Tag: Christianity

This sermon was delivered by the Holy Hieromartyr Archpriest John Vostorgov in 1908, not long after the terrible 1905 revolution in Russia.

Today we honor the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God

“>Kazan icon of the Mother of God.

Why does this feast day, which would seem to be local according to its name, a celebration of only one city, nevertheless is a solemn feast of all the people of Russia? Why do Russian Orthodox people all across the face of the earth participate in this celebration, regardless of whatever huge distance they may be from the city of Kazan?

There is a ready answer in the words of the apostle to Christians: Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Cor. 12:27, 26).

Therefore, as children of our great and common fatherland, and as members of the same ecclesiastical body, we must naturally rejoice in everything that the Lord sends for the benefit and joy of our holy Church and our homeland.

Yet in the history of the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, in the wondrous acts of God’s power manifested through it for the benefit of our fatherland, and in the profound, purely formative influence of this holy icon on the Russian national soul and the history of our people, there is something more, something dear to the heart of every son of Russia; there is a lofty patriotic meaning.

When our ancestors, at the dawn of their historical statehood, were enlightened by the Christian faith, Western Europe had long been Christian. But the truth of Christianity had gradually been obscured there by human rational thinking and institutions. The Church of Christ was becoming worldly, and in the errors of the Roman popes—who reached for the sword and the crown, for the splendor of the earthly power of ancient and proud Rome—the Kingdom of God and Heavenly was increasingly turning into an earthly and human kingdom.

The uncorrupted truth of the Apostolic Faith was preserved in the East, in ancient Byzantium. But the countries of the Orthodox East at that time were already struggling and losing strength in their fierce battle with the advancing darkness of fanatical Islam. One by one, the lamps of the ancient churches were extinguished; one by one, the Orthodox kingdoms fell. Byzantium itself was visibly and irreversibly declining; the ancient Orthodox lands of Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Georgia, and later Bulgaria and Serbia, bowed before the dreadful flood of fanatical Islam. They were increasingly losing the ability to enlighten other tribes and nations around them, who were sitting in the darkness of ignorance of Christ’s truth. Meanwhile, the field for preaching, the harvest for Christian labor, was vast and boundless.

At this late hour in history, the Lord raised up a new lamp of the right faith in the far north, in the young Russian principality, among the Russian people—a people young, gifted, full of strength and energy. Divine Providence, calling us, the Russian Slavs of Central Europe, into the fold of the Church of Christ, pointed to our country’s unique geographical position at the border of Europe and Asia, West and East, and to its ethnic makeup, to assign us a great task: to carry the precious treasure of pure and true faith to the little-known East and North of Europe, and beyond, into the then-unknown and mysterious lands bordering Asia; to fight the darkness of paganism and spreading Islam, to enlighten the many wild tribes of alien peoples, and to bring them into participation in the Kingdom of God and the life of enlightened humanity.

Truly, this was the only task of its kind in human history—a great world mission given to Holy Russia. Our ancestors, often consciously, sometimes semi-consciously, grasped it with a spiritual instinct and began to fulfill it directly from the time of St. Vladimir, Prince of Russia, Equal to the ApostlesThat man who would not hold back from any earthly pleasures, who reached the limits of every looseness, debauchery, uncontrolled blood-thirstiness, thievery, violent vengeance – had to die with his old soul and start living with a new one.

“>St. Vladimir the Great. Remarkably quickly and firmly, in the first two centuries after the Baptism of Rus’, Christianity began to spread among the pagan tribes of what is now central and northern Russia, despite numerous and severe obstacles from outside and within, and despite the extreme scarcity of the Russian Slavs, bearers of the faith, who were almost submerged in a sea of surrounding foreign tribes.

But when Christianity had already spread from the banks of the Dnieper and Lake Ilmen¹ to the farthest reaches of northern and eastern Europe, and the Russian Church was about to take the Gospel message into the depths of Asia, a great calamity befell Russia in the thirteenth century, one that would bind Russian life and temporarily slow down Russia’s great mission of Christian enlightenment.

This calamity was the Mongol yoke—a heavy and universal martyrdom endured by the Russian people. Through this long-suffering trial, Holy Russia was to atone for the sin of its disunity, feuds, and strife, to purge and temper itself within these fires, to recognize the absolute necessity of unity in faith and political solidarity, to forge and uphold the truth of autocracy and sovereign rule, and to learn the futility and harm of popular rule. At the same time, it was entrusted to hold back the invasion of wild barbarians into Europe, to defend and preserve for the world the treasures of Christian European civilization. This is an eternally unforgettable contribution of the Russian people to all humanity.

It cost Russia great labor to endure and ultimately throw off the oppressive Mongol yoke, so that it might again freely pursue its primary and essential global mission, which Providence had set before it. Finally, more than 200 years after the Mongol invasion, the cherished desire of our princes, bishops, and the entire Russian people was fulfilled: the Tatar horde, repeatedly defeated by Russian warriors, withdrew from our borders, weakened, and fell apart… and Rus’ became free!

And immediately, our movement to the East with the Cross and the Gospel resumed. But on this path, as a barrier to this movement, lay the once-terrifying and powerful Tatar Kazan kingdom.

On the great Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, October 1, 1552, during the Divine Liturgy, at the proclamation of the Gospel words, and there shall be one fold, and one shepher” (Jn. 10:16), the once-formidable Kazan fell, and the Russian people gained an unhindered path into Asia.

Was this eastward movement and the overthrow of the kingdom of unbelievers pleasing to the Lord? Was the Russian people an instrument of God’s providence in this matter? Did they fulfill the divine mission assigned to them?

As if in response to these possible questions, besides the already notable circumstances of the conquest of Kazan, a new sign was granted from above.

The Lord wondrously revealed the icon of the Mother of God in Kazan, under whose protection the very conquest took place—an icon given to free Russia, a sign of Heavenly blessing for the Russian people in their historical mission to enlighten the East, to penetrate the depths of Asia, in their service to their calling for the world.

Time and again, this miraculous icon of the Mother of God brought and manifested God’s mercy in times of national calamity, and it rightfully became a revered icon throughout Russia. Each time, at decisive moments in Russia’s life, in preserving her integrity and independence, the Russian people received, as it were, a renewed confirmation of their historical mission.

There was a dark time, truly a “time of troubles” in Rus’, when the ruling line of St. Vladimir had ended, and when the Poles, having seized more than half of Russian lands, finally entered her very heart—Moscow—and settled there. The crown of Russia was even being offered to the Polish prince Władysław, and his father, Sigismund, a fanatic servant of the Roman pope, who sought to unite Russia with Poland, and never hid his intentions to introduce Catholicism into the Russian lands.

The purity of the Russian people’s faith, the fundamental pillars of their religious and national identity, and therefore their historical mission, were in grave danger.

O Mother of God, save the Russian land! This cry burst forth from the hearts our nation’s finest sons.

And the Mother of God heard their prayers. She came to captive Moscow in the form of Her Kazan Icon, leading the Russian army. Before Her, the brave Minin and Pozharsky poured out their supplications; Russian people looked to Her gracious help, knowing how extremely difficult it would be to take the city by force, as it had now become a stronghold of their enemies. The Russian army, hastily assembled, was disordered, untrained, small in number, and not entirely unified in spirit…

Then, in a vision, Bishop Arseny, held captive by the Poles, saw St. Sergius of RadonezhUndoubtedly, the most outstanding establisher of the truly selfless “life equal to the angels” in fourteenth century Russia is St. Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the famous Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery, which embodies in its historical legacy his blessed precepts, and gradually became a kind of spiritual heart for all of Orthodox Russia.

“>St. Sergius, the great intercessor for his beloved holy Russian land. St. Sergius declared that the Lord, through the intercessions of the Mother of God, would defeat Russia’s enemies on the very next day.

This prophecy came true. Indeed, on the following day, October 22 (November 4), 1613, the Moscow Kremlin was captured, the enemy was expelled, and Russia was freed. It would soon have a Tsar once more—a native Russian from the newly royal line of the Romanovs.

From that time on, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God became the family icon of the Russian royal Romanov dynasty, and likewise, a cherished icon of the entire Russian people. Her feast day is not only a church holiday but also a state holiday, though this is little known among us; Her churches, both near the Kremlin in Moscow and in Petrograd, are among the most revered by the people, and are churches of the royalty as well.

In these churches, before the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, our Tsars appear on significant days of their lives; they first come to venerate her after their weddings, seeking Her blessing, as do the heirs to the throne.

Once more, during a dark time in Russian history, during the time of the French invasion, this miraculous icon appeared among the ranks of the Russian army.

Thus, it became not just the local, Kazan icon, but a pan-Russian, universally revered icon. Even today, it is commonly found in traditional Orthodox Russian homes as a sacred inheritance and blessing from ancestors, passed down from generation to generation. To this day, this icon blesses every new family union… For centuries, it was carried annually from Kazan over a vast area, through lands surrounded by non-believers and heretics. It demonstrated God’s power to the enemies of Christianity; it united Russian people and baptized foreigners, and affirmed the strength of Christ and Holy Russia in the eastern Volga region.

In our own time, during the Russo-Japanese War, in the struggle in the Far East, Russia once again stood in its historical global mission. This mission was to carry the light of Christianity, the Cross, and the Gospel throughout the grand historical movement of the Russian people. Alas, this light began to dim within us; the Cross and the Gospel were scorned and betrayed by Russian people. Faith declined, and piety weakened. Once again, discord and strife appeared, authority weakened and respect for it diminished, as did reverence for the treasure of Tsarist autocracy, which had always been a saving force in the difficult days of Russian life. Soldiers went to war and mutinied; agitators flooded the troops with inflammatory pamphlets…

Just as the events of the war unfolded and the fateful battles approached, which would determine the outcome, instead of a surge in faith, instead of an inspiration in prayer, instead of a spirit of repentance—the The Complicated History of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of GodThe history of the Kazan icon began in the sixteenth century. Yet people find the circumstances and place of its appearance unusual and surprising even to this day.

“>holy icon was stolen in Kazan… There was no general outcry, no public lamentation heard… There was a trial. The criminals were judged as if they had stolen a neighbor’s cow or household furniture.

In heavy foreboding, many believers felt their hearts sink; it was clear to every perceptive soul, capable of discerning the signs of the times, that God’s judgment over us was not sleeping, and that through many tribulations we must regain the strength of spirit and the power of our former dignity. And these tribulations truly came.

We saw them and endured them—the vile triumph of unbelief, blasphemy, depravity, betrayal, lies, mutual hatred, murder, theft, disrespect for authority, and rebellion against it. And instead of calling it by its rightful name—a satanic movement—people called it a “liberation movement.”

You all remember how it gathered momentum and marched on with its brazen head held high. It especially developed in the First State Duma, filled with the fresh poison of rebellion and bloodshed, directly rising against God, the Church, the Tsar, and the unity of Russia. This was a gathering of Russia’s traitors who appeared in the Duma under the name, “the best people.”

Practically the same criminals from the prisons sat in the Second Duma as well, but the First Duma held a special significance. It inspired fear, intimidated the authorities, and managed, amid general cowardice and confusion—which always accompanies the decline of faith—to present itself as “untouchable.” People feared dissolving it. Everyone seemed bound by fear and indecision, while the Duma members, mockingly called, “the best people,” fought against the Tsar, screamed like brutes at ministers, cursed at the representatives of authority like the lowest drunkards, called the people to rebellion, sought to sever the people’s connection with the Tsar, to deprive them of faith, insulted the Church, the military, the Tsar, and the Russian people, promising independence to all non-Russians within Russian tsardom.

Exactly a year ago, on July 8, the feast day of the Patroness of the Royal House—the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God—our Tsar resolved to raise a punishing hand against this godless and demonic assembly. The Duma was dissolved. It raged, it fumed, and it responded to its dissolution with the disgraceful and criminal Vyborg Manifesto, calling for rebellion, but it had to perish and scatter. The strength of this assembly proved false, while the strength of the Tsar once again manifested itself in all its historical truth. It is understandable, then, why there was such joy among Russian patriots and monarchists here, in this very hall, when during a meeting everyone learned of the Tsar’s decision, how all prayed with tears before the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and at that very time resolved to place a lampada before it in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow. In these coinciding events, we saw a sign of God’s mercy, of the coming resurrection of Russia, and her deliverance from the looming clouds of national blindness.

Under the banner of Orthodoxy, with the Heavenly protection and blessing of the Mother of God, we will carry out our service on all paths of life. The Mother of God will save the Russian land, lighten the labor of the divine mission given to her. The image of the Mother of God may have been stolen, but no one can steal Her gracious help. And just as Her icons—copies of the Kazan Icon—remain, so will the mercy and protection of the Mother of God remain with us, if we are worthy of it through our faith and way of life. We only need to remember where our strength and calling lie: in Orthodoxy. By remaining faithful to holy Orthodoxy, Rus’ will not perish. This child of God, born of such great tears and prayers, our people, will not perish if they remain obedient children before God.

Rise, then, O Russian people, in the spirit of faith and piety. Embrace the awareness and duty of your calling, and your sorrows and misfortunes will vanish. The pledge of this hope is the miraculous image of the Mother of God, who once blessed those who, like us, believed and hoped, awaiting the deliverance of Russia from dire tribulations. Their faith was not in vain, and their hope was not put to shame!

From: Archpriest John Vostorgov. Complete Works, published in 1998 by “Tsarskoe Delo”.

The Mexican bishops’ conference expressed deep concern over an initiative in the Mexico City assembly “which seeks to completely eliminate legal protection for life in gestation” and could lead to the further removal of limits on abortion across the country.

“This initiative, which seeks the total decriminalization of abortion in Mexico City, and which will probably be extended to other states in the Republic, would not only eliminate the current limit of twelve weeks of gestation, but would also open the door to the termination of pregnancy at any time,” the bishops’ said in a Nov. 6 statement signed by the conference president, Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López of Monterrey, and its general secretary, Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca.

“As pastors, we cannot remain silent in the face of a measure that, under the pretext of defending rights, in reality ignores the most fundamental human right: ‘the right to life from conception to natural death,’ and abandons women to decisions that can dramatically affect their lives,” the statement said.

A pair of commissions in the Mexico City assembly voted Nov. 4 to eliminate abortion from the criminal code, along with any limits on how late an abortion could occur during pregnancy. Punishments of three to six months in prison or 100 to 300 days of community service for women who abort were also scrapped.

Mexico City, which became the first jurisdiction in Mexico to decriminalize abortion in 2007, previously allowed abortion only until the 12th week of pregnancy. In 2023, the Supreme Court effectively decriminalized abortion nationwide until the 12th week of pregnancy.

The removal of limits on abortion dealt another setback to Mexico’s pro-life movement, which has seen a series of court decisions and local legislatures remove restrictions on abortion over the past five years.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who left office Sept. 30, didn’t promote abortion access during his time in office, saying there were more important issues such as poverty and corruption. But his Morena party has pushed decriminalization. Opposition parties, including the conservative National Action Party — which opposed the Mexico City initiative — have not doggedly championed the pro-life cause.

“The party that supposedly defended life began to question it,” Alicia Galván, director of Patria Unida, a conservative think tank, told OSV News. “Among its militants and many local deputies in past legislatures, they hesitated and political coercion silenced them.”

Mexico’s bishops promised “to continue providing spiritual and material assistance to those who need it, and we extend our understanding, mercy and love to those who have experienced the tragedy of abortion.”

They continued, “The right to life is not a matter of ideology, nor of simple political opinion. Human life, as described by the biological sciences, manifests a meaning and significance that no positive law can eliminate or change.”

The ruins of ancient Najran     

Introduction

Comprising the modern nations of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Historically it was subdivided into certain distinct regions, such as Najd in the central part of the peninsula, the Hijaz in the west, Hadhramaut in the south, and Hajar in the east. Despite the extreme desert harshness of much of its terrain, it is an ancient seat of civilization, and numerous distinct cultures have thrived over the centuries within its borders.

The Apostle Thomas, depicted in a Syriac illumination     

From a religious perspective, this area of the world is best known as the birthplace of Islam. Indeed, so overwhelming has the dominance of Islam been in this region since the time of its founding in the 7th century, that it has all but entirely obscured the rest of the religious history of the Arabian Peninsula. This circumstance was by no means accidental: It was a direct consequence of Islamic theology. Once Islam arose—violently, it should be said, and spread by terror and the sword from the very beginning—it set about eradicating all other faiths from the land of its birth. A hadith attributes the following statement to Muhammad, Islam’s (purported) founder: “Let there not be two religions in Arabia.”¹ This, of course, meant that everything other than Islam had to go—and its enforcement has been vigorous and effective over the centuries.

So complete has the suppression of other faiths in Arabia been that a Christian of today, having only a casual knowledge of this area’s history, could be excused for not even realizing that a thriving and robust Christian presence existed there long before Islam’s emergence, and continued for some time thereafter. Yet such is precisely the case. There are, in fact, a number of saints of the Orthodox Church directly associated with this region; this essay will take a look at their stories.

A brief note at the outset: This article does not propose to survey the entire phenomenon of Arab Orthodox Christianity, an admittedly vast topic. The Arab contribution to the life and history of the Orthodox Church is immense and of the greatest antiquity, stretching back to the beginning, and it includes some of the Church’s greatest teachers and most illustrious names, such as St. John Damascene). However, geographically it is largely associated with the Levant—places such as Syria and Palestine. (In ancient usage, the term “Arabia” encompassed a much vaster area than the term now usually does). This brief essay is narrower in focus, and only proposes to address some aspects of the Orthodox Christian history of the Arabian Peninsula itself, principally through considering the lives of its saints.

Early History: Foundations

Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Thomas     

Tradition credits the first preaching of the Gospel of Christ on Arabian soil to the holy Apostles Sts. Thomas and Bartholomew. Thus, the beginning of a Christian presence on the Arabian Peninsula dates to Apostolic times. The light of Christian doctrine shone there long before the darkness of Muhammadanism all but swept it away centuries later.

The holy Apostle Thomas came to Arabia during his voyage en route to the Malabar Coast from northwestern India around the year AD 52. (It is also possible that he was traveling back from Palestine). Sailing over the Red Sea, he stopped over for a time in Yemen. He then proceeded to an island off the Yemeni coast called Socotra (Suquṭrā). Shortly thereafter he continued on his way over the Arabian Sea to southwestern India, where he performed his greatest apostolic labors. Details of his activities in Arabia appear to be scarce, but the supposition is unavoidable that he was actively engaged in preaching for however long he stayed over. After a life of great missionary labors he was martyred in India around the year AD 72.

The Arapet, or Arabian, icon of the Mother of God     

Here it should quickly be noted in relation to the account of St. Thomas’ missionary travels that there is an ancient icon of the Mother of God called the Arapet, or Arabian, icon. While little is known precisely about the icon’s origin, one tradition attributes it to the period of the evangelization of Arabia and India under St. Thomas. The icon’s feast is observed on September 6.

St. Bartholomew is also traditionally connected to the Arabian Peninsula. Like St. Thomas, he, too, helped evangelize parts of India, and his travels seem to have included the historic region of Arabia Felix, which corresponds to present day Yemen. He also is said to have preached in the Hijaz. He apparently left a copy of the Gospel of Matthew (in Hebrew) with a Christian community that he founded in southern Arabia. St. Bartholomew was martyred, around the year AD 70, in either Albanopolis of Armenia or in what is now Azerbaijan.

Another early figure of importance in the Orthodox Christian history of the Arabian Peninsula is St. Pantaenus the Philosopher of Alexandria (†c.200). Like Sts. Thomas and Bartholomew before him, his missionary activity is mostly associated with India. However, he also spent at least some time in southern Arabia, where he encountered the Christian community with a Hebrew copy of the book of Matthew that St. Bartholomew had left with them.

Missionaries had brought the Gospel to the northern shores of the Persian Gulf by the latter half of the 4th century, from the area of present-day Kuwait and then southward. Recently in the Harrat al-Sham desert of northern Arabia, in the area around the Jordanian border, a 4th century inscription was found carved in a rock; the inscription, in the ancient Safaitic script, is a prayer invoking the name of Jesus and calling for His help—an indication of at least some Christian presence in that area by that time.² Southern Arabia saw established Christian communities from quite early on: A bishopric of Yemen is attested from at least the 3rd century; the first Ecumenical Council in Nicea in 325 lists among its attendees a certain Bishop Marqianos from Yemen. By around this same time or shortly thereafter, a similar situation existed in eastern Arabia, with bishops attested by at least the beginning of the 5th century: A bishop from that area is known to have attended a synod in Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410. Thus we see well established Church life with an organized ecclesiastical hierarchy in place across the peninsula from early Christian times.

This sketch of the earliest Christian history of the Arabian Peninsula, while brief and cursory, nevertheless sufficiently demonstrates the venerable antiquity of the Christian presence in that land. It dates back to the time of the Apostles themselves, a couple of whom sanctified its soil with their travels and labors for God. And although a Christian presence never became dominant throughout the peninsula, still the seeds they planted bore fruit later on, as will be discussed more below.

St. Arethas the Great-Martyr of Najran and His Companions

St. Arethas     

A Christian community existed in the southern Arabian city of Najran (located near the border of present-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen) from at least the 5th century, though it may date all the way back to at least the early 3rd century. Regardless of the exact date of the establishment of the Christian Faith there, Najran is considered the first location in southern Arabia to have a permanent, established Christian community. Despite the fact that, as discussed above, the Gospel had been preached in the area from Apostolic times, the indigenous paganism of the area was deeply entrenched and it took a long time for the Christian Faith to take root. Judaism also had a powerful presence in the area, as will be discussed below.

There seem to be conflicting accounts of how Najran became a center of Christianity in southern Arabia. One source reports that it was already part of a diocese covering the Arabian Gulf in the early 3rd century. A certain Yemeni born Muslim traditionist of the 8th century named Wahb ibn Munabbih attributed the Christianization of the area to the preaching of a certain Phemion, said to have been a bricklayer from the Levant who came to the area and gradually won over the local population with his preaching and miracles. A prominent merchant of the area, named Hayyān, is also said to have been converted to Christianity while journeying in Mesopotamia near Kufa, whereupon he began converting his neighbors on his return to Najran. At any rate, and whatever the precise details of the manner and timeframe of the introduction and establishment of Christianity in Najran, it is certain that by the latter part of the 5th/early 6th century it was thriving in that area. Still, it was surrounded by hostile, non-Christian neighbors, and violent persecutions had occurred before.

In this time a certain illustrious man named Arethas (al-Ḥārith in Arabic) served as prefect, or governor, of the city. He had been born around the year 427 and by the time of the events under discussion here, he was around 95 years old. He was held in great esteem by the people of Najran for his probity and the holiness of his life.

The king of the Himyarites, or South Arabians, in those days was a certain Dunaan, or Dhu Nuwas. (The Himyarite Kingdom, which spanned a large portion of south Arabia roughly corresponding to modern Yemen, ruled over the area from the 2nd century BC to the 6th century AD, with its capital at Zafar, some distance southeast of present-day Sanaa). This King Dunaan was a convert to Judaism and proved to be a militant and ferociously intolerant Judaizer.

In the year 523 or 524, King Dunaan launched a bloody persecution of the Christians of Najran that would have lasting repercussions for the political landscape of the entire region, provoke widespread indignation, and produce a multitudinous harvest of martyr saints for the Heavenly Kingdom. He advanced on Najran with a huge army, said to have consisted of 120,000 men. Rather than simply launch a direct attack, he promised the besieged inhabitants that he would leave them in peace and not compel them to renounce their faith if they would open the city gates to him and agree to pay a tribute. St. Arethas, who was wise and discerning as well as deeply pious, saw through the ruse and advised the citizens to resist the invaders. However, to their great detriment, they ignored his sound counsel and heeded the blandishments of the invading tyrant. They allowed his army entry, and the bloodbath commenced.

Great Martyr Arethas of Najran     

One of the first acts of the invading forces was the desecration of the relics of the much-venerated local bishop, Paul. This Bishop Paul, the first bishop of Najran, had been martyred in Zafar a couple of years before by stoning. His bones were exhumed and unceremoniously burnt in the middle of the local church. Upon hearing of this outrage, the sister of Bishop Paul, the deaconess Elizabeth, who had been in hiding, came rushing out boldly into the church proclaiming that she wished to join her brother with Christ. Fearlessly confessing her faith, she was subjected to horrible tortures. She was bound with ropes tightened around her head and chest. A mock crown of mud was placed on her head, and boiling oil was poured into it. Throughout the ordeal, she continued affirming her Christian faith. Finally, they tied her to the legs of a camel and sent it running out into the desert, dragging her to death over the rough terrain. She was 47 years old at the time.

St. Arethas himself was now dragged before the wicked King Dunaan. Owing to his greatly advanced age and the immense emotional distress of the situation, he had been unable to come on his own power and had to be carried to the place of interrogation. However, once there he regained his boldness and spoke with great courage and eloquence. Under pressure to renounce his faith in order to save his life, he stood firm, saying: “To die for Christ is to find life.” St. Arethas further predicted that Dunaan’s efforts to extirpate Christianity in the region would come to naught, and that the churches would regrow out of the ashes. St. Arethas continued to bravely encourage his fellow Christians to remain firm in their convictions and embrace the crowns of martyrdom being presented to them. With a great many of his companions, he then surrendered his head to the sword, and his soul ascended to Heavenly glory.

In all some 4,300 Christian souls received martyrdom in Najran that day. It is said that large ditches were dug in which bonfires were lit, into which numerous faithful, both laity and clergy, were thrown. The carnage must have been all but inconceivable. Yet there were numerous instances of heroic bravery amidst that atrocity that have been reverently passed down over the centuries. Women and children were among the most outstanding examples of this. A five-year-old boy named Qarazat, upon watching his mother’s death by burning, affirmed to the king himself his own desire to follow her in martyrdom. A noblewoman named Ruhr bunt Azma, with her daughter and granddaughter, fearlessly encouraged her fellow sufferers and embraced her own martyric death. Similarly, Habsa, daughter of the distinguished Hayyān (mentioned above) with her companions fearlessly embraced death for Christ, as did St. Arethas’ maidservant Mahya and another lady named Tanha along with her daughter and servant. And many more, whose names are known only to God, bravely suffered for the Lord that day.

King St. Elesbaan (Caleb) of Ethiopia     

The account of the atrocity inflicted upon the Christians of Najran was recorded in a letter by a certain Bishop Symeon of Beth Arsham, and the news subsequently spread far and wide. It reached the Byzantine emperor, who dispatched the Axumite (Ethiopian) king St. Elesbaan-Caleb on a punitive expedition against Dunaan. The Himyarite forces were soundly defeated, and King St. Elesbaan rebuilt churches in the area, dedicating one of them to the martyrs of Najran. His mission accomplished, St. Elesbaan later retired to a life of prayer as a hermit.

Relics of St. Arethas have been preserved; some are kept in the monastery of Dionysiou on Mt. Athos. Najran became for some time thereafter a focal point of Christian pilgrimage. Later, after the rise of Islam, in the year 641 the caliph Umar forcibly relocated the Christians of Najran to Mesopotamia, though some sources record a Christian presence there for some centuries more—this despite the fact that a written covenant had been established by Muhammad with the Christians of Najran. The Orthodox Church commemorates St. Arethas and the martyrs of Najran on October 24/November 6; King St. Elesbaan of Ethiopia is also celebrated on that day.

To be continued…

Despite conflicts with Pope Francis on matters ranging from immigration and climate change to China and the Middle East during Donald Trump’s last stint in the White House, a senior Vatican official has said that during his new term, Rome intends to “seek dialogue.”

Italian Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, under-secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and a close advisor to Pope Francis, spoke on Wednesday in interviews with Italian news agencies.

Adnkronos, for example, quoted Spadaro to the effect that the Vatican hopes for dialogue with Trump on matters both domestic and international.

Dialogue is needed, Spadaro said, first of all “for a better American society, where it’s obvious that many people don’t feel at home, where they don’t feel recognized and protected, and there’s a cry to be heard.”

In international terms too, Spadaro said, dialogue between Washington and Rome is crucial.

“The perspective of the Holy See is always broad, international, recognizing that the United States has an important role in avoiding that the conflicts currently under way in the world, from martyred Ukraine to martyred Palestine, don’t get worse.”

“It’s necessary to find solutions,” he said.

ANSA reported that Spadaro said the well-known contrasts between Francis and Trump on many issues don’t have to be an impediment to dialogue.

“The Holy See has never divided the world into good guys and bad guys, closing the doors to the latter and opening them to the former for building political alliances,” he said.

“Catholics don’t have homogenous party affiliations or political convictions in the United States or anywhere else,” he said. “It’s held the compass of values steady, but without taking sides, precisely to avoid a spurious mixing of religion with politics.”

“Dialogue and diplomacy are useful precisely for building bridges and knocking down walls,” Spadaro said.

Spadaro suggested that in the past, Trump himself sometimes has appeared to combine religion and politics, citing his 2018 State of the Union address – a tendency, Spadaro said, which is “problematic,” but which makes dialogue with the Vatican “not only desirable, but necessary.”

Spadaro also appeared to issue an indirect challenge to Trump, referring to his “Make America Great Again” mantra.

The true measure of greatness, Spadaro said, will be America’s “attention to the poor, the marginalized and the needy who, like Lazarus, stand outside our door. This applies for the many, too many, forgotten persons in America who feel they no longer belong. It also applies to migrants, who’ve constituted the very fabric of American society.”

“His political career is considered an unprecedented feat, having managed to return to the White House after two impeachments, various trials, and two criminal convictions,” the Nov. 6 article said. “After the assault on Capitol Hill, his downward spiral seemed definitive, having been abandoned even by his own party, which he managed to reconquer.”

Generally speaking, popes don’t send official messages to new American presidents until their inauguration. There is precedent for breaking that protocol – Pope Benedict XVI, for instance, dispatched a congratulatory note to Barack Obama immediately after his election in November 2008 – although the last time with Trump, in 2016, Francis waited for inauguration day before writing to the new American leader.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, spoke briefly to reporters Nov. 7 outside Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.

The Vatican secretary of state said his prayer for Donald J. Trump is that God would grant him wisdom “because that is the main virtue of those who govern according to the Bible.”

Asked about Trump’s victory Nov. 5 and looking toward his second term as president, Cardinal Parolin said, “I think he has to work above all to be president of the whole country and therefore overcome the polarization that has occurred and is very evident.”

“We also hope he can be a factor for détente and pacification in the current conflicts that are bloodying the world,” the cardinal said. “He said he will end the wars. Let’s hope so. But, of course, he doesn’t have a magic wand either.”

As for Trump’s repeated vow to “launch the largest deportation program in American history” and to severely limit all immigration, Cardinal Parolin said the Vatican supports a comprehensive and “wise policy toward migrants so that it does not go to these extremes.”

Pope Francis has recognized the right of nations to regulate immigration but also has insisted those policies promote an attitude of welcoming people seeking safety and a better life, accompanying them as they settle in and helping them integrate. Cardinal Parolin told reporters, “I think this is the only way to deal with the problem and to solve it in a humane way.”

The cardinal said he is not worried that U.S.-Vatican relations will suffer under Trump’s leadership. “We maintained relations with the president during his previous term and will continue to do so.”

“As always,” he said, “there are elements that bring us closer and elements that differentiate and distance us, and this will be an opportunity to exercise dialogue and to try to find more points of consensus for the benefit of the common good and world peace.”

Opposition to abortion is one common position, and Cardinal Parolin said he hoped Trump would work on a broader understanding of the defense of human life and do so in a way that will bring people together “and not let it again become a policy of polarization and division.”

Holy Great Martyr Arethas and Those With HimThe beginning of a Christian presence on the Arabian Peninsula dates to Apostolic times.

“>Part 1: Holy Great Martyr Arethas and Those With Him

St. Grigentios (Gregory) of Omirits The next saint to be discussed here came to the area of south Arabia directly on the heels of the persecution of Dunaan and the restoration of Christianity under King St. Elesbaan. However, by background he was a Westerner, a native of Milan, Italy. His name was Gregentios, or Gregory, now venerated as St. Gregory of Omiritis (ie, the Himyarite).¹

It is recorded about St. Gregory that he was holy and worked miracles even from his youth. His future course of episcopal service in south Arabia was miraculously foretold to him while he was still a deacon in Milan (or Mediolanum as it was then called). A clairvoyant elder dwelling in some mountains nearby appeared to him in a vision and instructed him to proceed to Rome, where he was to pray in the church dedicated to Sts. Boniface and Aglaida. He was further told to proceed onward to Alexandria and from there to Najran in Arabia. St. Gregory received further Heavenly confirmation of his calling when Sts. Peter and Paul appeared to him in another vision and placed the omophorion of the bishop’s office on him.

St. Gregory dutifully did as instructed. He experienced further visions of the Apostles Peter and Paul while in Rome. He made his way to Alexandria. There he continued to serve as a deacon. In the meantime, the churches of Najran in Arabia had been restored and were in need of episcopal leadership. As the patriarch of Alexandria was praying for divine enlightenment about who to appoint to this important role, the Apostle St. Mark appeared to him in a vision. St. Mark instructed the patriarch to appoint Gregory, then still a deacon, to be Bishop of Najran. Later, during the service of ordination, St. Gregory shone with Uncreated Light and gave off a fragrance of myrrh.

As Bishop of Najran, St. Gregory set about energetically revitalizing the Christian community there. Further, he converted many pagans and Jews. Through the miracles accomplished by his prayers, he vanquished a Jewish rabbi in a public debate; the rabbi and all those of his party then willingly accepted Christian baptism. After thirty years of episcopal service, during which he converted a multitude of pagans and Jews to Christ, he reposed in peace in the year 552. His feast day is December 19/January 1.

St. Isaac of Nineveh (the Syrian)

St. Isaac of Nineveh (the Syrian) St. Isaac of Nineveh is one of the most beloved and revered spiritual writers in the Church’s history. His Ascetical Homilies have been translated into numerous languages and reverently appreciated for centuries—a treasure trove of spiritual riches that have inspired and edified a multitude of readers the world over. Even down to our day, holy men of recent times like St. Paisios of Mt. Athos (†1994) have been effusive in their praise of St. Isaac. He is a teacher par excellence of prayer and compunction and the interior spiritual life.

It is unnecessary here to delve into a lengthy analysis of St. Isaac’s life and writings since abundant literature on these subjects already exists and is widely available. In this context it is germane to consider briefly that there are two broad traditions regarding the outline and geographical location of his life and activities, one of which situates him solidly in the Arabian Peninsula.

One version of St. Isaac’s life locates him in the 6th century and places him more or less entirely within Mesopotamia, around Nineveh (near modern Mosul, Iraq) and Khuzestan in present-day southwestern Iran. However, other traditions place him in the 7th century and give Qatar, on the Arabian Peninsula’s northeastern coast, as his place of birth. Specifically, his birthplace is referred to as Beth Qatraye, a region of northeastern Arabia roughly corresponding to present day Qatar and Bahrain. (The region to the south of Beth Qatraye was known as Beth Mazunaye). A Christian presence had existed in that part of Arabia from at least the 4th century. A brief précis of his life, as preserved in the Syriac accounts, should suffice here: St. Isaac would have been born in the early 7th century. He was drawn to monasticism from his youth (monasteries are known to have flourished in abundance in that area of Arabia at that time), and while still a young man he won local renown as a spiritual teacher. In the year 676 the Catholicos George, who was in Beth Qatraye for a synod at Dayrin, took St. Isaac with him back to Mesopotamia and had him ordained Bishop of Nineveh. Finding the burdens of the bishop’s office intolerable, after only five months St. Isaac resigned his episcopate and took up the life of a solitary hermit on Mt. Mathout in the Beth Huzaye region north of the Arabian Peninsula. Blindness forced him into retirement at the monastery of Rabban Shabur near Shustar in Khuzestan where he reposed.

If, indeed, the tradition placing St. Isaac in eastern Arabia is correct, then that connects one of the Orthodox Church’s most celebrated and beloved saints to the Arabian Peninsula. There is presently a Greek Orthodox church in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, that has St. Isaac as one of its heavenly patrons. St. Isaac of Nineveh is commemorated on January 28/February 10.

St. Abd al-Masih

St. Abd al-Masih, abbot of Mt. Sinai. Icon from Uncut Mountain Supply The principal events of St. Abd al-Masih’s life, including his service as abbot and the eventual martyrdom that resulted in his recognition as a saint, took place outside the Arabian Peninsula. However, he was originally from southern Arabia, so his inclusion here is warranted.

He was born Qays ibn Rabi’ ibn Yazid al-Ghassani in Najran, sometime around the 9th century. (This fact would indicate that the forced relocation of Najran’s Christians under Caliph Umar in the 7th century did not completely eliminate a Christian presence there). As evidenced by the name al-Ghassani, he was a descendant of the Ghassanid tribe of Christian Arabs which had ruled a kingdom in northern Arabia and the Levant until the 7th century. As a young man, Qays set out from Najran on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. While en route he fell in with certain Muslims who were out raiding, with the end result that he joined in their depredations and adopted their religion. He joined their raids and assisted them in waging jihad. After many years of this life, he was in Syria one day when he overheard a priest reading from the Gospel. Moved to tears, and remorseful over his betrayal of his Christian faith, he renounced Islam and was received back into the Church. He placed his weapons before the altar, and he sold all his goods and distributed the money to the poor. Indeed, so profound was the depth of his repentance that he entered monastic life in the Lavra of St. Sabbas in Palestine. He took the monastic name Abd al-Masih, or Servant of the Messiah. After years of exemplary life there, he entered the monastic community at Mt. Sinai where he was made steward and, eventually, abbot, in which capacity he labored for seven years.

During this time, he had announced himself to the local Muslims in the very middle of their mosque in the city of Ramla as an apostate from their religion and had even told them exactly where he could be found. Apostasy from Islam, then as now, was punishable by death. But as his time for martyrdom had not yet come, he was miraculously rendered invisible to the party of Muslims that had come into the church to kill him. But some years later, again in the city of Ramla, he was recognized by one of his old raiding companions. A mob formed around him and he was bound and brought before the local governor, who urged him under grave threats to return to Islam. St. Abd al-Masih bravely and steadfastly refused to abandon Christ, and received the crown of martyrdom by beheading. His body was burned and cast down a deep well, but when local Christians later recovered it for veneration, they found that his skull was of a bright white color and his relics had been undamaged by the flames. Thus was his sanctity gloriously affirmed following his martyric death.

Present Situation and Conclusion

Greek Church of St. Isaac and St. George, Doha, Qatar     

The present situation for the Orthodox Church in the Arabian Peninsula would appear to be bleak. Religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, which covers the vast majority of the peninsula, is all but nonexistent, ranking at or near the bottom of all nations for religious freedom. Officially, it remains illegal to openly practice any faith other than Islam. Converts from Islam face potential execution. The situation in the other nations of the peninsula, while better, is hardly ideal. In almost all the nations of the peninsula, sharia, the corpus of historic Islamic legal regulations, forms the basis of national law. Wherever Islam holds sway, no non-Muslim group is ever truly safe. It would therefore seem like the Arabian Peninsula is and will likely remain barren soil for the growth of Orthodoxy. However, there are some signs of hope; and, of course, it is useful to remember that what seems impossible to men is easy for God, through Whom nothing is impossible. Therefore, it would be both foolish and a sign of faithlessness to despair of the situation.

A Christian presence of any sort is greatly in the minority throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Orthodoxy therefore finds itself a minority within the minority. There are, however, some Orthodox communities to be found, and we can pray that their numbers might multiply over time. There is, for example, the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Isaac and St. George (mentioned above) in Doha, Qatar. It dates its founding to 2004.

Since the UAE, from the perspective of religious freedom, is probably the most liberal part of the Arabian Peninsula, it is perhaps not surprising that a few Orthodox parishes call it home. There is a Greek Orthodox Archbishopric UAE-Abu Dhabi, with its cathedral, dedicated to St. Elias, located in the Al Mussafah area of Abu Dhabi. The St.Elias Cathedral was inaugurated in 2018 and accommodates about 1,300 worshippers. There is in addition an Orthodox church in Abu Dhabi dedicated to St. Nicholas as well as one in Dubai dedicated to the Annunciation. The initial organization of parishes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi goes back to 1980. Fr. Stephanos Neaimeh, a native of Beirut, Lebanon, has served parishioners in Abu Dhabi since 1989.

St. Philip the Apostle Russian Orthodox Church, Sharjah, UAE     

Of special interest is the Russian Orthodox St. Philip the Apostle Church in Sharjah, UAE. This was the first Russian Orthodox church to be built in the Arabian Peninsula. It opened in 2011 and has the distinction of being the largest church in the country. It is surmounted by magnificent gold crosses, making it unique in Arabia (where displaying crosses publicly has long been taboo) and serving as a bold Christian witness in the region.

Even in Saudi Arabia, seemingly the least favorable place of all for Orthodoxy to survive, there is a small presence of foreign nationals who are Orthodox Christians. Encouragingly, reports in recent years suggest that the nation’s dreaded religious police, the Mutaween, have stopped enforcing the official ban on Christian services.

In the final analysis, it will be through the courage, hardiness, and dedication of the Orthodox faithful on the Arabian Peninsula that Orthodoxy will survive and grow in that area. Above all, the prayers of the—rather numerous—Orthodox saints of the region will be most needed, as their Heavenly help, with God’s good providence, can accomplish what in human terms might seem overwhelmingly daunting. May it be blessed, and may God grant the increase, through the prayers of the saints of Arabia!

    

The basic laws of the Old Testament were the Ten Commandments received by the The God-Seer Moses as a Prophet of the PastThe prophet Moses occupies a unique position in the Scriptural Tradition of prophecy, having been granted not only to see the future and call the people to a greater faith in God, but alone was given to see the awesome creation of the world—that which God alone witnessed, and God alone can reveal. Moses, alone in the Scriptural canon can be called a prophet of the past, and his experience is confirmed for us in the experience of the saints in every age of the Church. He responded to the call of God and ascended the mountain to speak with Him, experiencing divine vision in His presence, and in turn offering to us the life-giving knowledge of the creation of the world, and there arose no greater prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (Deut. 34:10).

“>Prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. All state and religious laws of ancient Judea originate from these commandments. They are also one of the major spiritual guidelines for modern Christians all over the world. Interestingly, the first commandments speak about the relationships between God and man, while the last ones speak about the relationship between people; and one commandment, the fifth, is dedicated to parents: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee (Exodus 20:12). This is the only commandment that does not simply carry a prohibition or admonition, but makes a direct promise: He who honors his parents will live a long and prosperous life. Let’s talk about the role of the father in the life of the family—what a father should and should not be like.

The On The Secrets of Family HappinessIn general, it is very important to do everything together, be it games, outings or trips. This is how the association that a family is one whole is formed in children.

“>family is the foundation of society, and the role of the father in it cannot be overestimated. He isn’t simply a man who is the biological parent of a child. He is the one responsible for the wellbeing and upbringing of his children. When it comes to raising children, the role of the mother is remembered first. However, we should not forget that the child also has a father, and his contribution to family life is no less important. The father’s role in the family is multifaceted, as it incorporates different aspects of life.

In the past, when most people were peasants, sons always helped their father with work in the field tending the cattle, making hay, collecting firewood, and so on. Back at home, the mother and her daughters and younger children took care of the household. This was the most effective kind of upbringing—by personal example. These days, in order to provide for the family, we don’t need to be at the plow. Modern-day fathers, who devote themselves to work in the office and on the factory floor in order to provide their children with good living standards, often shift all other responsibilities they had before, including children’s education, to their wives—and this is truly sad.

It is the responsibility of both (!) parents to raise their children. Unfortunately, not all people are able to understand and accept this rule. In many families, the father is akin to an alien. He comes home, gets grouchy and angry when someone bothers him while he’s resting, and his only role in the upbringing of children is punishing them if they have done wrong. He’s a kind of domestic tyrant who inspires nothing but fear in everyone; a bogyman the kids scares each other with: “Stop it, or dad will find out.” Thus, the children become disappointed quite early when they try to show their love to their father, but instead have to deal with his coldness and irritation.

The responsibility to raise children falls on both (!) parents

Of course, we can try to understand men who work all day long to provide for the family, and his family simply doesn’t see him at home. However, as a priest, I often hear regrets from older men that they had practically no contact with their children, and forever remained strangers to them, not to mention the fact that their hard work ruined their health. As a result, men arrive at old age in poor health and face loneliness, because their children did not experience the father’s love and they can’t show love towards their parent. As for the excuse of grown-up children who grew up in such a family, it is very similar to that of their fathers: I provide for my family and I owe nothing to anyone else. Sooner or later, having experienced pain from the father’s impassiveness as children, they will accept such behavior as the norm themselves.

Of course, the father is responsible for his family’s material wellbeing. He must see to it that his children have everything necessary to live a fulfilling life. As the apostle says in the letter to Timothy, But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith (1 Timothy 5:8). The father must be certain about tomorrow in order to provide stability and security for his children.

But we also shouldn’t forget the other admonitions of the Holy Scripture. A father’s role in the family isn’t strictly limited to the role of a provider. He must also pay attention to the emotional wellbeing of his children, and show his support and encouragement. He should be attentive and caring, hear his children, understand their needs and help them solve the problems they are facing. Above all, the father is an example for his children. He demonstrates how they should live to be decent people. The Bible says, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). A father must show his children how to live according to God’s commandments, how to be honest and hardworking, how to respect his elders, and to help those in need.

The “On How a Man Can Become the Head of an Orthodox FamilyWhat kills the family and children is the fact that a man is afraid to even try to do what he is supposed to do!

“>head of the family” isn’t simply a fine phrase. A family in Orthodoxy is often called a small church. Also, in the Sacrament of Matrimony, the husband and future father becomes the rector of this small church. His duty is to take care of the household, in all aspects. As a rector, I often have to look deep into the problems of my parishioners, to admonish them, comfort them, to reconcile those who are quarrelling, to talk with them. If the rector were to treat his church simply as work, in other words, as a “came-served-left” thing, the church would stand empty. After all, everyone needs attention, care and love. This is why many people attend “their” church, and that’s why they call it “their” church.

Sure, of course, and above all, when we attend church—we come to God. But secondly, we go there to see our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a parish family, people help each other in joy and in trouble: as a congregation, they pray for the sick, collect clothing, food, money for those who happen to be in a difficult situation. The rector should be the center of this brotherly love, and the spiritual children will flock to him with their problems and worries expecting support, admonition and prayer. The father should also be such a rector of a small family church. That, and then some.

Even if in today’s world it is the mothers who more often turn to the Faith, ideally, it is the fathers who should call the family to prayer, to remind them about fasting, to read the Holy Scripture with them, and talk about God. This is what the Bible instructs us: And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates (cf. Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

The father must actively participate in his children’s lives

The father, on a par with the mother—or even more so—should be involved in the upbringing of children. We are not talking simply about punishments. But, of course, they can also be applied, if used reasonably. Punishment should not be about working off your anger in case of disobedience, but about the disciplining of your child. In the Second Book of Kings, God Himself tells us what punishment is: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to Me. If he does wrong, I will punish him in the usual ways, with the snares and obstacles of this mortal life. But I will never deprive him of My merciful love (2 Samuel 7:14–15). Remember that we shouldn’t use punishment in irritation and anger. Otherwise, we will only develop fear and resentment in our child. As the Apostle Paul instructed, And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6: 4).

The head of the family should spend time with his children playing and talking to them, helping them in their studies. The father should be an active participant in the life of his children, so that they might feel his support and care. They look up to him and learn everything from him. Children see how a father treats his wife, how he earns a living, and how he solves problems. They acquire his behavior and habits. If the father is prone to bad habits, it is pointless to try to shield the children from them. They see this example and will eventually start copying their parent’s behavior.

The sons of the father/domestic tyrant who beats his wife and children will later bring the same behavior pattern into their own family life, while the daughters in most cases will simply be unwilling to get married, because they dread the horror they experienced in childhood. It is very difficult to change in a person the norms he has witnessed in childhood. Therefore, the children’s future life directly depends on the behavior of the head of the family. The father should be a worthy role model, a spiritual leader and mentor, and not a tyrant.

He must educate his children about faith in God, instill in them moral values and virtues. A father must be an example of virtue and righteousness for his children. He should teach them to love God and neighbor, to be honest, fair-minded and merciful: The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him (cf. Prov. 20:7).

In conclusion, I’d like to add that fatherhood is a great honor, but also a great responsibility. If we were tasked to describe a good father in a few words, it would sound like this: kind but strict, loving and caring, wise and fair, strong in words and deeds. If the father responsibly does his part in the lives of his loved ones and his children are proud of him, his family will be strong and happy. Likewise, the children will grow up to be decent people who will be of benefit to society, and to their parents in their old age.

There is an old saying there are only two kinds of coaches: those who have been fired and those who will be fired. Even when coaches are not asked to leave, in the current climate of collegiate sports, many coaches voluntarily and eagerly move on to more lucrative opportunities. 

Not so for Rob Selvig.

In a profession that grows more nomadic by the turn of a transfer portal, Selvig stayed put, stayed true, and the result was a legacy that goes above and beyond the hoisting of a championship banner in an arena. 

The new documentary “Playing Like A Girl: The House That Rob Built,” which emanates from the venerable LA-based Catholic studio Family Theater Productions, is not about championship banners, even though there are many. It is not about how women’s sports grew in stature and equity over the past three decades, as it obviously has. 

It is about how a man, dedicated to the sport he loved, found his vocation in life and how that vocation touched the lives of hundreds of young women, who may have thought they would never get the opportunity to go to college or compete at an elite athletic level.

Selvig, we learn, loved the game he played since a child. When his collegiate playing days were over, he knew his next step was coaching. What he did not expect was that his first and last coaching job would be a women’s team at the University of Montana — not exactly one of the powerhouse basketball schools in the country.

He began before the days of the Title IX court ruling that finally leveled the playing field for women’s collegiate sports. It was a world of inferior facilities and little or no support from alumni or college administrations. But it was a job offer, and Selvig accepted the position to coach the “Lady Griz” basketball team. He stayed for 38 years.

Directed by former Lady Griz player and now Emmy-winning filmmaker Megan Harrington, “The House That Rob Built” is set to run on local PBS stations around the country, no small feat for a small Catholic production studio. It shows how Selvig’s life and coaching career intersected with those of hundreds of young women, many of them from rural small towns in Montana and Native American reservations. 

Harrington was one of those small-town girls who always dreamed of playing for the Lady Griz team but was first told by Selvig that he did not have a scholarship to offer her. Then, one fateful night that she first believed was a prank, Selvig called her house: a scholarship had opened up and was hers for the taking.

We meet many other women with similar paths. Women like Malia Kipp, who was a teenage mother in high school living on a reservation in Montana and facing a future that seemed to only offer challenges when she met Selvig. He believed in her potential when she had serious doubts. 

The film’s essence comes through this particular story as Kipp explained how overwhelmed she felt at juggling the responsibilities of being a mother, a student, and a collegiate athlete, and found a champion in Selvig. The self-confidence Selvig “coached” into her paid dividends far beyond a basketball court. After her playing days were over, Kipp graduated from law school and is currently the attorney general for her tribe.

The film could have been sustained if it was just about a great basketball coach. There is a lot of ground to cover, with a career that spanned 38 years and produced 865 wins, 24 conference championships, and 21 NCAA Tournament appearances.

But this film is not about wins and losses. It is truly a powerful story of a man who — like so many coaches — may have thought his first job would be a stepping stone to something bigger and better, but discovered something more important.

Many of Selvig’s former players vividly remember his tough and sometimes harsh coaching style, but they are unanimous in their love and respect for him. Selvig clearly reciprocates those feelings.

Though faith is never mentioned, and the University of Montana is a secular institution, Selvig’s Christian attributes, though sometimes wrapped inside a pretty tough coach, permeate the film and his acceptance, love, and commitment to his “girls” are reflected back at him through the stories the women in the film tell. 

You do not have to know a thing about basketball to be deeply touched by this film. I guess the best way to sum up this film is that if you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly — especially a Lady Griz.

“The House That Rob Built” is playing during the month of November on local PBS stations. Visit TheHouseThatRobBuiltMovie.com for showtimes and more information.

On October 24, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church announced the retirement of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, “considering his state of health.” Met. Hilarion was undergoing treatment in Germany at the time of the decision to retire him and replace him with His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, formerly of Vladivostok.

There has been confusion about this in Ukraine, since the Donetsk diocese has not formally transferred from the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. However, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in turn, has not yet canonically become autocephalous and cannot do so until its representatives can be present at Synod meeting of their Mother Church, the Moscow Patriarchate.

Of course, the UOC is fully autonomous according to its charter, and has declared itself entirely autonomous from the MP since the beginning of the war in 2022. However, the Donetsk region has by referendum made itself fully a part of the Russian Federation, and has no communication with Ukraine other than receiving shells and missiles from their brothers across the border, which have taken thousands of civilian lives in the Donbas and caused untold destruction.

All of that aside, Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhie and Melitopol has expressed his support for Metropolitan Hilarion, and his firm disagreement with all the internet hype against the move.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol     

Christ is in our midst, my dear readers!

With sadness I look at how the flywheel of discussion on the theme of the recent decision concerning Metropolitan Hilarion. And it’s sad, because all these futile invectives and actions of internet “battalions” give joy to the enemy of mankind and bring even greater confusion into the life of our Mother-Church. After all, if Christians do not have peace between themselves, then where will peace come from in our society?

I have great respect for Vladyka Hilarion, to whom I am greatly obliged for many things. He was and ever will be for me an example of a good shepherd, who “gave his life for his sheep.” Metropolitan Hilarion was a man to whom God gave many talents. He was an excellent administrator, director, builder, and man of prayer. As a doctor according to my secular education, I can say that the Donetsk hierarch was an example of endurance of unbelievably difficult physical sorrows, and at the same time of ceaseless service and fulfillment of his duties.

It is also important to remember here, that no matter what any clergyman’s merits are before God, no matter how much he did for the Church, the most precious thing to the Lord will be not the building of churches and monasteries, not the opening of new parishes, not ordinations, but a humble heart and the endurance of sorrows, borne with gratitude and love for God. This is what our Heavenly Father expects from each of us.

And in expressing my support for Vladyka Hilarion, I wish him strength in bearing his life’s cross, thanks to which he will be able to enter into the joy of the Lord and become a participant in the common exaltation of the hosts of Donetsk saints, who are his prayerful intercessors and protectors.

And to us who so excitedly talk about this news, or are disdainful of the reason for Vladyka Hilarion’s being sent into retirement, I would like to wish that we have faith in God and in His good Providence; for He knows better than us how best to determine people’s destinies.

I ask everyone not to dance to someone’s pipe, not to be pharisees, to not give our enemies yet another excuse to mock our Mother-Church, and for we ourselves (!) to not fall into fits of anger.

Just as Fernando Valenzuela tipped his eyes to heaven during his famous windup when he pitched, so did the hundreds of faithful who flocked to his funeral at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Nov. 6.

But as Father Jim Anguiano said during his Mass homily, that glance to heaven is no longer needed.

“Fernando no longer has to look up, nor does he have to look down,” Anguiano said. “Fernando is alive and present in our hearts and in our lives. Any time we feel that he is not with us, all we have to do is turn to our hearts and to our lives to recognize his presence.”

Valenzuela died on Oct. 22 at the age of 63. Hailing from Mexico and nicknamed “El Toro,” he became a sensation pitching with the Dodgers beginning in 1981. That year, he burst onto the scene beginning with an unexpected Opening Day start and finishing with both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards — and pitching the Dodgers to a World Series victory over the New York Yankees.

“Fernandomania” was born.

Over the next nine seasons with the Dodgers, Valenzuela was credited with inspiring several generations of Latinos nationwide to take great interest in baseball, especially the largely Mexican population in Los Angeles. His no-hitter during his last season with the Dodgers in 1990 only capped his legend.

“Every time he took the mound, he was taking it for his faith, his family, his team, and his country,” said Mike Scioscia, former Dodgers catcher and teammate of Valenzuela, during his eulogy. “He held that burden from the first time he pitched in the Major Leagues to his last time.”

Besides Scioscia, other notable attendees included actor Edward James Olmos, former teammates Orel Hershiser and Rick Sutcliffe, former Dodgers Justin Turner and Nomar Garciaparra, former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, and Jaime Jarrin and José Mota, who worked alongside Valenzuela as the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcasters.

In their eulogies, both Scioscia and Valenzuela’s son, Fernando Jr., spoke of the pitcher’s human side, often humorous, when he wasn’t in the spotlight. Scioscia spoke of Valenzuela snaring teammates’ ankles with a little lasso he carried, and some lighthearted moments featuring their language barrier.

“Everyone that knows Fernando knows that little wry smile he had, that laugh I can still hear it,” Scioscia said. “I would talk to him in Spanish and he’d look at me, like, what did you say? I’d repeat it. He’d shake his head and go, ‘Mike your Spanish is terrible.’ I said, ‘Fernando, it’s about the same as your English, so I guess we’re in the same boat.’ ”

Only a few days ago, Scioscia felt Valenzuela was still pranking him after his wife called to say all their TVs had mysteriously switched to Spanish.

“Honey, you know who that is,” Scioscia told his wife. “That’s Fernando.”

“I know that’s a sign. I know like I’m standing here that Fernando is up there, is letting us know he’s doing well.”

Fernando Jr. tearfully recalled that his father was a man of few words, and was as humble, loving and full-hearted as he appeared to be. He vowed to remember the values his father taught him: Be on time, be respectful, and work hard in all you do.

“He never asked for anything,” Fernando Jr. said. “I don’t think he ever asked anyone for anything in his life. He always liked to give everything to everyone.

“I want to be like Fernando Valenzuela and the way he treated everyone around him. And I think we can all aspire to be like him.”

Victor Fernandez said he and Fernando shared a close bond over the years, and that he was the godfather to several of Valenzuela’s family members.

“The experiences that I lived with him, I haven’t lived with anyone else,” he said.

Although Fernandez said losing Valenzuela is one of the most “painful” experiences of his life, he will now seek refuge in the company of Valenzuela’s family and in his fond memories of the ballplayer, like Valenzuela’s love of lengua and shrimp ceviche dishes and the many times they celebrated New Year’s Eve together.

“We were family,” he said.

That family-style connection to Valenzuela was the reason several of his fans showed up for the funeral Mass, many sporting blue Dodgers hats and No. 34 jerseys.

For Martin Pacheco, 56, his father played in a baseball league started by Mike Brito, the scout who famously discovered Valenzuela. He was a preteen when Valenzuela captured his attention.

“Having baseball blood in you, you appreciate a player like that,” Pacheco said. “He was the greatest.

“I saw him grow as I was growing. He was a hell of a pitcher, a great teammate. I really loved him.”

Janette Gill, wearing her blue Dodgers sweatshirt, was attending the funeral with her mom, Betty, from Echo Park.

“We just wanted to pay respects to one of the greatest,” she said. “We grew up watching the Dodgers here. We’re just fans.”

For Marcus Borjon, 43, growing up in East LA, Valenzuela showed that anything was possible.

“We scratch and claw and climb and look up to the heavens too,” Borjon said. “Fernando’s a part of that. He’s a part of our life. This is like family so we had to be here.”

The Dodgers winning the 2024 World Series was bittersweet. Just before the playoffs started, the Dodgers announced that Valenzuela was stepping away from his Spanish-language radio duties to focus on his health.

Valenzuela died just three days before the Dodgers hosted Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. Just over a week later, the Dodgers clinched their 8th World Series championship and the celebration parade in Los Angeles was scheduled for Nov. 1, what would have been Valenzuela’s 64th birthday.

During Día de los Muertos celebrations across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, several altars were dedicated to Valenzuela. Olmos and Jarrin were part of an unveiling celebration featuring a mural of Valenzuela on the side of a building in Boyle Heights that can be seen off the 101 Freeway.

Anguiano said he’s sure Valenzuela soaked it all in from where he’s at.

“He did witness the Dodgers as champions,” Anguiano said. “He had the best seat in the house. He was present for the entire postseason playoffs and didn’t have to worry about fighting Los Angeles traffic to get to Dodger Stadium, nor did he have to worry about traveling back east. Fernando had a front-row seat, perfect from heaven.”

Alaska, November 7, 2024

Photo: Facebook     

Agnes, the daughter of St. Olga of Alaska, has reposed in the Lord.

The OCA Diocese of Sitka and Alaska reports:

It is with profound sadness but with the hope of the Resurrection that the Handmaiden of God Agnes (Ashapak) has fallen asleep in the Lord. Agnes, as many affectionately know, was the daughter of the saintly Blessed Matushka Olga of Alaska. She helped capture Saint Olga’s life and was a faithful daughter of the people of Kwethluk and of the Church in Alaska.

May her memory be eternal and her soul dwell with the blessed!

A panikhida for the repose of her soul was served at All Saints Chapel at St. Herman Theological Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska, yesterday.

Agnes’ mother, St. Olga, was canonized by the OCA Holy Synod OCA Synod glorifies Matushka Olga of Alaska among the saintsMatushka Olga (†1979) has long been venerated in Alaska, throughout America, and abroad. She is remembered as a humble mother, midwife, and priest’s wife who was filled with love for everybody, and especially abused women.

“>last November. Plans are underway for the liturgical proclamation of this decision.

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