| 10,000 pro-lifers rally in Dublin amidst heated abortion debate by Hilary White Dublin, December 5, 2012 Over 10,000 gathered outside Ireland’s parliament this week to demand that Prime Minister Enda Kenny keep his campaign promise of 2011 not to bring legalized abortion into the Republic. The crowd included five Catholic bishops, and was organized by a united effort of all of Ireland’s pro-life organizations. The thousands, chanting “Keep your promise!”, packed Molesworth Street in central Dublin, holding placards urging the government to protect both mother and baby. The crowd was addressed by Niamh Ui Bhrian and Dr. Sean O’Domhnaill of the Life Institute, and Caroline Simons of the Pro-Life Campaign, who said that the politicians would face a massive public backlash if they attempted to overturn the country’s constitutional protections for the unborn. After several weeks of misinformation in the mainstream media over the death of Savita Halappanavar, Ui Bhrian said, “Clarity is now coming back to the debate following the hysteria whipped up by abortion campaigners after Savita’s tragic death.” “The pro-life majority will want to ensure that Fine Gael does not move to legislate on the X case.” Pro-Life Campaign legal adviser, Caroline Simons, said, “The way in which the debate is being stage-managed and railroaded through the Dail is deeply disturbing and undemocratic.” “Women deserve better than this. So do unborn babies,” she added. The rally, she said, sent a message that “there is nothing liberal or compassionate about abortion.” The Life Institute is preparing to follow the rally with a massive, nationwide campaign that includes getting 1.4 million leaflets into every household in the country warning that Kenny and the Coalition are preparing to “open the door” to abortion on demand, and that promises of “limitations” are nonsense. “Everybody in the country is going to get a message. Kenny is going to get the message,” Ui Bhrian told LifeSiteNews.com. The rally was held in response to threats by the coalition government to bring forward legislation to allow abortion. Since the ruling in 2010 by the European Court of Human Rights on the A,B& C case, Irish politicians are said to have been in a state of chaos over abortion, with pressure from the global abortion lobby on one side, particularly at the European Union, and a public that opposes liberalization of the law on the other. Although the ECHR ruling specifically said that the country is not under an obligation to legalize abortion, this has not stopped abortion lobbyists in the Dail, largely from Labour Party coalition partners, from insisting that the government legislate to allow abortion in “limited” circumstances. The media’s treatment of the death of Savita Halappanavar has only increased the pressure, leading to promises to bring in legislation before Christmas. |
| " I " m Born Again: " Sudan Frees Pastors Facing Death Penalty/Православие.Ru " I " m Born Again: " Sudan Frees Pastors Facing Death Penalty August 5, 2015 Two jailed South Sudanese pastors have been set free after a judge found them guilty, but ruled that they already served their sentences, reports Christianity Today . Yat Michael and Peter Yen were convicted respectively of breaching the peace and managing a criminal or terrorist organization. Michael and Yen together faced six charges, but were not convicted of four of them, including undermining the constitutional system and espionage—charges which carry punishments of the death penalty or life imprisonment. “I am feeling free because I was in jail for many months. I have become like I’m born again,” Michael told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) in a statement. Last December, Michael was imprisoned after preaching at Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, which had been harassed by the government as Muslim investors tried to take it over, according to Morning Star News (MSN). In January, Yen was arrested after inquiring about Michael’s disappearance. Members of the National Intelligence and Security Services, whom many believe is run by radical Islamists, were responsible for Michael and Yen's arrests. " Tell the whole church that God has heard your prayers and the pastors are now free. They have been released, " one of the wives of the men told MSN. CT noted the pastors' plight after a recent American attempt to visit “the least of these” in jail possibly did more harm than good. CT’ s previous coverage of Sudan includes its redesignation as a country of particular concern in April and its rise from No. 11 to No. 6 on Open Doors’ World Watch List. In 2014, Sudan banned the construction of new church buildings, arguing that the majority of Christians had left Sudan for South Sudan and the remaining Christians did not need more buildings. Prior to this ordinance, Sudanese authorities also demolished several churches. |
| Can One Consider the Death of Father Daniel Sysoev to be a Martyrdom? Fr. Daniel Sysoev Death is the last event in a person’s earthly life. For a missionary, death is the last homily, the last message preached, the last witness for Christ, Whom the missionary loved with complete readiness to sacrifice his or her life for the sake of the triumph of the Faith. Father Daniel Sysoev had prepared himself for this sacrifice long before. Even in his younger years when studying at the Moscow Theological Seminary where this writer taught Fundamental Theology, Father Daniel was pierced through with the fiery conviction that only Orthodoxy contained the fullness of saving truth. Possessed of great talents, as a seminarian he already knew the church canons, and passionately contested with students and instructors when they allowed themselves the slightest compromise. To people who were indifferent to the spreading and deepening of the faith, his aversion to compromise seemed strange; and some of them fell into judgment and condemnation—but his death as a priest in the church which he himself had built, gave proof of his earnestness, his zeal, his single-minded commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church. From the very beginning of his priesthood, Father Daniel chose the most difficult form of ministry—missionary outreach, which was initiated by the Apostles. In the early Church, missionary work was identical with martyrdom. “The martyrs were preachers of Christianity, continuers of the Apostolic ministry; and this mission they fulfilled precisely as that is, presenting themselves as witnesses.” (Bolotov V.V., Lectures on the History of the Early Church. 1. The Post-Apostolic Church and the Roman Empire. in Russian). After the Bolsheviks seized power in 1918, their first blow was directed specifically against missionaries. Murdered were the missionary Bishop Ephrem Kuznetsov, Protopriests John Kochurov, John Vostorgov, Konstantin Golubev, diocesan missionary Nicholas Varzhansky and other such missionaries. [ : the Greek root μρτυς (martys) means “witnesss”.] |
| The Interrogation Before Death Lasted 16 Days and Nights Memories of Nun-Martyr Augusta (Zaschuk; 1871-1938) Olga Rozhneva Nun-Martyr Augusta (Zaschuk) Photograph before her death The year was 1938, and in the bitter cold of January the aged schema-nun Augusta (Zaschuk) awaited her fate in a cold room. The sentence of the special troika of the NKVD was announced on Christmas Eve, and the hours before the execution of 20 priests, nuns, and laypeople were numbered. In Matushka Augusta’s last photograph we see before us a kind, tired face, wise eyes, and in her whole countenance—peace of soul, firmness, and the calmness of a nun who is confident in God’s Providence for her. Before death a person often recalls his whole past life and reflects on it. This nun’s life was out of the ordinary. The future nun-martyr Augusta (in the world, Lydia Vasilievna Zaschuk) was born in St. Petersburg. Her father was a privy-councilor, of the nobility; her mother was from a staff-captain’s family. Lydia graduated from the famous Smolny Institute; she knew several foreign languages and possessed literary gifts. After her wedding to a young, brilliantly-educated officer, it seemed that a happy family life awaited her. But happiness, unfortunately, didn’t happen. There were no children from the marriage, and the hardships and sufferings of ten years of being married became lessons in humility and patient endurance for the future nun. Lydia also visited abroad. She returned to Russia and worked as a clerk and translator at the Admiralty Shipyard in Petersburg, while in 1917 she gave out licenses in the City Council (Duma) of what had now become Petrograd. Lydia wrote in a letter about this time: “The revolution took away my means, and I was glad of this, since otherwise I would not have known the Lord’s closeness to a person.” After the revolution the Lord brought Lydia Vasilievna to Optina Hermitage, where she finally found what she had long sought—faith. She felt the grace of the renowned monastery. She came to know the Optina Elders closely: St. Nectarius and Hieromonk Nikon (Belyaev), the future monk-martyr. |
| Tweet Нравится Tu-154 victims Dr. Liza, Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, others buried in Moscow Moscow, January 16, 2017 Funeral for Valery Khalilov. Photo: http://mospat.ru/ru/2017/01/16/news141163/ On December 25, the Russian Defense Ministry’s Tu-154 plane from Moscow crashed into the Black Sea shortly after refueling near Sochi, on its way to Syria. Unfortunately, all ninety-two people aboard died in the crash, including eight crew members, sixty-four musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble who were going to offer a New Year’s concert for Russian troops, nine reporters, two federal civil servants, and Elizaveta Glinka, the head of the Fair Aid charity fund, known affectionately as “Dr. Liza.” Funerals for the departed have been served on Saturday the 14th and Monday the 16th throughout Moscow. The funeral rite for Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, artistic director of the Alexandrov Ensemble, was served by Met. Hilarion (Alfeyev) on Saturday, January 14 Moscow’s Theophany Cathedral, reports the Department for External Church Affairs . In his homily Met. Hilarion spoke about the reposed: “He lived not long by human standards, but it was a beautiful life. Valery Mikhailovich’s death was tragic … but for God there is nothing accidental—He determines the time of a person’s birth and the time of his death… We stand before the coffin of the deceased, but we are not inconsolable, because we know that beyond the threshold of death, eternal life waits for man. And we know that Valery Mikhailovich was a sincere and deeply believing man. He knew and believed that after death he would meet the Lord.” Khalilov’s entire life was devoted to his country, serving as Russia’s chief military conductor, and leading for many years the Moscow military orchestra during parades on Red Square. “The memory of Valery Mikhailovich will remain in the military-musical school from which he graduated, and which will now bear his name,” His Eminence stated. That same evening a performance during Met. Hilarion’s “Christmas Oratorio” was devoted to Valery Mikhailovich’s memory. |
| A Century of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) Fr. John completed his earthly journey on February 5, 2006, four years short of his 100-year jubilee. But his lifetime did not end, for it is of eternity. The eternity of God’s love, which Batiushka so clearly manifested in his earthly life, continues to manifest itself even now, after his departure to another world. This article was written in 2010, the year which marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), the great and revered Elder who changed the lives of many, many people. Life is short, as the saying goes. This is indeed normally the case. Yet there is another well-known law: every law has its exceptions. One such exceptional case was the life of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin). Fr. John completed his earthly journey on February 5, 2006, four years short of his 100-year jubilee. But his lifetime did not end, for it is of eternity. The eternity of God’s love, which Batiushka so clearly manifested in his earthly life, continues to manifest itself even now, after his departure to another world. Fr. John, in one of his sermons, said: “God’s people – luminaries in the world – walk behind God through the valley of the shadow of death, bearing the light of truth into the darkness of a world absorbed by lawlessness. The truth of their prophecies, which have been fulfilled in the world, strengthens the faith of some and engenders faith in others. The truth of their life and death, proclaiming heavenly truths, grants strength and abundant consolation to those who continue to follow God.” Indeed, these words could not be applied more appropriately than to Fr John. Batiushka was a luminary of faith and love in “the darkness of a world absorbed by lawlessness” during his entire life. Raised in a deeply religious environment, nourished from childhood by the grace-filled illumination of Orthodoxy, he was forced to live in a godless age, when Christ’s Church was destroyed and the last sparks of faith in people’s hearts were extinguished. |
| Screenshot ROME — “We are here today to demonstrate against unjust laws, laws that kill innocent people, people who cannot react and cannot defend themselves,” said the president of Italy’s March for Life committee, Virginia Coda Nunziante, following the nation’s largest anti-abortion march in its history. While estimates of the number of participants vary widely, no one contests that tens of thousands came out Saturday for the best-attended march for life in Italian history. Even more than the numbers, what grows year by year “is our awareness of fighting a great moral and civil battle,” said Coda Nunziante, “as well as our determination not to retreat and not to compromise, because no compromises are possible on innocent human life. We cannot accept that even a single child is violently ripped from its mother’s womb.” Rome March for Life 2019 attendees gather in the city’s center (Screenshot). Among notables present were Cardinals Raymond Burke and Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop Luigi Negri, Gianna and Emanuela Molla, daughters of Gianna Beretta Molla, who refused an abortion that doctors claimed could have saved her life. Politicians also came out, including Senator Simone Pillon and Isabella Rauti. Pro-life delegations came from all over the world for the Rome march, among them groups from France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Romania, Estonia, the Netherlands, Croatia, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and New Zealand. The president of the March for Life said that the pro-life strategy in Italy is to dismantle abortion laws piece by piece. “The first piece to dismantle is that of financing: it is unacceptable that every year we spend between 200 and 300 million euros to kill our children in hospitals,” she said. “How is it possible that if you want to have an abortion you have a red carpet laid out for you and everything is easy and organized, and yet if you want to carry your pregnancy to term the path is riddled with obstacles?” she asked. “We have before us an organized ideological movement that preaches and practices the culture of death, which after having introduced abortion, now wants to pass to infanticide and euthanasia,” she said. |
| DECR chairman expresses condolences to Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria over the death of Metropolitan Kirill of Varna and Veliki Preslav July 10, 2013 Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, sent a message to His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria, in which he expressed his condolences over the tragic death of Metropolitan Kirill of Varna and Veliki Preslav. The text of the message is given below: Your Holiness, With my heart full of grief, I offer you my deep condolences over the tragic death of Metropolitan Kirill of Varna and Veliki Preslav. During his life-time, the late hierarch worked much for the benefit of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Among other duties, he was appointed Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne after the demise of His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria. The newly dead hierarch sincerely loved the Russian Orthodox Church. He was an author of a number of books dedicated to the heroic deed of the Russian soldiers who fought for the liberation of Bulgaria. Metropolitan Kirill graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy and served as a rector of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s Representation in Moscow for four years, having left grateful memories of himself. I met with the late archpastor on numerous occasions. He used to come to the Department for External Church Relations on his frequent visits to the Russian Church. Metropolitan Kirill was a distinguished hierarch and a good man, humble, and friendly; he loved his neighbours. His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill spent all his life, serving God. May our Lord Jesus Christ honour him with His heavenly glory and give rest to his soul in the mansions of the righteous. With respectful love in the Lord, +Hilarion Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, Chairman Department for External Church Relations Moscow Patriarchate Source: DECR Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| Sudan: Pressure Mounting On Mariam to Convert to Islam Source: All Africa Natalya Mihailova 16 June 2014 Khartoum — Sudanese Christian woman Mariam Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death for apostasy from Islam, still refuses to abandon her Christian Faith - despite ongoing calls for her to convert. CNN video screenshot Exactly a month after she was sentenced to death, the Archdiocese of Khartoum, north Sudan, issued a statement describing her current predicament. “There are many people trying to persuade Mariam to renounce Christianity in order to be freed but she is refusing. Some people are pleading with her husband to convince her to abandon her Christian faith in order to save her life but to no avail.” The statement issued June11 from Fr Mussa Kacho, Episcopal vicar of Khartoum region, aimed to correct media inaccuracies and “pleaded” with authorities to resolve the case. Describing the present situation, Fr Kacho said: “Mrs Mariam is still in Omdurman prison, practically on death row, breast feeding her child in chains. Her case is currently in the court of appeal. No one knows when the appeal court will decide on it. “According to the concerned authorities, Mrs Mariam can only be released on the condition that she renounces Christianity and gets divorced from her husband ‘Daniel’ to embrace Islam and gets divorced from the husband. “The only way to save their marriage, supposing that Mariam abandons her Christian faith, is for the husband ‘Daniel’ to embrace Islam and be remarried according to Islamic religion.” The couple was married in the Catholic Church on December 19, 2011. Her husband, Daniel Bicensio Wani, is a life-long Catholic and Ms Ibrahim converted from Ethiopian Orthodox to Catholic shortly before her marriage. Although her father was a Muslim, she was baptized and raised in her mother’s Orthodox Faith. The statement from the Archdiocese of Khartoum stressed: “Never in her life did she embrace the Islamic religion nor renounce it. She has never been a Muslim in her life.” |
| Archive His Holiness Patriarch Kirill attends commemoration meeting marking the 40th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) 4 September 2018 year 22:31 On 4 September 2018, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia arrived in St. Petersburg to lead the commemorative events timed to the 40 th anniversary of the death of his teacher and spiritual guide, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod (15 October 1929 – 5 September 1978). Upon his arrival the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church proceeded to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Vladyka Nikodim had been the one who had greatly contributed to the revival of theology as science and theological education in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and helped save the Academy from closure in the period of Khrushchev’s persecutions. Meeting His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the main entrance to the academy were Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Bishop Serafim of Petergof, rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. After visiting the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian His Holiness proceeded to the assembly hall to attend the commemoration meeting marking the 40 th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim. Taking part in the meeting was an assembly of hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the faculty and students of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga presented an address on the life and ministry of Metropolitan Nikodim, saying in particular: “Metropolitan Nikodim’s heritage is in his disciples and in those who continued his principle mission – to help the Russian Orthodox Church bring the light of the Truth of Christ to people. There are such persons in the history of our Church, in whose names the entire epochs are called. Undoubtedly, His Eminence Metropolitan Nikodim was such man. He was not just a man of his time, but by devoting all his energies for the good of the Church of Christ he looked toward the future. ‘I must fight, and history will be my judge,’ he would say. |
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