| This is an interview with a unique, talented young man, to whom our website, Orthodox Christianity, is not indifferent. Dimitry Lapa, almost completely blind from an early age, translates many of our news articles from his native language, Russian, into his acquired language, English. This would not be an easy task for anyone, but it must require particular patience when you cannot see the text. Apparently, patience is something in which Dimitry excels. He also translated his own interview from the original Russian into English. Hoxne, Dmitry Lapa at the cross of St. Edmund, along with Fr. Andrew Phillips — Dmitry, the readers of Pravoslavie.ru know you as the translator of a series of articles on the history of Christianity in England and its Orthodox Saints. You are also an independent author of publications about English Orthodoxy. It is less well known that you are a visually handicapped person from childhood and these works are a testimony to the courage and persistence with which you have overcome your handicap. How did your interest in Orthodoxy in England begin? —It all began with my deep love of England and all the British Isles from childhood. During my years at school, I was already very interested in the history, culture, traditions, customs, literature, and music of this country, and was the chairman of the English club in our school. Through my school English teacher, Era (in baptism Xenia) Feodorovna Dudko, an excellent teacher and a wonderful person, I became acquainted with another wonderful man—Brian Ferris from Worcester. He and I became close friends; we began exchanging e-mails, and in 2002 he invited me to visit him. My first trip to England became one of the brightest events in my life. Brian is now 79; he is Anglican, and an architect by profession. Brian is visually impaired but his vision allows him to read and write regular texts in print and to travel independently, so he has travelled to many European countries and holy sites. He is a very pious man and a permanent parishioner of the Worcester Cathedral. By the way, in his rear garden Brian built a model of a medieval English cathedral from his own design, including all the buildings of the abbey attached to it (before the Reformation in England, there was a tradition of monastery-cathedrals). It took him about 40 years to complete the model, and it is a truly clever piece of work, worthy of praise! He and his friends showed me the western part of England (especially the counties of Worcestershire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, the Cotswolds and the Malverns). |
| Tweet Нравится Dickens " the man who invented Christmas " SOURCE: The Victorian Web Philip V. Allingham , Contributing Editor, The Victorian Web; Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario Nearer and closer to our hearts be the Christmas spirit,which is the spirit of active usefulness, perseverance, cheerful discharge of duty, kindness and forbearance! — Charles Dickens, " What Christmas Is as We Grow Older, " 1851 As we look back from our perspective of a century-and-a-half, Charles John Huffam Dickens does indeed seem to be what London's Sunday Telegraph for 18 December 1988 proclaimed him, " The Man Who Invented Christmas. " Certainly, he seems to have convinced his younger contemporaries that it was he rather than Benjamin Disraeli 's Young England Movement or Oxford's Puseyites that had rediscovered the great Christian festival that — because of the massive inmigration to the cities that accompanied the industrial revolution — had been on the wane in Great Britain since the latter part of the eighteenth century. Paul Davis in The Lives and Times of Ebenezer Scrooge (1990) retells the anecdote first told of Dickens by Theodore Watts-Dunton in 1870. As he was walking down Drury Lane near Covent Garden Market on June 9th that year, Dunton overheard a Cockney barrow-girl's reaction to the news of the great novelist's death: " Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too? " The fact is that, for those of us of British origin, Dickens more than anybody else revived the Christmas traditions which had nearly died out. Although Dickens celebrated the festival of Christ's birth in numerous works, it is A Christmas Carol , published on 19 December 1843, that has preserved the Christmas customs of olde England and fixed our image of the holiday season as one of wind, ice, and snow without, and smoking bishop, piping hot turkey, and family cheer within. Coming from a family large but not-too-well-off, Charles Dickens presents again and again his idealised memory of a Christmas associated with the gathering of the family which " bound together all our home enjoyments, affections and hopes " in games such as Snap Dragon and Blind Man's Buff, both of which his model lower-middle-class father, Bob Cratchit, runs home to play on Christmas Eve. |
| The west looks on as corruption and bigotry rule in the " new Ukraine " Vadim Novinsky Two years ago, the west looked at Ukraine with enthusiasm. These days, the sentiments are closer to despair and fatigue. My country has not had the European breakthrough that was promised. Those who came to power in Kiev to the applause of western elites now hope that their international partners will turn a blind eye to the way they run the country. And that’s not what ordinary Ukrainians need. In early September, dressed in military uniform, about 20 young nationalists launched an attack in Kiev against an independent TV channel, setting tires ablaze and throwing a smoke bomb into the building, causing a fire that damaged the first and second floor. One journalist was seriously injured. Those who organised this act of terror remain unpunished. Law enforcement agencies and other government bodies have ignored calls from EU institutions, politicians and human rights groups to carry out a comprehensive and unbiased investigation. After the TV station attack, a man accused of organising the crime boasted about it and threatened another channel, but police say they cannot identify any suspects. What kind of justice can be expected if just before the attack, MPs from Ukraine’s ruling coalition called for the TV channel to be punished for its allegedly “unpatriotic” editorial policy? This is how impunity for bigots paves the way for more violence. Activists throw tires as they block the entrance of the Inter TV channel in Kiev on the 5 September. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images Ukraine’s government relies heavily on continuing western support to stabilise the withering economy and assist the country in its confrontation with Russia. To secure this, the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, consistently boasts of his unequivocal devotion to European democratic values and the rule of law. What’s actually going on in the country makes those affirmations meaningless. |
| Through the Pages of the Theological Works of Archimandrite Justin (Popovi) Today the Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Justin of elije, who was glorified in 2010. (Although he reposed on the Feast of the Annunciation, he is commemorated on the feast day of his patron saint, St. Justin the Philosopher.) In his honor we offer the following study of his life and works, originally published in Russian in 1984. The name of Archimandrite Justin (Popovi +1979), doctor of theology, is held in great renown in the Local Orthodox Churches. Archimandrite Justin was born on April 7, 1894, on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the ancient Serbian city of Vranje to the pious family of a priest, which had given the Serbian Church seven generations of clergy. In Baptism he was given the name Blagoje, in honor of the Feast of the Annunciation. From 1905 to 1914, Blagoje Popovi studied at the Seminary of St. Sava of Serbia in Belgrade. During his years of study, the young Blagoje was especially interested in questions of contemporary literature and philosophy. He paid the greatest attention to the works of Dostoevsky, about whom he later wrote two studies: The Philosophy and Religion of F. M. Dostoevsky and Dostoevsky on Europe and Slavism. The works of the Holy Fathers had a decisive influence on the formation of Archimandrite Justin’s spiritual character. The Holy Fathers were, and remained to the end of his life, his irreplaceable teachers and instructors. He was wholly guided by their teachings. Archimandrite Justin especially loved St. John Chrysostom, to whom he prayed ceaselessly with childlike sincerity: “I feel St. John Chrysostom’s particular, merciful closeness towards me, a sinner,” he wrote, “My soul ascends to him in prayer: enlighten me by thy prayers… grant me to struggle with your struggle…” In 1916, Blagoje Popovi accepted monastic tonsure with the name Justin, in honor of Hieromartyr Justin the Philosopher (+166; celebrated on June 1). Indeed, like him, Archimandrite Justin was a genuine philosopher who internalized the truth of Christianity. He placed humble-mindedness at the foundation of his theology, following the example of St. John Chrysostom, who is known for these remarkable words: “The foundation of our Christian philosophy is humble-mindedness, for without it truth is blind.” This is why Fr. Justin, in his contemplation of God, does not speak about Christ as an ordinary person (or an “historical personage”), but rather as the God-Man, the Savior of the world. Fr. Justin felt that the only authentic theologizing of Christ in the Holy Spirit is the contemplation of God in which mind and heart (thought and feeling) are united in prayer, passing into contemplation and Divine vision. He often said: “Any of my thoughts that arises without being converted into prayer is oppressive.” |
| Tweet Нравится Bible to be translated into Russian sign language beginning with Gospel of Mark Moscow, February 2, 2017 Photo: http://www.effafa.ru/ A meeting on the project to translate the Bible into Russian sign language was held in Moscow on January 27. The participants, representing the patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, the Institute for Bible Translation, the All-Russian Society for the Deaf, clergy working with the deaf from various dioceses, sign language interpreters, and the deaf community, decided to begin with the Gospel of Mark, reports the site of the Moscow Patriarchate. Meeting participants decided the Gospel of Mark would be the easiest to translate, and “besides, out of the four Gospels, only the Gospel of Mark mentions the healing of the deaf man,” noted the deputy director of the Institute for Bible Translation Natalia Gorbunova. The idea of translating the Bible into sign language was developed by the aforementioned synodal department, Bible society, and society for the deaf. The first meeting was held in December. The target audience is both churched and secular deaf people looking for the Gospel in sign language in video format, as well as those who would like to learn sign language to communicate and work with the deaf. “Sign language is very diverse, and we should preserve this diversity,” said the head of the Ekaterinburg Diocese’s pastoral, missionary, and social service center Hieromonk Vissarion (Kukushkin). Accordingly, the Gospel will be translated into Russian sign language with elements of foreign-borrowed words. A dictionary of Biblical terms will be developed at the same time. Today sixty-two Orthodox parishes and communities with the deaf and blind, working with various departments and organizations to offer educational courses on the basics of sign language for priests, social workers, and volunteers, and to produce educational videos for the deaf. 2 февраля 2017 г. Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: |
| Exhibition of tactile icons of raised dots to open in Kiev for International Day of Handicapped People An exhibition dedicated to the International Day of Handicapped People will be held from December 3 to 17 at the “Cathedral” Gallery of the spiritual and educational center of the UOC-MP’s cathedral in Kiev. The expositions will include tactile icons designed not only for those with loss of sight, but also for people who are not indifferent to the needs of the blind, who want to have a deeper understanding of the life of the visually impaired and their aspiration for spiritual life. The charitable organization of disabled people and retirees “Facing the Truth” has for the first time in history produced several special tactile icons of raised dots for blind people depicting scenes of miracles related to blindness from Biblical history. Among them are the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God which in 1596 returned sight to a forty-year-old man named Philip who had been blind from birth; an icon of the Holy Blessed Matrona of Moscow who was born blind; an icon of the Holy Confessor Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky), a bishop and surgeon who healed the sick by his prayer and medical skills, who became totally blind at the end of his life, but nevertheless continued to heal people; and other icons. Modern computer technology along with special equipment for the blind was used to create these icons. Such icons have proved to be in high demand among the blind and have become very popular in Ukrainian churches. The exhibition of tactile icons was also presented in Greece (Thessaloniki) at the Education and Rehabilitation Center for the Blind. The exhibition will open on December 3 at 3:00 PM. Address: Kiev, 3 Zheleznodorozhnoye Highway, building 4, Sobornaya (“Cathedral”) Gallery. Admission free. For further information call: (093) 353-86-44 (Vladimir Nikolaevich), (093) 343-63-90 (the gallery staff worker Elena). Translated by Dmitry Lapa Soborna.church.ua 30 ноября 2016 г. Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: Смотри также Комментарии Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Archive Metropolitan Hilarion celebrated Divine Liturgy at the church of the Elevation of the Cross in Geneva 3 June 2019 year 11:12 On June 2, 2019, the 6 th Sunday after Pascha, the Blind Man, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church of the Elevation of the Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, the cathedral church of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia diocese of Western Europe. His Eminence was assisted by Bishop Alexander of Vevey, vicar of the diocese Western Europe; Archpriest Pavel Tsvetkov, the church’s ecclesiarch; Archpriest Peter Perekrestov, ecclesiarch of the Cathedral of our Lady the Joy for All the Afflicted in San Francisco; and Hieromonk Ioann (Kopeikin), pro-rector for development, Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies (CMI). In the church, there was a shrine with a part of the relics and belt of St. John, Archbishop of Shanghai the Wonderworker of San-Francisco. The shrine had been brought to Swiss parishes with a blessing of Archbishop Kirill of San Francisco and Western America and Bishop Irenaeus of Richmond and Western Europe, on the occasion of the 25 th anniversary of the glorification of the saint. After the Prayer of Fervent Supplication, Metropolitan Hilarion lifted up a prayer for peace in Ukraine. In his sermon after the service, His Eminence Hilarion conveyed to the congregation a blessing from His Holiness Kirill, Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia. Then he spoke about the Gospel’s story about the healing of a man born blind, stressing that the Lord healed the blind man not only physically but also spiritually, bringing him to faith in Christ not just as man but as God Incarnate. “Every Gospel’s story speaks of Jesus Christ as God”, His Eminence said, “And He continues to live in our midst, with us and in us, for when we partake of the Holy Communion, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to dwell in us entering into our human essence”. Speaking about the difference between Christianity and other religions, he said that the difference between the life of a Christian and that of a non-believer is the same as the life of a blind one and a sighted one. “Externally, everything in our life as Christians seems to be similar to the life of other people, but inwardly our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ makes us aware of the meaning of our life and all that happens in it”. His Eminence concluded his sermon with the traditional exclamation “Christ is Risen!” Then Bishop Alexander of Vevey greeted Metropolitan Hilarion and presented him with an Icon of All Saints in memory of the common prayer and a leaflet about the restoration of the church of the Elevation of the Cross. DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 7 December 2023 year |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf HEALING HEALING. In reading the Psalms, the primary hymnbook of the Jewish and Christian church, one cannot but come away with the impression that sickness and death are humankind’s most avaricious natural enemies, while wholeness and life are God’s most precious blessings. In general, healing fits into this scheme, not as a supernatural action, but as the restoration of a human being to natural vitality. Healing overcomes the sickness and suffering of the fallen world and restores its pristine wholeness, and for this reason is both spiritual and physical. Theology put forward in Duet asserts that in God’s plan the good prosper and the wicked suffer. Popular interpreters of Duet, past and present, have drawn the further conclusion that if people suffer, with sickness for example, they must be wicked. Many societies since the time of Duet have engaged in the self-righteous and spurious occupation of postulating the wickedness of the sick, regardless of the actual contents of the book or the rules of logic. Such is the case with the first three friends of Job and with Jesus’ disciples who, when they met a man born blind, asked Jesus whether this man or his parents sinned so that he was born blind. Jesus’ response, that neither this man nor his parents sinned, denied the simple causality of sickness, sin (q.v.), and of inherited guilt. Healing in the Church is looked upon as a sacrament (q.v.) that imitates the many healings of Jesus, is commanded by Scripture (Jas 5:13f.), and involves both soul and body. Historically, healers were not set apart by ordination but were recognized by their fruits. Special recognition is given by the Church to unmercenary healers, a class of saints (q.v.), who perform this sacred function without demanding money. In 20th-c. parochial use this sacrament has been suppressed for various reasons: a misunderstanding of the character of healing, confusion with “last rites,” a misguided devotion to the full text of the sacrament (seven priests repeating seven sets of Gospel readings, prayers, etc.) without sensitivity to its function, etc. At present some theologians are working toward the reinstatement of healing to its rightful place in the life of the Church’s sacraments. Читать далее Источник: The A to Z of the Orthodox Church/Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson - Scarecrow Press, 2010. - 462 p. ISBN 1461664039 Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Archive Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk: Patriarch Bartholomew does not want to admit his fault in the Ukrainian problem 18 April 2021 year 11:50 Ukrainian authorities have invited Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Pope Francis to attend the celebrations of the 30 th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Ms. Gracheva, the host of “The Church and the World” TV program, asked Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), to share his opinion on whether the invitations would be accepted. “While I don’t want to be a soothsayer, I think that Patriarch Bartholomew will accept this invitation, but Pope Francis won’t,” said the archpastor. “Patriarch Bartholomew is a man who lives in the cloudland of his illusions, ambitions, emotions, who seems to have lost touch with reality, presenting his fantasies as actually occurring things,” Metropolitan Hilarion noted. “For example, he turns a blind eye to the existence of the multimillion-strong Ukrainian Orthodox Church with twelve and a half thousand parishes, over 100 bishops, over 250 monasteries and millions of the faithful. His attitude is as if this Church were non-existent; he asserts that there is some kind of another ‘church’ which he has knocked up from two schismatic groups.” “That is why, – the DECR chairman believes, – Patriarch Bartholomew will come to Ukraine just to demonstrate to the world once again that the ‘autocephalous church’ which he has created is the Ukrainian Church, whereas reality testifies to the opposite,” Metropolitan Hilarion underscored. “Patriarch Bartholomew has made a great mistake, but unfortunately he will not and cannot admit it,” continued Metropolitan Hilarion. “He would make whatever moves to convince the world into believing that he has made no mistake, but all others have been mistaken.” Speaking about Pope Francis, Metropolitan Hilarion characterized him as a man of realistic vision, who realizes that if he comes to Ukraine he will be inevitably drawn into recognizing the schismatics in this or that form. “I don’t think he will want to do this,” the DECR chairman said. “Besides, we should not forget that the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church’s attitude to Pope Francis personally and to the Roman See on the whole is rather skeptical, and at times even openly negative,” continued Metropolitan Hilarion. “For instance, the head of that Church, Archbishop Svyatoslav (Shevchuk) on quite a few occasions spoke of the Havana Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill as a document very nearly targeted against Ukrainian Greek-Catholics dealing them a blow. He is very negative about this document and about the direct dialogue of the Pope of Rome with the Russian Orthodox Church.” DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 7 December 2023 year |
| Photo: Pravoslavie.ru Fr. Seraphim Holland answers questions about the Gospel reading on the Blind Man, which we commemorate today, on the Sunday of the Blind Man. Tell the story of the healing of the man born blind from birth. Where does this story appear? When is it read in church? The story of the healing of the man born blind from birth only appears in the Gospel of the Holy Apostle John, and is read, appropriately enough, on the “Sunday of the Blind Man”, the sixth Sunday of Pascha. Jesus met a blind man, as He was passing by. His disciples, who just recently had seen Him admonish the paralytic to “sin no more”, asked the Lord why this man had been born blind. Our Lord not only answers their question and corrects their misjudgment, but as was so often the case, also used their question to expound on deeper theology. He then spat on the ground, and made a paste out of the clay, and anointed the blind man’s eyes, then ordered him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. This he did, and came away seeing. The Jews were angry because of this miracle, and interrogated the formerly blind man in the temple. He bore their questions with great dignity and honesty, and gradually became more bold in his answers, until the blinded Jews cast him out of the temple. Jesus then found him again, and the blind man saw the Lord for the first time. He believed in Him, and worshipped Him. Why was the man born blind? The scripture mentions two possibilities. The disciples, upon seeing the blind man, thought that he must have suffered for the same reason that the paralytic, (whom the disciples had just recently seen healed) was lame, and they asked Jesus: Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? (John 9:2) This was an understandable question, since it is clear that our physical infirmities are sometimes caused by our own sins. In this case, however, the Lord corrected them, saying: Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him (John 9:3). |
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