Tag: Christianity

Cherkasy, Cherkasy Province, Ukraine, October 23, 2024

Met. Theodosy, who was beaten and spayed with tear gas by the godless schismatics of the OCU. Photo: Telegram     

Those who desecrated the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy and violently assaulted dozens of Orthodox faithful, including His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy, are servants of hell, say fellow Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchs.

The cathedral was seized in two attacks Metropolitan Theodosy diagnosed with burns and concussion after violent seizure of Cherkasy cathedral (+VIDEO)Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kanev was severely injured. During the attack, he was beaten, his klobuk was torn off, and his bishop’s staff was snatched away and used to strike believers.

“>on October 17. The schismatics of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” shot gas pistols, sprayed tear gas, and physically beat Christians who were attempting to protect their church from the impiety of the attackers.

This same scene has played out hundreds of times since Patriarch Bartholomew created the OCU in 2018, though he has yet to speak out in defense of those who are persecuted and assaulted.

His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny, a staunch defender of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, addressed the attack in his homily on Sunday, October 20, saying: “We came to this earth to suffer for God, to save our souls,” and that “today, more than ever, we see persecution against our true Orthodox Church,” reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists with reference to video of the hierarch’s sermon.

“We’ve seen our metropolitans and priests being beaten, we’ve seen the lawlessness that’s happening in the land where we were born and grew up,” the hierarch, who is among the personal targets of the state’s campaign of persecution.

According to him, “we’ve never seen such mockery of clergy and the faithful as is happening now,” because “now you can enter a church with weapons, to threaten clergy, peaceful believers, the infirm and the elderly.”

He emphasized that the seizure of churches and holy sites is a great sin. “We’re all created in God’s image, so we have no right to call anyone a devil, but the events taking place—they’re from hell, and those who struck Metropolitan [Theodosy] are servants of hell,” Met. Longin concluded.

Likewise, His Eminence Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye, another target for the state, wrote in a Telegram statement yesterday that the attackers follow “the philosophy of hell.”

The hierarch stated:

Evil isn’t a property of human nature; it enters us from the outside, from that source which became the carrier of evil after falling away from God. It only persistently knocks at the door of the soul, but whether to open it or not depends on our will and our efforts. Not people, but demons are our true enemies. People are merely tools through which the devil fights against us.

But who are these people? They are those who have accepted the philosophy of hell, who have agreed to live by the laws of evil, who have decided that power, authority, money, and glory are the true meaning of life. This didn’t happen overnight, but gradually, when satan made it so that these people gave him their souls, first through thoughts and desires, and then through inclination to specific actions.

We saw such people quite recently when they seized the cathedral in Cherkasy.

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On Wednesday, the Irish parliament – called the Dáil – voted to “note” the final report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, which calls on the Republic of Ireland to legalize assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances. The vote was 76 in favor with 53 against.

Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae, the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying, was not in favor of the report.

“I don’t believe that it’s the place of a legislator to speed you up on that journey,” he told RTÉ.

“At present, if you assist somebody in dying in Ireland, you will get a mandatory jail sentence for doing so,” he said.

What is being suggested in this report is that in certain limited, certain circumstances, that you could assist somebody into the journey of death and that there would not be any legal penalty for it. It is a very serious move,” he continued.

“I looked at the evidence given from psychiatrists who also argued to us that, in their terminology, it could lead to a slippery slope, with increasing numbers of people looking to end their lives because of a number of different reasons,” he continued.

“I know that there are hard cases, but hard cases make for bad laws,” Healy-Rae said.

Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said in a statement that it is important to recognize the vote was not a vote on the issue of euthanasia or assisted suicide itself “but was on whether to note the radical and far-reaching report of the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, which called for the introduction of euthanasia/assisted suicide.”

“It would have been preferable if a majority of TDs had voted No. It is clear from the remarks of many Oireachtas members in recent days that they haven’t reflected on or studied the extreme recommendations contained in the JCAD report,” she said.

“In addition to reducing the value of human life and undermining anti-suicide campaigns, the introduction of euthanasia/assisted suicide in Ireland would have the impact of undercutting investment in palliative care and would inevitably lead to certain vulnerable groups feeling growing pressure to opt for euthanasia/assisted suicide, as shown by what has happened in the small number of countries that have gone down this road,” Mulroy continued.

“Significantly the push for euthanasia/ assisted suicide has been opposed by professional bodies such as the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants Association. I sincerely hope TDs will take account of this going forward,” she said.

“The focus of the Oireachtas should be on promoting assisted living, not assisted dying. There is so much good and life-affirming work that needs to be done in this area and candidates in the upcoming General Election have a duty to state clearly where they stand on the issue, so voters are left in no doubt with regard to their position,” Mulroy added.

The Irish bishops have also called for more focus on palliative care.

“It is our experience however that, in the final weeks of terminal illness, many people can be helped to experience human and spiritual growth,” they said in a statement earlier this year.

“Faced with the reality of their own mortality, they can and do come to understand themselves better, and to experience the love of family members and friends. This can be a time when old hurts are healed and people find inner peace. This process is supported through palliative and pastoral care, which places the focus on the needs of the whole person,” the bishops’ statement said.

“The Church does not and never has insisted on the use of extraordinary means to prolong life. Nor is there any moral obligation on a sick person to accept treatment which they feel is unduly burdensome,” the bishops added.

“A decision to end life prematurely, however, cuts off any prospect of growth or healing and represents a failure of hope. It is surely far better when a person’s freedom to live is affirmed and supported by a compassionate community of care,” they said.

Los Angeles, October 23, 2024

Photo: synod.com     

A new film about the Holy Hierarch and Wonderworker St. John of San Francisco, “Aroma of Holiness,” premiered in Los Angeles last week.

The film about the great American saint was shown at the Eastwood Performing Arts Center on October 14, following patronal services at the Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin on Argyle Street, reports the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

St. John himself had consecrated the Protection Church during his ministry in America.

His Grace Bishop Theodosius of Seattle, who led the church services earlier that day, introduced the film with previously unknown stories about Vladyka John’s life. The premiere attracted parishioners from several Hollywood parishes, local devotees of St. John, and several film producers from both Hollywood and Russia.

Photo: synod.com     

Following the screening, Bp. Theodosius and Archpriest Peter Perekrestov, Dean of San Francisco’s Holy Virgin Cathedral, the home of St. John’s relics, met with two directors L.A. to discuss future projects.

Bp. Theodosius was assisted in the festal Liturgy by Fr. Peter, along with local parish clergy and a large group of servers from as far as Seattle and Tucson.

The services, featuring a flower-adorned church and well-attended Vigil, concluded with a procession and Bishop Theodosy’s homily on the history of the feast of the Holy Protection.

Local faithful expressed gratitude for the bishop’s visit and his warm, prayerful presence during this spiritually uplifting weekend.

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A team of German and Armenian researchers made a groundbreaking discovery last week of an ancient church in Armenia dating back to the fourth century, making it the oldest documented church in Armenia, which is considered the first Christian nation in the world.

In an email correspondence with CNA, co-directors of the project Achim Lichtenberger and Torben Schreiber of the University of Münster and Hayk Gyulamiryan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences explained the significance of the discovery made by the team at the site of the ancient city of Artaxata. The project’s fourth co-director, Mkrtich H. Zardaryan, could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.

Historic roots of Christianity in Armenia

“Being the first country which adopted Christianity at the state level, and where the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew preached Christianity in the early first century, this discovery is a very important fact for Armenians,” Gyulamiryan told CNA, further stating that “the findings are among the most important in Armenia in recent decades.”

Lichtenberger also emphasized the site’s particular importance, as the church was discovered near the monastery of Khor Virap, where Gregory the Illuminator had been kept in prison before he converted the Armenian king Tiradates III to Christianity in the fourth century.

As Gyulamiryan stated, although the roots of Christianity may be traced back to the time of the apostles in Armenia, it was not until 301 that Christianity was proclaimed the official religion of Armenia.

According to tradition, Armenia’s conversion is attributed to St. Gregory the Illuminator, a Christian evangelist and convert from Zoroastrianism who miraculously cured the nation’s pagan king of a peculiar “illness” after no other pagan priest was able to do so.

The widely-adopted story of how Armenia became Christian draws from a mythical history promulgated by the fifth-century author Agathangelos, the Armenian researcher explained.

As the legend goes, the pagan king of Armenia had become fascinated by the beauty of St. Hripsime, a nun who had fled with her abbess and community from persecution in Rome. The king offered to marry and make her queen, but Hripsime refused and was able to ward off the king’s advances through miraculous strength.

After the king ultimately had Hripsime and her community killed, historians claim he was “turned into a wild boar who tore at his own flesh” and could not be cured by any priests of pagan or Zoroastrian temples who attempted the feat.

Eventually, the king’s sister persuaded him to appeal to St. Gregory, whom the king had imprisoned for the past 15 years. Once St. Gregory was released, he cured the king of his “disease” and converted him and the entire royal family to the Christian faith.

Artaxata, where these events are believed to have taken place, is “a major place related to early Christianity in Armenia,” Lichtenberger told CNA.

St. Gregory is revered both in the Orthodox Armenian Apostolic Church and in the Catholic Church traditions. In 2005, Pope John Paul II erected a 19-foot statue of St. Gregory in the north courtyard of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

The discovery

The newly-discovered church measures about 100 feet across and is shaped like an octagon with “cruciform annexes oriented east-west and north-south,” according to Lichtenberger, who noted the discovery of a similar structure from a slightly later period found in Abchazia (Sebastopol).

Although the Artaxata site was previously discovered, Lichtenberger told CNA that the church had been buried underground and gone undiscovered until the team carried out its magnetic prospections and excavations this past spring.

The researchers confirmed in September the age of the church to be from about 350 A.D. using radiocarbon dating techniques on a series of samples taken from a wooden platform belonging to the original construction of the building.

Ahead of the autumn excavations this year, Gyulamiryan told CNA he remembered thinking that the team “should confidently dig up the next chapter of the history of Armenia.”

According to Lichtenberger, the radiocarbon date from the wooden samples corresponded with pottery shards that were also discovered inside the church and with “the overall construction technique of the building using substantial amounts of mortar.”

“In the center of the church we encountered significant amounts of marble decoration that suggest that this part was prominently adorned,” he said. Interestingly, the German researcher noted that the state of the building upon discovery indicated that it had perhaps met a hostile end.

“The building was heavily destroyed (maybe intentionally),” he wrote, “the marble construction smashed, parts of the floor tiles removed, the roof set on fire, and all was buried in a huge collapse of roof tiles and burnt roof beams.”

However, according to Lichtenberger, there are no primary literary sources that correspond to the church, as “literary sources only relate to a seventh-century A.D. church in Artaxata.”

By contrast, while the Armenian literary tradition attests that the oldest church in the country is the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Lichtenberger noted, “archeological evidence from this place does not date back to the mid-fourth century A.D.”

“This does not mean that Etchmiadzin is younger than the Artaxata church, it only means that the Artaxata church provides earlier archaeological evidence,” he added. “Therefore we assume that the Artaxata church is the oldest archaeologically attested church in Armenia.”

Future of the project

Schreiber shared with CNA in another email chain that analysis of data collected from the site will play a significant role in future archeological measures.

“The interaction of the excavation results, the geophysical survey, and the scientific investigations (natural sciences) will keep us busy in the coming year,” Schreiber said. “However, we are certain that these measures will provide us with a very comprehensive picture of this extraordinary and important find.”

The research team from the University of Münster and the Armenian Academy of Sciences have been at the Artaxata site since 2018 and have also made other noteworthy discoveries, including an unfinished Roman aqueduct, a Hellenistic sanctuary, and the remains of an Urartian settlement, according to Lichhtenberger.

The team of researchers also includes 10 students from the German university along with various internal and external specialists who consulted with the team on different groups of materials at the site, including animal and human bones, plants, or “archaeobotanical” matter, marble, plaster, pottery, and roof tiles — “of which we found a lot,” Lichtenberger said.

“We will continue the work of the Armenian-German Artaxata Project in the future,” he told CNA.

Photo credit: nytimes.com

Nikita had been dreaming of conquering Everest since childhood. While he was still in high school, his passion had already taken on the appearance of a solid plan; he even put it on paper: to finish school as valedictorian, to enter the Oil and Gas University on a tuition-free basis, to graduate it with honors (if possible), to get a job in the “NGDU” (oil and gas production management company), and to save money for the expedition. A detailed list of must-have expedition equipment hung on the wall of his room for a few years. It included oxygen bottles, mountain gear, spare boots, flashlights, and thermoses… “You have to walk towards your dream day by day, making at least the tiniest of steps,” as the psychology textbooks say. And that’s exactly what Nikita did. Adding the knowledge of English to his technical “must-have” essentials, the young man showed good judgment assuming the expedition he would join would most likely consist of English-speaking people.

You can find a lot of community groups online about the conquest of the highest mountain peak, and this is where you can research the fees charged by the guides, acclimatization life hacks, how to set up rest stops, and other important details. At first, Nikita was simply reading this information, but later he was involved as an active participant of the discussions. What bothered him least of all was how to deal with the harsh climate—as a man who was born in Noyabrsk, grew up in Salekhard, studied in Tyumen, and did an internship in Novy Urengoy, he had no problem with cold weather.

News from the earth’s highest mountain peak appear daily. They sound something like this:

“On May 23, 2013, eighty-year-old Yuichiro Miura from Japan became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest and made it to the summit.

“On May 24, 2014, an Indian girl Poorna Malavath conquered peak. She became the youngest female in the history to reach Mount Everest’s summit.”

There is also tragic news.

“French snowboarder Marco Siffredi was the first to descend the summit of Everest on a snowboard. The descent to the base camp took him two and a half hours. A year later, in the fall, Marco reached the summit of Mount Everest again with the aim of snowboarding down for the second time. After his ascent, the snowboarder began his descent on his own, and was never seen again.”

Every year, about five hundred people attempt to reach the summit, but not everyone is successful.

The way up to the summit in some places resembles a cemetery, but people aren’t buried there, as it is impossible to do this, and their remains simply lie on the slopes

The way up to the summit in some places resembles a cemetery, as people aren’t buried there, for it is simply impossible to do so and their bodies lie on the slopes and the access ways. In some areas, climbers simply step over them. Many of the fallen climbers serve as macabre reference points. The body of an Indian climber named Tsewang Paljor, who died in 1996, marks the height of eight thousand five hundred meters, and he even has own nickname—“Green Boots”— because of his bright green boots.

But this doesn’t stop other alpinists gripped by the excitement.

Nikita was thinking hard about what he’d do once he finally got to the summit. Well, besides of course making some trivial selfies. Will he erect a sign, “Nikita from Yamal was here?” Too banal! How about a drawing? Or what about a portrait of some legendary traveler or seafarer? Hmm, none of this sounds quite right… Wait, an icon! Well, that’s a great idea! Let it be his patron saint. Plus, it should be a real, painted icon, on canvas. He had no problem getting the icon: it was painted rather quickly by a graduate of the Tobolsk icon-painting school who, incidentally, asked only for some token amount. But instead of an icon case, he put it in cryoplast that withstands temperatures down to minus seventy Celsius. There was no point in trying to talk him out of it, as he was iron-clad determined to reach the peak. Just think—Nikita, on the highest point on the planet.

Before he began his trip, he printed out the hagiography of St. Niketas the Stylite and tucked it into the pocket of his backpack. He had to learn at least something about the saint, whose icon he will put up on the highest mountain peak of the world!

Vladimir Vysotsky has the following lines:

Whole world lies here in full view,
Happiness abounds and you go numb,
Yet, still, you envy those who follow you,
As their ascent still lies ahead for them.

Nikita was humming this song in anticipation of his return, and how his stories will flow ad infinitum. At this point, we must make a legal disclaimer—northerners tend to have extended vacation time. As for our climber, he combined two vacations and so he was free for two seasons, both spring and summer. In a nutshell, these circumstances were very favorable for the conquest of Everest.

Hindus, Czechs, Americans, Italians, French were all caught up in a common dream

There were nineteen members in their expedition team including the guides, and they wisely decided to spend a few days in the village to get acquainted and adjust to altitude. Hindus, Czechs, Americans, an Italian and a Frenchman were all caught up in a common dream. The topics of the conversation were almost biblical: who helps whom, who safeguards whom and where it is necessary to hold weaker ones steady… Oddly enough, it was in a far-away Tibet where the Siberian native felt the urge to read the New Testament for the first time in his life—and to experience the warmth of the realization that he was Orthodox. Well, at least baptized Orthodox a while back in childhood, but overall, in his adult life, he never attended church—not counting those times when step inside to get warm rather than freeze at a bus stop nearby…

Soon it turned out that the most prepared member in their expedition was this guy from Yamal, but this fact didn’t surprise the foreigners at all. For them, the words “Russian” and “cold” were synonyms. It just naturally happened that Nikita took the others in his charge. If during the first day he would simply give a helping hand opening thermoses, or screwing and unscrewing oxygen tanks, later he’d help others carry their luggage—first a female climber and later everyone else, one by one. It was because he was young and it was no big deal for him, or because he was Russian, or because he was from Siberia…

When the summit of the “Goddess of the Sky”—that’s another name of this summit—came into view, the expedition stumbled upon the first corpses of climbers who had died at different times. The Siberian couldn’t recover for a long time from what he had seen, although he had seen similar images online more than once.

When they reached the next rest stop, Nikita took out the pages with the life of his heavenly patron and several times read the lines from the Prophet Isaiah that transformed his saint’s life:

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:16-17).

He couldn’t go to sleep for a while and began to doubt whether he should climb Everest… What for? To indulge his vanity?

He quietly went out of his tent, came to the edge of the snow-covered slope and carefully looked around. Such beauty couldn’t happen on its own, it’s pretty obvious, but you have to be extremely careful here, as one awkward step—and you are dead. Who can you rely on here? Who will you ask for help? You obviously don’t want to remain here forever…

Nikita returned to his tent and saw a German doing stretching and gymnastic exercises using some eastern techniques.

“It’s cold and scary,” Nikita told him in English.

“We need to get through this,” the German smiled in return.

The next day, everything was just the same: ascent and rest, ascent and rest. The climbers tried not to talk, in order to preserve their strength. They decided to make an exception to this rule on the fiftieth day of their ascent, to lie down and talk a little longer than usual—when it became clear that, oh, what a miracle, all of them, the whole group, are reaching the summit—it was literally a stone’s throw from them. The journey to Everest takes on average about two months.

They crawled out of their tents in high spirits, gathered their strength and headed onward. Nikita got used to the surroundings and tried not to look around, except for in front of him and upwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the objects he took at first for garbage was moving. He approached to take a closer look. What he saw became clear without any further explanation: The expedition before theirs had left their fellow climber, who collapsed on the way, to die. Overall, it is not an unusual sight on Everest. The man assumed a fetal position and breathed infrequently, apparently not daring to hope.

Nikita gave him his oxygen bottle and massaged his hands. When he saw how the unlucky climber was coming to life and his face began to turn pink, he resolved to take him down.

The rest of his bewildered group met his decision in silence. How? Why?

Even the Sherpa guides did not understand him and refused to return his advance payment. Then they realized that this weird Russian wasn’t asking for anything, but simply wants to save a man’s life and thus declines finishing the ascent. So, they deduced that it might be an unusual hobby of his and pointed to another half-dead climber down below, left by the previous expedition, whom Nikita failed to notice during his climb as he was on another slope.

The rest of the story is about a Russian man who dragged two half-dead men down from Jomolungma. And he brought them down alive! One-by-one. Counting on no one’s help. No human help… But the One to Whom he entrusted himself never abandoned him. Nikita was crying out for help every single second, and help

He attached the icon of St. Niketas the Stylite to one of the buttresses. Once he returned to Russia, he traveled to Valaam, to St. Alexander of Svir Monastery, to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, to Optina… Once back at home, he decided to help out at church, first as Reader and later as Subdeacon, and later he made the decision to receive a theological education. He deleted all his social media as well…

A world that has become “heartless” and indifferent to greed and war, and a Catholic Church in need of revitalizing its missionary joy need to open themselves up to Christ’s infinite love, Pope Francis wrote.

By contemplating Jesus’ Sacred Heart, the faithful can be filled with the “living water that can heal the hurt we have caused, strengthen our ability to love and serve others, and inspire us to journey together toward a just, solidary and fraternal world,” the pope wrote in his encyclical, “‘Dilexit nos’ (‘He loved us’): on the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.”

The Vatican released the 28,000-word text Oct. 24.

While it is the pope’s fourth encyclical, he wrote that it is meant to be understood in tandem with his previous two encyclicals, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home” and “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship.”

“The present document can help us see that the teaching of the social encyclicals … is not unrelated to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ,” he wrote. “For it is by drinking of that same love that we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home.”

The pope had said in June, the month the church traditionally dedicates to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that he was going to release a document in the fall on the devotion to “illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal, but also to say something significant to a world that seems to have lost its heart.”

The encyclical includes numerous reflections from the Bible, previous magisterial texts and the writings of saints and his fellow Jesuits, to re-propose to the whole church the centuries-old devotion. Since 1899, there have been four papal encyclicals and numerous papal texts dedicated to the Sacred Heart — a symbol of Jesus’ infinite love, which moves the faithful to love one another.

“In the deepest fiber of our being, we were made to love and to be loved,” the pope wrote.

However, he wrote, “when we witness the outbreak of new wars, with the complicity, tolerance or indifference of other countries, or petty power struggles over partisan interests, we may be tempted to conclude that our world is losing its heart.”

“It is heartbreaking,” he wrote, to see elderly women, who should be enjoying their golden years, experiencing the anguish, fear and outrage of war. “To see these elderly women weep, and not feel that this is something intolerable, is a sign of a world that has grown heartless.”

“The most decisive question we can ask is, ‘Do I have a heart?’” the pope wrote.

The human being is more than an instrument, a material body and a carrier of intelligence and reason, the pope wrote.

The human person also embodies spiritual, emotional, creative and affective dimensions that are often undervalued, neglected or squelched in today’s world, he wrote. It is the heart that integrates all these dimensions that are so often fragmented or neglected.

The most precious treasures that animate and dwell in the human heart are often the simple and poignant moments in life: “How we first used a fork to seal the edges of the pies that we helped our mothers or grandmothers to make at home”; “a smile we elicited by telling a joke”; “the worms we collected in a shoebox”; and “a wish we made in plucking a daisy.”

“All these little things, ordinary in themselves yet extraordinary for us, can never be captured by algorithms” and artificial intelligence, he wrote, and, in fact, “poetry and love are necessary to save our humanity,” not just reason and technology.

At a Vatican news conference presenting the encyclical Oct. 24, Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy, said the document is a “compendium” and the “key” to understanding Pope Francis’ pontificate.

Some commentators criticize the pope for focusing too narrowly on “social” issues, the archbishop said. This encyclical explicitly presents the spiritual and theological foundation underlying the pope’s message to the church and the world for the past 12 years — that everything “springs from Christ and his love for all humanity.”

Many saints and religious congregations have a special devotion to the Sacred Heart, including St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus, the religious order the saint co-founded and to which Pope Francis belonged.

St. Ignatius’ spiritual exercises encourage people to “enter into the heart of Christ” to “enlarge our own hearts” and train them to “sense and savor” the Gospel message and “converse about it with the Lord,” the pope wrote.

Christ’s heart is aflame with infinite love, and Christ desires to be loved and consoled in return, the pope said, especially by loving and serving one’s neighbors and those who are most marginalized.

Jesus associated with “the lowest ranks of society,” he wrote, introducing the “great novelty of recognizing the dignity of every person, especially those who were considered ‘unworthy.’”

“In union with Christ, amid the ruins we have left in this world by our sins, we are called to build a new civilization of love,” the pope wrote. “That is what it means to make reparation as the heart of Christ would have us do.”

“Amid the devastation wrought by evil, the heart of Christ desires that we cooperate with him in restoring goodness and beauty to our world,” Pope Francis wrote.

The encyclical was published as members of the Synod of Bishops were wrapping up a multiyear process focused on fostering “a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”

In his encyclical, the pope emphasized how only a deep and abiding love in the Lord can inspire and fuel Catholics to share the Gospel and God’s love with the world.

Mission requires missionaries who are “enthralled by Christ” and are “impatient when time is wasted discussing secondary questions or concentrating on truths and rules because their greatest concern is to share what they have experienced,” he wrote.

“They want others to perceive the goodness and beauty of the Beloved through their efforts, however inadequate they may be,” he wrote.

The heart of Christ also frees Catholics from the problem of communities and pastors who are “excessively caught up in external activities, structural reforms that have little to do with the Gospel, obsessive reorganization plans, worldly projects, secular ways of thinking and mandatory programs,” he wrote.

“The result is often a Christianity stripped of the tender consolations of faith, the joy of serving others, the fervor of personal commitment to mission, the beauty of knowing Christ and the profound gratitude born of the friendship he offers and the ultimate meaning he gives to our lives,” he added.

Pope Francis invited Catholics to rediscover or strengthen their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the practices connected with it, particularly Eucharistic adoration and receiving the Eucharist on the first Friday of each month.

This practice once served to remind the faithful that Communion was not a reward for the perfect, he wrote, but to renew people’s confidence in the “merciful and ever-present love” of Christ in the Eucharist and his invitation “to union with him.”

Today the First Fridays devotion, he wrote, can help counter “the frenetic pace of today’s world and our obsession with free time, consumption and diversion, cell phones and social media (and) we forget to nourish our lives with the strength of the Eucharist.”

Kernersville, North Carolina, October 24, 2024

Photo: holycrossoca.org     

Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Kernersville, North Carolina, celebrated a historic milestone on September 21, 2024, as His Grace Bishop Gerasim of Fort Worth, vicar of the Diocese of the South, consecrated its own church building in a four-hour service.

The consecration marks the culmination of a journey that began in 2005 when a small group of families first established the mission to serve the Piedmont Triad area with English-language Orthodox services.

During the solemn ceremony, the altar table was consecrated with the sealing of holy relics of the American saint, Hieromartyr Basil (Vasily) Martysz, followed by a Hierarchal Divine Liturgy, the church reports.

The occasion also included the elevation of Deacon George to Protodeacon and the tonsuring of two new readers. In recognition of the parish’s achievement, Fr. Christopher Foley and the Holy Cross community received a Synodal Gramota, with special recognition given to the Building Committee members for their years of dedicated service.

Photo: holycrossoca.org     

From its humble beginnings with 25 people meeting in borrowed spaces, including an Episcopal church in Kernersville and later a Presbyterian fellowship hall in High Point, the parish has grown to more than 100 regular attendees.

The new church building, located at 1320 Masten Drive in Kernersville, was strategically chosen for its central location serving the communities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. While some elements of the new church are still under construction, the parish conducts all services in its permanent home.

The consecration celebrations concluded with a festive banquet where parishioners and clergy shared memories of the parish’s history and building project.

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Tirana, October 24, 2024

orthodoxalbania.org     

The Albanian Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios, issued a statement on the war in Gaza on Tuesday.

The warring parties must give up repeated retaliations and work for an immediate ceasefire, the Church states:

The atrocities in Gaza, with tens of thousands of victims, mostly innocent civilians, children, the elderly, the sick, are causing deep suffering. There is a need to achieve an immediate ceasefire. The parties involved must show prudence and reasoning, prioritizing the value of each human being and peaceful coexistence over continued violence with incalculable consequences. Repeated retaliation does not solve the problem. All major powers must contribute to the way out of this catastrophic human and ecological tragedy.

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When I was a child, Sunday was different than it is now. What is not different is Mass. My family did not attend Mass en masse. It was a rite of passage: When my siblings and I would reach a certain age, we had permission to attend the Mass time of our choosing and walk the block to our local parish. Easter and Christmas looked more like the Hollywood version of a big family going to Mass, but for the rest of the year, we were scattered across the spectrum of the time zone.

But every Sunday early afternoon, we were all ensconced in our house. The evening meant a big dinner with extended family, the “Wonderful World of Disney” and the nagging regret that the homework assignment due on Monday had been neglected.

We were not allowed to go over to a friend’s house to play or have a friend over. We could watch sports — baseball in the summer and football in the fall — but we stayed close to home. This sentiment was reflected in the culture as well. You were hard-pressed to find a store open if some need arose, and the quiet of the neighborhood was palpable.

Since then, things have become a lot busier. Sunday, to the vast majority of people, Catholic and otherwise, is now just one more day of leisure, activities, and overall busyness. I must confess, when we started our own family, my wife and I found ourselves caught up in this trend of being too busy. We eventually came to our senses, and although she works a lot of Sundays as an ICU nurse, Sundays for the most part have been tamped down.

Family rituals did develop. We found a lovely breakfast place we have been going to after the 8 a.m. Mass at our parish for more than 30 years. When our children got older and went to other Masses at other parishes, we continued to meet afterward for breakfast at the same place. The owner has seen our kids grow up. Now we are going there with our grandson. 

If there is any work done on Sundays, it is gardening, which I have always felt is a means to be close to God’s handiwork, and when it comes to all the weeds I pull, a way of doing penance as well.

This past Sunday broke our mold. We went to Mass and breakfast, and then my daughter and I went to a football game. It was a Father’s Day present from her to me, to see the Green Bay Packers (my childhood team) play the Rams. When we arrived, it became clear that a different set of rituals were taking place here. Throngs of people were wearing football jerseys that must have cost at least $175 in support of their team. There were headdresses, ceremonial chains and necklaces, and specific colors designating where one’s loyalties resided. There was even sacrifice involved if you considered the potential for catastrophic injury to the players.

There were also coordinated chants from each side, with one group of adherents shouting “Whose House? Rams House!” while the other side, in rather large numbers for a visiting team, dutifully intoned “Go Pack Go!” It was a kind of religiosity that fit the definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary: “Religion is a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practice.”

There were certainly people with beliefs and practices centered around their favorite football team, and during the NFL season, those beliefs and rituals take place every Sunday from October to January. I felt a strange kind of kinship with these members of the church of football. I have been known to cheer rather boorishly myself, depending on the “importance” of a particular game. But I would like to think I have matured enough emotionally and spiritually to understand that, in the end, it is just a game.

For many of the 70,000-plus fans at the game, it was special mainly because it was time for football. It was the game that was being honored, and in some cases, absolutely worshiped. This is the secular world seeking to fill a void that God is more than willing to satisfy, if they look for it.

I am thankful for my daughter’s generous gift and the experience of sharing something we have both loved for a long time. I am also thankful for the gift my mom and dad gave me, for remembering to whom Sunday actually belongs. Maybe next Sunday at Mass I’ll start a cheer:  “Whose House? God’s House!”

Wappinger Falls, New York, October 24, 2024

Photo: nynjoca.org     

St. Gregory the Theologian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church in America) in Wappingers Falls, New York culminated its 60th anniversary celebrations with a historic Primatial Liturgy on Saturday, October 19, 2024.

The service was celebrated by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America with His Eminence Archbishop Michael of New York and New Jersey, parish rector Archpriest Eric George Tosi, and visiting clergy. The celebration was enhanced by the presence of St. Vladimir’s Seminary students who served and provided liturgical singing, reports the OCA Diocese of New York and New Jersey.

Photo: nynjoca.org     

The day’s festivities continued as His Beatitude blessed two new additions to the church grounds: a bell tower and a commemorative founders’ plaque. Representatives from New York State, Dutchess County, and Wappingers Falls attended both the Liturgy and subsequent luncheon, presenting official recognitions to the parish. During the luncheon, attendees viewed the first installment of a special documentary chronicling the parish’s six-decade journey:

The church’s story began in 1960, when His Beatitude Metropolitan Ireney blessed the establishment of the region’s first English-speaking Orthodox parish, initially serving a congregation largely composed of IBM employees who had relocated to the area.

Among the parish’s previous rectors is the ever-memorable Fr. Thomas Hopko, who served there for decades. Fr. Alexis Vinogradov then shepherded the community for 37 years, overseeing numerous developments and initiatives. The current rector, Fr. Eric George Tosi, assumed leadership in 2019.

From its humble beginnings with just a few families, the parish has evolved into a vibrant, diverse community, welcoming people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Today, the church continues to thrive, embracing both new generations and converts to Orthodoxy.

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