| Ancient icon part of prayer vigil at LeRoy Carhart’s late-term abortion facility GAITHERSBURG, MD, August 29, 2013 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – LeRoy Carhart’s late-term abortion facility has seen its share of protesters, especially since the death of 29-year-old kindergarten teacher Jennifer Morbelli. But a new face has been seen outside the Germantown, Maryland, facility: The Mother of God. This reproduction of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, known as the “Black Madonna,” arrived on American soil this week for the latest leg of a worldwide pilgrimage to defend human life, thanks to Human Life International . The icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, is an image of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. It is beloved by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians alike. At one of its first stops, pro-life activists from the Washington area carried it on the front lines of a prayer vigil at the notorious Carhart facility. Father Peter West of Human Life international told LifeSiteNews.com he was inspired to bring the Black Madonna to the abortion center after hearing of the ancient Russian Orthodox tradition of carrying icons onto the front lines of important battles. “It’s easy to forget that the battle against abortion really is fundamentally a spiritual battle, so it is fitting that we bring the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa to abortion mills and pray for her intercession,” Fr. West told LifeSiteNews.com. “The Black Madonna has been brought to the front lines of many battles, and has the scars to prove it. Just as she has led to victory in other battles, she can lead the faithful in the battle for life as well.” Activist Ellen Castellano, a regular attendee of prayer vigils at the clinic, credited the presence of the “Black Madonna” with an unusually fruitful morning of prayer and peaceful protest. “Maybe the icon has an effect of deliverance,” Castellano wrote in an e-mail to Human Life International, the group who is facilitating the icon’s pilgrimage through North America. “It seemed that something was really different out there.” |
| The Missionary Vision of the Martyred Fr. Daniel Sysoev Edward Hunter The following paper was written by a seminarian at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood, NY for a course focusing on Orthodox missionary activity throughout the world in the Fall 2014 semester. Fr. Daniel Sysoev By all accounts, Fr. Daniel Sysoev was a powerful and effective missionary priest. According to his missionary companion and close friend, Prof. Yuri Maximov (now Priest Giorgy Maximov .—O.C.), Fr. Daniel turned “around 500 Protestants” to Orthodoxy and personally “baptized more than 80 Muslims” in his fourteen years of ordained ministry. 1 He built a church community and mission center in an immigrant district in Moscow and had great success reaching persons of various ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and social classes. 2 As a direct result of his efforts, and in accordance with his express desire and sense of calling, he crowned his ministry with martyrdom , being shot in the nave of his own church on the night of November 19, 2009. 3 While Fr. Daniel did not leave behind extensive or systematic instructions for how to replicate his success, and the literature of the missionary center he founded remains largely untranslated, a number of his translated interviews and books are available online 4 and can be used to form an outline of the principles which lay behind his ministry, as well as the methods which he used and found successful. Fundamentally, Fr. Daniel’s missionary activity found its most basic principle in an extreme faith in the reality of eternal life and eternal judgment. When viewed from the perspective of an eternal destiny, actions in this present life gain a new significance; temporal life becomes “a school” where the human being is to prepare himself for “true life,” which “begins after the Final Judgment.” 5 As such, it behooves every Christian to intentionally live a life that prepares him for eternity and to continually meditate on the transitoriness of earthly life and the inevitability of facing death and judgment. 6 |
| Belgium: Christians fear consequences of legalising child euthanasia Photo: Gölin Doorneweerd-Swijnenburg The legalisation of child euthanasia in Belgium has provoked sadness from many in the Christian community. The Belgian parliament voted last Thursday to remove restrictions on euthanasia for people under the age of 18. Euthanasia has been legal in the country since 2002. Responding to the vote, President of the Evangelical Alliance in Belgium, Herman Spaargaren, told Christian Today: “The problem is that nobody thinks about what is coming after death. “Also the meaning of life in the sight of God has become a non-issue.” Kris Vleugels of C’axent, a Christian political movement from the Flanders region, said he could not describe his reaction as one of disbelief “for I am used to the culture of death in our Belgian Parliament, but sadness, yes”. He suggested the law had been passed undemocratically: “RTL and VTM, two big commercial TV networks, held a poll yesterday. Sixty-three per cent of the Wallonians and seventy-three per cent of the Flemish don’t want this law. Democracy? “We prayed that enough MPs would open their eyes for the huge dangers that come with the passing of this bill … it opens the Pandora Box again.” The law comes with certain checks in place. It is limited only to children who are terminally ill and suffering chronic pain that cannot be managed by medication. Asked if he thought these safeguards were enough, Mr Vleuges said: “Up to now these death laws have always been the start of a worsening legislation “I know people in the follow up commissions of the Belgian abortion and euthanasia laws. They are very clear about the consequences: the numbers grow. “One of the arguments of the pro-euthanasia camp is that, when legalised, the number of abortions and euthanasia practices will shrink. The opposite is true.” Mr Spaargaren suggested Belgians make their feelings on the law known at the next elections in May. “It would be good if the government would feel in the elections that they made a wrong decision, without the consent of the majority of the Belgium population,” he said. |
| Recognition finally for a warrior priest " s heroics/Православие.Ru Recognition finally for a warrior priest " s heroics Father Kapaun in an undated photograph from Korea. US Army Chaplain Father Emil Kapaun stole, suffered and sacrificed his life for his fellow soldiers in a Korean prison camp. Six decades after his death, he is being considered for the Medal of Honor - and sainthood. On 2 November 1950, Father Kapaun made the decision that led to his death. The Korean war chaplain was in the middle of a firefight, with the American forces overrun by Chinese soldiers outside a crossroads town called Unsan in North Korea. Lighting forest fires to frustrate US reconnaissance planes, the Chinese surrounded the Americans and pressed in, attacking with small arms, grenades and even bayonets. Meanwhile, Chaplain Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest from a farming village in Kansas, gathered the wounded in a dug-out shelter made of logs and straw. Father Kapaun in an undated photograph from Korea Though he never fired a shot, Father Kapaun saw as much mean action as any man in his unit When American officers ordered the able-bodied to retreat, Father Kapaun, a 35-year-old captain, refused to leave the wounded. As the Chinese soldiers began lobbing grenades into the dug-out, Kapaun negotiated a surrender. " Father Kapaun had several chances to get out, " Warrant Officer John Funston later told a Catholic priest who collected accounts of Fr Kapaun's actions in Korea, " but he wouldn't take them. " His capture and forced march northward with hundreds of other American prisoners was merely the beginning of Father Kapaun's trial, an ordeal that ended in his death from starvation, cold and lack of basic medical care at a prison camp in North Korea six months later. For his heroism, a group of Kansas politicians are pushing to have him awarded the Medal of Honor, America's highest military decoration. Reports of Kapaun's selfless bravery have got him short-listed for another rare high honour: the Catholic church has named Kapaun Servant of God, the first step toward sainthood, and the Vatican has opened a formal inquiry into whether he merits canonisation. |
| Venerable Onopre of Gareji, the Wonderworker (18th century) Memory 29 September (12 October) Saint Onopre of Gareji (Otar Machutadze in the world) lived and labored in the 18th century. He was a Kartlian aristocrat famed for his wealth, hospitality, and charity. Longing for the ascetic life, Otar wore a hair shirt under his distinguished raiment and unceasingly prayed to God for the strength to lead the monastic life.He revealed his will to his wife: “I thirst to turn fromthis world and draw nearer to Christ,” he said. “Therefore, I beg your forgiveness for all my transgressions, both voluntary and involuntary.” His faithful wife consented and permitted him to go in peace. Otar traveled with his two eldest sons to Tbilisi, blessed them, and bade them farewell for the last time. Then he set off for the Davit- Gareji Monastery, which at that time was led by the kindhearted superior Archimandrite German. Archimandrite German received Otar with great joy, and after a short time he tonsured him a monk with the name Onopre. Blessed Onopre was a peaceful, humble and obedient man and a tireless ascetic. He would keep vigil through the night, and after the morning prayers he would go down to the ravine and continue to chant psalms, shedding tears over his past transgressions. He ate just one meal a day of bread and water, after the hour of Vespers. Once the Dagestanis attacked the Davit-Gareji Monastery, plundered the church, and took captive several monks including Onopre, the priests Maxime and Ioakime, and four deacons. Onopre was the oldest among them. The unbelievers planned to stab him to death, but the Lord protected him from their evil scheme. According to the will of the All-mercifulGod, Onopre was freed and returned to the monastery. The brotherhood was impoverished after the invasion, so Archimandrite German sent St. Onopre on a mission to solicit alms. It was difficult for St. Onopre to depart from the monastery, but he unquestioningly obeyed the will of his superior: the former aristocrat began to walk from door to door, begging for charity. At Tskhinvali in Samachablo St. Onopre attracted the attention of a crowd of people leading a young, demon-possessed man. The saint approached them and discovered that they were bringing the young man to a fortuneteller for help. |
| Banner In Memory of Rev. Anastasios Diakovasilis in NY Church Source: Greek Reporter Fr. Anastasios Diakovasilis, Presbyter Economos of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Flushing, New York was a unique priest in his generation. Natalya Mihailova 03 May 2014 “No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.” So said Plato . The old sage’s words doubtless apply to the late Reverend Anastasios Diakovasilis, Presbyter Economos of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Flushing, New York – a priest was unique in his generation. He came from the school of hard knocks, raised during WWII and amid the devastation and poverty of 1950s civil-war-torn Greece, and took refuge in religion and poetry. The late Rev. Anastasios and Presvitera Maria Diakovasilis His legacy extends beyond his mortal life, it seems, as Mrs. Theodora (Dora) Lagos was so moved by the January memorial service two years after his 2012 death that she commissioned a banner in his honour. “I wanted to do something special in his memory,” she explained in a telephone interview. “I asked Father Paul Palesty for guidance. He was most supportive, instructing me in the right choice of buying a Banner of the Ascension in memory of Father Anastasios. With Father Paul’s support, we ordered a banner from the Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Australia. I mentioned my idea to all. Persons and organizations from his island of Nysiros and his friends from the community were happy to support me. I was honored and happy to work with these persons. Their donations made this banner possible, to see something special in Father Anastasios’ name in St. Nicholas Church.” Mrs. Lagos continued saying “the banner cost was hand-delivered on Good Friday, April 18th. The banner is hand-embroidered with gold thread. We raised The remainder of the funds will be used to place the banner in a frame in front of the church with a twenty-four-hour burning candili (votive lamp).” The community of St. Nicholas had the honor of viewing the richly embroidered tapestry displayed prominently in front of the altar during the Easter liturgies. Mrs. Theodora Lagos was the motivating force behind this unique memorial in memory of a humble presbyter. She believes “he gave warmth to the sick and lonely person.” ( ) |
| St. Eutychius the Patriarch of Constantinople Commemorated on April 6 Photo: Days.Pravoslavie.Ru Saint Eutychius, Archbishop of Constantinople, was born in a village called “Divine” in the province of Phrygia. His father Alexander was a soldier, and his mother Synesia was the daughter of the priest Hesychius of Augustopolis. Saint Eutychius received the first rudiments of his education and a Christian upbringing from his grandfather the priest. Once, while playing a childhood game, the boy wrote his own name with the title of Patriarch. By this he seemed to predict his future service. He was sent to Constantinople at age twelve for further education. The youth persevered in his study of science and realized that human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the study of divine Revelation. Therefore, he decided to dedicate himself to monastic life. Saint Eutychius withdrew into one of the Amasean monasteries and received the angelic schema. For his strict life he was made archimandrite of all the Amasean monasteries, and in 552 was appointed to the Patriarchal throne. When the Fifth Ecumenical Council prepared to assemble during the reign of the holy emperor Justinian (527-565), the Metropolitan of Amasea was ill and he sent Saint Eutychius in his place. At Constantinople the aged Patriarch Saint Menas (August 25) saw Saint Eutychius and predicted that he would be the next Patriarch. After the death of the holy Patriarch Menas, the Apostle Peter appeared in a vision to the emperor Justinian and, pointing his hand at Eutychius, said, “Let him be made your bishop.” At the very beginning of his patriarchal service, Saint Eutychius convened the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), at which the Fathers condemned the heresies cropping up and anathematized them. However, after several years a new heresy arose in the Church: Aphthartodocetism [asartodoketai] or “imperishability” which taught that the flesh of Christ, before His death on the Cross and Resurrection, was imperishable and not capable of suffering. |
| The Virginia Tech Massacre – Lessons to Learn Only six months ago I spoke to you after three separate incidents involving murders of or by children. As we all know, another tragedy of monumental proportions has occurred. This time 32 students were shot to death at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia by a lone gunman, a fellow student, who also took his own life. Sermon delivered April 22, 2007. Only six months ago I spoke to you after three separate incidents involving murders of or by children. As we all know, another tragedy of monumental proportions has occurred. This time 32 students were shot to death at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia by a lone gunman, a fellow student, who also took his own life. The pattern seems all too familiar: a school, a disaffected angry young person, a gun, innocent victims, carnage, survivors and people across the nation struggle to make sense of the murders. The only difference with each incident is the proportion: it gets bigger. There are several lessons to be learned. Some we know too well, others we may be learning for the first time. First, murder and mayhem, make no sense. Putting together the pieces of this puzzling tragedy will be difficult because many of them do not fit. Yes, we have perpetrator who displayed clear signs of mental illness but psychology experts tell us that mental illness alone does not explain a killing spree of such proportion. The great majority of mentally ill people never commit violent acts including murder. You will hear very little talk about what truly makes this tragedy so senseless-the supernatural role of evil. Chaos, nihilism and destruction are characteristics of the presence of evil. The fingerprints of Satan cover this crime scene. From what we know, the killer had no personal connection with most of his victims. The sheer number of victims suggests perhaps a desire to maximize a score similar to the goal of any game. The words and images of the killer’s manifesto suggest a generalized outrage and paranoia. Yet, his calculating and detailed preparation makes it clear that he did not have a psychotic break with reality. Evil, or more correctly, the Evil One (Satan/Devil), upsets the order and sanctity of personal relations between people. What should be personal becomes impersonal. Persons become objects to use and discard. The impersonal becomes personal. Words and actions expressed in a general manner are perceived as personal slights leading to baseless hurt, anger and outrage. |
| Orthodoxy in South Africa before and after Apartheid Source: Pemptousia.com Nelson “Madiba” Mandela, the first democratically-elected President of South Africa, has been a beloved figure for decades, and his death drew an outpouring of grief all over the world. But few of us know much about the South Africa that he helped to radically change. Wanting to learn more about life in South Africa–and especially about missions and Orthodox Christianity- before and after the fall of apartheid, I have asked Father Deacon Stephen Hayes to answer some questions. Deacon Stephen Hayes Fr Dn Stephen serves two congregations in Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa. As an Anglican in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, he worked as a missiologist training self-supporting priests and deacons, as well as developing theological education by extension. As a result of his missionary efforts across racial lines under South Africa’s apartheid government, Fr Dn Stephen was deported, listed as Enemy of the State #1658, and banned from 1972 – 1976. While converting to Orthodox Christianity in the mid 1980s, Fr Dn Stephen and his family participated in founding the Society of St Nicholas of Japan with the aim of promoting the Orthodox Christian faith among people of all ethnic groups. Fr Dn Stephen remains active in missionary work, participates in a number of internet discussions on Orthodoxy and missiology, and continues to supervise post-graduate students in missiology at the University of South Africa. His blog Khanya has articles on Orthodox missiology, the history of St Nicholas parish, and other topics. More extensive biographies can be found here and here . Father Deacon, what was apartheid? How did life function under it? I think the best way I can answer that is to refer to a series of posts I wrote on my blog, to answer that question, and similar ones. The series is called “Tales from Dystopia”, and you can see it here . In what ways is your day-to-day life different today than it was before 1989? |
| Canonisation of Saint Gabriel, Confessor and Fool-for-Christ admin 24 December 2012 It was with great joy that the Church of Georgia on December 20 2012 confirmed Archimandrite Gabriel (Urgebadze) amongst the Saints of Christ’s Church. Any new arrival in Georgia will be surprised to see photographs of an elderly monk of small stature in offices, taxis and homes. “Mama Gabrieli” was well-loved during his difficult life in the Soviet era and revered after his death, with many miracles attributed to him. Saint Gabriel was a deeply eccentric character and to the Soviet authorities he was considered to be insane. He was renowned during his life as a “ Fool-for-Christ “; in Greek the term is “Salos”. This is a humble person of great holiness who is considered highly unconventional by secular society. Saint Gabriel was famed for his powers of prophecy during his life, as well as a fearless approach to denouncing Communism publicly; had he been considered “sane” by the authorities, he probably would have been executed. He was famous for tearing down a giant banner of Lenin during a May Day parade and trampling upon it while denouncing the Marxists, for which he was beaten badly. He was renowned for his compassion and deep insight into human nature. Saint Gabriel spent much of his later life living at the Monastery of Saint Nino, a nunnery attached to the Samtavro Church of the Transfiguration in Mtskheta. It is just uphill from the Svetiskhoveli Cathedral. He died in 1995 and is buried there; there are many pilgrims who visit his grave every day. A detailed website providing information about his life can be viewed here . Video footage of his Canonisation is provided here . Source Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Canonisation of Saint Gabriel, Confessor and Fool-for-Christ admin It was with great joy that the Church of Georgia on December 20 2012 confirmed Archimandrite Gabriel (Urgebadze) amongst the Saints of Christ’s Church. Any new arrival in Georgia will be surprised to see photographs of an elderly monk of small stature in offices, taxis and homes. “Mama Gabrieli” ... |
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