| June 26, 2014 – the 21st Inter-parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy has opened in the State Duma under the theme “Parliamentary Democracy – Orthodoxy: Values and Meanings”. Photo: mospat.ru June 26, 2014 – the 21 st Inter-parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy has opened in the State Duma under the theme “Parliamentary Democracy – Orthodoxy: Values and Meanings”. The opening was attended by State Duma chairman S. Naryshkin, Council of the Federation vice-chairman A. Torshin, IAO general secretary and Greek MP Anastasios Nerantzis, DECR chairman Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Patriarchate of Constantinople representative to the Council of Europe Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, State Duma vice-chairman S. Zheleznyak, IAO international secretariat adviser Constantine Migdalis, International Foundation of the Unity of Orthodox Nations president V. Alekseyev, DECR vice-chairman Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, and other officials. The IAO president S. Popov greeted the forum, saying, “Symbolically, the twentieth year of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy began with a session in Athens, the capital of Greece, and ends in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Twenty years ago, our two countries laid the foundations of inter-parliamentary cooperation between the countries of the Orthodox area”. The Assembly stands for the protection of Christian communities in various part of the world and the preservation of spiritual values, he stated. Mr. Naryshkin stated that the parliamentary diplomacy is capable of offering an effective instrument for overcoming today’s global problems. Speaking about the tragic events in Ukraine provoked by a political crisis, he cited His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia as saying, “It is only the devil who can celebrate a victory when brothers meet in battle, killing each other, inflicting wounds, weakening the power of the people”. He welcomed the first steps taken to de-escalate the conflict. “I very much hope that the lessons of the Ukrainian confrontation will be learnt not only in this country but in all the world” he said reminding the assembly of hundreds of civilians who have become victims of the conflict. “I trust that the voice of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy will resound more and more louder and clearer and will play its role in solving urgent problems existing in various spheres beginning from the careful conservative attitude to the traditional lifestyles of nations to the protection of the rights of fellow Christians who are persecuted in various parts of the world, especially in the Middle East and North Africa”, he said. |
| I think that this reaction is quite consistent with how all the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church feel about this. We believe that everyone has the right to freedom of religion. Everyone, regardless of whether they live in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Ukraine or any other country in the world, has the right not only to profess their faith, but also to express it publicly. Today, it is Christianity that is the most persecuted religion, although it is still the most numerous religion on the planet. Unfortunately, conflict situations often arise wh ere Christians co-exist with Muslims. We must speak directly about this – not to cast a shadow on Islam, but to call on both political leaders and Islamic leaders to educate their flock, including young people, in the spirit of love and tolerance. This is happening in Russia: we have a very close and healthy interaction between Christians, Muslims and representatives of other religious traditions. I very much hope that the same mutual understanding and cooperation will be established in other countries. E. Gracheva: Thank you very much, Vladyka, for answering our questions. Metropolitan Hilarion: Thank you, Ekaterina. In the second part of the program, Metropolitan Hilarion answered questions from viewers that were sent to the website of the Church and the World program. Question: Christ made the atoning sacrifice for all mankind. But I had a question, and to whom was this sacrifice made: God or the devil? Is there an unambiguous answer to this question in the Orthodox faith? Metropolitan Hilarion: There is no clear answer to this question. The word " redemption " literally means " ransom " in Greek. But to whom was this ransom offered? The Fathers of the IV century argued about this. For example, some Fathers believed that this ransom was offered to the devil, while others, in particular, St. Gregory the Theologian, said: “Who is the devil to demand a ransom from God?” Ultimately, the doctrine of atonement can be summarized as follows: The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the legal curse, that is, He took the blame for our sins, He took responsibility for our sins. He suffered on the cross, and this death was redemptive for the entire human race. |
| This has determined the common practice of the Russian Church in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. On the other hand, this practice could be interpreted in the light of the theory of Economy, which is characteristic of modern Greek theology; in this case, the fact of non-repetition of sacraments would not imply any recognition of these non-Orthodox ministrations, and should be interpreted simply as a pastoral dispensation. This point of view was represented in Russia by Khomiakov, and in recent times was elaborated with daring radicalism by the late Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitski). Anthony, at that time Archbishop of Kharkov and a permanent Member of the Holy Synod, replied to an invitation to participate in the Conference on Faith and Order by a long letter, in which he frankly stated his point of view. There was no spiritual reality, «no grace,» outside the Orthodox Church. All talk about «validity» is just «talmudic sophistries.» What is outside the Orthodox Church is just «this world, foreign to Christ’s redemption and possessed by the devil.» It makes no difference, Anthony argued, whether the non-Orthodox have or have not «right beliefs.» Purity of doctrine would not incorporate them in the Church. What is of importance is actual membership in the Orthodox Church, which is not compromised by doctrinal ignorance or moral frailty. But, in spite of this categorical exclusion of all non-Orthodox from Christendom, Anthony was wholeheartedly in favour of Orthodox participation in the proposed Conference on Faith and Order. «Indeed, we are not going to concelebrate there, but shall have to search together for a true teaching on the controversial points of faith.» 169 This survey would be incomplete if we omitted the name of Vladimir Soloviev (1853 – 1900). Soloviev was never interested in the ecumenical problem, in so far as it concerned the search for unity between the Orthodox and the world of the Reformation. His attitude towards the Reformation and Protestantism always tended to be negative, though in his later years he did speak occasionally of a «super-confessional» Christianity, and even of a «religion of the Holy Spirit.» Nevertheless, his contribution to the discussion on Christian unity was momentous. «The broken unity» of Christendom, «the Great Controversy,» i.e. the «Separation of the Churches,» were in his opinion the main fact and the main tragedy of the Christian world. The reunion of Christendom was for him, therefore, not merely one special and particular problem of theology and of Christian action, but the central problem of Christian life and history. Soloviev was mainly concerned with the question of reconciliation between the East and Rome, and in a sense he was pleading for a very particular kind of Unia. In fact, he simply did not believe that Churches were separated. There was an historical estrangement, an external break, but, in an ultimate sense, there was still one (mystically) undivided Catholic Church. |
| That same day, the Primate of the Assyrian Church had a number of meetings with the heads of foreign delegations. Archimandrite Philip greeted His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa III on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ and presented him with a Korsun Icon of the Mother of God. On August 7, members of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation were received by the head of the Assyrian Christians. The meeting was joined by Metropolitan Mar Afram Athneil, Bishop of Syria; Chorbishop Samano Odisho, representative of the Assyrian Church of the East in Russia; and Mr. Maxim O. Rubin, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Erbil. The Primate of the Assyrian Church of the East cordially welcomed the delegation from Russia and noted the significance of the centuries-long fraternal relations between the Russian and Assyrian people. He thanked His Holiness Patriarch Kirill for his kind attention to the Assyrian faithful living in Russia and in other countries of the Moscow Patriarchate’s canonical responsibility and expressed high opinion of the work of the Commission for Dialogue between the two Churches and its initiatives. His Holiness Mar Awa III expressed profound concern about the situation in Ukraine, frequently reported facts of discrimination against clerics and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the latest events around the Kiev Lavra of the Caves, and a guilty verdict against Metropolitan Ionafan of Tulchyn and Bratslav. “Every time I hear news from Ukraine, I feel a burning pain in my heart. Together with my brothers archpastors, clergymen and faithful we have expressed and will continue to express our solidarity with my beloved brother His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and with the spiritual head of the Ukrainian Orthodox, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, and all the flock entrusted to his care. Every day we lift up our ardent prayers for the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state, for abundant God’s aid to them at this hard and maybe fateful time. Beyond any tiny shade of a doubt, the spirit of hatred and enmity towards everything Russian and Orthodox has been inspired by the devil. Yes, he had managed to commit many atrocities, but we know and firmly believe that he will not have the last word,” said Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Anointing of the Sick SERGEY TROSTYANSKIY The use of oil for healing purposes was well known in Antiquity. Both Jewish and pagan practices of healing are marked by the use of oil, the element which was symbolically associated with joy, gladness, peace, and happiness. In Christian practice, when blessed or accompanied by prayer, oil became a symbol of the Holy Spirit, a mystery of the energy of divine grace, and thus a means of sanctification. The perception of a person as a holistic unity and the assumption that physical sickness, suffering, and death were signs of spiritual not only physical trouble were deeply rooted in the Old Testament tradition. Thus, Genesis described humanity as created to inhabit paradise, to be in perfect communion with God, and to contemplate God. There are no signs of sickness or death associated with paradise. However, the original Fall, the sin committed by Adam and Eve, caused a temporary exile from paradise, a break in communion with God, and, as a consequence, the subjection of humanity to sickness, suffering, and death. For the fathers, the devil stood directly behind this catastrophe, and accordingly this triad of woes is the result of the works of the forces of evil. Moreover, sin, a spiritual disorder, is widely seen among the fathers as the root of physical disorders. Thus, the close, almost causal connection between sin and sickness is clearly affirmed both in the Scriptures themselves and throughout most of patristic commentary on the healings of Jesus. Healing narratives in the Scriptures are viewed and presented as a divine prerogative; the direct result of the work of divine power, and of the forgiveness of sin. Jesus’ ministry adopted healing as an important aspect of his mission, and a symbol (in the form of exorcism) of the advent of the Kingdom of God. Moreover, the Scriptures present Jesus as the ultimate healer of the world, who removes the powers of evil, including sin and sickness, from the world. The apostles’ ministry was also associated with healing. “They expelled many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them” ( Mk. 6.13 ). The Epistle of James provided a theological basis for the sacramental power of anointing of the sick: |
| Metropolitan Tikhon sends greetings to St. Catherine’s Representation Parish on their patronal feast day Source: OCA Photo: OCA On December 7, 2021 His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon sent his greetings to Archpriest Daniel Andrejuk and the faithful of Saint Catherine’s Representation Parish in Moscow in honor of their patronal feast day. In his letter, His Beatitude encouraged the faithful to look to the example of Saint Catherine the Great-Martyr for inspiration to the Christian life. “Although Saint Catherine was endowed with extraordinary gifts of beauty and intelligence,” he said, “she did not cling to these gifts, but offered them back to God, the Giver of every good gift (cf. James 1:17).” His Beatitude concluded his letter exhorting the faithful to “flee every sin and temptation and run toward embrace of the Father of all, the lover of mankind” through the intercessions of Saint Catherine and and strengthened by her prayers. The Very Reverend Daniel Andrejuk St. Catherine the Great Martyr Representation Church Bolshaya Ordynka 60/2 Moscow 119017 RUSSIA Very Reverend Father Daniel and All the Beloved Faithful of Saint Catherine Parish, Christ is in our midst! With joy I extend my archpastoral greetings to you on your parish feast, the feast of Saint Catherine the Great Martyr. What is a great martyr? Did Saint Catherine (and the other great martyrs recognized by the Church) suffer more torments for Christ than the other martyrs? No, all of the martyrs suffered tremendous mental and physical tortures—and, finally, death—for the sake of fidelity to the Gospel and for the greater glory of God. Saint Catherine is a great martyr, rather, because of the special resonance of her witness down through the ages, and because of her powerful intercession for the Christian people over the course of the centuries. People of all times, and we among them, can draw great strength from Saint Catherine’s double renunciation and double offering to Christ. First, although Saint Catherine was endowed with extraordinary gifts of beauty and intelligence, she did not cling to these gifts, but offered them back to God, the Giver of every good gift (cf. James 1:17). She desired nothing other than to offer all her heart, all her soul, all her mind, and all her strength to Jesus Christ her Creator and Savior, the Bridegroom of the Church and of every Christian soul (cf. Mk 12:30). Second, when Saint Catherine was showered with blandishments by her captor, the Emperor Maximian, and promised many things if only she would repudiate Christianity, she put the emperor and all the so-called wisdom of the world to shame. She was ready to suffer and die rather than renounce her Redeemer. Thus, just as she accepted and offered back the true gifts of God, she rejected the false gifts of the world, death, and the devil. |
| Negative Press about Missionaries in the Late 19th–Early 20th Centuries The first slanderer was the devil. The word “devil” itself comes from the Greek word meaning slanderer. The Lord Jesus Christ said of him, When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it (Jn. 8:44). The God-Man, Jesus Christ was once crucified, and his disciples were treated in like manner as their Teacher, especially if they preached their faith. Out of all the twelve apostles, only St. John the Theologian did not die a violent death. If we look at history, we can see that almost all those who spread the Gospels had to endure slander. St. Philaret (Drozdov) notes: “The path of a missionary is not an easy one.” The wise hierarch gave his advice to the missionary to the Altai, Archimandrite Macarius (Glukharev), that he should view the missionary work he has taken up with “a cautious eye. This is an evil age, it does not readily trust pure goodness; it greedily snatches any opportunity for complaint and slander. The sting of mockery, even if it’s unfounded, can sometimes wound and cause harm to the achievements of good endeavors” This advice was given in the early nineteenth century, but we have to say that never was the degree of hatred and slander so strong in Russian history as in the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries. Up until 1905, thanks to the censors, it was very hard if not impossible to slander openly. Therefore, authors took the alternative route of writing literary works which portrayed one or another missionary under the guise of negative characters. Thus, for example, the outstanding head of the Russian Orthodox mission in Jerusalem Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) was jeered at and vilified in the novelette, Sidelocks Pasha and his consorts. Mosaics, cameos, and miniatures from curious excavations in the slums of the Holy Land”. This novelette was published in 1881 in St. Petersburg,and the author hid behind a pseudonym. The reason for the appearance of the novelette, as Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern) considers, was the struggle between the Russian consuls in Jerusalem with the Russian Orthodox Mission. “Taught by our synodal organization to view the Church as something subject to its authority, our bureaucrats dreamed of the mission’s speedy liquidation along with its indefatigable and independent head.” Having exhausted all political efforts to remove the absolutely irreproachable character of Fr. Antonin, they turned to slander. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Arguing Source: Praying in the Rain Archpriest Michael Gillis 02 March 2022 My bedtime reading these days has been the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John. I enjoy reading these letters because they almost always send me to sleep with an edifying thought of practical spiritual wisdom. In letters 540 and 541 the Saints are asked how one should deal with a conflict with a superior. The specific situation is as follows: One of the Fathers of the community is accompanying a Brother on a journey, the Father, who is superior to the Brother, insists on carrying the Brother’s baggage. However, this is “inappropriate” and “without edification.” That is, it is causing a scandal to those who see it. What should this Brother do? St. John replies that he should prostrate himself before the Father and ask that he may carry the baggage. If the Father does not accept this, then the Brother should prostrate again and say that because the Father is carrying the baggage and it is causing a scandal, they can no longer travel together. But if the Father still insists that they travel together and that he carry the baggage, “then,” St. John writes, “do not argue with him; for this [arguing] belongs to the devil.” The fellow writing this letter writes a follow-up letter asking for clarification. He says, “So [you’re saying] that in this case, the argument is worse than the alternative. Therefore, between two evils, one should choose the lesser evil.” St. John replies, “Argumentation after repentance reveals that something is according to the devil, and one should not pursue it.” I’m not sure what “after repentance” refers to. I could refer to after making a prostration—today we call a low bow a ‘metania’, which is the Greek word ‘repentance’. It could refer to after becoming a monk, for sometimes monks refer to the time before they were a monk as time before their repentance. Or it could refer to the repentance of all Christians at baptism and renewed through confession. Whatever St. John meant by “after repentance,” it is clear that he sees the fact that there is argumentation to be evidence “that something is according to the devil.” |
| The great success of these occult ideas is due to the fact that the people who are seeking are spiritually uneducated and yet seem somehow to discover a new world where everything that until then was mysterious and impossible suddenly becomes understandable and attainable. There is nothing to be afraid of and no one before whom to tremble — everything is simple and able to be realized by him who has learned to manipulate nonphysical forces. Curiously enough, the very spirits which operate " in the wings " of contemporary quasi-scientific, occult experiments, are never insulted by the fact that channelers ignore their labors and silence their merits. On the contrary, the spirits willingly hide behind faceless nonphysical forces, since in this manner they can attain their primary goal: enslavement. And they are very successful in this, since their own prince, the devil, is a many faced and deceptive demagogue. To a person with intellectual inquiries he says: " I shall give you supernatural knowledge, " and to a person with mystical tendencies: " I shall open up to you the mysteries of existence. " To the person who thirsts for authority, he promises fame and power; to the person who is seeking worldly happiness, he promises all the blessings of life; and to the unbeliever he shouts: " I don " t exist. I am a fiction! " Therefore, having enticed a person with what he treasures most, the devil takes him further and further from God, until he is dropped into the bottomless pit. Thanks to his ability to adapt himself to the thoughts of a person, the devil has been able to deceive modern man with ancient, occult, fairy tales set in quasi-scientific terminology. Thus, even in our time there has arisen a branch of science, parapsychology, which studies and tries to scientifically explain the ancient practices of shamans and mediums. However, there remains the main question: does there exist a nonphysical, morally impersonal energy, and if so, what is its nature? In order to answer these question, one must take into consideration that any energy or force, either material or spiritual, is intimately related to the source that generates it. Thus for instance, no physical energy or field (electromagnetic or gravitational, for example) exists " by itself " but emanates from definite atomic or subatomic particles. And since these physical particles are impersonal, the forces which emanate from them are also impersonal and therefore are morally neutral. Similarly, spiritual energy and spiritual forces do not exist " on their own " but emanate from spiritual beings. And since the spiritual beings (angels, people, demons) are individuals , the energy emanating from them is, it follows, colored by their moral state — good or bad. Experienced psychics understand this very well and therefore try to guard themselves against moral infection. |
| In faith he is very admirable and devout. For he never communicated with the schismatic Melitians seeing from the start their cunningness and apostasy; nor did he speak in a friendly way with the Manicheans and other similar heretics, but only to admonish them to turn back to piety, leading and commissioning their friendship and dialogue is harmful and risking loss of one " s soul. He similarly despised the Arian heresy and ordered everyone not to approach them nor their evil faith. Finally, when some of the Arians and Manicheans came to question him and realizing their impiety, he sent them away from the mountain, saying that their speech is worse than the poison of the snakes. 4. The dreadful vision of Saint Anthony on the heretics: Dumb beasts around the Holy Altar. It is truly dreadful the vision that Saint Anthony had regarding the presence of the heretics inside Orthodox churches. This vision illustrates and explains graphically the reasons why the Holy Fathers forbid with Synodal canons the entry of the heretics into consecrated places, their participation in services and liturgies, with common prayers and common worshipping. The heretics not accepting the teachings of the Church, Apostles and Saints, are influenced by the demons and their father, the Devil, in the promotion of deluded viewpoints. That is why their teaching is " rather fruitless and absurd and their thinking is not correct, like that of dumb mules Saint Anthony was therefore shaken and frightened, when God allowed him to see in his vision the Arians surrounding the Holy Altar as mules, kicking and defiling it. Such was his sadness and distress, that he began to cry, as saddened and tearful as also many faithful, in seeing the heretic pope entering and defiling the church of Saint George, at Fanar, the very Saint the Vatican abolished. We are certain that if the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops read and learnt of Saint Anthony " s vision, of course assuming as Orthodox they continue to honour and follow the life and teaching of the Saints, they will cease the mutual liturgical hospitalities and visits, the weekly co-prayers and the sending of representatives to the anniversary celebrations. |
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