This is posted on Fr. Mark Gilstrap's website:
[http://www.stjamesok.org/]
Please support St John of Kronstadt Press and Fr Gregory Williams whose publications are the target of a boycott by the very people who have benefited from his efforts for decades - all because he did not go along with union with the MP. His efforts are being stolen and reproduced electronically and by xerox (without acknowledgement) by unscrupulous clergy.
Nov 8, 2009
Nov 7, 2009
Stickies
√ check out this friendly blog: Journey To 0rthodoxy
√ Interesting page from Daily Courier. Reader Daniel sends this convenient link to the machine translation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://daily-courier.livejournal.com/&ei=pIP0SoSnIsqm8AbigqnzCQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://daily-courier.livejournal.com%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX
√ Interesting page from Daily Courier. Reader Daniel sends this convenient link to the machine translation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://daily-courier.livejournal.com/&ei=pIP0SoSnIsqm8AbigqnzCQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://daily-courier.livejournal.com%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX
Nov 1, 2009
Diocesan Conference Discusses R-Splits
Excerpt From the
Minutes of the Diocesan Conference
of the Eastern-American and Canadian Dioceses
of the ROCA North American Administrative District
October 26\13, 2009
... 3. Metropolitan Agafangel’s views on the third item were heard. He underlined the necessity of finding a way to unite the “fragments,” while staying the traditional course of the ROCA.
Archpriest Oleg Mironov expressed the view that direct contact should be established between the episcopates of the ROCA and the “fragments.”
B. Joseph said he believes that the “fragments” resulted from the planned and coordinated actions of hidden elements of ROCA’s enemies, and because of this, as much ekonomia as necessary should be used when dealing with the “fragments.”
Fr. Victor Dobroff said uniting the “fragments” of the once-whole Church Abroad, to include the RTOC, is a very important task for the ROCA Synod, though it must remain vigilant to not lose its canonicity.
Archpriest Vsevolod Dutikow supported Fr. Victor’s opinion completely.
Evgeniy Vernikovskiy said he does not understand all the nuances of matters relating to the canons, but that it [is] still clear to him which [is] the real ROCA.
Metropolitan Agafangel thanked everyone for their opinions regarding the unification of the “fragments,” which will be discussed further on the Synod session to follow. ...
Minutes of the Diocesan Conference
of the Eastern-American and Canadian Dioceses
of the ROCA North American Administrative District
October 26\13, 2009
... 3. Metropolitan Agafangel’s views on the third item were heard. He underlined the necessity of finding a way to unite the “fragments,” while staying the traditional course of the ROCA.
Archpriest Oleg Mironov expressed the view that direct contact should be established between the episcopates of the ROCA and the “fragments.”
B. Joseph said he believes that the “fragments” resulted from the planned and coordinated actions of hidden elements of ROCA’s enemies, and because of this, as much ekonomia as necessary should be used when dealing with the “fragments.”
Fr. Victor Dobroff said uniting the “fragments” of the once-whole Church Abroad, to include the RTOC, is a very important task for the ROCA Synod, though it must remain vigilant to not lose its canonicity.
Archpriest Vsevolod Dutikow supported Fr. Victor’s opinion completely.
Evgeniy Vernikovskiy said he does not understand all the nuances of matters relating to the canons, but that it [is] still clear to him which [is] the real ROCA.
Metropolitan Agafangel thanked everyone for their opinions regarding the unification of the “fragments,” which will be discussed further on the Synod session to follow. ...
Oct 30, 2009
Concerning Signs of the Church
From: magapia
To: orthodox-goc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:25 AM
Subject: [orthodox-goc] Re: ROCA on situation in Russia for those outside the MP
--- In orthodox-goc@yahoogroups.com, "magapia" wrote:
>
> Has also come to my attention that Metropolitan Agafangel and his
> followers have been increasingly harrassed in Ukraine. I've got someone
> working on a translation of an incident that recently took place there
> involving an MP priest intimidating a young altar server who goes to one
> of our churches.
Just received the translation on the harrassment of ROCA clergy/laity in Ukraine below. m. A.
Concerning Signs of the Church
On Tuesday morning, 13 October, our acolyte in the Zhitomir parish, the servant of God Sviatoslav Vitol'dovich Gansky, decided to travel to the city of Novograd-Volynsky. He got a ride in a passing car; it turned out that behind the wheel was a priest of the Moscow Patriarchate, Fr. Sergei. Along the way, Slavik told Batiushka that he was an altar-server in a parish of the Russian Church Abroad. Instead of going to Novograd-Volynsky, Batiushka took him to a local police station, where together with a policeman, he began to demand from him a renunciation of our Church, threatening him that they will open a criminal case and imprison him. He refused. Seeing his intractability, Fr. Sergei took him to his monastery – Saint George's – in the village of Gorodnitsa. There, attempts to persuade him continued with the help of lavish and refined refreshments and promises on the one hand, and calumny and defamation directed at our Church on the other hand. Inasmuch as Sviatoslav did not want to renounce our Church, they locked him up and forbade him to leave the environs of the monastery. In response to a telephone call from his mother, Fr. Sergei insulted her and threatened her with various unpleasantnesses. Only after the rector of our parish, Fr. Alexander Leleka, appealed to the office of the public prosecutor, on Wednesday, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, did they free Slavik from that "holy" place.
The question to people who know: Is there not a corpus delicti in the actions of Fr. Sergei? There is something in his actions not at all like the conduct of normal people.
Also, not long ago, the police came to our priest in the Khmel'nitsky province, Fr. Pankraty, and said that a letter from the MP had been received by them, in which it was written that the Church Abroad had united with the Moscow Patriarchate, but that he, inasmuch as he had not united, was a rogue and not a representative of the ROCA. Fr. Pankraty had to send a copy of the certificate of our registration so that he could prove that he exists legally.
There is no cause to doubt that these "swallows" fly to us from the MP Patriarch Kirill. He has enormous experience in the struggle with our Church, beginning with the seizure of our property in Ottawa and in the Holy Land, and ending with the intrigues that let to the split in the ROCA.
But God helps us.
(reported by Metropolitan Agafangel, ROCA)
To: orthodox-goc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:25 AM
Subject: [orthodox-goc] Re: ROCA on situation in Russia for those outside the MP
--- In orthodox-goc@yahoogroups.com, "magapia"
>
> Has also come to my attention that Metropolitan Agafangel and his
> followers have been increasingly harrassed in Ukraine. I've got someone
> working on a translation of an incident that recently took place there
> involving an MP priest intimidating a young altar server who goes to one
> of our churches.
Just received the translation on the harrassment of ROCA clergy/laity in Ukraine below. m. A.
Concerning Signs of the Church
On Tuesday morning, 13 October, our acolyte in the Zhitomir parish, the servant of God Sviatoslav Vitol'dovich Gansky, decided to travel to the city of Novograd-Volynsky. He got a ride in a passing car; it turned out that behind the wheel was a priest of the Moscow Patriarchate, Fr. Sergei. Along the way, Slavik told Batiushka that he was an altar-server in a parish of the Russian Church Abroad. Instead of going to Novograd-Volynsky, Batiushka took him to a local police station, where together with a policeman, he began to demand from him a renunciation of our Church, threatening him that they will open a criminal case and imprison him. He refused. Seeing his intractability, Fr. Sergei took him to his monastery – Saint George's – in the village of Gorodnitsa. There, attempts to persuade him continued with the help of lavish and refined refreshments and promises on the one hand, and calumny and defamation directed at our Church on the other hand. Inasmuch as Sviatoslav did not want to renounce our Church, they locked him up and forbade him to leave the environs of the monastery. In response to a telephone call from his mother, Fr. Sergei insulted her and threatened her with various unpleasantnesses. Only after the rector of our parish, Fr. Alexander Leleka, appealed to the office of the public prosecutor, on Wednesday, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, did they free Slavik from that "holy" place.
The question to people who know: Is there not a corpus delicti in the actions of Fr. Sergei? There is something in his actions not at all like the conduct of normal people.
Also, not long ago, the police came to our priest in the Khmel'nitsky province, Fr. Pankraty, and said that a letter from the MP had been received by them, in which it was written that the Church Abroad had united with the Moscow Patriarchate, but that he, inasmuch as he had not united, was a rogue and not a representative of the ROCA. Fr. Pankraty had to send a copy of the certificate of our registration so that he could prove that he exists legally.
There is no cause to doubt that these "swallows" fly to us from the MP Patriarch Kirill. He has enormous experience in the struggle with our Church, beginning with the seizure of our property in Ottawa and in the Holy Land, and ending with the intrigues that let to the split in the ROCA.
But God helps us.
(reported by Metropolitan Agafangel, ROCA)
Oct 29, 2009
Our Synod Calls Us To Pray
Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Theotokos and all the saints,
keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences
of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism,
and give all of us the strength to endure
the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ.
Amen.
Appeal ∞ Synod of Bishops
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
October 15/28, 2009
The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad expresses its concern over the resumption of persecution of the faithful in the Russian Federation. Those persecuted by the administration the most, are those who do not support the newly-elected MP Patriarch, who cooperated closely with the atheistic communist regime in the USSR and continues to be “imbedded in the government” of the current Russian Federation. We call the unrepentant cooperation with the enemies of the church “sergianism,” and believe that the policy of conscious cooperation of the faithful with an atheistic government, as described in the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius in 1927, places them outside of the Orthodox Church and the pursuit of this course of action to be destructive and political, but not religious. We do not consider Patriarch Kirill to be the lawful, canonical Primate of the entire Russian Orthodox Church, just as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad never recognized any of the patriarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate, beginning with Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodskiy). We also do not consider it permissible for a Church, founded by Christ, to immerse itself in globalism and ecumenism, and lead mankind, in our opinion, to complete ruin and catastrophe on a worldwide scale. The resumption of persecution of the faithful in the Russian Federation is one of the signs of the return of this government to the totalitarian period of the USSR and is vivid proof of the lack of repentance of a large part of the people of the ruinous actions of the global communist system. At the same time, we know that the administration of the Moscow Patriarchate is the sole instigator of the persecution of thousands of Orthodox Christians, which, unfortunately, causes this administration to resemble an apocalyptical church-harlot.
We call upon our faithful flock to pray fervently to our Lord, Jesus Christ, His Immaculate Mother and all the saints, so that they may keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism, and give all of us the strength to endure the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ.
http://www.rocor.us/news/October%2009/
Synod%20of%20Bishops%20Appeal%2028%20OCT%2009%20-%20E.pdf
keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences
of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism,
and give all of us the strength to endure
the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ.
Amen.
Appeal ∞ Synod of Bishops
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
October 15/28, 2009
The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad expresses its concern over the resumption of persecution of the faithful in the Russian Federation. Those persecuted by the administration the most, are those who do not support the newly-elected MP Patriarch, who cooperated closely with the atheistic communist regime in the USSR and continues to be “imbedded in the government” of the current Russian Federation. We call the unrepentant cooperation with the enemies of the church “sergianism,” and believe that the policy of conscious cooperation of the faithful with an atheistic government, as described in the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius in 1927, places them outside of the Orthodox Church and the pursuit of this course of action to be destructive and political, but not religious. We do not consider Patriarch Kirill to be the lawful, canonical Primate of the entire Russian Orthodox Church, just as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad never recognized any of the patriarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate, beginning with Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodskiy). We also do not consider it permissible for a Church, founded by Christ, to immerse itself in globalism and ecumenism, and lead mankind, in our opinion, to complete ruin and catastrophe on a worldwide scale. The resumption of persecution of the faithful in the Russian Federation is one of the signs of the return of this government to the totalitarian period of the USSR and is vivid proof of the lack of repentance of a large part of the people of the ruinous actions of the global communist system. At the same time, we know that the administration of the Moscow Patriarchate is the sole instigator of the persecution of thousands of Orthodox Christians, which, unfortunately, causes this administration to resemble an apocalyptical church-harlot.
We call upon our faithful flock to pray fervently to our Lord, Jesus Christ, His Immaculate Mother and all the saints, so that they may keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism, and give all of us the strength to endure the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ.
http://www.rocor.us/news/October%2009/
Synod%20of%20Bishops%20Appeal%2028%20OCT%2009%20-%20E.pdf
Time for a wake-up and awareness
From: Tony Skevas
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 8:33 PM
Subject: Time for a wake-up and awareness
October 27, 2009
> For anyone who doubts that we are living in apocalyptic times, it is
> suggested that he or she checks the following articles and video clips.
> It is only a small sample of the prevailing reality that is quietly taking
> place. Like a duck that is moving gracefully in a pond while its feet are
> puddling furiously, the modern church is projecting an image of piety and
> adherence to patristic teachings while working methodically behind the
> scenes and orchestrating its plans for a union with heretics.
>
> The Moscow Patriarchate has been corrupted to the core by its Atheist
> creators and together with the rest of the churches of world Orthodoxy
> they have slowly been drowned by the heresy of Ecumenism. Invented and
> aided by the masons, Ecumenism has been forcibly introduced into the
> Orthodox Church and since then it has caught on like a wildfire which has
> burned everything in its way. Since its inception, the dialoque with
> heretics has not resulted in any of them renouncing any of their ill
> conceived positions. To the contrary, this dialoque has infected and
> corrupted the official "Orthodox Church" which has steadily retreated and
> capitulated. Saint Paul clearly said that after the first and second
> attempt to bring a heretic to the Truth, then abandon him, but apparently
> Saint Paul is no longer credible to the eyes of World Orthodoxy just like
> the so many other saints whose statements, positions and struggles against
> heresies are being ignored and discarded in the frenzy to join the easy
> earthly path of the heretics.
>
> This catastrophy has not spared even the up-to-recently conservative
> Cyprus. The new calendar church of Cyprus has been steadily drifting in
> the wrong direction into the hands of Ecumenism. The present so called
> "Hierarchs", or more appropriately Trojan Horses, of the new calendar
> church are now more like pawns of the pope than pillars of Orthodoxy.
> They say one thing and do another. First, as soon as he got enthroned,
> Chrysostomos rushed to the pope to pledge his allegiance. Then he
> injected himself between the pope and the Moscow "patriarch" by
> volunteering to mediate to bring the pope together with Alexei. Now he is
> sponsoring ecumenistic events. How about doing something that the
> Orthodox are supposed to be doing such as taking some of the millions of
> the Archdiocese (the archdiocese is quite a sizable diversified
> corporation in Cyprus) and helping some of the less fortunate or declare a
> campaign against the moral cesspool of present day Cyprus or stand up for
> the principles of the Orthodox Faith or rally the people to pray for God's
> mercy .... or....or. With Orthodox Hierarchs like these who needs the
> uniates and the heretics? So when I hear that Cypriots took their anger
> to the streets for their sell out from their Hierarchy, I could not think
> of a more appropriate parallel than when Metaxakis hijacked the will of the
> Orthodox and unilaterally issued the Encyclical of 1920 by calling
> heretics "fellow heirs of the Grace of God". When Metaxakis introduced
> his innovations, the Greeks of Constantinople were outraged and because
> they showed it physically, they forced that traitor to pack up from
> Constantinople at night in order to save his skin.
>
> It is time for the wheat to separate from the chaff. It is time for all
> those who give credibility to the modern renovationist church by
> supporting it with their attendance and their money to realize that they
> have to make a decision: Either they remain in it and they become
> subjects to the pope or they raise their cross and stand up for what they
> believe. Protest from within is in vain; the only meaningful protest
> would be to abandon the heretical bishops and join the True Orthodox
> Church. One thing is for sure: They cannot continue claiming to be
> Orthodox Christians. At best, now they can call themselves Uniates
> because that is exactly what Uniates do: They pretend to be Orthodox by
> projecting such a facade but in substance they follow the heretical pope
> which means they are outside the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
> As a consequence, the sacraments they receive are devoid of salvific
> Grace. Who gave the right to the Constantinopolitan patriarch, who is only
> first among equals, to unilaterally alter the Church calendar or
> unilaterally lift the anathema against the pope, acting as if he is a
> monarch? Such behavior is classic Latin in origin emulating the pope's
> doctrine that only he is supreme and all other bishops are subordinate to
> him. In the Orthodox Church the supreme leader is Christ and no one
> Bishop is above any other. In the Orthodox Church it is synods that
> decide such issues, not one self appointed autocrat. What has changed
> from 1054 when the Latins were excommunicated because of all their
> innovations and alterations to the Orthodox Faith till now to make them
> worthy to the point where the so called Patriarch of Constantinople
> accepts the heretical pope as first Hierarch and subjects himself (and by
> extension the world Orthodoxy) to a man who is outside the Church? This
> is what has changed:
>
> 1) The deviations, innovations and alteration to the True Fath by the
> Catholics and all the myriad of other heretics has accelerated and
> multiplied since then.
> 2) The tenacity, steadfastness and adherence to unadulterated Orthodoxy of
> the bishops of World Orthodoxy has vanished and they now stand as empty
> shells, devoid of substance and the Grace of the Holy Spirit, parroting
> sermons of love and care for the fellow human being to justify their
> apostasy from the fundamentals of the Orthodox Church. As modern day
> Pharisees, they love to polish their images but have no interest for what
> they claim they stand for and as Christ himself said, they are like graves
> beautiful outside but stinking inside.
> As a result, we have the disaster that is shaping in front of us these
> days.
>
> May the Lord strengthen all those who are lukewarm in their hearts but
> conscientious of the apostasy that is taking place, to find the strength
> to abandon their heretical bishops and priests and join the True Orthodox
> Church which never deviated from the Truth despite the relentless
> persecutions and the plethora of tribulations due to the human failures of
> its Hierarchs.
>
> May the Lord strengthen all the pious Orthodox Christians during these
> times of persecution of the True Faith and to grant courage to defend our
> Faith till the end of our lives and not to succumb to the papists and
> their heretical deceptions.
>
> May the Lord enlighten the Bishops who are now embracing the World Council
> of Churches to recognize their faults, turn them away from ecumenism and
> cast them out of the synagogue of heretics.
>
> May an army of Saints and Angels come to the aid of the Hierarchs and
> priests of the True Orthodox Church who fight the good fight, who refuse
> to obey the masters of the new world order and who refuse to sell Christ
> for self accommodation.
>
>How and when the Antichrist will come, no one can say. And it is unknown
> how many shall be able to recognize him when he comes, because he will
> come as a benefactor of humanity. For the present, one thing can be said
> with certainty: all these movements towards union among nations and
> churches, all these compromises, all this uniformity of humanity gradually
> produced under the steamroller of technological culture are paving the way
> for the coming of the Antichrist. This development of humanity, according
> to the criteria of the world, is wonderful. But according to Christian
> criteria, it is a development towards destruction. Death will find the
> world at the height of its glory, at the height of self-conceit, at the
> summit of the tower of Babel , when man will be at the zenith of his very
> old attempt to become god by his own powers, apart from God. When the Son
> of man comes, he shall find man in the full glory of his satanic mania.
>
> Tony Skevas
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=48360&cat_id=1
http://news-nftu.blogspot.com/2009/10/cyprus-new-calendar-archbishop-bans.html
http://mymartyrdom.com/orthomason.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOGQVvEU8vY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlYrSeHneI&feature=youtube_gdata
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10986#
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2880038.ece#
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19692094
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 8:33 PM
Subject: Time for a wake-up and awareness
October 27, 2009
> For anyone who doubts that we are living in apocalyptic times, it is
> suggested that he or she checks the following articles and video clips.
> It is only a small sample of the prevailing reality that is quietly taking
> place. Like a duck that is moving gracefully in a pond while its feet are
> puddling furiously, the modern church is projecting an image of piety and
> adherence to patristic teachings while working methodically behind the
> scenes and orchestrating its plans for a union with heretics.
>
> The Moscow Patriarchate has been corrupted to the core by its Atheist
> creators and together with the rest of the churches of world Orthodoxy
> they have slowly been drowned by the heresy of Ecumenism. Invented and
> aided by the masons, Ecumenism has been forcibly introduced into the
> Orthodox Church and since then it has caught on like a wildfire which has
> burned everything in its way. Since its inception, the dialoque with
> heretics has not resulted in any of them renouncing any of their ill
> conceived positions. To the contrary, this dialoque has infected and
> corrupted the official "Orthodox Church" which has steadily retreated and
> capitulated. Saint Paul clearly said that after the first and second
> attempt to bring a heretic to the Truth, then abandon him, but apparently
> Saint Paul is no longer credible to the eyes of World Orthodoxy just like
> the so many other saints whose statements, positions and struggles against
> heresies are being ignored and discarded in the frenzy to join the easy
> earthly path of the heretics.
>
> This catastrophy has not spared even the up-to-recently conservative
> Cyprus. The new calendar church of Cyprus has been steadily drifting in
> the wrong direction into the hands of Ecumenism. The present so called
> "Hierarchs", or more appropriately Trojan Horses, of the new calendar
> church are now more like pawns of the pope than pillars of Orthodoxy.
> They say one thing and do another. First, as soon as he got enthroned,
> Chrysostomos rushed to the pope to pledge his allegiance. Then he
> injected himself between the pope and the Moscow "patriarch" by
> volunteering to mediate to bring the pope together with Alexei. Now he is
> sponsoring ecumenistic events. How about doing something that the
> Orthodox are supposed to be doing such as taking some of the millions of
> the Archdiocese (the archdiocese is quite a sizable diversified
> corporation in Cyprus) and helping some of the less fortunate or declare a
> campaign against the moral cesspool of present day Cyprus or stand up for
> the principles of the Orthodox Faith or rally the people to pray for God's
> mercy .... or....or. With Orthodox Hierarchs like these who needs the
> uniates and the heretics? So when I hear that Cypriots took their anger
> to the streets for their sell out from their Hierarchy, I could not think
> of a more appropriate parallel than when Metaxakis hijacked the will of the
> Orthodox and unilaterally issued the Encyclical of 1920 by calling
> heretics "fellow heirs of the Grace of God". When Metaxakis introduced
> his innovations, the Greeks of Constantinople were outraged and because
> they showed it physically, they forced that traitor to pack up from
> Constantinople at night in order to save his skin.
>
> It is time for the wheat to separate from the chaff. It is time for all
> those who give credibility to the modern renovationist church by
> supporting it with their attendance and their money to realize that they
> have to make a decision: Either they remain in it and they become
> subjects to the pope or they raise their cross and stand up for what they
> believe. Protest from within is in vain; the only meaningful protest
> would be to abandon the heretical bishops and join the True Orthodox
> Church. One thing is for sure: They cannot continue claiming to be
> Orthodox Christians. At best, now they can call themselves Uniates
> because that is exactly what Uniates do: They pretend to be Orthodox by
> projecting such a facade but in substance they follow the heretical pope
> which means they are outside the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
> As a consequence, the sacraments they receive are devoid of salvific
> Grace. Who gave the right to the Constantinopolitan patriarch, who is only
> first among equals, to unilaterally alter the Church calendar or
> unilaterally lift the anathema against the pope, acting as if he is a
> monarch? Such behavior is classic Latin in origin emulating the pope's
> doctrine that only he is supreme and all other bishops are subordinate to
> him. In the Orthodox Church the supreme leader is Christ and no one
> Bishop is above any other. In the Orthodox Church it is synods that
> decide such issues, not one self appointed autocrat. What has changed
> from 1054 when the Latins were excommunicated because of all their
> innovations and alterations to the Orthodox Faith till now to make them
> worthy to the point where the so called Patriarch of Constantinople
> accepts the heretical pope as first Hierarch and subjects himself (and by
> extension the world Orthodoxy) to a man who is outside the Church? This
> is what has changed:
>
> 1) The deviations, innovations and alteration to the True Fath by the
> Catholics and all the myriad of other heretics has accelerated and
> multiplied since then.
> 2) The tenacity, steadfastness and adherence to unadulterated Orthodoxy of
> the bishops of World Orthodoxy has vanished and they now stand as empty
> shells, devoid of substance and the Grace of the Holy Spirit, parroting
> sermons of love and care for the fellow human being to justify their
> apostasy from the fundamentals of the Orthodox Church. As modern day
> Pharisees, they love to polish their images but have no interest for what
> they claim they stand for and as Christ himself said, they are like graves
> beautiful outside but stinking inside.
> As a result, we have the disaster that is shaping in front of us these
> days.
>
> May the Lord strengthen all those who are lukewarm in their hearts but
> conscientious of the apostasy that is taking place, to find the strength
> to abandon their heretical bishops and priests and join the True Orthodox
> Church which never deviated from the Truth despite the relentless
> persecutions and the plethora of tribulations due to the human failures of
> its Hierarchs.
>
> May the Lord strengthen all the pious Orthodox Christians during these
> times of persecution of the True Faith and to grant courage to defend our
> Faith till the end of our lives and not to succumb to the papists and
> their heretical deceptions.
>
> May the Lord enlighten the Bishops who are now embracing the World Council
> of Churches to recognize their faults, turn them away from ecumenism and
> cast them out of the synagogue of heretics.
>
> May an army of Saints and Angels come to the aid of the Hierarchs and
> priests of the True Orthodox Church who fight the good fight, who refuse
> to obey the masters of the new world order and who refuse to sell Christ
> for self accommodation.
>
>How and when the Antichrist will come, no one can say. And it is unknown
> how many shall be able to recognize him when he comes, because he will
> come as a benefactor of humanity. For the present, one thing can be said
> with certainty: all these movements towards union among nations and
> churches, all these compromises, all this uniformity of humanity gradually
> produced under the steamroller of technological culture are paving the way
> for the coming of the Antichrist. This development of humanity, according
> to the criteria of the world, is wonderful. But according to Christian
> criteria, it is a development towards destruction. Death will find the
> world at the height of its glory, at the height of self-conceit, at the
> summit of the tower of Babel , when man will be at the zenith of his very
> old attempt to become god by his own powers, apart from God. When the Son
> of man comes, he shall find man in the full glory of his satanic mania.
>
> Tony Skevas
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=48360&cat_id=1
http://news-nftu.blogspot.com/2009/10/cyprus-new-calendar-archbishop-bans.html
http://mymartyrdom.com/orthomason.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOGQVvEU8vY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlYrSeHneI&feature=youtube_gdata
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10986#
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2880038.ece#
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19692094
The Church in the Home
The Holy Apostle Paul constantly refers to the "Church which is in the House "of various persons. No apostle, ever held services in a church in his entire life. All services were held in homes, every one of countless thousands. Not one single church ever existed in Apostolic Times.
Well, what did they do on Sundays? We know exactly what they did, word for word and when and how. St. Justin Martyr, a first century Palestinian from Nablus, who was almost certainly the best educated Christian in his time, wrote two letters to two Emperors, explaining exactly what Christians believed and what they did, and when, and why (they were accused of Cannibalism). Everyone should have a copy of the History of the Church by Eusebius (Written in 325 when he was in his late 80’s and was Bishop of the Capital of Palestine) and read these and other early Christian Documents, such as the Martyrdom of Polycarp.
Christians never went to church on Sundays then, and at this time, Christians are distant from an Orthodox Church, especially a really Orthodox Christian Church (since most have mixed heresy with truth, belief with unbelief, that the Apostle Paul himself tells us have nothing to do with heretics.
For a really Orthodox Christian, this is not important. No one is ever saved by going to Church on Sunday, and better never to go than to go to a heretical anti-church. We are saved if every day and night, we say our morning and evening prayers, if possible together. We reverence the Holy Icons, before which lamps are constantly burning, and in the evening at least, we burn incense before we retire, and pray the usual prayers SLOWLY and best in the dark, and as the psalms are read, (by candlelight) for the sins we have committed that day, and before retiring, ask forgiveness of each other. The Tropar of the saints of the day, family and season must be sung, Then taking our prayer rope we retire praying. Either short vespers or Compline can be used, and in a few months will be known by heart. God help the parent who has not taught the children these!!! Except for Sunday and Pascha, prostrations are made, otherwise bows.
This is daily Christian Life in a Christian Home No Less! Of course, Orthodox will gather as best they can to celebrate Sundays and Holy Days, and find a way to confess and commune as directed by their priest, and to have the priest visit and bless their home frequently, at least at Theophany. Do not suppose that it is any better in Greece or Russia or Romania or the Holy Land.
The majority have compromised with the Antichrist, and will ask you to join their compromise too. Both Scripture and the Canons forbid it.
And what need we? We all have all the books, icons, lamps, incense that we need. We can all see a priest often. What determines our Salvation is those morning and evening prayers (even on vacation). Those who pray with true repentance will be saved. Those who do not pray and repent are lost...
copied with permission
Burning Bush Hermitage
http://www2.netdoor.com/~frelia/churchhome.htm
The other articles on this site are worthwhile:
http://www2.netdoor.com/~frelia/
[R0C0R Refugees blog does not imply endorsement of the jurisdictional affiliation of Burning Bush Hermitage by this post.]
Well, what did they do on Sundays? We know exactly what they did, word for word and when and how. St. Justin Martyr, a first century Palestinian from Nablus, who was almost certainly the best educated Christian in his time, wrote two letters to two Emperors, explaining exactly what Christians believed and what they did, and when, and why (they were accused of Cannibalism). Everyone should have a copy of the History of the Church by Eusebius (Written in 325 when he was in his late 80’s and was Bishop of the Capital of Palestine) and read these and other early Christian Documents, such as the Martyrdom of Polycarp.
Christians never went to church on Sundays then, and at this time, Christians are distant from an Orthodox Church, especially a really Orthodox Christian Church (since most have mixed heresy with truth, belief with unbelief, that the Apostle Paul himself tells us have nothing to do with heretics.
For a really Orthodox Christian, this is not important. No one is ever saved by going to Church on Sunday, and better never to go than to go to a heretical anti-church. We are saved if every day and night, we say our morning and evening prayers, if possible together. We reverence the Holy Icons, before which lamps are constantly burning, and in the evening at least, we burn incense before we retire, and pray the usual prayers SLOWLY and best in the dark, and as the psalms are read, (by candlelight) for the sins we have committed that day, and before retiring, ask forgiveness of each other. The Tropar of the saints of the day, family and season must be sung, Then taking our prayer rope we retire praying. Either short vespers or Compline can be used, and in a few months will be known by heart. God help the parent who has not taught the children these!!! Except for Sunday and Pascha, prostrations are made, otherwise bows.
This is daily Christian Life in a Christian Home No Less! Of course, Orthodox will gather as best they can to celebrate Sundays and Holy Days, and find a way to confess and commune as directed by their priest, and to have the priest visit and bless their home frequently, at least at Theophany. Do not suppose that it is any better in Greece or Russia or Romania or the Holy Land.
The majority have compromised with the Antichrist, and will ask you to join their compromise too. Both Scripture and the Canons forbid it.
And what need we? We all have all the books, icons, lamps, incense that we need. We can all see a priest often. What determines our Salvation is those morning and evening prayers (even on vacation). Those who pray with true repentance will be saved. Those who do not pray and repent are lost...
copied with permission
Burning Bush Hermitage
http://www2.netdoor.com/~frelia/churchhome.htm
The other articles on this site are worthwhile:
http://www2.netdoor.com/~frelia/
[R0C0R Refugees blog does not imply endorsement of the jurisdictional affiliation of Burning Bush Hermitage by this post.]
Oct 27, 2009
Prophesy of St. Nilus (1433-1508)
This Prophesy has the ominous reality of almost being a checklist. Remember the words, "You know not when the Master comes", seek to prepare oneself at all times. I humbly post this not as a source of temptation, but as a reminder that we must seek true repentance and a contrite heart, reserving judgment for the Most High Throne of our Lord.
The people that will be living around the eighth century (7500 years since the creation), will acquiesce into corruption of the flesh, and will argue incessantly with no beginning and no end. Then the eighth Synod will convene….and things will become peaceful for a while, but soon people’s minds will revert back to the evil ways and perdition. They will not respect the sanctity of marriage but with dissipation will gravitate towards perdition which will be worse than during Sodom and Gommorah… committing many more evil works. The more evil works, the more calamities will befall the people. The people then will be committing twice as much evil, believing that whoever does evil is good…The more greedy men become the more sorrow will visit the earth. Love of money will become an insatiable passion. Greed leads to perdition and destitution leads to salvation, for man is risking salvation through greed.
This curse (greed) will bring great sorrow to the world and happiness will disappear and will be replaced with discord. Greed will be the throne of the antichrist. Greed offers to the world lies and people are attracted to lies and become lawless being abducted by injustice. Truth has disappeared and everybody believes in lies. Truth is the intimate economy of Christ and of the teaching of the Gospel, but the lie is the advent of the antichrist and his kingdom, which wishes to bring global calamity and perdition to the world. Like the Prophets prophesied the coming of the Lord, likewise over concern will darken the intellect of men, they will become insensitive to their salvation from their over concerns they may have. Salvation will be rescued only by those that refrain from partaking in the works of the antichrist whose works are the cares of this world and the hoarding of treasures. To day’s men are given over to hoarding treasures and worries and have surrendered themselves over to perdition through looting, betrayals, lies, homosexuality, gluttony, pride , hardness of heart and overwhelming avarice….
When the world will become impoverished of the grace of the Holy Spirit, then the world will be encircled by all types of calamities. Firstly the world will suffer from lack of love, peace and moderation. Secondly, every country will suffer and there will be great loss of capital from every country. The Church of Christ will also suffer due to lack of priests and spiritual shepherds.
After this calamity the unclean one will be born from the belly of filth and will bring forth signs and beasts with demonic fantasy, pretending to the world that he is meek and humble at heart but he will be foxy at heart and a wolf at mind. His sustenance will be the agitation of the people and whenever the people become agitated, he, the antichrist, will be filled.
The agitation of the people due to condemnation, envy, vindictiveness, hatred, enmity, greed, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, loss of faith and arrogance, will be the food of the antichrist, who will be the head of many countries and have authority over all the world. He will have power over the feelings of people and all will believe him because he will be the dictator and emperor and he will bring spiritual loss to the people. Those that are on the way to perdition will believe that they are being saved.
Then the Gospel will be ignored because the spiritual loss will bring great unhappiness in the world and signs and terrible events will occur. Man will hunger greatly and will not be able to be filled, for then he will be eating seven times more than he eats now but he would still not be satisfied and there will be great sorrows everywhere. Then, whoever was sealed with the seal of the antichrist, many will die in the streets and the heart of most will weaken, not being able to bear hunger and faintness, they will revert to eating the dead. On the seal will be written, “you are mine, yes I am yours, voluntarily I come and not by force”. Woe to him who bears the seal, for there will be a great agitation in the world. God seeing the unsettling of the people, will order the sea to become exceedingly warm, so when the antichrist will sit on his cursed throne, the sea will boil like molten copper and the earth will be depleted of vegetation and trees from the warmth of the sea and the source tributaries will dry up and the animals and birds will die from the breath of the sea.
And then the day will be like an hour, the week like a day, the month like a week. Due to the wickedness of man, the elements will speed up, that the time will end soon, as proclaimed by God. Then will come the prophets Elijah and just Enoch to proclaim that whoever is patient and is not marked by the seal of the antichrist, will be saved and will be accepted by God in paradise eternally, only that he not be marked with the seal, but instead make the sign of the Cross, for the seal of the Cross frees man from the torments of hell while the seal of the antichrist delivers him to the torments of hell. And if they hunger, they should not ask for food but should have patience, for He will send help from above… The most wicked children of the antichrist are: fornication, adultery, homosexuality, murder, confiscation, stealing, injustice, lies, torture, the buying and the selling of man….. so evil will human nature become, that they will use wickedness worse than the demons…. And the antichrist seeing that human nature became more evil than the demons, will rejoice greatly….
Warning
There is circulating among us a piece of propaganda from the MP-R0C0R Studies website. It is a recent interview with a nun, Sr. Vassa Larin, cleverly designed to silence the "alarm bells" that warn 0rthdox when something is amiss, and to steer them deeper into World 0rthodoxy. The interview ranks up there with Peter Perekrestov's 25 Questions paper. It is designed to appear as a spontaneous interview with a wise nun. But a closer look suggests it is carefully concocted. The interviewee was carefully chosen and carefully introduced as an expert. The carefully selected and carefully worded questions&answers, like the 25 Questions paper, use psychological ploys and the paper ends up making a clean sweep.
For all the concentrate of many words, the paper boils down to four questions, with the first two really being of the same issue.
1. First we are criticized for comparing 0rthodoxy with Roman Catholicism. The MP desired result here is that Roman Catholic heresies will not be pointed out anymore. But we know the truth is that even our very Creed defines us by saying what we are not - by responding to heresies and correcting them.
2. Next we are directed to focus on the early councils and the pre-schism fundamentals we share with the Romans.
3. Then our resistence to the idea of having "Women's Conferences" is silenced, weakened. We instinctively know that the idea of studying women's issues and "empowering women" is an idea that originated in the world and infiltrates the Church through World 0rthodoxy. We don't need committees for women's issues any more that we need committees for men's issues.
4. Last we are urged not to resist secular education and other things in and of the world . That it is we ourselves - and not the world - who are responsible for our personal imperfections. We are reminded that we are impatient and gossipy and to focus on that instead of "condemning" the world. That dread word used interchangeably with "judging" that is most effective at causing one to willfully look the other way while evil parades under their nose.
The MP-R0C0R Studies website might have some good materials, [I wouldn't know], but it's purpose is to justify the union. The only reason I mention it here is because this propaganda interview has been passed around among us in R0C0R-Agafangel where it has no place.
For all the concentrate of many words, the paper boils down to four questions, with the first two really being of the same issue.
1. First we are criticized for comparing 0rthodoxy with Roman Catholicism. The MP desired result here is that Roman Catholic heresies will not be pointed out anymore. But we know the truth is that even our very Creed defines us by saying what we are not - by responding to heresies and correcting them.
2. Next we are directed to focus on the early councils and the pre-schism fundamentals we share with the Romans.
3. Then our resistence to the idea of having "Women's Conferences" is silenced, weakened. We instinctively know that the idea of studying women's issues and "empowering women" is an idea that originated in the world and infiltrates the Church through World 0rthodoxy. We don't need committees for women's issues any more that we need committees for men's issues.
4. Last we are urged not to resist secular education and other things in and of the world . That it is we ourselves - and not the world - who are responsible for our personal imperfections. We are reminded that we are impatient and gossipy and to focus on that instead of "condemning" the world. That dread word used interchangeably with "judging" that is most effective at causing one to willfully look the other way while evil parades under their nose.
The MP-R0C0R Studies website might have some good materials, [I wouldn't know], but it's purpose is to justify the union. The only reason I mention it here is because this propaganda interview has been passed around among us in R0C0R-Agafangel where it has no place.
Oct 26, 2009
Ecumenist Love
Christ commanded us to love one another as He has loved us. He taught us that His love is higher than natural love. 0ne way He taught this was by giving us the command to love our enemies. It is not natural for us to love enemies. He showed us by His example [even to the Cross} that His love is sacrificial. Real love will do what is best for the other person no matter what the cost. This higher above-the-natural love is born from first loving God, which is the first and greatest commandment. The second commandment - to love thy neighbor - is utterly dependent on the fulfilling of the first commandment to love God above all else. To love thy neighbor is an automatic result of the fulfillment of the first commandment. If love of neighbor is lacking, then we know the first commandment has not been fulfilled.
The ecumenist love has a couple of things wrong with it. Love for God's Church and His Truth does not get its rightful first place. And the ecumenist does not consider us a "neighbor."
Archbishop Averky of blessed memory wrote:
Alexander Kalomiros describes the ecumenist love this way:
The ecumenist love has a couple of things wrong with it. Love for God's Church and His Truth does not get its rightful first place. And the ecumenist does not consider us a "neighbor."
Archbishop Averky of blessed memory wrote:
More than anything on earth we value our Church's freedom. This is not at all because we do not have "love," as we are so superficially accused by the "ecumenists," who are themselves too full of "love" for the enemies of the pure and unadulterated Truth of Christ and, sometimes, even for open enemies of our holy faith [only for us, their brothers by blood and faith, have they no love!] Rather it is because we have a love of the Truth; because we firmly believe [having none of the doubts the ecumenists obviously have] that our Holy 0rthodox Church is, as the Word of God teaches, the "pillar and ground of the Truth" [I Timothy 3:15]; and because we desire, as commanded by the holy Apostle, to "walk in Truth" [II John 4] and, following the warning of the great Father of the Church, St. Gregory the Theologian, we do not want to become betrayers of the teaching of the faith of the Truth," "communing of the leaven of the Evil 0ne and joining ourselves to the plague-ridden ... apostates from Truth" [cf. Works of St. Gregory, Part I, p.12 in Russian]
Alexander Kalomiros describes the ecumenist love this way:
...Sugary, or unsalted and sentimental Christians regard [0rthodox eschatology] as extreme and repulsive pessimism. As allies with the world, they cannot see the seal of the devil on that which they approve. Neither can they estimate the horrendous gulf which separates the world from God, for then they would be required to admit that the same gulf separates them too from God.
They cannot, therefore, tolerate anyone being pessimistic about the contemporary Babel. They are that content with their era. They see such a bright future. Christianity for them is very much in step with the world, and they are so pleased with this that they will never forgive you if you show them that they are deceived.
They visualize in the future a united world-church with all men united by the bond of love. The heretics of the various sects are to them their Christian brothers from whom they were separated by the egotisms and narrow-mindedness of bygone eras. They admit that there are dogmatic differences, but these differences shall be overcome by love, or to speak more openly, they shall be forgotten by love.
But what relation does that sniveling love have to the love of God? How can they shamelessly claim that they have more love in their hearts than the Saints who were not able with their love to overcome the barriers which divided them from heresy, but on the contrary, they made these barriers higher so they could protect the sheep from the wolves?
But that which they take for love of men is in its essence nothing but love of the world. It is a coming to terms with falsehood by men who cannot bear the hardships of the war with the powers of darkness.
And their dream, that idyllic image of good and kindly people who make Christ reign on this earth -- that temptation of the desert -- is a dream condemned by the Lord Himself. [Against False Union, St. Nectarios Press, 1967, p. 65,66]
Oct 25, 2009
Pseudo-Bishops At The End 0f Time
Excerpts from Against A False Union by Alexander Kalomiros, published 1967:
XXIX. Pseudo-Bishops
It is imperative that Christians realize that the Church has a sacramental and not an administrative foundation; then they will not suffer that which has happened to the Westerners who followed the Pope in his errors because they thought that if they did not follow him, they would automatically be outside the Church.
Today the various patriarchates and archdioceses undergo great pressures from political powers which seek to direct the 0rthodox according to their own interests...
The 0rthodox people must become conscious of the fact that they owe no obedience to a bishop, no matter how high a title he holds, when that bishop ceases being 0rthodox and openly follows heretics with pretenses of union "on equal terms." 0n the contrary, they are obligated to depart from him and confess their Faith ... The bishop is a consecrated person, and even if he is openly sinful, respect and honor is due him until synodically censured. But if he becomes openly heretical or is in communion with heretics, the the Christians should not await any synodal decision, but should draw away from him immediately.
XXX. At The End 0f Time
The world and the devil are leading the Church to such frightening trials that the day might come when all the bishops of the land will enter into communion with the heretics. What will the faithful do then? What will the few do who have the heroism not to follow the masses, not to follow their kin, their neighbors, and their fellow citizens?
All the faithful will have to understand that the Church is not there where it appears to be. Liturgies will continue to be performed and the churches will be filled with people, but the Church will have no relation with those churches or those clergy and those faithful. The Church is where the truth is. The faithful are those who continue the unbroken Tradition of 0rthodoxy, that work of the Holy Spirit. The real priests are those who think, live, and teach as the Fathers and the Saints of the Church did, or at least don't reject them in their teaching. Where that continuity of thought and life does not exist, it is a deception to speak of the Church, even if all the outward marks speak of it.
There will always be found a canonical priest, ordained by a bishop, who will follow the Tradition. Around such priests will gather the small groups of the faithful who will remain until the last days. Each one of these small groups will be a local catholic Church of God. The faithful will find in them the entire fullness of the grace of God. They will have no need of administrative or other ties, for the communion that will exist among them will be the most perfect there can be. It will be the communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, communion in the Holy Spirit. The golden links of the unalterable Tradition will connect those Churches among themselves as well as with Churches of the past. with the Church triumphant of heaven. In these small groups the 0ne, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church will be preserved intact...
It is possible, then, in the last days when the various churches and religions will have been united and will appear as a single whole, that the genuine 0rthodox Church will appear disintegrated, fragmented into small, scattered, sparse parishes...
In the last days all will claim to be 0rthodox Christians, and that 0rthodoxy is as they understand it to be. But in spite of all this, those who have a pure heart and a mind enlightened by divine grace will recognize the 0rthodox Church despite the apparent divisions and utter lack of external splendor. They will gather around the true priests, and they will become the pillars of the Church. Let the people of the world do whatever they will. Let there be ecumenical conferences; let the churches be united; let Christianity be adulterated; let the Tradition and life be changed; let the religions be united. The Church of Christ will remain unaltered, as St. John Chrysostom says, because if even one of her pillars remains standing, the Church will not fail. "Nothing is stronger than the Church. She is higher than the heavens and broader than the earth. She never grows old; she always flourishes.
A pillar of the Church is every true believer who adheres to the Tradition of the Fathers in spite of all the frightful currents of the world which attempt to pull it away. Such pillars will exist until the end of the world, whatever might happen. Besides, when these things come to pass, the coming of the Lord will not be far off. That state of affairs will be the most fearful sign that His coming is approaching. Precisely then will the end come.
XXIX. Pseudo-Bishops
It is imperative that Christians realize that the Church has a sacramental and not an administrative foundation; then they will not suffer that which has happened to the Westerners who followed the Pope in his errors because they thought that if they did not follow him, they would automatically be outside the Church.
Today the various patriarchates and archdioceses undergo great pressures from political powers which seek to direct the 0rthodox according to their own interests...
The 0rthodox people must become conscious of the fact that they owe no obedience to a bishop, no matter how high a title he holds, when that bishop ceases being 0rthodox and openly follows heretics with pretenses of union "on equal terms." 0n the contrary, they are obligated to depart from him and confess their Faith ... The bishop is a consecrated person, and even if he is openly sinful, respect and honor is due him until synodically censured. But if he becomes openly heretical or is in communion with heretics, the the Christians should not await any synodal decision, but should draw away from him immediately.
XXX. At The End 0f Time
The world and the devil are leading the Church to such frightening trials that the day might come when all the bishops of the land will enter into communion with the heretics. What will the faithful do then? What will the few do who have the heroism not to follow the masses, not to follow their kin, their neighbors, and their fellow citizens?
All the faithful will have to understand that the Church is not there where it appears to be. Liturgies will continue to be performed and the churches will be filled with people, but the Church will have no relation with those churches or those clergy and those faithful. The Church is where the truth is. The faithful are those who continue the unbroken Tradition of 0rthodoxy, that work of the Holy Spirit. The real priests are those who think, live, and teach as the Fathers and the Saints of the Church did, or at least don't reject them in their teaching. Where that continuity of thought and life does not exist, it is a deception to speak of the Church, even if all the outward marks speak of it.
There will always be found a canonical priest, ordained by a bishop, who will follow the Tradition. Around such priests will gather the small groups of the faithful who will remain until the last days. Each one of these small groups will be a local catholic Church of God. The faithful will find in them the entire fullness of the grace of God. They will have no need of administrative or other ties, for the communion that will exist among them will be the most perfect there can be. It will be the communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, communion in the Holy Spirit. The golden links of the unalterable Tradition will connect those Churches among themselves as well as with Churches of the past. with the Church triumphant of heaven. In these small groups the 0ne, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church will be preserved intact...
It is possible, then, in the last days when the various churches and religions will have been united and will appear as a single whole, that the genuine 0rthodox Church will appear disintegrated, fragmented into small, scattered, sparse parishes...
In the last days all will claim to be 0rthodox Christians, and that 0rthodoxy is as they understand it to be. But in spite of all this, those who have a pure heart and a mind enlightened by divine grace will recognize the 0rthodox Church despite the apparent divisions and utter lack of external splendor. They will gather around the true priests, and they will become the pillars of the Church. Let the people of the world do whatever they will. Let there be ecumenical conferences; let the churches be united; let Christianity be adulterated; let the Tradition and life be changed; let the religions be united. The Church of Christ will remain unaltered, as St. John Chrysostom says, because if even one of her pillars remains standing, the Church will not fail. "Nothing is stronger than the Church. She is higher than the heavens and broader than the earth. She never grows old; she always flourishes.
A pillar of the Church is every true believer who adheres to the Tradition of the Fathers in spite of all the frightful currents of the world which attempt to pull it away. Such pillars will exist until the end of the world, whatever might happen. Besides, when these things come to pass, the coming of the Lord will not be far off. That state of affairs will be the most fearful sign that His coming is approaching. Precisely then will the end come.
The Inward Temple
Archbishop Barlaam
Letters From Exile 0n Spiritual Life
circa 1930
excerpt:
"There is no need to weep much over the destruction of a church; after all, each of us, according to God's mercy, has or should have his own church -- the heart; go in there and pray, as much as you have strength and time. If this church is not well made and is abandoned [without inward prayer], then the visible church will be of little benefit."
-0rthodox Word #106 p.233
Letters From Exile 0n Spiritual Life
circa 1930
excerpt:
"There is no need to weep much over the destruction of a church; after all, each of us, according to God's mercy, has or should have his own church -- the heart; go in there and pray, as much as you have strength and time. If this church is not well made and is abandoned [without inward prayer], then the visible church will be of little benefit."
-0rthodox Word #106 p.233
MP-R0C0R to Honor Flaming Ecumenist
Bishop Auxentios comments on the announcement of R0C0R[MP] to participate in a reception honoring His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew 0ctober 27:
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:01:52 +0200
To: sgpm@sisqtel.net
From: bpaux@ctosonline.org
Subject: Honoring the Oecumenical Patriarch
If participating in a reception for Orthodoxy's most prominent ecumenist (who denies that we, for example, are even part of the Church, yet considers Roman Catholics one lung of the single body of the Church) is a sign of opposition to ecumenism, we can only hope that something will be said about the irresponsibility of the Phanar (as well as the Moscow Patriarchate) in this sense.
Who would have imagined such a thing as the First Hierarch of ROCA, honoring a visiting ecumenist in such a way even five years ago? Cordial and civilized contacts are one thing. Honoring such obviously errant Church leaders is quite another. Compromise builds on compromise.
See this URL, under "Upcoming Events"
http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:01:52 +0200
To: sgpm@sisqtel.net
From: bpaux@ctosonline.org
Subject: Honoring the Oecumenical Patriarch
If participating in a reception for Orthodoxy's most prominent ecumenist (who denies that we, for example, are even part of the Church, yet considers Roman Catholics one lung of the single body of the Church) is a sign of opposition to ecumenism, we can only hope that something will be said about the irresponsibility of the Phanar (as well as the Moscow Patriarchate) in this sense.
Who would have imagined such a thing as the First Hierarch of ROCA, honoring a visiting ecumenist in such a way even five years ago? Cordial and civilized contacts are one thing. Honoring such obviously errant Church leaders is quite another. Compromise builds on compromise.
See this URL, under "Upcoming Events"
http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm
Oct 21, 2009
Stickies
√ Archimandrite Alexis writes, "Now I've seen everything!" referring to the *photo* of Abp Kyrill of SF with the Abp of Canterbury
To greet the news of this event Joanna has added a verse to her poem titled, *"We're in the MP Today"*
√ Fr. Gregory says the Haiti Mission now has the money needed to ship the free food to Haiti. Next "we have possible customs clearance charges, in-country trucking, and food preparation & serving to deal with. Certainly whatever [$] comes in will be put to good use!" He thanks us all for our generosity. 10/24/09
√ ST NICHOLAS CONVENT/ROCA DIOCESAN CENTER
*Update: OFFER ACCEPTED!*
√ New Post on *"Cyprianism"* blog
√ *MP Recognizes Roman Mysteries*
√ ...And a Unionite *response*
To greet the news of this event Joanna has added a verse to her poem titled, *"We're in the MP Today"*
√ Fr. Gregory says the Haiti Mission now has the money needed to ship the free food to Haiti. Next "we have possible customs clearance charges, in-country trucking, and food preparation & serving to deal with. Certainly whatever [$] comes in will be put to good use!" He thanks us all for our generosity. 10/24/09
√ ST NICHOLAS CONVENT/ROCA DIOCESAN CENTER
*Update: OFFER ACCEPTED!*
√ New Post on *"Cyprianism"* blog
√ *MP Recognizes Roman Mysteries*
√ ...And a Unionite *response*
Oct 19, 2009
Our Future
October 16, 2009
http://agafa-angel.livejournal.com/
Vladyka Metropolitan Agafangel writes:
Our future
Was in Greece, the patronal feast of the monastery in honor of Sts. Cyprian and Justina. This time I was very pleased with the trip, as have a little talk in an informal setting with Bishop Cyprian and Photius. Among us is really the same views on church issues and, in general, we - the ROCOR, Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian old calendarists, thank God for Today is there a calm and stable union. We can say that together we survived the difficult period of division in our Church Abroad, and if God willing, on the basis of this stability and unity, followed by the same stable development. Glory to our God!
http://agafa-angel.livejournal.com/
Vladyka Metropolitan Agafangel writes:
Our future
Was in Greece, the patronal feast of the monastery in honor of Sts. Cyprian and Justina. This time I was very pleased with the trip, as have a little talk in an informal setting with Bishop Cyprian and Photius. Among us is really the same views on church issues and, in general, we - the ROCOR, Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian old calendarists, thank God for Today is there a calm and stable union. We can say that together we survived the difficult period of division in our Church Abroad, and if God willing, on the basis of this stability and unity, followed by the same stable development. Glory to our God!
Oct 17, 2009
Photo of Met. Kyril's Hate Letter
Remember *that hateful letter* that Met. Kyril wrote to Pres. Putin in 2006 about R0C0R? ...You know... the one the MP says does not exist - or says that it's a forgery?
Photo of *original letter*
English *Translation*
Photo of *original letter*
English *Translation*
Christians! You Must Know Christ
It is in the news that MP is moving closer towards union with Rome and the 0CA is moving closer towards union with the Anglicans. In response to this R0C0R Refugees blog is posting Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov's famous letter "Christians! You Must Know Christ" as a lesson review. It was published in 1965 in The 0rthodox Word, and in 1980 in 0rthodox America (roca.org), and in 1991 in 0rthodox Life. Could be time to *READ it again*
Oct 15, 2009
Oct 10, 2009
Kremlin Restores Soviet Attacks
Fr. Gregory sends this along with his comment: "Though the immediate focus of this article is a group for which I have no sympathy (for a number of reasons), its general thrust is something which should be of interest to anyone concerned with what may really be happening in Russia."
Attacks on ‘Alternative Orthodoxy’ Reflect Kremlin’s Restoration of Soviet-Era Approach to Religion
October 10, 2009
Paul Goble
Russia is not experiencing “a second baptism” as some in the Russian government like to claim or “the establishment of [Russian Orthodoxy] as a state religion” as many in the liberal community fear, but rather something far more dangerous to the future of the country and the faith, according to a Moscow commentator.
What is taking place, Dimitry Savvin argues, is neither more nor less than the restoration of the Soviet-era approach to religion, one designed to limit the Russian Orthodox Church – and by extension, other “traditional” religions – to a limited and deracinated public role because the authorities fear religion could challenge their power (www.apn-spb.ru/column/article6239.htm).
Savvin says he was driven to that conclusion by the destruction of the spiritual administrative center of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church in Suzdal where the Patriarchate and the regime worked together to suppress an “alternative” orthodoxy and by recent moves to restrict religious instruction for the laity at Orthodox monasteries.
Most analysts have explained these moves as an effort by the Moscow Patriarchate and especially the recently enthroned Kirill to build a religious “power vertical” within the state, but there are good reasons for thinking, Savvin insists, that it says more about the government than the church, within which there “co-exist” a large range of views on what should be done.
The Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church stands on “theological positions which willy-nilly represent a kind of opposition to the current regime.” Indeed, Savvin argues, its very existence shows “the reality and vitality of the so-called ‘alternative Orthodoxy,’ which is inclined to consider the present regime, the legal successor of the USSR, as anti-Christian.”
The current Russian government, of course, is “a neo-Bolshevist regime,” Savvin says, noting the Eduard Limonov, the leader of the National Bolsheviks, has characterized it as “ersatz National Bolshevism.” And that regime is thus picking up on the approach that the Soviet system adopted toward the Russian Orthodox Church a generation or more ago.
That approach consists of six parts, Savvin says. First, “because it is impossible to destroy it completely, the state must control the Orthodox Church by gradually reducing its influence.” Second, “it must form a single administrative and ‘loyal’ jurisdiction which will fulfill the role of the entire plenipotentiary power of the Russian Church” in the eyes of others.
Third, “all other Orthodox denominations must be destroyed by repressive-administrative methods. Fourth, the leadership of the accepted jurisdiction must be given some of the benefits of officials loyal to the regime. Fifth, the officially supported Church must be presented as “ruling and flowering” for believers.
And sixth, and at the same time, the total number of active believers must be quietly reduced in order that the Church’s influence will decline because “even the most controlled and loyal Orthodox church jurisdiction remains a center of potential opposition to the [existing Russian government] regime.”
Under Boris Yeltsin, “a small number” of “forced changes in this schema were permitted, Savvin says. But “already in [Vladimir] Putin’s time, the arrangements laid out above, although imposed by somewhat different and ‘softer’ methods again began to be implemented in the Russian Federation.”
According to the Moscow commentator, many in the Kremlin – “and one must say,” he adds, “not without foundation” – believe that “church life independent of the regime in a natural way is a center of attraction for opposition forces,” a view that has intensified and spread over the last two or three years.
“Strictly speaking,” he continues, “there are not in contemporary Russian society any relatively institutions which do not form part of the Putin-Medvedev power vertical except for religious institutions.” And that explains why Putin devoted so much effort to “neutralize” the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and now any manifestation of Orthodox independence.
While Russian leaders have shown public deference to the church, Savvin argues, “they have done whatever they though necessary in order that “the influence of the genuinely Orthodox” as opposed to empty rituals on Russian society will be as low as possible” lest the Church itself become a threat.
Indeed, he says, “any attempt at strengthening genuinely Orthodox influence – in culture, social life, the moral sphere and in politics is as far as possible precluded.” And consequently independent Orthodox action first outside the Moscow Patriarchate and then within the establishment itself is going to be opposed.
According to the commentator, the next three steps in this government approach are likely to be new limits on the activities of the Old Believer churches, moves against the Russian Truly-Orthodox Church to force it into the Patriarchal church with which it has long been at odds, and a “purge” of the Moscow Patriarchate of those who don’t agree with the regime’s line.
Given that the last such move will affect the Patriarchate’s own power and self-image, Savvin says, the question arises: “how far is Patriarch Kirill prepared to go to satisfy the Kremlin” especially since he can see that the political situation in the country as a whole is moving toward a crisis.
Savvin says that unfortunately he personally does not hold out any particular hopes that Kirill, as opposed perhaps to some other churchmen, will stand up for the faith even at the cost of suffering instead of going along with the current regime and sacrificing the very principles on which the Church is supposed to be based in the process.
http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15147&Itemid=72
Attacks on ‘Alternative Orthodoxy’ Reflect Kremlin’s Restoration of Soviet-Era Approach to Religion
October 10, 2009
Paul Goble
Russia is not experiencing “a second baptism” as some in the Russian government like to claim or “the establishment of [Russian Orthodoxy] as a state religion” as many in the liberal community fear, but rather something far more dangerous to the future of the country and the faith, according to a Moscow commentator.
What is taking place, Dimitry Savvin argues, is neither more nor less than the restoration of the Soviet-era approach to religion, one designed to limit the Russian Orthodox Church – and by extension, other “traditional” religions – to a limited and deracinated public role because the authorities fear religion could challenge their power (www.apn-spb.ru/column/article6239.htm).
Savvin says he was driven to that conclusion by the destruction of the spiritual administrative center of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church in Suzdal where the Patriarchate and the regime worked together to suppress an “alternative” orthodoxy and by recent moves to restrict religious instruction for the laity at Orthodox monasteries.
Most analysts have explained these moves as an effort by the Moscow Patriarchate and especially the recently enthroned Kirill to build a religious “power vertical” within the state, but there are good reasons for thinking, Savvin insists, that it says more about the government than the church, within which there “co-exist” a large range of views on what should be done.
The Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church stands on “theological positions which willy-nilly represent a kind of opposition to the current regime.” Indeed, Savvin argues, its very existence shows “the reality and vitality of the so-called ‘alternative Orthodoxy,’ which is inclined to consider the present regime, the legal successor of the USSR, as anti-Christian.”
The current Russian government, of course, is “a neo-Bolshevist regime,” Savvin says, noting the Eduard Limonov, the leader of the National Bolsheviks, has characterized it as “ersatz National Bolshevism.” And that regime is thus picking up on the approach that the Soviet system adopted toward the Russian Orthodox Church a generation or more ago.
That approach consists of six parts, Savvin says. First, “because it is impossible to destroy it completely, the state must control the Orthodox Church by gradually reducing its influence.” Second, “it must form a single administrative and ‘loyal’ jurisdiction which will fulfill the role of the entire plenipotentiary power of the Russian Church” in the eyes of others.
Third, “all other Orthodox denominations must be destroyed by repressive-administrative methods. Fourth, the leadership of the accepted jurisdiction must be given some of the benefits of officials loyal to the regime. Fifth, the officially supported Church must be presented as “ruling and flowering” for believers.
And sixth, and at the same time, the total number of active believers must be quietly reduced in order that the Church’s influence will decline because “even the most controlled and loyal Orthodox church jurisdiction remains a center of potential opposition to the [existing Russian government] regime.”
Under Boris Yeltsin, “a small number” of “forced changes in this schema were permitted, Savvin says. But “already in [Vladimir] Putin’s time, the arrangements laid out above, although imposed by somewhat different and ‘softer’ methods again began to be implemented in the Russian Federation.”
According to the Moscow commentator, many in the Kremlin – “and one must say,” he adds, “not without foundation” – believe that “church life independent of the regime in a natural way is a center of attraction for opposition forces,” a view that has intensified and spread over the last two or three years.
“Strictly speaking,” he continues, “there are not in contemporary Russian society any relatively institutions which do not form part of the Putin-Medvedev power vertical except for religious institutions.” And that explains why Putin devoted so much effort to “neutralize” the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and now any manifestation of Orthodox independence.
While Russian leaders have shown public deference to the church, Savvin argues, “they have done whatever they though necessary in order that “the influence of the genuinely Orthodox” as opposed to empty rituals on Russian society will be as low as possible” lest the Church itself become a threat.
Indeed, he says, “any attempt at strengthening genuinely Orthodox influence – in culture, social life, the moral sphere and in politics is as far as possible precluded.” And consequently independent Orthodox action first outside the Moscow Patriarchate and then within the establishment itself is going to be opposed.
According to the commentator, the next three steps in this government approach are likely to be new limits on the activities of the Old Believer churches, moves against the Russian Truly-Orthodox Church to force it into the Patriarchal church with which it has long been at odds, and a “purge” of the Moscow Patriarchate of those who don’t agree with the regime’s line.
Given that the last such move will affect the Patriarchate’s own power and self-image, Savvin says, the question arises: “how far is Patriarch Kirill prepared to go to satisfy the Kremlin” especially since he can see that the political situation in the country as a whole is moving toward a crisis.
Savvin says that unfortunately he personally does not hold out any particular hopes that Kirill, as opposed perhaps to some other churchmen, will stand up for the faith even at the cost of suffering instead of going along with the current regime and sacrificing the very principles on which the Church is supposed to be based in the process.
http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15147&Itemid=72
Oct 8, 2009
Stickies
√ New Post Backdated: Book Review
K. Preobrahensky's, New Trojan Horse
√ Pravoslavie.ru interview with Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov (1958- ), superior of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, father-confessor to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his family.
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/31959.htm
√ Check out this parish website.
http://www.st-sergius.org/index.html
K. Preobrahensky's, New Trojan Horse
√ Pravoslavie.ru interview with Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov (1958- ), superior of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, father-confessor to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his family.
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/31959.htm
√ Check out this parish website.
http://www.st-sergius.org/index.html
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