| Hierarch of UOC-KP to UOC-MP Clergy: Orthodox Churches of Ukraine Should Merge from Below On March 17 in Luhansk, the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kyivan Patriarchate were called to dialogue. With a proposal to create a committee to begin negotiations with respect to uniting the churches, Bishop Afansiy of the Luhansk Eparchy of the UOC-KP appealed to Archbishop Mytrofan of Luhansk and Alchevsky of the UOC-MP and Bishop Nykodym of Severodonetsk and Starobilsk of the UOC-MP, RISU correspondent Diana Steshenko reports. “The situation in the Ukrainian state has come to the point that today society is on the brink of fratricidal conflict. Dividing people in the middle of the state on religious grounds further contributes to the aggravation of the situation … Who else but us, Orthodox clergy, should set an example of love, unity, and peace. The power of the people is in unity, in unity we will overcome all difficulties and only in unity will we maintain the Ukrainian state,” said Bishop Afanasiy. He believes that initiatives from below will help unite the churches. “Our church has been engaged in dialogue with the UOC-MP on the question of uniting for a long time, commissions were created, but it all happened from ‘above.’ And it led to nothing. The initiative should come from ‘below.’ When people want to unite on the local level, then patriarchs will have to follow the lead, because the church is the people, and the people’s will is the church’s law,” he said. Bishop Afanasiy also appealed to the clergy and parishioners of both eparchies of the Moscow Patriarchate. “The principle ‘in an independent state, an independent (autocephalous) church’ is the principle of the Orthodox tradition, not an invention by modern politicians, as liars try to tell you. I urge each of you to feel a personal responsibility before God and the church to overcome the existing division. Do not just wait for ‘someone somewhere above’ to decide that it’s time to unite – it should be done by everyone, everyone should contribute to overcoming hatred, forging good relations with representatives of the Kyivan Patriarchate in the place of their ministry,” he said. |
| The other important term that helps us understand native Syrian monasticism is the phrase Bnay Qyama. The word Qyama refers primarily to the idea of “covenant,” though it also connotes “station” and possibly “resurrection”; it was even used by Aphrahat to denote the whole church. Accordingly, the Bnay Qyama (Sons of the Covenant) refers to a group of celibates who took upon themselves a special “station” in the life of the community. They assumed this station by individual covenant, or solemn pledge, at their baptism, at which time they assumed the obligation of celibacy and became ihidaye (solitary ascetics). They also accepted to follow Christ’s lifestyle in a uniquely uncompromising way, and in so doing they were deliberately trying to manifest the form of life that would be lived in the “age to come,” the life to which all the baptized are finally called. Through their celibacy and uncompromising pursuit of holiness, they stood among their community as anticipatory images of the resurrection to come. It is difficult to say very much more about this movement. We can surmise that it was carried out neither in a strictly eremitic, nor in a coenobitic form, although there may have been a proto-rule that the Bnay Qyama followed. They seem to have existed as communities close to the churches and were an integral part of Syrian church life. But by the 5th century this ascetic tradition, whatever its characteristics, quickly became displaced by the Egyptian variety of monas- ticism. However, the Syrians did not simply import Egyptian monasticism; they incorporated it into their region in a creative way that reflected their own idiosyncrasies. We find that these idiosyncrasies were expressed in a range of behavior that might strike the modern reader as deeply disturbing, even inhuman. In Syria and Mesopotamia asceticism occasionally took bizarre forms. The majority of the monks were simple Syriac-speaking people, ignorant of Greek. Violent forms of asceticism were common. A heavy iron chain as a belt was a frequently practiced austerity. A few adopted the life of animals and fed on grass, living in the open air without shade from the sun and with the minimum of clothing, and justifying their method of defying society by claiming to be “fools for Christ’s sake» Some Syrian ascetics manifested special feats of penance, such as going without sleep for long periods, being walled up, or spending a lifetime on exposed pillars (Stylites), among whom St. Simeon the Stylite (ca. 390–459) was the most famous. Syrian monasticism should therefore not be seen simply as a more extreme form of monasticism stemming from either a greater degree of dualism or intellectual simplicity, but rather as a form of monasti- cism stemming from a different theological emphasis. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk sends greetings to participants and guests of the conference dedicated to the 700th anniversary of the birth of St Sergius of Radonezh October 15, 2013 Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, sent a message of greetings to the organizers and participants of the conference which is taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is dedicated to the 700 th anniversary of the birth of St Sergius of Radonezh. The text of the message is given below. To the participants and guests of the conference dedicated to the 700 th anniversary of the birth of St Sergius of Radonezh Dear Father Filipp, Esteemed Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, Next year, the Russian Orthodox Church and the whole Orthodox world will be celebrating a momentous date – the 700 th anniversary of the birth of St Sergius of Radonezh. St Sergius, “the hegumen of the Russian land”, as he is called with love and reverence in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the Moscow Patriarchate, had a great influence on the development of spiritual life of the Holy Rus’. His influence goes beyond the historical period he lived in, or the borders of Russia. St Sergius was known in Constantinople, on Mount Athos and in the Bulgarian Tsardom; he was venerated by St Cyprian – a great son of the Bulgarian people, who was the head of the Russian Orthodox Church at that time. The epoch of St Sergius of Radonezh was a time of true flowering of the Slavic Christian literature inspired by the works of Patriarch Euthymius of Trnovo. It was a time of the ‘Orthodox Renaissance’ which affected Russia as well. Among those who were being sent to the Holy Mount Athos from Russia was St Sergius’s favourite disciple, St Athanasius, hegumen of the Vysotsky Monastery in Serpukhov. During his visit to Mount Athos, Hegumen Athanasius met with the Bulgarian scholarly monks and received valuable manuscripts. The Bulgarian church tradition and the tradition established by St Sergius continued to intertwine in the centuries that followed. Many eminent hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church used to come to the Moscow Theological Academy in order to deepen their knowledge in theology. The Academy is located in the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St Sergius and has been carrying out its activities under his heavenly protection. The Bulgarian archpastors are always welcome at the abode of St Sergius, and his prayerful intercession helps them perform their ministry in the homeland. New generations of students from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church follow in their steps and come to study at the Moscow Theological Schools. |
| As with Twitter, Weibo postings are restricted to 140 characters. But that is less of a limitation than it sounds. In Chinese languages, 140 characters are equivalent to 70 or 80 words in English – enough to spark a debate or begin to tell a story. Users also can post pictures and video clips to their Weibo pages. And from there, they can link to the Chinese equivalent of YouTube – Youku – where the band Rainbow Come can be seen performing. An earlier indication of growing boldness among China’s Christian community came in August, when a picture was posted on Weibo of a young man standing in a public square holding a placard with a Gospel message. Christians on Weibo praised him for his courage and commended him for the example he was setting. Others began to follow that example. Another picture was posted of a little girl, holding a yellow sign surmounted by a cross, proclaiming, ‘Believe in Jesus and receive eternal life.’ She was holding the banner aloft in a public square in Shenzhen, while her parents shared their faith with passers-by. According to the Gospel Times, 20 people responded by committing their lives to following Jesus. The girl’s father later thanked the Christian online community for its encouragement, saying: “[You have] given me great strength. May the gospel arise in China and save the country and people from their sin. May God receive all the praise and glory.” Yet another Weibo blog displays a map giving the location of churches across China. The east of the country is thick with them. Beside the map, the posting says: " Western missionaries… through much suffering, gave their lives to irrigate this hard and rocky soil. Every Christian should think about this. " A veiled reference, perhaps, towards persecution today in China? According to Christians in Communist China, the country has 14 million ‘registered’ believers, whose churches come under the control of the atheist state. Yet more than five times as many Christians risk suspicion, surveillance and arrest by choosing to worship in unregistered, and therefore illegal, house churches. |
| ‘We would not recall this page in the history of our relations with Constantinople if these sad events had not been repeated today’, His Eminence said, ‘Whenever the Russian Orthodox Church proves to be in a difficult situation, instead of fraternal support and solidary we received from the Patriarchate of Constantinople a stab in the back. In the 20s, the Patriarchate of Constantinople unilaterally granted autocephaly to the Polish Church, created its own structures in the territory of Finland and Estonia, although these countries were parts of the canonical jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Hilarion also underscored that the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to suspend con-celebration with hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the suspension of participation in the structures chaired by Constantinople has been a compelled one. ‘We were eager to avoid it as for many years we have sought to solve problems through dialogue. Among the latest attempts of this kind was the trip of Patriarch Kirill to Istanbul where, in the course of a confidential and fraternal talk, His Holiness set forth the position of the Russian Orthodox Church and warned his Constantinopolitan Brother against the actions, which, regrettably, have been carried out. But as soon as Patriarch Kirill left Istanbul – we learnt about it later – Patriarch Bartholomew assembled the Holy Synod and, in the course of the session, it was decided to reject the proposals which had come from our Church. Then Patriarchate Bartholomew convened a Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople hierarchy in which reports were made about how to operate in Kiev to be followed by the appointment of the exarchs. We reacted to the appointment of the exarchs already on September 8 and warned that some measures would follow in response in the nearest future. Today, we have assembled to discuss and formulate them. All the members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church participated in the discussion. His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev, who could not come for health reasons, took part in the discussion by Skype’. |
| The Favorite Book of Neo-Pentecostals Deacon Pavel Serzhantov The book is small, only three chapters of the Old Testament. In the Neo-Pentecostals’ point of view, the book of Joel confirms their way of life. Holy Prophet Joel Holy Prophet Joel Most often from the book of Joel is cited the verse on the Spirit of God: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:28-29). The apostle Peter recalled these words on the glorious day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended and the apostles began speaking in many different languages. The Apostles preached to people who had come from different countries to Jerusalem for the feast. One hundred years ago, Pentecostals spoke in many “foreign tongues”, and a half a century later came the Neo-Pentecostals. They spoke and believed that the Holy Spirit had descended upon them. In the beginning, Pentecostals even tried to preach in “foreign tongues” on distant missionary trips. To their own bewilderment the hapless missionaries found that these foreign peoples did not understand a word they were saying. Then they decided that this gift from above was give to them not to preach to people, but to pray to God: He had entrusted them with these “foreign tongues,” it would follow that He Himself understands them. The Pentecostals were more or less satisfied with this explanation. Meanwhile, the apostles had the gift of speaking in foreign tongues—to people. And on the day of Pentecost the people who had come from afar with amazement recognized the languages of their own countries. They gradually understood that a miracle was happening: unlearned men, the apostles, through a gift from above became “polyglots,” “translators,” preachers and prophets. In our days there are many Neo-Pentecostals who with utter immodesty call themselves prophets. Some of them gleefully take up the book of Joel and read the verses speaking of God’s blessing, which multiplies the harvest in the vineyards, the sheep and cattle in the pastures, and protects from aggressive neighboring peoples. The Neo-Pentecostal “prophets” love these verses from the Book of Joel with all their hearts. They preach a theology of prosperity: The good, almighty God blesses His chosen one with all material blessings. This is how they interpret the Holy Scriptures—entirely in the spirit of a consumer society. |
| 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 Orthodoxy in Indonesia An interview with Archimandrite Daniel Bambang Byantoro. " We had not been together more than a few moments before I felt that a good friend had come to visit after a long journey " . 10 April 2005 An Interview with Archimandrite Daniel Bambang Dwi Byantoro by Thomas Hulbert When Archimandrite Daniel, the founder of the Orthodox Mission in Indonesia, came into the little bookstore in Amsterdam where we had arranged to meet, he was fresh off the plane from Jakarta, a flight of many long hours. Although he was tired, I could not persuade him to sit down; instead he inspected everything in the bookshop, visibly taking great joy in small things. Father Daniel’s incredible journey from Islam to Orthodoxy has taken him from Indonesia to Korea, Mt. Athos, the United States and Europe. The very idea of traditional Christianity in Indonesia, long a Moslem-dominated country, brings up clashing images – the colorful southeast Asian culture watered for centuries with devout Islamic practices, now nurturing the struggling seed of Orthodoxy. Indeed, Fr. Daniel’s own story is like one out of the Gospel itself, its disparate elements reaching harmony in Christ. I had imagined that he would be a tall, emaciated ascetic, whose doctoral education and theological studies would make me strain to follow his thought. Instead he is short and round with an angelic face wide enough to contain his almost continual smile and a wisp of a beard that reminded me of an Oriental sage. I was immediately disarmed by his down-to-earth accessibility – he took off his shoes and put them by the door, and we promptly sat down to lunch. We had not been together more than a few moments before I felt that a good friend had come to visit after a long journey. Soon, a different side of him appeared, the ceaseless activity of a missionary. He made telephone calls in a variety of languages, quickly prepared his bags for the next phase of his journey, and checked his e-mail for missionary correspondence. It too was varied: leaders of various Christian groups asking for information on Orthodoxy, meetings to be arranged, requests for pastoral counseling, and, of course, news about the current frightening persecution of Christians in Indonesia. Yet he never lost his childlike brightness and relaxed manner. |
| Then they were crushed by the warswhich are explained in the books of the Maccabees. Afterward they were taken captive by Ptolemy king of Alexandria, who was called Epiphanes. Then Antiochus king of Syria compelled them by many and most grievous evils to worship idols, and filled the temple itself with the sacrilegious superstitions of the Gentiles. Yet their most vigorous leader Judas, who is also called Maccabæus, after beating the generals of Antiochus, cleansed it from all that defilement of idolatry. But not long after, one Alcimus, although an alien from the sacerdotal tribe, was, through ambition, made pontiff, which was an impious thing. After almost fifty years, during which they never had peace, although they prospered in some affairs, Aristobulus first assumed the diadem among them, and was made both king and pontiff. Before that, indeed, from the time of their return from the Babylonish captivity and the rebuilding of the temple, they had not kings, but generals orprincipes. Although a king himself may be called a prince, from his principality in governing, and a leader, because he leads the army, but it does not follow that all who are princes and leaders may also be called kings, as that Aristobulus was. He was succeeded by Alexander, also both king and pontiff, who is reported to have reigned over them cruelly. After him his wife Alexandra was queen of the Jews, and from her time downwards more grievous evils pursued them; for this Alexandra " s sons, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, when contending with each other for the kingdom, called in the Roman forces against the nation of Israel. For Hyrcanus asked assistance from them against his brother. At that time Rome had already subdued Africa and Greece, and ruled extensively in other parts of the world also, and yet, as if unable to bear her own weight, had, in a manner, broken herself by her own size. For indeed she had come to grave domestic seditions, and from that to social wars, and by and by to civil wars, and had enfeebled and worn herself out so much, that the changed state of the republic, in which she should be governed by kings, was now imminent. |
| Скачать epub pdf The City of God (Book VIII) Augustine comes now to the third kind of theology, that is, the natural, and takes up the question, whether the worship of the gods of the natural theology is of any avail towards securing blessedness in the life to come. This question he prefers to discuss with the Platonists, because the Platonic system is facile princeps among philosophies, and makes the nearest approximation to Christian truth. In pursuing this argument, he first refutes Apuleius, and all who maintain that the demons should be worshipped as messengers and mediators between gods and men; demonstrating that by no possibility can men be reconciled to good gods by demons, who are the slaves of vice, and who delight in and patronize what good and wise men abhor and condemn– the blasphemous fictions of poets, theatrical exhibitions, and magical arts. Chapter 1.– That the Question of Natural Theology is to Be Discussed with Those Philosophers Who Sought a More Excellent Wisdom. We shall require to apply our mind with far greater intensity to the present question than was requisite in the solution and unfolding of the questions handled in the preceding books; for it is not with ordinary men, but with philosophers that we must confer concerning the theology which they call natural. For it is not like the fabulous, that is, the theatrical; nor the civil, that is, the urban theology: the one of which displays the crimes of the gods, while the other manifests their criminal desires, which demonstrate them to be rather malign demons than gods. It is, we say, with philosophers we have to confer with respect to this theology, – men whose very name, if rendered into Latin, signifies those who profess the love of wisdom. Now, if wisdom is God, who made all things, as is attested by the divine authority and truth, Wisdom 7:24–27 then the philosopher is a lover of God. But since the thing itself, which is called by this name, exists not in all who glory in the name – for it does not follow, of course, that all who are called philosophers are lovers of true wisdom – we must needs select from the number of those with whose opinions we have been able to acquaint ourselves by reading, some with whom we may not unworthily engage in the treatment of this question. |
| Also unto You, O God, belongs mercy: for You will render unto every man according to his works. Now the expression, Once has He spoken, is to be understood as meaning immovably, that is, unchangeably has He spoken, inasmuch as He knows unchangeably all things which shall be, and all things which He will do. We might, then, use the word fate in the sense it bears when derived from fari, to speak, had it not already come to be understood in another sense, into which I am unwilling that the hearts of men should unconsciously slide. But it does not follow that, though there is for God a certain order of all causes, there must therefore be nothing depending on the free exercise of our own wills, for our wills themselves are included in that order of causes which is certain to God, and is embraced by His foreknowledge, for humanwills are also causes of human actions; and He who foreknew all the causes of things would certainly among those causes not have been ignorant of our wills. For even that very concession which Cicero himself makes is enough to refute him in this argument. For what does it help him to say that nothing takes place without a cause, but that every cause is not fatal, there being a fortuitous cause, a natural cause, and a voluntary cause? It is sufficient that he confesses that whatever happens must be preceded by a cause. For we say that those causes which are called fortuitous are not a mere name for the absence of causes, but are only latent, and we attribute them either to the will of the true God, or to that of spirits of some kind or other. And as to natural causes, we by no means separate them from the will of Him who is the author and framer of all nature. But now as to voluntary causes. They are referable either to God, or to angels, or to men, or to animals of whatever description, if indeed those instinctive movements of animals devoid of reason, by which, in accordance with their own nature, they seek or shun various things, are to be called wills. |
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