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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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LOCAL TRADITIONS: PRIESTS BLESS THE WATERS ON EPIPHANY DAY IN ROMANIA
from: Romania Insider
(5 Jan.) The Epiphany (Boboteaza in Romanian), which is celebrated annually on January 6, is one of the most important religious celebrations among Romanian Christians. This holiday marks the day when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (the Saint is celebrated the next day, on January 7). The Epiphany and St. John’s Day mark the end of the winter holidays. Like most religious celebrations in Romania, the Epiphany is also surrounded by many traditions, with the most important tradition being the blessing of waters.
The celebration starts on the eve of the Epiphany, on January 5, when the priests across all Orthodox churches begin to bless the waters. The holy water (aghiasma in Romanian) is then given to the people on the Epiphany day, after the religious mass. For example, this year, the Archdiocese of Tomis (Constanta) will prepare 150,000 bottles of holy water, which will be given to the believers after the religious service that will be organized on the shore of the Black Sea on January 6. The believers use the aghiasma to bless their houses, goods, and animals, as it is believed that this blessed water has miraculous powers and protects them.
In fact, some of the Epiphany religious ceremonies take place near large bodies of water, such as rivers or the sea, in Romania. After the priests bless the waters, they throw wood crosses into the cold water and young men go in their search. It is believed that the one who finds the cross and brings it back to shore will get purified of all sins and will have good luck the whole year. An ice cross is usually placed in front every Orthodox Church in Romania on Epiphany Day. However, this year, most churches had difficulties in making the ice crosses. They usually pour water into molds and let it freeze or cut ice blocks from lakes, but the unusually warm weather for this period has made this impossible. [read more...]
MOSCOW-LED CHURCH IN UKRAINE REFUSES TO BURY BOY FROM KIEV BRANCH
from The Guardian
(5 Jan.) The death of a baby crushed by a drunk man who committed suicide by jumping out of an eighth-floor apartment in Ukraine has exposed the religious divide in the Orthodox Christian country. A Moscow-led church in the central city of Zaporizhia refused to bury the one-year-old boy killed on New Year’s Eve because he was christened by a rival church overseen by Kiev.
Local media reported that the boy’s bereaved father punched the priest in anger in an incident that has prompted renewed acrimony between the two branches of Ukraine’s main faith. The Ukrainian church splintered into rival Moscow- and Kiev-led branches when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The bad blood between the two has been heightened by the war in eastern Ukraine between Russian- and Kiev-backed sides that has killed more than 10,000 people in nearly four years. The Moscow-led jurisdiction is much larger and is dominant in Zaporizhia – a city of more than 700,000 people that was founded more than 1,000 years ago and is now an industrial hub.
The family of the boy, who was killed as he was being led out of the apartment building by his father, belong to the Kiev Patriarchate. His father, Roman Polishchuk, said the priest of the Moscow-led church they turned to told the family he could not perform the burial ceremony. "The priest said our baby was unchristened and our church was a sham," Polishchuk told the local news site Forpost. "My wife cried and threw herself before him on her knees, but this did not help." The priest, Yevgen Molchanov, said the father punched him and a small brawl broke out inside the church before the family was forced to leave. The parents eventually took the baby's body to the church where he was christened to perform the burial rites. [read more...]
POPE FRANCIS IN THE LETTER TO THE HEAD OF UGCC: "I SINCERELY ASK FOR PEACE AND MERCY FOR BELOVED UKRAINE"
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(8 Jan.) "I would like to tell you that I am together with you, that in my prayers and in everything I bring to God every day, you have a special place. In particular, in serving Holy Mysteries of Christ and in bringing the broken Bread and poured-out Cup, those lives which are broken with hatred and that blood which is constantly spilled because of hostility among people in many parts of the world, I sincerely beg the resurrected Lord for joy and peace for my beloved Ukraine."
This was written by Holy Father Francis, the Pope of Rome, in a special letter to the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Sviatoslav and all the faithful Greek Catholics. The letter was read at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv on Christmas during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, UGCC's press service informs.
In his letter the pope Francis noted first of all that he with pleasure had received a letter from his Beatitude Sviatoslav after the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC which took place in Briukhovychi in September last year. "Your words reminded me about your predecessor, of blessed memory Cardinal Lubomyr (Husar). I believe we all have to be grateful to God for his life, given away till the end, even in not less valuable and fruitful time of his illness, when he went on praying for his Church and his people. His evidence is also an encouragement to responsibility so that we, with faithful generosity responded to the example of the shepherds, whom Christ granted to us and who had lived by the desire of His Heart," shared the Holy Father in his letter. [read more...]
"SERBIA WITHOUT KOSOVO UNIMAGINABLE; POPE WON'T VISIT YET"
from: b92.net
(4 Jan.) Serbian Patriarch Irinej has said that Serbia can never give away Kosovo and Metohija, and that it was not yet time for the visit of Pope Francis. "Kosovo can be taken away, be occupied as it is today, but Serbia can never say 'we are giving that away', because what is given away is lost forever, while what is taken away by force, is taken back the same way," the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) told TV Hram, commenting on "the internal dialogue on KIM (Kosovo and Metohija)."Irinej added that he "hopes our country's top officials think the same."
"As far as I see, the state is making great efforts to keep Kosovo within Serbia and find a political solution that satisfies both sides, and so that it remains what it is. We cannot imagine Serbia without Kosovo and Metohija," stressed the patriarch. According to him, that part of the state is only being referred to as Kosovo and Metohija in recent times. "That is Old Serbia, which gave birth to this second part of Serbia. Kosovo is our history, culture, spirituality, all filled with Orthodox shrines," the patriarch said.
He pointed out that Prizren was once the capital of the Serb nation - as was Skopje - while the Patriarchate of Pec was the residence of SPC patriarchs of bishops, and the historic home of our church. Irinej added a people aware of itself and its history and culture cannot afford to have either the Patriarchate of Pec in some other state, or other Serb holy places for which blood was being spilled for a thousand years. [read more...]
ORTHODOX CHILDREN IN LATAKIA, SYRIA RECEIVED CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM MOSCOW PARISH
from: Interfax-Religion
(9 Jan.) The Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties and the Russian national organization of veterans Fighting Brotherhood have brought to Syria and handed over to the Sunday school of the church of St. John the Baptist (Patriarchate of Antioch) Christmas gifts and school stationary collected by the Sunday school children and parishioners of the church of the Finding of the Lord's Sepulcher in Moscow.
During the Christmas celebrations, 100 small Orthodox Syrians from 3 to 14 years of age received icons and sweets from Russia. Moscow children sent Christmas cards in Arabic to their Syrian mates. Syrian Sunday school children promised to write their replies in Russian, the Moscow Patriarchate's website reports.
The Sunday school choir sang Christmas hymns for the servicemen from the Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties and the Fighting Brotherhood.
The rector of the church, Archimandrite Makarius, conveyed warm words of gratitude and Christmas greetings to the parishioners of the church of the Finding of the Lord's Sepulcher in Moscow, to its clergy and Russian children. He thanked the Russian people for their help to Syria and congratulated all present on Christmas and the New Year, which, through the prayers of all people of good will, is to bring a longed-for peace to the Syrian land. [read more...]
AZERBAIJAN: FOUR STATE AGENCIES RAID RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
by Felix Corley: Forum 18 News Service
(18 Dec.) In 2017, officials of at least four state agencies have continued to raid and help punish individuals for exercising freedom of religion or belief. Alongside the police, State Security Service (SSS) secret police and State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, a growing role in raids and prosecutions seems to be played by Religious Affairs Commissions attached to city or district administrations.
Court bailiffs are insisting that a Baptist fined in December 2016, but never given a written court decision, pay his fine by the end of 2017. Another Baptist fined with him is still trying to overturn his punishment, with his case now at the Supreme Court. Fines are typically 1,500 Manats (750 Euros or 890 US Dollars). This represents nearly three months' average wages for those with a formal job. However, for those in rural areas, those without a formal job, or pensioners, such fines represent a far heavier financial burden.
The State Committee still appears to be examining religious literature confiscated during joint police and SSS secret police raids on two homes in a village in the northern Qabala District. Two men might face punishment. The State Committee's Baku representative has arranged the liquidation of seven religious communities in the capital in 2017 for alleged violations of the law. The authorities continue to warn people not to exercise freedom of religion or belief on the streets. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
AN ORTHODOX PRIEST'S UNUSUAL CALL FOR LIBERTY
from The Economist
DIVIDING THE CHRISTIAN SHEEP FROM THE CHRISTIAN GOATS: PROTESTANT DEVELOPMENTS IN RUSSIA DURING 2017
from Russian Evangelical Alliance
UKRAINE'S LARGEST NATIVITY SCENE, 50 METERS WIDE, ARRANGED IN TERNOPIL CHURCH
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
RUSSIANS HAVE BECOME LESS TOLERANT OF ADULTERY, ABORTION AND HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONS OVER PAST TWENTY YEARS - POLL
from Interfax-Religion
UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS COMMIT VIOLENCE AGAINST MOSCOW-ORIENTED CHURCH
from RIA Novosti
CONDOLENCES SENT BY PATRIARCH KIRILL TO COPTIC PATRIARCH TAWADROS II OVER ATTACK BY MILITANTS ON COPTIC CHURCH IN CAIRO
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
DAY OF STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS TO BECOME OFFICIAL HOLIDAY IN SERBIA
from Orthodox Christianity
CHINA FREES BISHOP SHAO AFTER SEVEN MONTHS BEING DETAINED
from Eurasia Review
THE PROSPECTS OF A CATHOLIC-ORTHODOX REUNION
from Arlington Catholic Herald
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Our first news article LOCAL TRADITIONS: PRIESTS BLESS THE WATERS ON EPIPHANY DAY IN ROMANIA tells about "Epiphany" (also called "Theophany") when the Trinity was revealed to mankind - the voice of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Lamb and Son of God, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove - at the baptism of Christ. The waters of the whole world were blessed and sanctified by Christ's baptism. In the Bible, the seas symbolize the Gentile nations, so this is also a foretaste of preaching the Gospel to all the world and making disciples of all nations. Romanian Orthodox celebrate this holy day on 6 January according to the New (Gregorian) Calendar, but many Orthodox will celebrate it on 19 January according to the Old (Julian) Calendar.
Our second news article MOSCOW-LED CHURCH IN UKRAINE REFUSES TO BURY BOY FROM KIEV BRANCH and our third one POPE FRANCIS IN THE LETTER TO THE HEAD OF UGCC: "I SINCERELY ASK FOR PEACE AND MERCY FOR BELOVED UKRAINE" both deal with the tragic reality of the fratricidal war in Ukraine: fellow Christians who call themselves Orthodox are fighting and killing each other over who controls their territory. Religion is merely being used by the states involved as a tool to incite the people to acts of hatred and violence. All this is quite contrary to the life and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death to reconcile mankind with God and with each other: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).
And our fourth news article "SERBIA WITHOUT KOSOVO UNIMAGINABLE; POPE WON'T VISIT YET" reminds us of the unhealed wounds remaining from the 1999 U.N. "intervention" (war) in Serbia to force it to allow Kosovo's de-facto independence. Kosovo was part of Illyricum where St. Paul evangelized but was later conquered and settled by the Muslim Turks. Kosovo is the historical homeland of the Serbian people, so they are loathe to give it up. That conflict had grave consequences for Cheryl and me because the local Russian authorities made us leave the country since we were Americans, even though we were opposed to that conflict. (We were able to get visas to return to Russia, but not to the republic where we had been.) It was obvious to me that the West was being forced by Middle Eastern Muslim countries who implied: "You want oil? Give us Kosovo!"
Our fifth news article ORTHODOX CHILDREN IN LATAKIA, SYRIA RECEIVED CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM MOSCOW PARISH describes how Russian Orthodox people brought gifts to 100 little Antiochian Orthodox children in Latakia, Syria. Few Christians in the West may be aware that the Church in Antioch, the first Christian Church outside of Jerusalem and the oldest continually existing Christian Church, is located in southern Syria. Thus the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles and the evangelization of the whole world really took off starting with Barnabas and Saul (later renamed Paul) who preached in Antioch and were sent off on their missionary journeys from there.
Lastly, our sixth news article AZERBAIJAN: FOUR STATE AGENCIES RAID RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES depicts the same-old, same-old anti-religious behavior of post-Soviet republics carried over from the communist era. Even though the constitutions of these new republics guarantee freedom of religion, laws and amendments passed since the late 1990s have often severely limited religious practice for all but the the state-approved and -controlled religious groupings.
I've recently added these *free* ebooks - On the Trinity by Hilary of Poitiers, Summa Theologica, Part I-II by Thomas Aquinas, and The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis to my Literature web-page: lots of other good stuff there too - check it out!
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Peter the Pebble, Christ the Rock
The Scripture most often quoted by Roman Catholics to support their belief in the papacy is Matthew 16:18-19 - "I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will be released in heaven." As a teenager and newly "born-again" Christian raised in an Evangelical church, I was taught that the Greek word "Petros", Peter's new name, actually meant "little stone" or "pebble" and that the Greek word for "rock" is "petra" meaning a huge chunk of rock, like a foundation stone.
Also, in Acts 4:11, when St.Peter was called before the Sanhedrin concerning the healing of the lame man at the Temple, Peter said: "He [Christ] is 'the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.' There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!" Here Peter identifies not himself, but Christ as the chief Cornerstone, as prophesied in Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16.
And in Peter's first letter, he again refers to the same Old Testament prophecies - "Coming to Him [the Lord], a living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Because it is contained in Scripture, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a chief Cornerstone, elect, precious: he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.' For you therefore who believe is the honor, but for such as are disobedient, 'The Stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief Cornerstone'" (1 Peter 2:4-7). So Peter himself twice states clearly that not he but Christ is the chief Conerstone on Whom the Church is established.
St. Paul also quotes those same Old Testament prophecies - "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; And no one who believes in Him will be disappointed" (Romans 9:33). And again - "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:20-22). And again - "For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11).
Coming back to Matthew ch, 16, in the Greek text Christ uses the singular pronoun for "you" ("thou" and "thee" in the King James version) which here indicates one person, Peter. This is sometimes pointed out by Catholics to bolster their case for the papacy, the heirs of Peter's authority who hold the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. But we find the same idea of "the keys" in Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23 where the Greek word for "you" is plural, indicating all of the Apostles had this authority. As we saw in Ephesians 2:20-22 above, Christ is the Cornerstone on which all of the apostles and prophets built the Church.
It is well known that St. Peter was taken to Rome as a prisoner where he was tried, sentenced and crucified upside-down. But there is no proof that he ever served as Bishop of Rome. In the early fourth century, Hippolytus of Rome wrote The Apostolic Tradition, which describes the Church's rules for ordaining bishops, priests and deacons, as well as Church governance for the first three centuries, indicating that there were multiple bishops in Rome and that none of them claimed authority over the others.
What's all the fuss about? Why is this important? Because for the first several centuries of Church history, the eastern and western leaders of Christianity were able to correct and balance out each other by meeting together in councils when threats to true doctrine or church order would arise. The first council was held in Jerusalem - see Acts ch. 15 - and was chaired not by Peter but by James, the brother of the Lord. Starting with Popes Gerasimus I and Leo the Great in the fourth and early fifth centuries, however, the Archbishops of Rome began claiming authority over all other bishops, archbishops and patriarchs.
In The Republic, Plato described four types of government - monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and anarchy - that tend to devolve from one to the next. We can see this tendency over and over in history: an absolute monarch (emperor, king, or pope) gives way to a senate or council of highly-qualified leaders, which eventually yields to a democracy of all the people, which in turn degenerates into anarchy when the common people find their way to the public purse and bankrupt the state. Then the cycle starts over again.
This pattern also held true for the Church: the kings of the Old Testament gave way to Church councils of the Apostles and their successors, the bishops. In the West, the Roman Senate by the fifth century had yielded to the people's demands for "bread and circuses" that led to anarchy and the collapse of the Roman Empire. This is when Pope Leo the Great siezed the reins of civil government by negotiating with the advancing barbarian Huns, thus becoming both the secular and spiritual absolute ruler.
Which brings us to the Enlightenment (weakening of papal authority), Gutenberg's invention of the printing press (the spread of literacy to the common people), the Reformation (rejection of papal authority and beginning of church governance by laypeople), the advent of modern liberal democracy (rule by the propertied people), and modern liberal-leftist anarchy (rule by demagogues, semi-literates and the masses of the poor who are addicted to the public purse). You can read about this intellectual/theological development (or devolution) at my Literature web-page.
In Rod Dreher's recent article How The Social Order Crumbles, he traces the beginning, the growth... and the demise of modern democracy. The inscription under the above photo states - "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people..." by President John Adams.
Dreher writes - "The problems in liberalism didn’t show up until now because most people in liberal democratic countries took the Judeo-Christian moral framework for granted. If the human rights (for example) that liberalism enshrines are something real, then they have to be grounded in something transcendent. It has been observed many times that liberalism is mostly a secularized version of Christianity; there’s a lot of truth to that. As I read [#1 best seller] Why Liberalism Failed, I take [the author] Deneen as saying that liberalism had to fail because at its core it stands for liberating the individual from an unchosen obligation. Ultimately, it forms consumers, not citizens."
Modern liberal democracy assumed the moral and religious principles of Western Christianity, which had come to the point of toleration of myriads of differing theological and organizational modes, so today we have tens of thousands of denominations with conflicting doctrines that all claim to have the truth. When by now this toleration has widened to include first the Jews, then the Muslims, then Buddhists, Hindus, Confucians, and even atheists and hedonists, it has devolved into the nebulous mush of what Justice Anthony Kennedy described in his infamous line that Dreher quotes: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."
In traditional Christian theology, however, liberty or freedom is the ability to choose and to act upon what is good and right. It assumes objective goodness and rightness as aspects of the Divine nature. But when liberty or freedom comes to mean the right to define one's own meaning of the universe, in other words, to believe and act in whatever way one wishes, it degenerates into consumerism, hedonism, and anarchy. The masses of people have found their way to the public purse.
In the comments section of Dreher's article, one person wrote: "We have learned, as a people, that there are no moral truths binding on anyone. There is no moral truth that cannot be simply dismissed and ignored."
I replied to that comment - "Another way to put this is: 'There are absolutely no absolutes, and that's the absolute truth.' By reducing his words to this bare-bones restatement, we can see its obvious absurdity.
To state it positively, there ARE absolute truths, but they are not easy to comprehend and even more difficult to put into practice. It requires faith, self-denial, and a deep sense of our own finitude and fallibility.
We must return to these basic Christian virtues and submit ourselves to the greater wisdom of God's revealed truth in Christ, in the Scriptures, and in the great Fathers and Mothers of the Church. No one human being is perfect, infallible or absolute, which is why we need to be guided by the consensus of godly men and women of the faith."
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Please remember to pray for Christians in socialist countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. There are two kinds of pain: the pain of discipline, and the pain of regret. The choice is yours.
, 14 Jan. 2018
