| 7562 2. The Request (11:1–6) In this account Jesus does his Father " s will, recognizing what such obedience will cost him; as in previous narratives (e.g., 4:4), Jesus» movements follow divine necessity, and thereby provide a model for the believer (cf. 3:8, though it explicitly refers only to the origin and destination). In 7:1–10 others close to Jesus sought to persuade him to go to Jerusalem, but Jesus objects. In 11:1–16, Jesus announces that he is going in spite of his disciples» objection; the contrast between the narratives stems from the fact that in 7:1–10, Jesus» time had not yet come (7:6); now his «hour» is arriving. 7563 Ancient writers sometimes assumed knowledge shared by their readers when recounting something commonly known; given the wide circulation of the Synoptics, undoubtedly the anointing at Bethany was such an incident ( Mark 14:3, 9 ). 7564 That Bethany is identified as the village of «Mary and her sister Martha» but that Lazarus " s identity must be explained suggests that Mary and Martha are already known to the audience. Further, «Lazarus is wholly passive and silent,» making his sisters the main characters of this narrative and their faith the primary issue. 7565 Martha (11:1,5:12:2) was an uncommon but sufficiently attested Jewish name in this period, 7566 including in the Diaspora; 7567 Eleazar is a more common Jewish name, sometimes occurring in transliteration in Greek 7568 and sometimes occurring in an alternative Greek form, Lazarus (11:1). 7569 Because Mary, Martha, and Eleazar (sometimes «Lazarus» in Greek) appear together among names in a burial cave in Bethany, some suspect that these may be the friends of Jesus mentioned in this narrative. 7570 John shows no clear knowledge of the story in Luke 10:38–42, which independently and earlier attests Mary and Martha as friends of Jesus in a village. lohn also writes about Mary " s anointing of Jesus» feet (12:1–8) as if his audience already knows that a particular Mary anointed Jesus» feet (11:2), evidencing pre-Johannine tradition on this count even though that tradition is no longer extant outside this Gospe1. |
| On the first Sunday of Lent, our Holy Church celebrates the Triumph of Orthodoxy, of true faith, which trampled down all heresies and was established. For this reason this Sunday is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Heresies showed up even at the very beginning of Christianity. The Apostles of Christ themselves warned their contemporaries, and with them us too, about the danger of false teachers. The Holy Apostle Peter writes the following in his Second General Epistle: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed”(II Pet. 2:1-2). St. Paul, returning to Palestine from Greece, made a stop in Ephesus. To the the Christian inhabitants of the town there he said: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30). Many such false teachers and schismatics existed in the first centuries of Christianity. Some heresies troubled the Church for centuries, such as the heresies of Arius, of Macedonius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, of Nestorius and also the heresy of Iconoclasm. These heresies caused much disturbance in the Church and afflicted the Church greatly. There were many confessors and martyrs who shed their blood defending the true faith in the fight against false teachers and heretics. There were also many great prelates, who also suffered under persecution and were often exiled. Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, for example, in a council chaired by Dioscorus, called the Robber Synod and was “beaten so savagely that he died three days later.” The last in the line-up of heresies, the heresy of Iconoclasm, was the one that tormented our Orthodox Church the most. This heresy first appeared during the reign of Emperor Leo the Isaurian, who came to the throne in 717. He ascended the throne with the help of the army, which had many opponents of those who venerate holy icons, within its ranks. Because he wanted to please the army he started a harsh persecution against Iconophiles. |
| 627 “Being filled with the word of teaching in meekness to educate Thy people” (in the Coptic edition). The Latin, which is the basic text, omits this phrase. This should however be attributed not to its absence from the original text but to its loss later, as G.Dix has established through comparative study of the manuscripts (The Treatise on the Apostolic Tradition, p.13) 631 This is supported by careful examination of the entire passage. After “apostles and bishops and teachers and deacons”, we read “those who have exercised the office of bishop (episcopesantes) and taught and served as deacons (diakonesantes). This implies that the writer had in mind the actual ranks of the three ministers, including the Presbyter. Similar conclusions clearly follow from a careful reading of the passages Simil., ix, 25, 2; ix, 26, 2, and ix, 27, 2, where the functions of the three ranks are indicated as follows: Simil., ix, 25, 2=“apostles and teachers, those who have preached and taught” " ix, 26, 2=“deacons... those who have served as deacon” " ix, 27, 2=“bishops, who have sheltered deprived people... ministers to the Lord”. 632 De Praescr., 3: “Quid ergo? Si episcopus, si diaconus, si vidua, si doctor, si etiam martyr lapsus a regula fuerit, ideo haereses veritatem videbuntur obtinere?” [“What then? If a bishop, or a deacon, or a widow, or a teacher (doctor) or even a martyr should depart from the rule (of faith), will heresies therefore appear to have acquired truth?”] 634 Epist., 29 (Hartel, p.548): “cum presbyteris doctoribus lectores diligenter probaremus, Optatum inter lectores doctorum audientium constituimus...” [“We carefully tested readers with the teacher-presbyters, and appointed Optatus among the readers of the teachers of the hearers”] 637 Apostolic Tradition, 39 (Botte, in Liturgiewiss. Quellen, p.86): “Diaconi autem et presbyteri congregentur quotidie in locum quem episcopus praecipiet eis. Et diaconi quidem ne negligant congregari in tempore omni, nisi infirmitas impediat eos. Cum congregati sunt omnes, doceant illos qui sunt in ecclesia, et hoc modo cum oraverint, unusquisque eat ad opera quae competunt ei” [“But let the deacons and the presbyters congregate daily in the place where the bishop has instructed them to meet. And let the deacons not neglect to come together at all times unless prevented by infirmity. When everyone has congregated, let them instruct those who are in the church, and when they have prayed in this way, let each go about his own business”] |
| Dejection, unhappiness, and melancholy — these are so characteristic of our contemporaries. Today, many consider that depression is an illness of civilization. Science knows much about the origin of depressive disorders, but among scientists, it is unacceptable to speak of sin, while the reason for many forms of abnormal dejection is precisely the sinfulness of the person. Depression — is in its way the soul’s signal about its unfortunate, disastrous condition. But this is not " crying over sins, " but the suffering of an unrepentant soul, to which demons whisper: " All is lost, there is nothing to hope for… besides death there is nothing to expect… " Unfortunately, one often hears such complaints from patients. Depressive neurosis sometimes begins because of life complications. The person’s mood falls, nothing makes him happy, everything irritates him, he becomes dejected and everything around him is seen in a dark light. Often similar states come about because life did not follow " the right scenario, " the way one wanted; something desired was not achieved, some sort of conflict occurred, a breakdown, one offended another… Depression has different masks: sometimes it is expressed physically, such as stomachache, headache and regular sleeplessness. This type of disorder is called masked depression. The Bishop Varnava (Beliaev) in one of his works included the statement of the Venerable Sincliticius of Alexandria: " There is sorrow that benefits and sorrow that harms. Sorrow that benefits consists of grieving over your sins, over the sufferings of others and about the evil in general taking place around us… This is " Godly sorrow " (2 Cor. 7:10). But our enemy brings us worldly sorrow, which leads to melancholy. This state has to be driven away primarily by prayers and psalm-singing. " He wrote further: " There is one act in the science of salvation, which brings a person to God by the shortest route. That is — sorrow for sins… Spiritual experience and the portent of grace in the heart convince us, that solitary prayer accompanied by hot tears of repentance is the most powerful method of comfort. True, the first tears are bitter, acrid, but later one feels relief, joy and a ray of light. The further a person moves along the path to salvation, the lighter the load on the soul… This is a wonderful act of grace! " |
| Some lay organizations have proposed to establish an Orthodox human rights center. I hope the Council will follow up this idea. No specific guidelines for the work of this center have been offered as yet. Hopefully, this idea will be given a specific form. Many Orthodox public organizations have been already involved in the human rights advocacy, and this work is nothing new. Before the 1917 Revolution, the Church interceded for those who were treated unjustly and for those who suffered a just punishment. During the Soviet time, many Orthodox clergy were concerned for the rights of believers and defended these rights. These were not only dissidents whose names on everybody’s lips and who enjoyed a strong support of the West, but our hierarchs who had to conduct a difficult dialogue with the Soviet authorities to ensure the rights of the Church so that churches might not be closed and believers might preserve at least some freedom to confess their faith. The archives of Soviet institutions that have been opened today shed light on the tremendous efforts – unknown to the world – hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Church made to guard the faithful against the repressions carried out by the godless totalitarian regime. The Orthodox human rights advocacy came with the perestroika and continues to this day. Suffice it to recall that Orthodox human rights advocates defended the policemen from the Moscow Region who were slandered and convicted for their struggle against dealers and those corrupted officials who covered them up. Literary every week, His Holiness the Patriarch has to respond to various petitions to intercede for mitigation to be granted to prisoners, for aid to be given to those who are caught into trouble inside and outside Russia, for help to be rendered to those who are abased. So the intercession of the Church for people including the particular, so-called ‘petty man’ is constant. Many believers are active in defending the human right to privacy, struggling against electronic control, insisting that the state should not interfere into personal convictions but should give to the individual an autonomous personal space. Clergy and laity working in the army and prisons have come out to oppose the abuse of people there. The Orthodox human rights advocacy has become a reality. It is bad that it is overlooked, but I hope the Council will contribute to its better coordination and publicity so that society may be engaged in it. |
| Nahawendi was soon followed by others, such as Saadia ben Joseph from the same century and Solomon ben Jeroham from the tenth century. The latter applied the yearday principle to the 1,335 days of Daniel 12:12 year 968 C.E. as the date for the redemption of Israel. The famous rabbi, Rashi (10401105), ended the 2,300 yeardays in 1352 C.E., when he thought the Messiah would come. Abraham bar Hyya Hanasi (c. 10651136) speculated that the 2,300, the 1,290 and the 1,335year periods would terminate on different dates in the fifteenth century. The end of the 2,300 yeardays, for instance, was set at 1468 C.E. 27 Even up into the nineteenth century, many other Jewish scholars were continuing to use the yearday principle to fix dates for the coming of the Messiah. The methods the rabbinical scholars used in applying the yearday principle during those ten centuries were varied and the dates they arrived at differed. Whatever method employed, however, one thing was true: all the enddates eventually proved empty of fulfillment. Since the use of the yearday principle was relatively common among Jewish sources from early centuries, was this also the case among Christian Bible expositors? Of greater interest, does the history of its use within the Christian community – and the results obtained – demonstrate a contrast, or does it follow a similar pattern? What has been its fruitage? 23 Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1948), Vol. II, p. 124. 24 itself does not mean that it lends itself to an application of the “yearday principle.” To a Jew the Hebrew word for “week,” shabu’a, did not always signify a period of seven days as in English. Shabu’a literally means a “(period of) seven,” or a “heptad.” The Jews also had a “seven” (shabu’a) of years. (Leviticus 25:3 4 was usually added. But in the later Hebrew this word was often left to be understood as implied. When “weeks of days’ were meant, the word for “days” could sometimes be appended, as in the other passage in Daniel where shabu’a is found. (10:2 9:24 simply asserts that “seventy sevens are determined,” and from the context (the allusion to the “seventy years” in verse 2) it may be concluded that “seventy sevens of years’ are intended. It is because of this apparent textual connection–and not because of any “yearday principle”–that some translations (Moffatt, Goodspeed, AT, RS) read “seventy weeks of years” in Daniel 9:24 |
| Archive Пн Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk: the Russian Church is compelled to set up her parishes in the African continent 7 February 2022 year 12:38 “Christians in Africa need to be protected by Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church, not of her own free will but by perforce, has set up a Patriarchal Exarchate in Africa in order to offer a canonical asylum for African clergy who did not wish to follow the Patriarch of Alexandria in recognizing and legitimizing the Ukraine schism”, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the DECR, stressed. The establishment of a Patriarchal Exarchate for Africa was a forced measure, the head of the Department for External Church Relations noted, “No incursion from our side was made into the canonical boundaries of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, as we simply responded to the requests of African clergy”. “In the Orthodox Church, the clergy and the faithful face a simple choice: Are you with a canonical Church or with schismatics? African clergy now have to make this choice”, the hierarch said. Earlier, when there was the Eucharistic communion between the two Churches, in the Russian Church, the Russian-speaking believers living in Africa were advised to come to churches of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. “Now, regrettably, we cannot say this to them because the Patriarchate of Alexandria has associated itself with schismatics. Accordingly, now we have to set up our own parishes for our Russian-speaking parishes - the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church”, the DECR head stated. DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 21 апреля 2024 г. (8 апреля ст.ст.) воскресенье Неделя 5-я Великого поста. Глас 5-й. Прп. Марии Египетской (переходящее празднование в 5-ю Неделю Великого поста). Апп. Иродиона, Агава, Асинкрита, Руфа, Флегонта, Ерма и иже с ними (I). Свт. Нифонта, еп. Новгородского (1156). Прп. Руфа, затворника Печерского, в Дальних пещерах (XIV). Мч. Павсилипа (117–138). Свт. Келестина, папы Римского (432). Сщмч. Сергия Родаковского пресвитера (1933). Литургия св. Василия Великого. Утр. – Ев. 2-е, Мк., 70 зач., XVI, 1–8 . Лит. – Евр., 321 зач. (от полу), IX, 11–14 . Мк., 47 зач., X, 32–45 . Прп.: Гал., 208 зач., III, 23–29 . Лк., 33 зач., VII, 36–50 . 7 April 2024 year Share with friends |
| The Alaskan mainland and the islands of the coast were inhabited by a number of native tribes. Among the most important were the Tlingits, who lived on the southern coastal area; the Aleuts, who lived on the islands off the coast; and the Eskimos, who lived along the Arctic Ocean coast. These and other, smaller tribes were descendants of nomadic peoples from Asia who crossed into North America at least 5,000 years before the discovery of Alaska by the Russians. 43 A valuable foundation for the work of the missionaries had been laid by some of the more pious explorers and merchants who had come into contact with the natives. While some of the merchants seriously mistreated the natives, other merchants considered it their duty to introduce them to the Orthodox Christian faith. Both Ivan Golikov and Gregory Shelikov, for example, had baptized a number of natives on both Fox Island and Kodiak Island. When the missionaries finally arrived on Kodiak Island in 1794, many natives had already been converted to the Orthodox Christian faith. When the missionaries arrived on Kodiak Island, there were about 225 Russians and 8,000 natives living there. Under the direction of Shelikov, the missionaries lived in a small monastery located in the village of Saint Paul. As the first Orthodox monastery in North America, it was constructed in such a way that the monks were able to observe the activities of the village. Yet, at the same time, the monks were separated from village life so that they could better follow their monastic discipline. 44 The missionaries undertook their labors with exceptional zeal and piety between 1794 and 1798. A church building dedicated to the Holy Resurrection of Christ was constructed in the village of Saint Paul, and this became the center of missionary activity on Kodiak Island. The monks subsequently traveled to the other islands and to the mainland of North America. Wherever they journeyed, the monks built small chapels, taught the natives, and baptized them. It is estimated that over 12,000 natives became Orthodox Christians within the first few years of missionary activity. 45 FATHER HERMAN |
| Patriarch Kirill: Papism is Dangerous Because it is Much Easier to Influence One Individual than a Group of People Source: DECR Photo: S. Vlasov/patriarchia.ru On November 4, 2019, after the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, a fraternal repast took place at which His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia addressed the gathering. Speaking about the crucial developments in the world Orthodoxy, His Holiness said in particular: ‘Today we are going through certain difficulties, in the first place in the relations with Constantinople. However, unlike Constantinople – which violates canonical rules by invading into others’ jurisdiction by granting ‘autocephaly’ to those who did not ask for it and insists on other privileges that have never been appropriate to it – our Church does not strive for power at the pan-Orthodox level. We only wish to preserve the canonical order and we cannot allow that a likeness of papism, a ‘quasi-papism’, should emerge in Orthodoxy. I will say perhaps a somewhat unexpected thing. Why is papism dangerous? – Certainly because papism does not follow from either the Word of God or the Tradition of the Church. I will still offer another, completely different argument: papism is dangerous because it is much easier to influence one individual than a group of people. A pope and a patriarch who wants to become the pope become a very attractive target to the powers that be, and an outside influence made on one individual may ruin the Church. When the system of synodal governance of the Church was developed, the holy apostles were well aware what they were doing. It was impossible in the context of the Roman Empire that only one individual should have borne responsibility for the whole Church – indeed, he could be arrested, he could be persuaded to cooperate, he could be scared. However, all these dangers come to naught when the Church is governed collegially, synodally. Therefore, in our time too, it is necessary to uphold the synodal governance of the Universal Church. We do not challenge the Patriarch of Constantinople’s primacy in honour, but we disagree with any encroachments on the universal power. The Patriarch of Constantinople, who resides in the territory of Turkey, is very vulnerable personally, and for this reason it remains for us only to pray that the Lord may save him from influences that could have a pernicious effect on the life of the whole Church’. |
| However, the Orthodox student of history must come to peace with the reality that Constantine was both a God-appointed apostle to the Roman empire, and, more difficult to grasp, a convert to Christianity at a time when there was no Christian culture or nation. His seeming defiance of Christian morality in such actions as the execution of Licentius, and that of his son Crispus and wife Fausta, are in fact actions that are arguably not only acceptable within the society and culture that formed Constantine as a person, but are dutiful actions in defense of the pagan, imperial throne which he inherited and is trying to sanctify. Both the apostolic and persecution eras of the Church had included the growth and development of Christian community. But the coexistence of Christianity within Judaism of the first era, and its subjugation to the catacombs of the second, rendered the development of distinct Christian society and culture unessential and impossible respectively. Therefore, Constantine’s burden from the moment of his conquest over Maxentius, and for which there is no precedent for him to follow, is to discover a way of infusing Roman culture and society with Christianity, without rioting the pagan majority, and without compromising the dogmas of Orthodox society and culture as it existed in its undeveloped state. “He was anxious not to alarm those of this subjects who still clung to the old gods. But he certainly did not hesitate refusing to take part in the traditional sacrifice to Jupiter.” This is the context for interpreting such actions as his continuing to use the Unconquered Sun on his coinage, the inclusion of pagan symbolism and art, even in Constantinople (although he places the pagan goddess Cybeles in a posture of Christian prayer and infuriates her devotees ). These points of potential criticism, when combined with his unending use of the Chi-Rho on the shields of his soldiers, his immediate, personal, financial support of the churches, and his constant increasing of Christian rights from the expansion of religious tolerance to the eventual extreme of persecuting Christian heretics, all collaborate as a whole to demonstrate his methodical conversion of Roman culture and society from paganism to Orthodoxy. His is the era of emerging, not established, Christian society and culture. And like all births, it is violence and blood for the sake of new life. |
|
|
