| Makarios, Hierodeacon. It Is Later Than You Think! American Aposde to the Russian People//«Pravda». Ru. 2002. Sept. 27. [Mansur, Mary]. “With the Saints Give Rest...”//Orthodox America. 1982. Rossi, Vincent. The American Acquisition of the Patristic Mind//The Orthodox Word. 1984. Р.267–274. Sherry, Matthew. A Warrior of the Spirit for Modem Times//The Orthodox Word. 1994. 327–333. Stephen, Fr. Fr.Seraphims Beginnings as an Orthodox Writer//The Orthodox Word. 1984. P.31–37. Stephens III, Dr.Raphael W. Fr.Seraphim Rose, Patron of the Unborn//The Orthodox Word. 1989. Р.157–160. Stolen Glimpses into the Inner World of Fr. Seraphim//The Orthodox Word. 1987. Р.300–303. Toner, Jamey. “Maranatha!”//The Orthodox Word. 1994. Р.321–326. Yentzen, Celia. A New Miracle of Fr. Seraphim//The Orthodox Word. 2004. P.217–219. The Twentieth Anniversary of Fr.Seraphims Repose//The Orthodox Word. 2002. Р.209–215. Young, Fr. Alexey [Hieromonk Ambrose], A Mighty Pen Is Stilled//Orthodox America. 1982. Young, Fr. Alexey [Hieromonk Ambrose]. Letters from Fr. Seraphim. Richfield Springs (N.Y.), 2001. Young, Fr. Alexey [Hieromonk Ambrose]. My Advice to Converts//Again. 1994. Dec. 4. Vol. 17. Р.25–27. Young, Fr. Alexey [Hieromonk Ambrose]. Personal Reminiscences of Fr. Seraphim//The Orthodox Word. 2002. Р.233–241. Young, Fr. Alexey [Hieromonk Ambrose], The Royal Path of the Righteous Hieromonk Seraphim of Platina//Orthodox America. 2002. Р.6–7, 12. Young, Fr. Alexey [Hieromonk Ambrose]. Two Miracles of Fr.Seraphim//The Orthodox Word. 1984. P.44–45. Книги о.Серафима (Роуза), изданные на русском языке Аще забуду тебе, Иерусалиме/Сб. ранних работ. Мстиславль: Просветитель, 1995. Блаженный Иоанн Чудотворец. М.: Правило веры; Русский паломник, 1993. Блаженный Иоанн Чудотворец. Изд. 2-е. М.: Братство прп.Германа Аляскинского; Российское отделение Валаамского общества Америки, 1999. Божие откровение человеческому сердцу. М.: Братство прп.Германа Аляскинского; Российское отделение Валаамского общества Америки, 1994; 2-е изд. – М.: Московское подворье Свято–Троицкой Сергиевой лавры, 1997. |
| hieromonk Damascene (Christensen) Bibliography Afanasiev, Victor. Elder Barsanuphius of Optina. Platina, Calif.: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2000. Aleksiev, Archimandrite Seraphim. The Meaning of Suffering. Platina, Calif.: St. Herman Brotherhood, 1994. Allen, Reginald E., ed., Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle. New York: The Free Press, 1985. Anderson, Ken. Bold as a Lamb. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991. Athanasius the Great, St. On the Incarnation. Centenary Press, 1944. Revised ed. Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1953. –. «Defense of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria», «Against the Heathen». In The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 4. Reprint. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994. Augustine, Sr. The Confessions. New York: Collier-Macmillan, 1961. Barsanuphius and John, Sts. Guidance Toward Spiritual Life: Answers to the Questions of Disciples. Translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose. Platina, Calif.: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1990. –. Questions and Answers (in Greek). Volos, 1960. Basil, St. The Fathers of the Church Series, Vol. 13. New York: Fathers of the Church, 1958. Calciu, Fr. George. Father George Calciu: Interviews, Homilies, and Talks. Platina, Calif.: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2010. Cavarnnos, Constantine. Meetings with Kontoglou. Belmont, Mass.: Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 1992. Chang, Chung-yuan. Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese Philosophy, Art, and Poetry. New York: Julian Press, 1963. Reprint. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1970. Chariton, Abbot of Valaam, comp. The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology. London: Faber and Faber, 1966. Chetverikov, Fr. Sergius. Elder Ambrose of Optina. Platina, Calif.: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1997. Christodoulos (Aggeloglou), Hieromonk, Elder Paisios (in Greek). Mount Athos, 1994. English version: Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos, 1998. Cleary, Thomas, trans. and ed. The Essential Tao. San Francisco: Harper, 1991. |
| Annotation The spiritual realm after death defies observation, yet mankind persists in its desire to peer beyond this threshold – a threshold through which we all must pass. “You will not die. Your body will die, but you will go over into a different world, being alive, remembering yourself and recognizing the whole world that surrounds you.” – St. Theophan the Recluse, 19th Century THE SOUL AFTER DEATH is a comprehensive presentation of the 2,000-year-old experience of Orthodox Christianity regarding the existence of the other world, addressing contemporary “after-death” and “out-of-body” experiences, the teachings of traditional Oriental religions and those of more recent occult societies. Although the mystery of what lies beyond the veil of death is not fully visible to us in this life, nonetheless, writings and teachings of ancient Christianity dating from the first century have proven timeless and straightforward, yielding sound insights into the spiritual world beyond death. From the firm foundation of Orthodox patristic teaching, Fr. Seraphim Rose offers an interpretation of the meaning of the contemporary experiences which have been publicized by Drs. Kubler-Ross, Moody, Osis and Haraldsson, and other researchers. “He who has the memory of death as his constant companion, painfully seeks to learn what awaits him after departure from this life.” – St. Symeon the New Theologian, 11th Century Principal teachings of Orthodox Christianity concerning the properties of the soul after death are presented in a clear concise manner, as taught by Church fathers and teachers of the early centuries. THE SOUL AFTER DEATH offers an undiluted draught of pristine, mystical Christianity as it has existed since the time of Christ. Preface The aim of the present book is two-fold: first, to give an explanation, in terms of the Orthodox Christian doctrine of life after death, of the present-day “after-death” experiences that have caused such interest in some religious and scientific circles; and second, to present the basic sources and texts which contain the Orthodox teaching on life after death. If the Orthodox teaching is so little understood today, it is largely because these texts have been so neglected and have become so “unfashionable” in our “enlightened” times; and our attempt has been to make these texts more understandable and accessible to present-day readers. Needless to say, they constitute a reading material infinitely more profound and more profitable than the popular “after-death” books of our day, which, even when they are not merely sensational, simply cannot go much below the spectacular surface of today’s experiences for want of a coherent and true teaching on the whole subject of life after death. |
| the catastrophe of modern education I have already written on multiple occasions of the urgent necessity of creating Orthodox parish schools in America. Our nation’s public schools have degenerated into prison-like institutions which have outlawed all mention of Truth (the Second Person of the Trinity), which forbid any public prayer to the Lord God, which teach sexual propaganda and promote infanticide to kindergarteners , which lead students to believe that they will likely be brutally massacred by their own peers , and which on top of everything else no longer even educate our children in any meaningful sense of the word at all . The situation gets no better when it comes to so-called “higher education.” Even half a century ago, Fr. Seraphim Rose wrote the following words with sorrow: The academic world — and these words are neither lightly nor easily spoken — has become today, in large part, a source of corruption. It is corrupting to hear or read the words of men who do not believe in truth. It is yet more corrupting to receive, in place of truth, mere learning and scholarship which, if they are presented as ends in themselves, are no more than parodies of the truth they were meant to serve, no more than a facade behind which there is no substance. It is, tragically, corrupting even to be exposed to the primary virtue still left to the academic world, the integrity of the best of its representatives —if this integrity serves, not the truth, but skeptical scholarship, and so seduces men all the more effectively to the gospel of subjectivism and unbelief this scholarship conceals. It is corrupting, finally, simply to live and work in an atmosphere totally permeated by a false conception of truth, wherein Christian Truth is seen as irrelevant to the central academic concerns, wherein even those who still believe this Truth can only sporadically make their voices heard above the skepticism promoted by the academic system. The evil, of course, lies primarily in the system itself, which is founded upon untruth, and only incidentally in the many professors whom this system permits and encourages to preach it. a toxic culture |
| For the 30th Anniversary of the Repose of Father Seraphim Rose Hieromonk Seraphim Rose. September 2 of this year marks thirty years since the repose of a righteous man of our time, Hieromonk Seraphim Rose. Father Seraphim’s contribution to the spread and deepening of Orthodoxy not only in America, but throughout the world cannot be overstated. A gifted man from birth, he came to his deep faith in Christ and firm belief in the truth of Orthodoxy through intense struggles of soul and mind—struggles so painfully familiar to people of our age that we cannot but acknowledge the veracity of the conclusions he unwaveringly drew from them. His life edifies even in its imperfection, for truly he was “one of us”: For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted (Heb. 2:8). Early years. Born Eugene Rose to an ordinary lower middle-class family in San Diego, California, the future Father Seraphim was distinguished even from early childhood by his seriousness and strong intellect. His natural self-restraint and willingness to submit to his parents made him their pride and joy. He inherited the practicality and ability to see through falsehood from his hard-working, no-nonsense mother and his meek but wise father, both of whom were the American salt of the earth, forged under the pressures of the Great Depression. His teachers at school even felt a little intimidated by his seriousness. They felt as if they had to be on their toes in his presence, so not to waste his precious learning time. He excelled in all subjects, especially mathematics and foreign languages. Despite his obvious genius, Eugene’s modesty never allowed him to feel better than his peers, and the satisfaction of scholastic mastery never overpowered his awareness of being somewhat isolated from the rest. This same unpretentious studious drive would later manifest itself in a desperate search for truth that would take him down a dangerous path, but finally deliver him home to a greater truth found only in Christ. |
| Excerpt from Hieromonk Damascene’s talk on the 30th Anniversary of the Repose of Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) Sept. 2, 2012, at the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery SOURCE: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia With Abbot Hilarion’s blessing, I would like to say some words that we feel are important to say on this day. As many of you know, this monastery was founded with the blessing of Archbishop Anthony of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1969, and Fr. Seraphim lived all of his Orthodox life as a faithful and obedient member of the Russian Church Outside Russia. In all the years this monastery has been in existence, today is the first day that a First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has visited our monastery. During Fr. Seraphim’s lifetime, there was talk that the then-First Hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Philaret, would be coming to visit. Fr. Seraphim, with the help of other brothers, even built the Tsar’s Room – now a chapel dedicated to the Russian Royal Martyrs – as a room to properly receive the Metropolitan. But for logistical reasons, Metropolitan Philaret was unable to attend at that time, and the Metropolitan-receiving room did not fulfill its original purpose. After Fr. Seraphim’s repose, it was not just logistical reasons that prevented the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Outside Russia from coming here. The reasons are painful to relate, but we feel that we should talk about them, and that the appropriate time is precisely today, on Fr. Seraphim’s 30th anniversary, when a First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad is here for the first time. Within a year after Fr. Seraphim’s repose, our then-Abbot, Fr. Herman, went into schism from his ruling hierarch, Archbishop Anthony, from the Russian Church Abroad, and from the entire Orthodox Church. Those of us who remained here followed him in that schism. Moreover, to justify this schism, Fr. Herman engaged in a campaign to discredit Archbishop Anthony and the good name of the Russian Church Abroad, and we, who wrongly believed he was being unjustly persecuted, followed him in this, too. Of all of us, I was the worst culprit, because in the first biography of Fr. Seraphim, Not of This World, I included a subtext which attempted to justify Fr. Herman’s break from his Archbishop and the Russian Church Abroad. |
| Fr. Herman (Podmoshensky) dies Minneapolis, June 30, 2014 This morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Fr. Herman (Podmoshensky), co-founder with Fr. Seraphim (Rose) and first abbot of the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in Platina, California, reposed. Fr. Herman had suffered for at least a decade from Parkinson’s disease and diabetes, and had noticeably weakened within the past several years. He died at age eighty. One of the most controversial figures in American Orthodoxy today, Fr. Herman was loved by many, but disregarded by others for his violation of Church canons and remaining in disobedience to his ecclesiastical superiors in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). He was defrocked by ROCOR in 1988. Fr. Herman’s missionary work continued, in fact bringing many people into the Orthodox faith. Fr. Herman, born Gleb Dimitrievich Podmoshensky in Riga, Latvia, lost his father to the Communist camps. When the German army occupied Latvia during World War II, he fled with his mother and sister to Germany and the misery of being displaced persons. At age fourteen, he and his family went to the United States to be united with his grandmother, an accomplished ballet dancer, who had earlier immigrated to New York City. Gleb returned to the Orthodox faith of his ancestors as a young adult in America, and graduated from seminary at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. Having met Eugene Rose—the future Fr. Seraphim—in San Francisco, the two began publishing an English language periodical called The Orthodox Word , and opened a small Orthodox bookstore near the Holy Virgin Cathedral in that city. Living under the guidance of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, they resolved after his repose to settle in the wilderness and live the monastic life. After searching for a suitable place, they decided to purchase a parcel of land in northern California, Shasta County. Eventually they would be tonsured monks and ordained priests of ROCOR. Fr. Seraphim reposed in 1982, and Fr. Herman took a turn for the worse not long afterward, leading the monastery brotherhood away from its canonical bishop and finally stepping down from the abbacy in 2000. |
| Russian artist Vladimir Mikhailov carves tokens of faith admin 17 December 2013 Moscow’s Central House of Artists presented the first solo exhibition of jewelry items by Vladimir Mikhailov, an internationally acclaimed designer of Orthodox images in jewelry. Mikhailov, who is often dubbed Russia’s modern Faberge, rose into prominence as the creator of elaborately designed and exquisitely crafted miniature Orthodox icons, pectoral crosses and Easter eggs. The exhibition featured Mikhailov’s early artifacts: carved stone and carved bone icons and crosses. All of them are in private collections. His first stone carving dates back to 1983 when he picked a stone on the bank of a river and carved a pectoral cross for a priest. He has since made hundreds of miniature pectoral crosses, icons and jewelry pieces of astonishing beauty. Mikhailov is not afraid of experimenting with wood, ivory, mother-of-pearl and other materials. He revived and develops the ancient techniques of creating Orthodox images, which originated in Pskov and Novgorod in the 12th -13th centuries and were strictly followed by Russian icon painters. Thirty years ago, Mikhailov received the blessing of the Metropolitan of the Leningrad Diocese and later Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexi II. His prolific legacy numbers hundreds of carved icons, including copies of the miracle-working icons of the Mother of God of Kazan, Iversk and Tikhvin; the images of St. Nicholas-the-Wonderworker, St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Ioann of Kronshtadt; large gold carved icons “The Nativity of Christ” and “The Last Supper”; a table-top icon of St. Andrew-the-First-Called, and many others. One of the most amazing items on display at the Central House of Artists was a miniature silver book of Orthodox prayers engraved in letters less than 1 mm in size and adorned with icons. Source: Voice of Russia Photo: Gallery Mikhailov ‘ Photo: Gallery Mikhailov Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Russian artist Vladimir Mikhailov carves tokens of faith |
| The Cathedral of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Munich Celebrates the Feast Day of Martyr Alexander Schmorell July 16, 2013 Seventy years ago, Alexander Schmorell was executed by the Nazis in Munich; he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in February 2012 as a martyr. Schmorell inspired a student resistance movement known as “White Rose.” On Saturday, July 13, 2013, a solemn divine service was held which gathered representatives of various Local Orthodox Churches. The service was headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Augustin of Germany, Exarch of Central Europe (Constantinople Patriarchate). He was joined by His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Borzhomi and Bakuriani (Georgian Orthodox Church); His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia); His Grace Bishop Agapit of Stuttgart (ROCOR); His Grace Bishop Sofian of Kronstadt (Rumanian Orthodox Church); His Grace Bishop Antony of Constantia (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), as well as 12 priests and six deacons of various Local Churches. The service began at the cathedral of the German Diocese. After the Gospel reading, the clergymen and laity headed on a procession of the cross to the tomb of Martyr Alexander, found in the cemetery adjoining the cathedral. Divine Liturgy continued at his tomb. An altar table was set up over his earth-bound relics. On the way to the grave of the saint, there were special supplications intoned in German on the suffering Christians in Syria and for His Eminence Metropolitan Paul (brother of Patriarch John X of Antioch), who is currently imprisoned. “Russian memorial churches in Germany,” noted Archbishop Mark in his sermon, “and the blood bonds of the related dynasties of the Russian and German empires, bear witness to the closeness of the Russian and German peoples. But in the 20 th century, cruelty and bloodshed were introduced into this bond. Martyr Alexander, who had both German and Russian blood, ascended through Christ above the divisions of nationality. As a Christian, he courageously denounced falsehood. The Lord blessed him to receive His Body and Blood before his martyric death. Metropolitan Alexander (Lovchy), before his death, administered Holy Communion to Alexander, who was a member of the Orthodox parish in Munich, and he buried him in the presence of his parents in a small family circle. Now, for the first time, the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ is performed over the relics of St Alexander the Martyr for the first time.” |
| Tweet Поделиться Subhumanity – The Philosophy of the Absurd Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) The present age is, in a profound sense, an age of absurdity. Poets and dramatists, painters and sculptors proclaim and depict the world as a disjointed chaos, and man as a dehumanized fragment of that chaos. Politics, whether of the right, the left, or the center, can no longer be viewed as anything but an expedient whereby universal disorder is given, for the moment, a faint semblance of order; pacifists and militant crusaders are united in an absurd faith in the feeble powers of man to remedy an intolerable situation by means which can only make it worse. Philosophers and other supposedly responsible men in governmental, academic, and ecclesiastical circles, when they do not retreat behind the impersonal and irresponsible facade of specialization or bureaucracy,usually do no more than rationalize the incoherent state of contemporary man and his world, and counsel a futile “commitment” to a discredited humanist optimism, to a hopeless stoicism, to blind experimentation and irrationalism, or to “commitment” itself, a suicidal faith in “faith”. But art, politics, and philosophy today are only reflections of life, and if they have become absurd it is because, in large measure, life has become so. The most striking example of absurdity in life in recent times was, of course, Hitler’s “new order”, wherein a supposedly normal, civilized man could be atone and the same time an accomplished and moving interpreter of Bach (as was Himmler) and a skilled murderer of millions, or who might arrange a tour of an extermination camp to coincide with a concert series or an exhibition of art. Hitler himself, indeed, was the absurd man par excellence, passing from nothingness to world rule and back to nothingness in the space of a dozen years, leaving as his monument nothing but a shattered world, owing his meaningless success to the fact that he, the emptiest of men, personified the emptiness of the men of his time. |
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