| Patriarch Daniel: The Crucified and Risen Christ is the Healer and Liberator of Humankind Source: Basilica.ro Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro/Raluca Ene Patriarch Daniel, April 19, 2020: ‘Christ’s Resurrection today is for us as always a source of light and peace, a source of joy, but also a source of spiritual power to fight the hardships of life, including to fight with the disease, the fear of death, and suffering, with everything that severely befalls us and worries us these days, everything that makes us thoughtful and instils uncertainty for our present and future.’ Patriarch Daniel proclaimed the resurrection of Christ from the doorsteps of his patriarchal residence in an empty courtyard, which usually welcomed more than one thousand believers every year for the Easter Vigil. Millions of Romanians from home and abroad, however, joined the Patriarch of Romania through television, radio, and other digital platforms, to hear the Easter proclamation resound once again in their hearts, in their homes, and the entire world. During the live-streamed Easter Vigil on Saturday night, the Patriarch of Romania started his sermon with the first words spoken by Jesus Christ after his resurrection: ‘Don’t be afraid!’, ‘Rejoice!’, and ‘Peace be to you!’ Patriarch Daniel referred to Jesus as a Saviour, Healer and Liberator of humankind in a time when ‘people around the world are in a state of fear, trouble and anxiety.’ Under current conditions, ‘Christ the risen One from the dead meets mystically with us on the path of our lives, in our homes, and especially in the habitation of our soul and tells us “Do not be afraid,” “Rejoice”, “Peace be with you!”‘ ‘The crucified and risen Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, that is, the Healer and Liberator of humankind from the sin of disobedience of our first parents Adam and Eve. He is our Redeemer and Healer of sickness and death,’ Patriarch Daniel said adding that death is first understood as a separation of the soul and body, but also as man’s driving away from God. |
| 2010 Epistle from the Ecumenical Patriarch for the (New Calendar) Nativity of Christ BARTHOLOMEW By the Mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace, Peace and Mercy from the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem Beloved brother concelebrants and blessed children in the Lord, Within the somber atmosphere that recently prevails throughout the world with the diverse affliction of the financial, social, moral and especially spiritual crisis, which has created increasing frustration, bitterness, confusion, anxiety, disappointment and fear among many people with regard to the future, the voice of the Church sounds sweet: Come, O faithful, let us raise our minds to things divine and behold the heavenly condescension that has appeared to us from above in Bethlehem … (Hymn from the 6th Hour, Christmas) The unshakeable belief of Christians is that God does not simply or indifferently observe from above the journey of humanity, which He has personally created according to His image and likeness. This is why the incarnation of His only-begotten Son and Word was from the very beginning His “good will,” His original intention. His “pre-eternal will” was precisely to assume in His person, in an act of extreme love, the human nature that He created in order to render it “a participant of divine nature.” (2 Peter 1.4) Indeed, God willed this prior to the “fall” of Adam and Eve, even before their very creation! Following the “fall” of Adam and Eve, the “pre-eternal will” of the Incarnation embraced the Cross, the Sacred Passion, the Life-giving Death, the Descent into Hades, and the Resurrection after three days. In this way, the sin that infiltrated human nature thereby infecting everything and the death that surreptitiously penetrated life were completely and definitively dispelled, while humanity was able to enjoy the fullness of the Paternal and eternal heritage. However, the divine condescension of Christmas is not restricted to things related to eternity. It also includes things related to our earthly journey. Christ came into the world in order to spread the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven and to initiate us into this Kingdom. Yet, He also came in order to help and heal human weakness. He miraculously and repeatedly fed the multitudes who listened to His word; He cleansed lepers; He supported paralytics; He granted light to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb; He delivered the demonized of impure spirits, resurrected the dead, supported the rights of the oppressed and abandoned; He condemned illegal wealth, heartlessness to the poor, hypocrisy and “hubris” in human relations; He offered Himself as an example of voluntary self-emptying sacrifice for the sake of others! |
| Venerable John the Prophet Commemorated on February 6 Saints Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet lived during the sixth century during the reign of the emperor Justinian I (483-565). They lived in asceticism at the monastery of Abba Seridus in Palestine, near the city of Gaza. Saint John, a disciple of Saint Barsanuphius, lived in a cell outside the monastery of Abba Seridus for eighteen years until his death. Saint John imitated his teacher in silence, ascetic deeds and in virtue. Because of his gift of clairvoyance, he was known as “the Prophet.” There are manuscript accounts about the life, the deeds and talents of Saints Barsanuphius and John. During the lifetime of Saint Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15), they were translated into the Moldavian and Slavonic languages. The publication of these manuscripts, and also their translation into the Russian language, was done in the nineteenth century by the Elders of Optina’s Entry of the Theotokos Monastery. The precepts of Saints Barsanuphius and John clearly show the degree of their moral perfection, and their love for people, but contain scant facts about their lives. After spending a long time in seclusion, Saint Barsanuphius thereafter and until the death of Saint John the Prophet began to serve others by instructing them on the path to salvation, as Abba Dorotheus (June 5) testifies. Saint Barsanuphius replied to questioners through Saint John, sometimes instructing him to give the answers, or even through Abba Seridus (August 13), who wrote down the saint’s answers. In the answers of Saints Barsanuphius and John the Prophet, who were guides in the spiritual life not only for their contemporaries, but also for succeeding generations, it is clearly possible to see the monks’ gradual spiritual ascent “from strength to strength.” We do not know when Saint Barsanuphius arrived at the monastery of Abba Seridus, nor anything about the home and family of Saint John the Prophet. Following the instructions of Saint Barsanuphius, John attained the heights of perfection, and became like his teacher in all things. Out of humility, he sent those who came to him with questions to Abba Barsanuphius. |
| MOSCOW: On Orthodox Easter eve, next Saturday, a petition drive will take place in all Russian Orthodox parishes to defend embryos and ban abortions. The Interfax news agency reports that the initiative is taking place with the support of Starets (elder) Iliy (Nozdrin), confessor of the Moscow Patriarch, and is promoted by the For Life Movement, which is counting on gathering thousands of signatures. Traditionally, churches on Easter eve will be full of believers who come for the blessing of Easter cakes and eggs. So far, “200,000 signatures have been collected,” said Starets Iliy. However, the “objective is to collect a million signatures”. On several occasions, Patriarch Kirill has called for the removal of abortion as a medical service offered in the public health system. Russia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. What is more, many women who do bring their pregnancy to term end up abandoning their children at the hospital right after delivery. Until two years ago, Russia was seen as being in a state of “demographic coma”. Since then, things have slightly improved after the authorities adopted a number of measures to encourage parents to have more than one child. One of these is called, the ‘maternal capital’ programme, which provides a one-time subsidy for parents who have more than one child. To this effect, the Russian government is counting on the Russian Orthodox Church to back its policy of demographic revival. The Church itself runs 29 crisis centres for pregnant women and single mothers with children. Last year, more than 5,500 women received some form of assistance at such facilities. The Soviet Union was the first country to legalise abortion in 1920; however, the practice was banned under Joseph Stalin (from 1936 until after his death). The Soviet dictator was keen on promoting births. With this in mind, the Communist Party gave awards and money to the more prolific couples. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia’s demographic decline has become overwhelming. Between 1992 and 2008 the population dropped by more than 12 million to about 143 million. |
| So shocking about late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell was how he killed his victims. When we learn how the abortionist slit the necks of struggling, crying infants, moments after a failed abortion, and scissored their spinal cords, we’re sickened, and rightfully so. Except for Gosnell’s defense attorney (who, after all, is paid), not even the staunchest abortion advocates have stepped forward to defend Gosnell’s crimes. The videos coming out of Live Action’s “Inhuman” investigation show that Gosnell is not the only late-term abortionist willing to commit the indefensible. The “Inhuman” investigation continues to show the brutality of the abortion procedure, and how easily it can lead to infanticide. In the Bronx, N.Y., our investigator was told that a born-alive baby would be placed in a jar of toxic solution to ensure death. In Washington, D.C., Dr. Cesare Santangelo said, “We would not help it,” comparing a baby struggling for life after a failed abortion to a cancer patient with previously established “do not resuscitate” orders. In an abortion clinic in Phoenix, the company policy was clear: “They do not resuscitate.” Now, abortionist Leroy Carhart tells our 26-weeks-pregnant investigator that abortion would make her baby like “meat in a crockpot” and jokes that he uses a “drill bit” and “pickax” to remove the dead child from the uterus. We started this investigation because infants — as many as 1 in 10 — do survive late-term abortion attempts. The procedures differ from abortionist to abortionist, but in all of them, labor has to be induced. That baby has to be “born” — but, as the abortionist hopes, born dead. Feminists in the past told us that abortion would empower women, that we need it to achieve our educational, relationship and career goals. Live Action’s videos, however, show what abortion really is — what it does both to women and to their children. Now we can call out this idea for the lie that it is. Our bosses tell us that if we want the promotion, we can’t have another baby. We need that abortion. Is that empowerment? |
| Venerable John Cassian the Roman Commemorated on February 28 Saint John Cassian the Roman was born around 360, probably in Lesser Scythia (in Dacia Pontica). His pious Christian parents gave him an excellent classical education, and also instructed him in the Holy Scriptures and in the spiritual life. Saint John entered a monastery in the diocese of Tomis, where his friend and relative Saint Germanus labored as an ascetic. In 380, desiring to venerate the Holy Places, Saint John went to Jerusalem with his sister and his friend Saint Germanus. The two monks stayed at a Bethlehem monastery, not far from where the Savior was born. After five years at the monastery, Saints John and Germanus traveled through the Thebaid and the desert monasteries of Sketis for seven years, drawing upon the spiritual experience of countless ascetics. The Egyptian monks taught them many useful things about spiritual struggles, prayer, and humility. Like honeybees they journeyed from place to place, gathering the sweet nectar of spiritual wisdom. The notes Saint John made formed the basis of his book called CONFERENCES WITH THE FATHERS in twenty-four chapters. Returning to Bethlehem for a brief time, the spiritual brothers lived for three years in complete solitude. Then they went back to Egypt and lived there until 399. Because of the disturbances caused by Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria to the monasteries along the Nile, they decided to go to Constantinople, after hearing of the virtue and holiness of Saint John Chrysostom. The great hierarch ordained Saint John Cassian as a deacon and accepted him as a disciple. John and Germanus remained with Saint John Chrysostom for five years, learning many profitable things from him. When Chrysostom was exiled from Constantinople in 404, Saints John Cassian and Germanus went to Rome to plead his case before Innocent I. Cassian was ordained to the holy priesthood in Rome, or perhaps later in Gaul. After Chrysostom’s death in 407, Saint John Cassian went to Massilia [Marseilles] in Gaul (now France). There he established two cenobitic monasteries in 415, one for men and another for women, based on the model of Eastern monasticism. |
| During the 1990s, perhaps 150,000 people perished in the hellish violence that raged over the Balkan peninsula. Although the conflicts were largely defined by ethnic differences, religion played a critical role in the three-sided war between Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, and Muslims. Armed gangs would burst into a house and demand that residents make the sign of the cross. Your life could depend on whether you made the horizontal bar from right to left (Orthodox) or vice versa (Catholic). Across Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, ancient places of worship were desecrated and their artistic treasures vandalized. After such horrors, it might seem unthinkable to find signs of hope in the region’s religious life, but some forceful individuals demand our attention. One is Mustafa Ceri, the Islamic grand mufti of Bosnia. In the worst of the violence, his faith not only survived but grew and broadened. As he said, “When you are faced with death and when you see that humans do not help you, and you are left alone for four years in besieged Sarajevo, therefore you cannot live alone, you have to seek some help.” He has worked diligently to promote understanding between Europe’s Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders. Mustafa Ceri speaks forcefully to European Muslims, who face the twin seductions of secularism and Islamist extremism. Muslims, he says, must reject any view that “the only hope is in the Muslim past as a way of life and a goal of history.” In words that apply across religions, he urges Muslim migrants to Western Europe to follow three fundamental laws: learn the language of your host country; obey its laws; and try and do something good for that country. Although the nation of Albania was not directly involved in the wars, ethnic Albanians suffered heavily from the fighting in neighboring Kosovo. Albania itself, moreover, recovered only slowly from the horrendous communist tyranny of Enver Hoxha, a self-proclaimed Stalinist who had a deep animus against religion of all kinds. In 1967 he declared Albania the world’s first wholly atheist state, and persecutions were wide-ranging and ferocious. Catholics and Muslims were targeted for harsh treatment. In its way, then, postcommunist Albania needed a thoroughgoing spiritual reconstruction no less than Bosnia. |
| Last week a young man came to me lamenting over not living as if Christ is resurrected and the tomb is empty. I invited him to explore with me what that “living after the Resurrection” should look like. He thought that there should be some peace , arising from a simple understanding that God has accomplished already those things that we fear and dread. We should not need to compete for God’s attention or love; He has come to us! Therefore we should live without fear . There should be some joy , as we understand that God is with us, cares for us, and is active in our lives. This is why He took on flesh and shared in everything that human life is, from conception to death. There should be freedom to make godly choices, because Christ is the Truth that has set us free. Filled with God, we no longer try to fill our emptiness with food, alcohol, drugs, television or anything else of the world. We have life-giving food from above. “Yes,” said my young friend, “I believe all these truths, yet I still act as if God has not yet come. I don’t think of Him all the time, I don’t pray enough and I busy myself with mindless things!” Perhaps this young man speaks for many of us. We believe, but are so busy with life, which is mostly secular, with many competing ideas, that we don’t live as though God has come to us in the person of Christ – has has been buried, and is raised from the dead. We forget, moment to moment, that God is with us. Simply lamenting our separated state from God alone will not help much. We need truly to change direction and put Christ back in the center of our lives. We need clearly to make Him our goal and deliberately change our lives to our beliefs and values. This takes some deliberate The Church has given us two major fasting periods each year to bring us back to the reality of God’s presence. We celebrate His Nativity and Resurrection, preceded by periods of fasting, worship, almsgiving and private prayer. The messages focus on what God does in our lives, and we are called to encounter Him. We can look forward to the messages the Church provides during Advent and Lent. |
| Patriarch Kirill: Faith Gives People True Freedom and Unites Them with God Photo by Oleg Varov/foto.patriarchia.ru A person who believes in God is filled with tremendous power, because knowledge is revealed through faith. Faith brings a person into living contact with the Lord, and everyone who turns to God with faith gains a special life experience said His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, in his sermon on February 7, on the 35th Sunday after Pentecost, the feast day of the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. “All atheistic work aimed at destroying the faith in our country consisted of rationally, relying supposedly on some scientific achievements, proving that there is no God. The unfortunate propagandists simply did not realize that they were using a completely different method of persuasion than the one through which people come to believe in God. Referring to some scientific achievements, some logical reasoning, atheists tried to convince believers that faith in God is insignificant, because there is no God,” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said. “Why didn’t it achieve their goal? Because people’s faith is not based on human knowledge, but on real spiritual experience – the experience of contact with Divine power. And this is not self-hypnosis, because no self-hypnosis could give people the strength to meet torture, death, to stand against the wall to be executed [by a firing squad]. They had to answer the question, “to be or not to be?” If you remain a believer, you will die. If you renounce the faith, you will live. What self-hypnosis could there be? Everything fades into the background, the moment of truth comes, the main moment of human life – and at this main moment people, not through logical proofs, but through real experience of communication with God, declared their faith and did not betray the Lord,” he noted. “Faith not only unites a person with God. Faith raises a person, faith gives him some wings that help him soar over the commonplace, over human prejudices and preconceptions, over certain kinds of thoughts and words, over any fashion. I’m not talking about a fashion to dress a certain way, but a fashion for certain thoughts, for politics, and for certain patterns of behavior. Faith equips a person with such knowledge that he soars above the entire everyday life and becomes invulnerable. Anything that easily enslaves a person, everything that brings him into captivity of other people’s thoughts or actions, cannot enslave a sincerely believing person,” the Patriarch stressed. |
| I remember a conversation in 1976 about the English character with the late Nicholas Zernov, a prominent representative of the Paris School of disincarnate Russians. He recalled that the reputation of the English among Russians of his generation was that of ‘hypocrites who will stab you in the back’. My protest to him that, although this was a perfect description of the Establishment Anglicanism of the ruling class with whom he mixed, it was not a description of the English and certainly not of the down to earth English among whom I had been brought up, elicited from him complete astonishment; after nearly fifty years of naïve and disincarnate life in the country he had never realized that most English people were not and never have been Establishment Anglicans. An example of such Establishment hypocrisy is the recent celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill’s death. Billed as ‘the greatest Englishman’ by a certain tabloid (ignoring the fact that he was half-American), can we really think anything of the sort about him? Of course there are a great many people in this country, now in their 80s and 90s, who agree with the title bestowed on him by that tabloid. But then I have met similar elderly Italians who call Mussolini a genius and elderly Russians who say the same of Stalin (‘there was order and no crime in those days’). I have even met elderly Vichy French, as well as Germans and Austrians, who have a very high opinion of Hitler. Perhaps they are all victims of brainwashing propaganda and nostalgia for a vanished past and youth. Whatever our balanced conclusions about Churchill, we do have to consider some facts: Churchill took part in Kitchener’s massacre (‘battle’) at Omdurman in the Sudan in 1898 (at least 27,000 Sudanese cruelly slaughtered by ‘modern’ military technology, including Maxim guns) and even more afterwards in the plundering of Khartoum, with many being burned to death. Churchill supported the genocide of 28,000 Afrikaaner women and children in British concentration camps in the Boer War between 1899 and 1902. |
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