| The west looks on as corruption and bigotry rule in the " new Ukraine " Vadim Novinsky Two years ago, the west looked at Ukraine with enthusiasm. These days, the sentiments are closer to despair and fatigue. My country has not had the European breakthrough that was promised. Those who came to power in Kiev to the applause of western elites now hope that their international partners will turn a blind eye to the way they run the country. And that’s not what ordinary Ukrainians need. In early September, dressed in military uniform, about 20 young nationalists launched an attack in Kiev against an independent TV channel, setting tires ablaze and throwing a smoke bomb into the building, causing a fire that damaged the first and second floor. One journalist was seriously injured. Those who organised this act of terror remain unpunished. Law enforcement agencies and other government bodies have ignored calls from EU institutions, politicians and human rights groups to carry out a comprehensive and unbiased investigation. After the TV station attack, a man accused of organising the crime boasted about it and threatened another channel, but police say they cannot identify any suspects. What kind of justice can be expected if just before the attack, MPs from Ukraine’s ruling coalition called for the TV channel to be punished for its allegedly “unpatriotic” editorial policy? This is how impunity for bigots paves the way for more violence. Activists throw tires as they block the entrance of the Inter TV channel in Kiev on the 5 September. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images Ukraine’s government relies heavily on continuing western support to stabilise the withering economy and assist the country in its confrontation with Russia. To secure this, the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, consistently boasts of his unequivocal devotion to European democratic values and the rule of law. What’s actually going on in the country makes those affirmations meaningless. |
| Through the Pages of the Theological Works of Archimandrite Justin (Popovi) Today the Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Justin of elije, who was glorified in 2010. (Although he reposed on the Feast of the Annunciation, he is commemorated on the feast day of his patron saint, St. Justin the Philosopher.) In his honor we offer the following study of his life and works, originally published in Russian in 1984. The name of Archimandrite Justin (Popovi +1979), doctor of theology, is held in great renown in the Local Orthodox Churches. Archimandrite Justin was born on April 7, 1894, on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the ancient Serbian city of Vranje to the pious family of a priest, which had given the Serbian Church seven generations of clergy. In Baptism he was given the name Blagoje, in honor of the Feast of the Annunciation. From 1905 to 1914, Blagoje Popovi studied at the Seminary of St. Sava of Serbia in Belgrade. During his years of study, the young Blagoje was especially interested in questions of contemporary literature and philosophy. He paid the greatest attention to the works of Dostoevsky, about whom he later wrote two studies: The Philosophy and Religion of F. M. Dostoevsky and Dostoevsky on Europe and Slavism. The works of the Holy Fathers had a decisive influence on the formation of Archimandrite Justin’s spiritual character. The Holy Fathers were, and remained to the end of his life, his irreplaceable teachers and instructors. He was wholly guided by their teachings. Archimandrite Justin especially loved St. John Chrysostom, to whom he prayed ceaselessly with childlike sincerity: “I feel St. John Chrysostom’s particular, merciful closeness towards me, a sinner,” he wrote, “My soul ascends to him in prayer: enlighten me by thy prayers… grant me to struggle with your struggle…” In 1916, Blagoje Popovi accepted monastic tonsure with the name Justin, in honor of Hieromartyr Justin the Philosopher (+166; celebrated on June 1). Indeed, like him, Archimandrite Justin was a genuine philosopher who internalized the truth of Christianity. He placed humble-mindedness at the foundation of his theology, following the example of St. John Chrysostom, who is known for these remarkable words: “The foundation of our Christian philosophy is humble-mindedness, for without it truth is blind.” This is why Fr. Justin, in his contemplation of God, does not speak about Christ as an ordinary person (or an “historical personage”), but rather as the God-Man, the Savior of the world. Fr. Justin felt that the only authentic theologizing of Christ in the Holy Spirit is the contemplation of God in which mind and heart (thought and feeling) are united in prayer, passing into contemplation and Divine vision. He often said: “Any of my thoughts that arises without being converted into prayer is oppressive.” |
| Turkey Boosts Security for Orthodox Patriarch after ‘Attack Plot’ admin 11 May 2013 May 11, 2013 Turkish police have boosted security around Patriarch Bartholomew I after an alleged plot to assassinate the Orthodox Christian leader, his office said Saturday. A spokesman at the patriarchate in Istanbul said they had been informed that one person had been arrested and that others were being sought. Turkish media said the arrested suspect, identified as Serdar A., allegedly planned to assassinate Bartholomew I on May 29, the 560th anniversary of the Turkish capture of Constantinople, present day Istanbul. “Police have strengthened security at the patriarchate,” said spokesman Father Dositheos Agnathostomatous. “It is doing everything to ensure the security of the patriarchate and the patriarch.” Agnathostomatous said however that Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople, did not take the plot very seriously. “His holiness does not believe that it is something serious,” he said. The development comes as several incidents have sown concerns among Turkey’s Christian minority, which numbers 100,000 people. On May 5, a man fired blanks outside an Armenian church in Istanbul, sowing panic among worshipers celebrating Easter, and a young Armenian was beaten outside another church. On April 28, a Greek Orthodox church was vandalized by a dozen teenagers. The day before, between 30 to 40 stone-throwing people smashed windows at an evangelical church. In recent years, there have been other attacks against Christians in this overwhelmingly Muslim but secular country. In April 2007, three Protestants had their throats slit in the eastern city of Malatya. Five Turkish suspects face life sentences for the crime. An Italian Catholic priest was shot dead in a church in Trabzon, northern Turkey in 2006. In July 2006, a Catholic French cleric was stabbed in Samsun, also in the north. Italian bishop Luigi Padovese, 63, was killed in June 2010, allegedly by his driver, who reportedly suffered from psychological problems. |
| Tweet Нравится Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich: Serbia " s New Chrysostom A biography of Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, published in Belgrade in 1986, bears the title, Novi Zlatoust, A New Chrysostom.... Nearly thirty years earlier, Saint John (Maximovitch), who had been a young instructor at a seminary in Bishop Nikolai's diocese of Zica, had called him " a great saint and Chrysostom of our day [whose] significance for Orthodoxy in our time can be compared only with that of Metropolitan Anthony [Khrapovitsky]. ... They were both universal teachers of the Orthodox Church. " In another encomium, Bishop Nikolai's worthy disciple and preeminent Serbian theologian, Archimandrite Justin Popovic, extolled his teacher as " the thirteenth Apostle, the fifth Evangelist. " Bishop Nikolai was born December 23, the feast of Saint Naum of Ochrid, 1880, the eldest of nine children. His parents, Dragomir and Katarina, were pious peasant farmers in the small village of Lelich in western Serbia. As a child, he often accompanied his mother on the three-mile walk to the Chelije Monastery for services, and it was her precepts and saintly example, as he himself later acknowledged, that laid the foundation for his spiritual development. Hieromonk Nicholai (Velimirovich) Sickly as a baby, Nikola never developed a robust constitution, and failed the physical requirements in his application to military academy. With his superior intellectual abilities, however, he gained ready acceptance to the Seminary of St Sava in Belgrade - even before having finished preparatory school. Upon graduating, in 1905, he was chosen to pursue further study abroad, where he earned doctorates from the University of Berne (1908) and from Oxford (1909). Returning home, he became gravely ill with dysentery. He vowed that if the Lord granted him recovery, he would devote the rest of his life to His service. And so it was that later that year he was tonsured at Rakovica Monastery. That same day he was ordained to the priesthood. He spent the following year, 1910, studying in Russia, in preparation for teaching at the seminary in Belgrade. In addition to teaching courses in philosophy, logic, history, and foreign languages (he became fluent in seven), he produced an anthology of homilies that manifest his gift for being able to express profound thoughts in a way that made them accessible to the common man. |
| Tweet Нравится Saint Patriarch Tikhon - His Missionary Legacy to Orthodox America Fr. Alexey Young Saint Tikhon, 11th Patriarch of Moscow and of All Russia Most of what has been written about St. Patriarch Tikhon since his repose on the Feast of Annunciation in 1925, has centered on the short years of his patriarchate. Although this coincided with the most complex and difficult time in all of Russian Church history, all who take up the pen in his regard agree that he was the " right " man, chosen by God, for that critical hour. The Saint's English language biographer Jane Swan, has written: " It is difficult to assess the greatness of Tikhon....His spiritual growth was far beyond that of the ordinary mortal. " This finds agreement with the opinion of the Saint's contemporary, Prof. Pavel Zaichenko: " in speaking about Bishop Tikhon, I am seized with reverent trepidation This was a giant among Russian Orthodox hierarchs; he was truly worthy of the honor and respect of the entire Christian world.' The key to St. Tikhon's greatness lies in his personality, his character. Prof. Zaichenko recalls: " By nature Bishop Tikhon was kind, responsive and unusually sensitive. In his character he was quiet, merciful, good-natured and always tried to preserve in himself serenity, a serenity which he transmitted to the souls of all those around him. " Elsewhere it has been said that " he had a strong sense of duty and responsibility...moreover, he was possessed of an iron like self-possession and circumspection'' These were the qualities on which he built his fruitful activity as a missionary hierarch in North America. It was during these seven years, in the crucible of a pluralistic spiritual wilderness, that he refined and honed his insights into human nature and arch-pastorship. This period of Patriarch Tikhon's life and personal development has received little attention. Yet, his " years in America were not only extremely productive, as far as successful administration of his diocese was concerned, but for Tikhon personally, they were years of useful experience which served him well later on. Later in life, he mentioned the fact that his American sojourn not only widened his ecclesiastical horizon but also his political outlook...[since he] was thrust into a completely new environment including freedom of religion, no censorship, [and] the hurrying business-like American bustle...'' |
| Next year will be the 85th anniversary 1 of the repose of the great teacher of piety and chastity of the Far East, His Eminence Archbishop Simon of Peking and China, Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Peking. The first bishop appointed to head the Peking Mission was St. Innokenty of Pereyaslavl, later of Irkutsk, revered in Siberia as a miracle-worker, who never actually arrived in Peking, for the decree addressed to the Chinese government the missionary was carelessly named “Grand Lord,” which was the title of the Chinese Emperor. For this reason, the bishop of Christ was not allowed within the borders of China. Before the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, when the Mission was destroyed by rebels, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission was headed by archimandrites. In 1902, Archimandrite Innokenty (Figurovsky) was elevated to the rank of bishop to the diocese of Pereyaslavl, in honor of the first bishop selected to head the Peking Mission. In 1918, the mission was renamed the Diocese of Peking and China. Metropolitan Innokenty’s successor was Bishop Simon (Vinogradov). Bishop Simon, born Sergei, came from a family of clerics. From his youth he harbored love for a life of solitude, asceticism, and service to the Holy Church. Graduating from Vladimir Seminary, he joined the Kazan Theological Academy. Its rector at the time was Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky), future founder of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and its first Primate. This is what Metropolitan Anthony wrote in his memoirs on the missionary hierarch: “His Eminence Archbishop Simon was known to me as a student in Kazan Academy, where he studied from 1898 to 1902. His friends all loved him for his humility and meekness, a character he preserved until his death. He was reared from childhood in the pious family of his father, the senior priest of the cathedral in Vladimir, Protopriest Vinogradov. Vladyka Simon, with his soft manner, served in the harsh foreign circumstances, and died at 58, his life cut short through hard labors in studying the Chinese language and in preaching the faith in Christ; he learned the tongue fairly quickly, but quicker to come were the respect and love he garnered from both Russians and local Chinese population. I feel it my duty to declare that I could never get used to the thought of His Grace Simon as an older man, for thanks to his crystal-pure soul I saw him until the very end as a young monk and student. When he was a hierodeacon, his Academy friends called him “mama”, to emphasize his caring, kind attitude towards them all” (from Polnoje sobranije sochinenii Blazhennejshego mitropolita Kievskogo I Galitskogo Antonija [The Complete Works of His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony of Kiev and Galicia]). |
| Religious fanatics in Tajikistan killed man dressed as Santa Claus/Православие.Ru Religious fanatics in Tajikistan killed man dressed as Santa Claus Dushanbe, January 4, 2012 A young man dressed as Santa Claus has been killed in a religious attack in Dushanbe, a high-placed source in Tajikistan's Interior Ministry told Interfax. The killing of Parviz Davlatbekov, 24, has been officially recognized, but religious motives have not been acknowledged. " The young man wanted to congratulate his relatives and dressed up as Santa Claus. He was attacked by a crowd of about 30 young men when he approached his apartment building, and they stabbed him, shouting out: " Tu Kofiri! " (Infidel!) The man died in hospital of the sustained stab wounds, " the source said. Later the Tajik police have detained three suspected murderers - third-years students of Tajik National University Sharif Davlatov, Farrukh Samiyev and Firus Nazrulloyev. Tajik social networks link the murder with the fact that several days before New Year head of the Council of Ulamas of Tajikistan Saidmukarram Abdukodirzoda told journalists that decorating the Christmas tree, dancing and playing around was alien to Tajik culture and contradicted the laws of Islam. But New Year's holidays are observed officially in Tajikistan. New Year's trees are decorated on squares and New Year's parties are held at schools and child-care centers with Santa Claus participating. President Emomali Rahmon traditionally conveys New Year's greetings to the nation several hours before midnight. Meanwhile, experts note growing religious influence in Tajikistan. Disputes flare up in the press each December, whether Tajiks should see the New Year in as Christians do. Interfax - Religion 6 января 2012 г. ... Предыдущий Следующий Комментарии Войдите через FaceBook ВКонтакте Яндекс Mail.Ru Google или введите свои данные: © 1999-2015 Православие.Ru При перепечатке ссылка на Православие.Ru обязательна Контактная информация Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Romania’s first Metropolitan-Primate Nifon Rusaila was remembered as ‘a man who did a lot of good,’ during a memorial service held Tuesday at Radu Voda Monastery in Bucharest marking the 145 th anniversary of the Metropolitan’s repose. ‘Metropolitan Nifon Rusaila was a man who did a lot of good. He fulfilled this commandment of helping others,’ said the Assistant Bishop Timotei of Prahova describing the philanthropic actions of the first Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. “From the Metropolis’ incomes, but also from his salary, he helped many young people. He founded the Seminary ‹Nifon the Metropolitan›, the second seminary in Bucharest, providing with the necessary study materials for the young people at this school.” “Many young people who became ministers of the Church, some of them even hierarchs, but also important people in Bucharest and in Romania would remember the benefactions received from Metropolitan Nifon. And the scholarships he offered,” noted the assistant bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest in his memorial speech. Nifon Rusaila is known as the Metropolitan who took part in the Union of the Romanian Principalities, the first Chairman of the Romanian Senate or the first primate Metropolitan of Romania. Metropolitan Nifon Rusil reposed in the Lord on May 5, 1875. The date of his repose was prophesied by Saint Callinicus of Cernica seven years before. The metropolitan is buried in the cemetery of Cernica Monastery. 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. 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. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| Russian State Duma wants to change the law following the registration of a same-sex “marriage” in St. Petersburg Moscow, November 24, 2014 Early in November 2014 a “marriage” between two women was registered in St. Petersburg. According to the documents, this was a heterosexual couple: a man and a woman. However, the “man” is currently in the process of “sex reassignment” and can be called a “transgender woman”. The “newlyweds” came to the registry office in wedding dress, reports Izvestiya . Russian State Duma deputies are intending to insert amendments that ban the registration of same-sex “marriages”. The State Duma deputy and chairman of the Rodina (“Motherland”) Party, Alexei Zhuravlev, has already prepared amendments to “the Acts of Civil Status Law”. The changes will relate to the information provided in applications by those desiring to enter into a marriage. The Member of Parliament believes that applicants should indicate their sex along with their surname, first name, patronymic, date and place of birth. Furthermore, A. Zhuravlev is proposing that registrars (the heads of registry offices) be authorized to adjourn performing a marriage for up to a month, if the behavior at least of one person desiring to marry expresses “disrespect for society and is an insult to human dignity and social ethics.” At the same time, as the Member of Parliament states, the bill does not provide for the introduction of any changes to the usual procedure for the State registration of marriages. Today, according to Russian legislation, the sex of those getting married is not indicated in the application for registration. In Alexei Zhuravlev’s view, the introduction of this questionnaire item will enable registry office workers to verify the personal particulars, and if a citizen who thinks he is a woman (but who is a man according to his passport) indicates that he is a woman, it will be a cause for refusal of registration. Also if a man who indicated in the application that he is a man comes in a woman’s dress to the ceremony, this will be a cause for refusal of registration. “Marriage is a sacrament. Even if a person is not religious, nobody will deny that it is a serious step which should be made only once in one’s life. This is an important moment in the life of any person. If people do not realize this at a young age, then we should put them right legally,” A. Zhuravlev said. The administration of registry offices in Moscow did not comment on the deputy’s initiative, stating that it would familiarize itself with the proposal once the bill has been introduced into the lower chamber of the Parliament. 2 декабря 2014 г. Смотри также Комментарии Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Photo: ipn.ge His Holiness Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia II of Georgia became the Godfather to another 721 children on Sunday, July 26, reports Interpress News . Since January 2008, His Holiness Catholics-Patriarch Ilia II has been holding several mass Baptism ceremonies a year, in which he personally becomes Godfather to the third and later children of married Orthodox couples. The Baptisms are part of his initiative to improve the dire post-Soviet demographic situation in Georgia. Patriarch Ilia is the most trusted and beloved man in the nation, and families are overjoyed to spiritually unite their children to him. Sunday’s service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi was the 63rd such mass Baptism. The Patriarch now has 41,630 Godchildren. The service was held in the courtyard of the cathedral due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Photo: 1tv.ge Following the service, His Holiness Patriarch Ilia addressed the congregation with a sermon and blessed all his new Godchildren. “I congratulate you, my Godchildren, today. May God bless you. May the Lord bless your families, your parents, your sisters and brothers, and all of Georgia,” the Patriarch said. “The 41,000 Godchildren of the Patriarch are a great power for our people and country, and for each other” Fr. Shalva Kekelia commented to 1tv.ge . “When these children meet each other, they may not have many of the problems that we face in the country today, even on the part of young people—controversy, misunderstanding. The fact that they are the Godchildren of the Patriarch may also save these young people from confrontation. I think these young people will sow a lot of love in each other,” Fr. Shalva added. 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. 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. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
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