| St. Nicholas Chapel stands across the street from Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox church on Sunday, Dec. 20 in Old Town Kenai. The wooden chapel will be 110 years old in 2016. Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion St. Nicholas Chapel stands across the street from Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox church on Sunday, Dec. 20 in Old Town Kenai. The wooden chapel will be 110 years old in 2016. Kenai’s present Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church now stands across the street from the old log chapel, which in more recent times has been seldom used. Of the ten or so worshippers at Saturday’s service, only long-time church member Ernie Jordan could remember another service there, which he guessed had been sometime in the early 2000s. Jordan pointed to an icon he had hung at that time above the east-facing window behind the altar, and recalled another event in the building’s history he had participated in: the removal of a deteriorating wooden cross from its roof-top cupola. With help from two Homer Electric linemen, he had replaced it with an aluminum cross. He couldn’t remember when the replacement occurred — many years ago, he said. After the service, Father Thomas said he didn’t have specific plans for future worship in the chapel. Jordan said the building still needs restoration — especially its leaky wood-shingled roof — and there are several items ahead of it in the church’s list of financial priorities. For Saturday’s service, candles, altar ornaments, and icons of Christ, Mary, and St. Nicholas were brought to the chapel from the main church. Two other priests aided Father Thomas — Father Victor Nick, priest of Ninilchik’s Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church, and Thomas’ literal father, a subdeacon visiting from Thomas’ native village of Marshall on the Yukon River. The liturgy that the worshippers sang honored St. Nicholas as one who was “exalted by humility and enriched by poverty.” According to the story with which Father Thomas ended the service, Nicholas had been born to wealthy parents who died when he was young, leaving him heir to a fortune in his teens. |
| And so the father accepted the decision of the boy, and the next morning, when the sun rose, one could see, walking out of the dark wood where the blocking army was sitting, and walking towards the fort held by the pagans, this boy of nine, alone, trustful, ready to give himself as Christ had given Himself. There was a hushed silence in this early hour in the morning, the people in the wood were watching the young prince and the people on the walls of the town also. And they were all so moved by the beauty and the generosity of him; but there was one man who was not moved, hatred lived in his heart: he took his bow, a shaft flew, and the boy fell, wounded to death. And at that moment all the men in the wood and all the people in the town, forgetting that it was dangerous to do this, forgetting that they were enemies, ran towards the boy to see whether he was killed or whether there was still hope. The boy was dying, and when the pagans and the Christians suddenly remembered that they were at war, they realised that their camps had mixed and that there were no enemies among them: they were only people who were so deeply moved, in tears, heartbroken, in horror of what hatred could do. And this boy, by his death, had brought them together. He had made their peace. Do you realise that each of us, the smallest and the biggest, can do that? At times, when there are quarrels at home, does not the child have power to say to his father, to his mother, to an older brother, ‘Do not do it – I love you both and yet you wound me, you kill me’. There is strife at school, there are quarrels among all of us: all of us, anyone of us can do what little holy Michael of Mourom has done. This is the way in which love, when it reaches the limit – and the limit is the gift of oneself whatever may happen – can bring reconciliation and peace and love, and it is stronger than anything else in the world. And this is why half way in our journey in Lent we are shown this Cross: it is our hope, our only t r u e hope, it is our joy, it is our certainty that we are loved of God, it is our certainty also that all things are possible in the power of Christ. Amen. |
| A New Chapter in the History of Our Church A talk with the official representative of the American Orthodox Church in Moscow, Archimandrite Zacchaeus Wood A talk with the official representative of the American Orthodox Church in Moscow, Archimandrite Zacchaeus Wood Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood) - Dean of the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in-the-Fields, Representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate - Father Zacchaeus, it is logical that for many in Russia the election of the young, I can say, not very well-known bishop as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America was a big surprise. Could you give your comment, express your opinion about this? - I think that for many faithful of the Orthodox Church in America, it was also surprising choice, because Vladika Jonah was a bishop only 11 days at the beginning of the Council. So when candidates for a Metropolitan were discussed at the beginning of the Council, people imagined different bishops on, and the name of Bishop Jonah was not mentioned. We think and truly believe that God himself elected Bishop Jonah to serve as Metropolitan of All America and Canada. This was not a human policy, not personal desire. This is indeed visible to all, after his wise conversation with the people and speech before the elections, that really it was a man chosen by God for the position of Metropolitan. - In this regard, could you clarify some features of the electoral process in the American Church? Obviously, in various local churches there are some differences. What, in short, is your practice? - We have a system in which all delegates of the Council have the opportunity to vote in the election of Metropolitan. All delegates of the Council should write on special paper one name. After counting the votes, if one candidate gets two-thirds of the votes, this candidate is submitted for confirmation by the Holy Synod. The final decision is made by the Synod. And if a candidate does not get two-thirds, then the second round of the election provides the Synod with two candidates for the office of the Metropolitan – the two who gained the majority of votes. Many do not know clearly our system and think that it is “some American democracy.” In fact, delegates present their candidate to the Synod, but the Synod is not obliged to choose exactly that person. In the history of our Church there have been instances when the Synod eventually chose another candidate, not the one that receives the most votes of delegates of the Council. |
| Sex and Teenagers Anita Wood Brewer was Elvis Presley’s girlfriend from 1957-1962. The cultural understanding of sex and dating was drastically different in the 1950’s and the early 1960’s than it is today. Anita Wood’s daughter, Jonitta Brewer Barrett, mentions in the biography that she wrote about her mother(1) that “It was not uncommon back then for parents to expect a boy to ask for their blessing before taking their daughter out on a date. We’ve let this practice go by the wayside in today’s culture, and I think we’ve suffered for it. Today, girls and guys just meet up, without the parents having a chance to talk to the young man and make sure he will protect, respect, and bring his date home safely.” “…it leaves our girls exposed and unprotected. That’s just my opinion, as a mother of two boys and two girls.” Anita Wood is quoted as saying that “in those days, you just didn’t kiss a girl on the first date.” She further remarks that “it (was) unacceptable for a young girl to go to a young man’s house on a first date.” The 1950’s represented the height of family stability. Self-control and sex only within the parameters of marriage was the expected social norm. Today’s cultural understanding of sex has changed dramatically as reflected in the comments of these contemporary teenagers (2): Male speakers: •“A lot of my friends are having sex with a number of people. It’s really not a big issue with them. It’s just something to do at a party” •“My friends put pressure on me to have sex. They tell me, ‘Everyone’s doing it. You have to wake up and live in today’s world.’” •“My friends make fun of me a lot because I don’t have sex, I don’t do drugs and I don’t go to parties. They are doing those things just to make themselves feel better. I don’t have to have those things in order to feel good about myself.” •“If I go out on a date, the first thing my friends ask me is if I had sex. If I say no, then they ask me, ‘Why not?’” Female speakers: •“Kids aren’t deciding for themselves whether or not they should have sex. Their boyfriends or their girlfriends are deciding for therm. Girls often feel lonely and they will go to all extremes just to keep the boyfriend.” |
| “But the book in which I have read this account,” said the emperor, “was sent to me by the great and mighty emperor of Japan, and therefore it cannot contain a falsehood. I will hear the nightingale, she must be here this evening; she has my highest favor; and if she does not come, the whole court shall be trampled upon after supper is ended.” “Tsing-pe!” cried the lord-in-waiting, and again he ran up and down stairs, through all the halls and corridors; and half the court ran with him, for they did not like the idea of being trampled upon. There was a great inquiry about this wonderful nightingale, whom all the world knew, but who was unknown to the court. At last they met with a poor little girl in the kitchen, who said, “Oh, yes, I know the nightingale quite well; indeed, she can sing. Every evening I have permission to take home to my poor sick mother the scraps from the table; she lives down by the sea-shore, and as I come back I feel tired, and I sit down in the wood to rest, and listen to the nightingale’s song. Then the tears come into my eyes, and it is just as if my mother kissed me.” “Little maiden,” said the lord-in-waiting, “I will obtain for you constant employment in the kitchen, and you shall have permission to see the emperor dine, if you will lead us to the nightingale; for she is invited for this evening to the palace.” So she went into the wood where the nightingale sang, and half the court followed her. As they went along, a cow began lowing. “Oh,” said a young courtier, “now we have found her; what wonderful power for such a small creature; I have certainly heard it before.” “No, that is only a cow lowing,” said the little girl; “we are a long way from the place yet.” Then some frogs began to croak in the marsh. “Beautiful,” said the young courtier again. “Now I hear it, tinkling like little church bells.” “No, those are frogs,” said the little maiden; “but I think we shall soon hear her now:” and presently the nightingale began to sing. “Hark, hark! there she is,” said the girl, “and there she sits,” she added, pointing to a little gray bird who was perched on a bough. |
| In this deeply moving poem to Empress Alexandra, “To My Beloved Mama”, which she composed at Tsarskoye Selo on April 23, 1917, just over a month following her father’s abdication, the 22-year old Grand Duchess Olga wrote: “ You are filled with anguish. For the suffering of others. And no one’s grief Has ever passed you by. You are relentless Only toward yourself, Forever cold and pitiless. But if only you could look upon Your own sadness from a distance, Just once with a loving soul- Oh, how you would pity yourself. How sadly you would weep.” The Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna as a young girl. These are the qualities of a saint, ones which the young Princess discerned in her own mother. Grand Duchess Olga, clearly a beautifully gifted writer possessed of praiseworthy talent as a poet, evidently perceived the devastating combined impact that her father’s abdication and the Tsarevich Alexei’s incurable hemophilia continuously wrought on her mother’s emotional, physical and spiritual health. As the following letter from the Princess indicated, Grand Duchess Olga, as the oldest of the children in the Imperial Family, consciously served as a kind of envoy for her beleaguered parents to the outside world beyond their prison walls: Father asks the following message to be given to all those who have remained faithful to him, and to those on whom they may have an influence, that they should not take revenge for him, since he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, that they should not take revenge for themselves, and should remember that the evil which is now in the world shall grow even stronger, but that it is not evil that will conquer evil, but only love. . . Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, writing from Tobolsk in the Urals during the Royal family’s exile there in summer 1917, about a year before their brutal execution. Emperor Nicholas II sawing wood with Alexei during the Imperial Family’s winter at Tobolsk. The change in the Grand Duchess’ tone is remarkable: from an already highly perceptive young woman, it is evident that the several harrying months spent under house arrest confined to a few small rooms at the old Governor’s House in Tobolsk had caused the close-knit Imperial Family to keep a more eternal perspective. We read of a young woman both clearly aware that her words would eventually be read by many people who heartily supported the Romanov monarchy and the cause of their liberation from the Bolsheviks, and acutely aware that her father abhorred the continued bloodshed of the civil war between Whites and Reds. |
| We were given obediences (we chopped and stacked wood) together with students from the St Tikhon Orthodox Humanitarian University, and at the same time we came to know them better, we talked about problems facing youth, relaxed by the campfire, sang songs… Now we are considering plans of future contact with them, and joint projects along the lines of the meeting of our youth and the young people of St Petersburg Theological Academy last January. It is worthy of note that the pilgrimage to Solovki, made with the financial support of the Fund for Assistance to the ROCOR, was one of the links in the International Orthodox program “Faith and Works.” I would stress in particular that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, in his letter to His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, Primate of ROCOR, supported our “Faith and Works” endeavor, expressing the hope that “it would enable the mutual enrichment of the youth in joint work to the benefit of the holy Church, and will also make a significant contribution in the work of joint witness in the bonds of love in Christ, which spiritually unites all of us.” So “Faith and Works” is truly manifested in our faith and our deeds. For it is very important not only to listen to speeches at conferences—though that is important, too—but to work together, as we just did in Solovki. For then young people from different countries—and these are future politicians, diplomats, businessmen, clergymen—will better understand each other and will cooperate in the future. Of course, we would like to invite young people from Russia to visit us. But for this we need for youth pilgrimage centers to work in the US, which we still need to organize, maybe with the help of the Russian government. Without a doubt, the development of such a network of cultural-pilgrimage centers abroad could help draw our young people together—those abroad and those in Russia. Sergei Brushtein, New York: – If you ask me what detail I remember most of all from our pilgrimage, it would be a birch tree that grew among the graves on the island of Anzer in the form of a cross (during the godless years it was a prison camp): a straight trunk rises above, while two branches stretch out in either direction, like the crossbar. There were a great many hand-made crosses erected in Solovki at one time, later destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and here, by Divine Providence, a cross arose, not made by human hands. I must say that this birch-tree cross has fallen into my soul forever. |
| 14 . Marah was a fountain of most bitter water: Moses cast wood into it and it became sweet. 2918 For water without the preaching of the Cross of the Lord is of no avail for future salvation, but, after it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving cross, it is made suitable for the use of the spiritual laver and of the cup of salvation. As, then, Moses, that is, the prophet, cast wood into that fountain, so, too, the priest utters over this font the proclamation of the Lord’s cross, and the water is made sweet for the purpose of grace. 15 . You must not trust, then, wholly to your bodily eyes; that which is not seen is more really seen, for the object of sight is temporal, but that other eternal, which is not apprehended by the eye, but is discerned by the mind and spirit. 16 . Lastly, let the lessons lately gone through from the Kings teach you. Naaman was a Syrian, and suffered from leprosy, nor could he be cleansed by any. Then a maiden from among the captives said that there was a prophet in Israel, who could cleanse him from the defilement of the leprosy. And it is said that, having taken silver and gold, he went to the king of Israel. And he, when he heard the cause of his coming, rent his clothes, saying, that occasion was rather being sought against him, since things were asked of him which pertained not to the power of kings. Elisha, however, sent word to the king, that he should send the Syrian to him, that he might know there was a God in Israel. And when he had come, he bade him dip himself seven times in the river Jordan. 17 . Then he began to reason with himself that he had better waters in his own country, in which he had often bathed and never been cleansed of his leprosy; and so remembering this, he did not obey the command of the prophet, yet on the advice and persuasion of his servants he yielded and dipped himself. And being forthwith cleansed, he understood that it is not of the waters but of grace that a man is cleansed. 2919 18 . Understand now who is that young maid among the captives. She is the congregation gathered out of the Gentiles, that is, the Church of God held down of old by the captivity of sin, when as yet it possessed not the liberty of grace, by whose counsel that foolish people of the Gentiles heard the word of prophecy as to which it had before been in doubt. Afterwards, however, when they believed that it ought to be obeyed, they were washed from every defilement of sin. And he indeed doubted before he was healed; you are already healed, and therefore ought not to doubt. Chapter IV. That water does not cleanse without the Spirit is shown by the witness of John and by the very form of the administration of the sacrament. And this is also declared to be signified by the pool in the Gospel and the man who was there healed. In the same passage, too, is shown that the Holy Spirit truly descended on Christ at His baptism, and the meaning of this mystery is explained. |
| Ethiopia Celebrates Meskel, A Christian Holiday All Its Own, With Yellow Flowers And Blazing Bonfires/Православие.Ru Ethiopia Celebrates Meskel, A Christian Holiday All Its Own, With Yellow Flowers And Blazing Bonfires SOURCE: International Business Times By Jacey Fortin A massive bonfire blazed in the central square of Ethiopia " s capital city, Addis Ababa, on Thursday night. But by Friday morning, the mess had been swept away, leaving nothing but a giant spot of soot on the asphalt. Orthodox Christian Ethiopians gather at Estifanos Church in Addis Ababa to mark the religious holiday Meskel on Sept. 27, 2013. Photo: IBTimes/Jacey Fortin Thousands of people had flocked to the arena, called Meskel Square, to watch the ceremonial lighting of the fire for the eve of Meskel, a national holiday also known as the Finding of the True Cross. Ethiopians from across the country -- and visitors from around the world -- carried yellow daises, wooden crosses and wax candles as the pile of wood burned down to the pavement. Smaller bonfires were lit after sunset throughout the city, in backyards and on street corners, and celebrations continued throughout the night. On Friday morning, the square was still buzzing; Orthodox Christians, many with soot on their foreheads in the shape of a cross, congregated at Meskel Square or paid a visit to the nearby Estifanos Church. After the spectacle of Meskel eve, the holiday itself is a time for rest, family togetherness and feasting -- though Sept. 27 fell on a Friday this year, a fasting day, which means that Orthodox Christians will have to abstain from meat. A young man wearing the sign of the cross rides his motorcycle around Meskel Square on Sept. 27, 2013. Photo: IBTimes/Jacey Fortin " Families come together for the ceremony, " said Johannes, 34, who is pursuing his Master " s degree in Addis. " It " s a celebration to join people together, hand to hand. For the people, for God, for the government, and for prayer. " Legend has it that on this day around 330 AD, St. Helena -- who is known as Nigist Eleni in Ethiopia and was the mother of Rome " s first Christian emperor, Constantine -- found the cross on which Jesus had been crucified. In accordance with a revelation she " d had in a dream, Helena burned a giant pile of wood and frankincense. The smoke rose into the sky and then arced back down to earth, showing her the spot where the cross had been buried. Fragments of the cross were distributed to churches around the world, and one found its way to Ethiopia, where it is now said to be buried under the Gishen Mariam Church in the northeastern Wollo region. Ethiopia, which has one of the most devout Orthodox communities in the world, is the only country that celebrates the finding of the cross on a national level. |
| Everyday Saints and Other Stories Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov). Everyday Saints and Other Stories. Translation by Julian Henry Lowenfeld. Pokrov Publications, 2012. 504 pages, illustrated. ISBN 978-0-9842848-3-2, 978-0-9842848-4-9. PREFACE It was a warm September evening, as we, the still-young novices of the Pskov Caves Monastery near Pskov, were strolling about the corridors and galleries of the ancient monastery walls, making ourselves comfortable, looking out high above its gardens and fields. As we talked, we began reminiscing about how each of us had come to be at the monastery. And the more we listened to each other, the more amazed we became. It was 1984 at the time, and there were five of us. Four had grown up in nonreligious families, and even for the fifth in our group, the son of a clergyman, our preconceptions of the sort of people who go off to join a monastery were utterly Soviet. Just a year earlier, each of us had firmly believed that the only people who ever entered a monastery nowadays were fanatics or complete failures in life. Losers, in short—or else victims of unrequited love. But looking at each other, we could see that this simply wasn’t true at all. The youngest in our group was just eighteen, and the oldest was twenty- six. All of us were healthy, strong, and attractive young men. One had graduated with highest honors from university with a degree in mathematics; another, despite his youth, was already an acclaimed artist in Leningrad. Yet another of our group had lived most of his life in New York, where his father was working, and had joined our monastery after completing his third year of university. The youngest (the priest’s son) was a talented engraver and wood carver, and had just completed his education at an art school. And I had recently graduated from the screenwriter’s division of the prestigious National State Cinematic Institute. In short, each of us youngsters had enviable worldly careers to look forward to. So why had we come to the monastery? And why were we planning to stay here for the rest of our lives? We knew very well. It was because, for each of us, a new world had suddenly opened up, incomparable in its beauty. And that world had turned out to be boundlessly more attractive than the one in which we had previously lived our young and so-far very happy lives. In this book I want to tell you about this beautiful new world of mine, where we live by laws completely different from those in “normal” worldly life—a world of light and love, full of wondrous discoveries, hope, happiness, trials and triumphs, where even our defeats acquire profound significance: a world in which, above all, we can always sense powerful manifestations of divine strength and comfort. |
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