| ISIS militants ‘demonize Islam,’ says Russian patriarch Source: CatholicCulture.org Natalya Mihailova 24 February 2015 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the largest Orthodox church, met with the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch and said that Islamic State militants “demonize Islam in the eyes of the whole world.” “The behavior of representatives of the Islamic State is a horrible challenge to us all,” Patriarch Kirill said on February 19, according to an Interfax report. “No one can do a more horrible thing to Islam than what they are doing.” Muslim leaders, he added, “should not think solely about their currently political goals. Especially when they support ISIS, directly or indirectly, they should clearly understand that it is a blow to the entire Islamic world above all.” Tweet Donate Share Code for blog ISIS militants ‘demonize Islam,’ says Russian patriarch Natalya Mihailova “The behavior of representatives of the Islamic State is a horrible challenge to us all,” Patriarch Kirill said on February 19, according to an Interfax report. “No one can do a more horrible thing to Islam than what they are doing.” Muslim leaders, he added, “should not think solely about their ... 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. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. |
| Moscow, June 29, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church has appealed to all Russian advocates of the American model of governance, asking them to think twice about the consequences of the United States " decision to legalize same-sex " marriages " . Photo: torontosun.com Photo: Sputnik, Yana Lapikova “The people who are into ‘democracy the American way’ and trying to reconcile it with traditional values need to think hard after this decision,” the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax-Religion. He pointed out to the kind of values that one is “trying to bring along with the U.S. social and political model.” “You might not be told that they want to force you to adopt such a godless and sinful thing as same-sex marriages. Remember: in reality they want to take your right to live according to the faith, take your soul, take your opportunity to build the life of your society and your state according to the eternal and invariable God-given moral laws,” the priest said. He said the thing he was most concerned about in this particular case is that the U.S. government is trying “to impose its anti-natural and post-human view on marriage on other countries.” The Russian Church representative recalled that one of these days U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who spoke on behalf of the majority of judges who made these decisions, said that same-sex couples were seeking to achieve same legal attitudes towards their union as heterosexual ones. The judge also claimed that the nature of marriage consists in the following: two people together can obtain freedoms, in particular, the freedom of expression, privacy and spirituality, regardless of their sexual orientation. “Such attitude towards marriage is more than surprising. Marriage is not just a legal construct, it is not just a place where one exercises legal rights,” the priest said. He pointed out that “marriage has a certain nature, it is created by God, primarily, not as a legal space for the exercise of rights but a place where man and woman in the union of love give life to children and bring them up.” |
| Russian Patriarch Calls on Moscow, Athens to Cherish Common Spiritual Affinity Source: Sputnik Moscow, September 22, 2016 The Russian Orthodox Church hails the spiritual affinity between Russia and Greece and calls on Moscow and Athens to preserve it, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill said on Wednesday. " As long as she [the Mother of God] keeps Russia and Greece under her protecting veil we will survive. May God grant that the origins of our spiritual affinity are not disregarded … by our statesmen. We will remind them about them if they are neglected, " the patriarch said, speaking at the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the ties between Russia's Orthodox Church and Greece's Mount Athos. Holy Mount Athos, located on a peninsula in northeastern Greece, is a famous monastic center with 17 Greek monasteries, one Russian named after St. Panteleimon, one Bulgarian and one Serbian. The district enjoys autonomous status within the Greek Republic. Russia and Greece are celebrating 2016 as a cross-cultural year, marking the millennial anniversary of the first Russian settlement on the Holy Mountain. Edited by OrthoChristian.com Sputnik 22 сентября 2016 г. Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: Предыдущий Следующий Смотри также Putin hopes to strengthen Russia-Greece cooperation Putin hopes to strengthen Russia-Greece cooperation The president has called the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Russian monks’ presence on the holy Mount Athos a landmark event of the year Greece and Russia hold conference on religious and pilgrimage tourism in Athens Greece and Russia hold conference on religious and pilgrimage tourism in Athens Pilgrimage routes in Greece and Russia will be presented during the conference and bilateral discussions will be held aiming to enhance cooperation between the tourism sectors of the two countries. " For Orthodox Unity! " Russian Bikers Will Make Greece Tour an Annual Thing " For Orthodox Unity! " Russian Bikers Will Make Greece Tour an Annual Thing Russia " s Night Wolves motorcycle club plans to make its " Holy Mountain " moto-pilgrimage to Greece an annual event, club spokesman Vadim Strogov said at a press conference at the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Athens Sunday. Комментарии Anthony 22 сентября 2016, 21:00 Our countries need much closer political ties too. Things could have been so different for both Greece and Cyprus had our leaders formed a much closer bond with those with whom we have so much in common - ie Russia and Serbia. Instead they have enslaved us to the babylonian whore in Brussels. © 1999-2016 Православие.Ru |
| Syria: The end of chrisian civilization?/Православие.Ru Syria: The end of chrisian civilization? Milena Faustova The Voice of Russia The third-largest city in Syria, Homs has almost completely lost its Christian population. Thousands have been murdered, on the order of millions have fled. The same situation can be observed in Damascus, Aleppo, Khame, Latakia, and other cities. “This is a real religious war, which the world community assiduously takes no notice of,” the President of the Near East Institute, Eugene Satanovsky, believes: “ It is the accepted belief that religious wars have become a thing of the past. But they have become a thing of the past only for those Western politicians who pay no attention to them. Religious wars are going on both in Africa and the Near East. Syria is only one of the bridgeheads for the swift de-Christianization of this region. And since these wars are carried on by fanatic Islamists, representatives of radical terrorist movements, it is not to the advantage of the world community to interfere in them. So far no one has abolished this double standard, and — unlike the 19 th century, when the genocide of Christians in Syria or Lebanon still upset a person in Europe or America — today people simply close their eyes to this, out of both economic and geopolitical considerations.” Photo: EPA Apart from the open persecutions, the Christian population in Syria today also more and more frequently becomes small change in the civil war, which has already gone on for three years. Two highly-placed Orthodox metropolitans were kidnapped by Islamists in the spring. One of them is the brother of the present Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, John X. There is still no reliable information about the fate of the hierarchs. And in the beginning of December armed extremists took Igumenia i Pelagia Sayyaf , the abbess of St. Thecla Equal-to-the-Apostles Monastery, hostage — together with several nuns. They are all alive so far, but there are no guarantees that they will be set free, relates the Vice-Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Protopriest Nikolai Balashov: |
| A Word from the Patriarch Contact with real life From very early childhood children become accustomed to gadgets and, beyond a doubt, this contributes to their rapid development. But there is a problem: they tend to plunge into virtual reality. We should introduce new elements into our Sunday school curricula that would help children get in contact with real life. That is why I consider it important to develop activities that would foster the love of labor in children. Practical liturgical activities Notice that children partake in Church services with great joy. It is one thing when a child just stands and contemplates what is going on at the service, but it is another thing when he is in the altar, on the kliros (choir stand), by the candle stands, at the memorial table , and somehow helps during the service. We should think over very carefully ways to involve children in the practical liturgical activities. From his speech at a meeting of the Supreme Church Council October 31, 2016 On the blind transference of alien world views to the Russian environment At the same time it should be remembered that the blind transference of alien world views and political models to the Russian environment without regard for national identity and the spiritual and cultural context, in many cases (or, to be more exact, nearly always) led to serious disturbances and even tragedies, as it was in our country at the beginning and at the end of the twentieth century. A deep identity crisis Another important point that we need to consider is the deep identity crisis that has gripped Western societies. A contradiction of a spiritual nature underlies this crisis: on the one hand, there are globalist tendencies in society, and the ideas of secularism and utilitarianism are being promoted; and on the other hand, all of this encounters resistance from their national, cultural traditions having a Christian history and Christian spiritual roots. We believe that today the problem of the inhuman treatment of unborn children should not be removed from the agenda. This entails mass abortions , destruction of the family institution, the erosion of the fundamental moral values, and the aggressive attack on traditional religious cultures, which is especially expressed in the policy of a massive and deliberate de-Christianization. |
| Orthodox Nativity and Western Christmas: Toward a Renewed Focus The fact is that the " Christmas spirit " is the best thing that has ever happened to consumer society. It is equated with the unending desire to buy new and more sophisticated things. Even charitable organizations are caught up by all this hype. " Give a kid a Christmas " as one local radio station advertises, really means to allow others to participate in the bliss of consumer heaven . . . Source: Ukrainian Orthodoxy It seems that Christmas decorations come out earlier each year. The fact is that the “Christmas spirit” is the best thing that has ever happened to consumer society. It is equated with the unending desire to buy new and more sophisticated things. Even charitable organizations are caught up by all this hype. “Give a kid a Christmas” as one local radio station advertises, really means to allow others to participate in the bliss of consumer heaven . . . Perhaps this is an exaggeration. It is not meant to be. We have all heard the phrase, “Put Christ back into Christmas.” But just how do we go about doing that? Christmas itself comes from the pre-Conquest (and therefore Orthodox) Old English term that is a composite of the Calendar feast in honour of which the daily Liturgy was celebrated i.e. “Christ-Mass.” In the Old Sarum Rite, there was “Andermas” for St Andrew’s Day. Others included: Martinmas, Michaelmas, Ladymas (for the Mother of God), Candlemas (Feast of the Meeting of St Simeon or “Purification”), Johnmas or, in Ireland, Seanmas (and thus the name, “Seamus”) and so on. Christmas itself became a composite of a Christian holy-day and the pagan feast associated with December 25th, as is well known. Originally, the Church celebrated the Nativity of Christ, the Three Kings and Epiphany all on the same day, January 6th. Only the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church continues to celebrate Christmas on this day, however, otherwise known as “Armenian Christmas.” The Church “baptized” many of the traditions associated around December 25th and appointed the Nativity of Our Lord to be celebrated then. Much of what we know to be Christmas traditions are actually carry-overs from the Celtic pagan Druidic period, especially things like Mistletoe and the hanging of greenery on windows and chimneys (to prevent evil spirits from coming into the house). |
| Putin’s Chef Shares Recipe of Traditional Kremlin Easter Cake Source: Sputnik News Natalya Mihailova 29 April 2016 With the Orthodox Easter holiday quickly approaching, confectioners from the Presidential Property Management Department shared their special recipes for the traditional Easter cake made for Vladimir Putin and taught journalists how to make it. © Sputnik/ Vitaliy Ankov The recipe of the Easter cake for Putin was developed in 2009 and since then bakers from the department have used the same, already well-established recipe. “It’s a traditional recipe we use every year. The only thing that changed is the decoration of the Easter cake, this year the cakes will be decorated with confectionary toppings,” Denis Mitrokhin, the chef of the Kremlevskiy food production facility, told journalists. To bake the presidential Easter cake, one needs to follow a strict recipe. First, take exactly 437.5 grams of wheat flour, 132 grams of butter, 13.4 grams of dry yeast, 8 grams of vanilla, 134 grams of raisins soaked in brandy, 178 grams of sugar, 10 grams of salt, 60 grams of candied fruit, 9 milliliters of cognac and 44.5 milliliters of milk with fat content of 3.2 percent. When all of this is ready, the dough must be made. Knead the dough and add the melted butter, soaked candied fruits and raisins. The finished dough should be left in a warm place for 2 — 2.5 hours and it should increase in size by 2.5 times. If all the ingredients are right and the recipe is followed correctly, in the end one should have a 1 kilogram Easter cake. If that’s too much for a stomach to handle, the cake can always be cut into several smaller pieces. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Putin’s Chef Shares Recipe of Traditional Kremlin Easter Cake Natalya Mihailova The recipe of the Easter cake for Putin was developed in 2009 and since then bakers from the department have used the same, already well-established recipe. " It's a traditional recipe we use every year. The only thing that changed is the decoration of the Easter cake, this year the ... |
| The Spiritual Life and the Virtual Landscape: Technology, Internet Addiction, and the Society of Simulacra Before the beginning of Great Lent, your friends made a solemn vow not to go onto social networking sites until Pascha. Inspired by their example, you made the same promise. Yet in a couple of weeks you “encounter” first one of these friends, and then another, on the same site! Before the beginning of Great Lent, your friends made a solemn vow not to go on social networking sites until Pascha. Inspired by their example, you made the same promise. Yet in a couple of weeks you “encounter” first one of these friends, and then another, on the same site! “What are you doing here?” “I couldn’t stay away because of work. What about you?” “Same thing.” Sound familiar? Do we control the Internet, or does the Internet control us? Are social networking sites and blogs dangerous, or are they just new and unfamiliar forms of communication? What do they offer us, and what do they take away from us? This is the theme of our discussion with the editor of the Internet portal Bogoslov.ru, Archpriest Paul Velikanov, Assistant Dean for Academic and Theological Studies at the Moscow Theological Academy, who holds the degree of Candidate of Theology. His dissertation was dedicated to the influence of technocratic civilization on the inner world of man. Humanity’s Last Love Father Paul, ten years ago, at the very beginning of the Internet age, we were frightened by a variety of dangers, the primary of which we called “creating the illusion of communication.” Have these fears been justified? Archpriest Paul Velikanov I think it goes without saying that the most radical of fears have not been justified, and I would certainly not want to exaggerate matters and begin this conversation by discussing how everything is just awful. Nonetheless, the Internet has provided not only new opportunities, but also new challenges. Obviously, the more simple and accessible human communication becomes, the more superficial and less meaningful it becomes. We appreciate paper letters from our friends much more than text messages: we read them more attentively, since writing such letters involves an entire creative process. Even if you print out an email, it will not have that same flavor of uniqueness and exclusivity, of something made just for you. This is not a “thing” that can be shown to children decades later, carefully kept in a special place. Why not? First, emails are universal due to their global environment. Second, because we do not invest as much effort, labor, love, sacrifice, and attention as we would into an ordinary letter. A healthy, proper relationship between friends (and this also applies to the relationship between man and God) always involves the sacrifice of the most valuable thing we possess: time. |
| The Spiritual Life Begins With Every Minute Work stubbornly; pray constantly and with faith. Only under such conditions is it possible to set out on the path of the spiritual life. Cultivate silence; thereby is prayer acquired. What enormous personal responsibility one must have for accomplishing one’s designated rules (routine): to feel inwardly their holiness, loftiness, and the necessity of their completion! One should put aside the thought that what one is doing is one’s own personal work within one’s own cell. No: this is a fundamentally public service. Fr. Gregory Ponomarev and Matushka Nina Remember: You simply need to physically force yourself to pray. At first it may be disjointed, halting, even sinking. In spite of all this, do not stop your conversation with the world above. How weak and inconstant I am in my decisions and intentions! Any insignificant matter can already disrupt such an important and necessary work as prayer. Remember that you are strong only through prayer. But this is how I behave… I do not appreciate this opportunity to acquire great strength. We must cultivate in ourselves the spirit of constancy, and not that of momentary impulses. Give of yourself wholly, not half-heartedly. There is much grief in my absent-mindedness and lack of concentration. How dangerous it is to let oneself slacken! It is enough to indulge oneself in something small for one’s entire spiritual house to be destroyed. In a short period one can destroy everything one has built up and guarded for months. The most important thing is to learn how to cultivate a feeling of complete surrender to God’s will. Bear this firmly in mind: no matter what happens to you every day and hour, give thanks to the Lord for it all. Regard nothing that happens to you as simple coincidence, but as a necessary test of your spiritual strengths, of your spiritual combat readiness. Always begin everything you do, no matter what it may be, with prayer – and then you will succeed. One must guard oneself against inner irritability; no matter how fair the reasons for it, it is never justifiable. Every condemnation brings with it inner irritation and indignation. Take care that this filthy stream not flood the temple of your soul, filling it with its foul spirit of indifference, carelessness, and the neglect of spiritual rules. |
| Archive Metropolitan Hilarion: Constantinople’s papist claims are groundless 6 December 2020 year 18:29 Recently, the Patriarchate of Constantinople has become even more insistent that other Local Churches must recognise its absolute primacy and authority in the Orthodox world. The Greek mass media regularly publish articles and interviews on this topic, which are often blatantly tendentious. In his interview to RIA Novosti news agency, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, made it clear if there are any grounds for Constantinople’s claims. Vladyka, in his recent interview to Ethnicos Kirikas Greek newspaper, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said that we, Orthodox Christians, ought to self-critically revise our ecclesiology if we do not want to become a federation of Protestant-type churches. According to him, in Orthodoxy there is primus not only in honour, but primus with special responsibility and canonical powers. Where do these claims come from and what should we make of them? To begin with, I will explain what “ecclesiology” is. Translated from the Greek, this word means “teaching on the Church.” Therefore, what is being suggested is that we should revise our teaching on the Church. Taking what as a model? Sure thing, Roman Catholicism. In the Roman Church there is the pope – “primus not only in honour, but primus with special responsibility and canonical powers.” Until now, such thing has not existed in the Orthodox Church: there has only been the first in honour. For centuries Orthodox polemicists, including Patriarchs of Constantinople and other Eastern Patriarchs, were speaking out against the papism. Yet, now it is being suggested that we should reshape the Orthodox ecclesiology, coping the papist model. They tell us: if there is no primus with special powers, we risk to turn into a “federation of Protestant-type churches.” That is, there is either the Roman Catholic or the Protestant model – tertium non datur. Then what has been the principle of our Orthodox Church’s organisation until now, the Protestant one? |
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