ayasofyas in Turkey, five are functioning as mosques, while two are “inactive” (i.e., museums), calling their present owner, the Cultural Ministry, an “occupying force.” A parliamentary commission is now considering an application to reopen Ayasofya in Istanbul as a mosque. This time they’re serious. Indeed, supporting the reopening of Istanbul’s Ayasofya has become the litmus test of the true believer. Protests by the academic community have fallen on deaf ears, as Erdogan’s Islamist government presents the conversion as a move toward “religious freedom.” How far have we come in the last century? A few recent incidents are telling. The 5 th -century St. John Stoudios (the Imrahor Mosque) is the oldest surviving church in Istanbul and the center of the city’s most important Byzantine monastery. Destroyed by fire in 1894, the archaeological site belongs to the Cultural Ministry as an historic site, but its evocative remains have never been properly documented. A parliamentary commission has determined that the basilica will be rebuilt to function as a mosque. The Kesik Minare in Antalya faces the same fate, despite public opposition. Recently excavated, the ruin preserves substantial remains from a Roman temple, a Byzantine church, a Crusader church, and an Ottoman mosque. As in so many other sites, its rich history would disappear if rebuilt. One final example: The Arap Camii in Istanbul, originally a 14 th -century Dominican church, suffered minor damage in the 1999 earthquake, after which plaster began to fall from the vaults, revealing remnants of the original frescoes and mosaics. Although the paintings were conserved last year, the Vakiflar covered them up again. They are no longer visible. |
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