Tag: Christianity

Sofia, June 11, 2024

Photo: spzh.live     

A Bulgarian political party is calling on President Rumen Radev to convene a National Security Advisory Council due to foreign interference in the upcoming Patriarchal elections. His Holiness Patriarch Neofit, who presided over the Bulgarian Church for 11 years, reposed in the Lord Patriarch Neofit of Bulgaria reposes in the LordThe Patriarch was in poor health in recent years.

“>in March. His successor will be chosen on June 30.

“Our Church his being led into schism, like the Ukrainian Church,” warns the Revival Party, reports Glasove.

As a pillar of Bulgarian society, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is a factor in national security, “and it is unacceptable to be controlled by agents of foreign influence presented as clerics,” the party warns.

“The role of the U.S. in this process of controlling the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is evident. It’s clear that this is being done with the cooperation of the Ecumenical Patriarch and some Bulgarian metropolitans and bishops who violated the canons and served with schismatics in Turkey,” Revival explains.

Bulgarian hierarchs concelebrate with Ukrainian schismatics in IstanbulFor the first time, hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church concelebrated with representatives of the graceless “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” sect yesterday at Life-giving Spring Monastery in Istanbul.

“>On May 19, three Bulgarian metropolitans and two bishops concelebrated with two “bishops” of the schismatic “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” while visiting Istanbul. Among them was Metropolitan Nicholas of Plovdiv, who, if he stays in the race, is a popular contender for the Patriarchal throne.

His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech, known for his strong Orthodox stance on the Ukrainian question, confirmed that the concelebrating bishops acted willfully, without approval from the Bulgarian Holy Synod, which has never recognized the legitimacy of the schismatic Ukrainian organization.

The Revival statement continues:

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, like the Bulgarian state, is being led according to the Ukrainian scenario. Our Church is being led into schism like the Ukrainian Church, and our state to war like the Ukrainian state. If we want to assess the consequences of this schism, each of us can carefully examine the schism in the Ukrainian Church, the persecutions, and physical attacks on the priests there. A united and independent Church is an important component of a united state. Historically, whenever our state has lost its independence, the Church has also lost its independence.

Therefore, “We want President Rumen Radev to immediately convene a National Security Advisory Council on the issue of US interference in the election of the Bulgarian Patriarch, which poses a threat to the national security of Bulgaria,” the party concludes.

Others in Bulgaria have sounded the same warning. Theologian Professor Ivan Zhenev Bulgarian hierarchs call for special prayer rule in lead-up to politicized Patriarchal electionHis Holiness Patriarch Neofit, who presided over the Bulgarian Church for 11 years, reposed in the Lord in March. His successor will be chosen on June 30.

“>spoke of the concelebration in Turkey as a PR move by Met. Nicholas of Plovdiv. “With the elections coming up, Euro-Atlanticism is very much in vogue. Patriarch Bartholomew, behind whom stands the State Department—it’s very prestigious to be on good terms with him. Metropolitan Nicholas went to bow to him there and to secure support,” the theologian said.

Kostadin Kostadinov, founder and chairman of the Revival Party, has also made personal remarks. “It’s no secret that our Patriarchate is under strong American pressure, and Bartholomew plays the role of the main weapon in this pressure,” he said last month.

The concelebration with schismatics also sparked a string of protest letters and physical Bulgarian priests and faithful denounce episcopal concelebration with Ukrainian schismaticsIt is noteworthy that the official site of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church never published any news about the concelebration. However, it didn’t escape the attention of the Bulgarian clergy, monastics, and faithful.

“>protests from Bulgarian clerics, monastics, and laity.

With such tension, three hierarchs, Their Eminences Metropolitans Gabriel of Lovech, Seraphim of Nevrokop, and Daniil of Vidin made an appeal for increased prayer in the run-up to the Patriarchal elections.

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A federal judge June 11 struck down key portions of a Florida law banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

Calling the law unconstitutional, Judge Robert L. Hinkle of U.S. District Court in Tallahassee ruled in favor of advocacy groups and families who challenged the 2023 law enacted by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, arguing that the law stripped them of parental rights regarding medical decisions for their children.

“The state of Florida can regulate as needed but cannot flatly deny transgender individuals safe and effective medical treatment — treatment with medications routinely provided to others with the state’s full approval so long as the purpose is not to support the patient’s transgender identity,” Hinkle wrote.

In a statement, DeSantis’ office said it will appeal the ruling.

“Through their elected representatives, the people of Florida acted to protect children in this state, and the Court was wrong to override their wishes,” the statement said. “We disagree with the Court’s erroneous rulings on the law, on the facts, and on the science. As we’ve seen here in Florida, the United Kingdom, and across Europe, there is no quality evidence to support the chemical and physical mutilation of children.”

At least 25 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender reassignment surgery or hormonal treatments for minors, although not all of those bans are currently in effect amid legal challenges, according to data from the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ policy group.

In guidance on health care policy and practices released in March 2023, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine opposed interventions that “involve the use of surgical or chemical techniques that aim to exchange the sex characteristics of a patient’s body for those of the opposite sex or for simulations thereof.”

“Any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person,” the document states.

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops supported Florida’s law.

A 2022 study by the UCLA Williams Institute found that there are approximately 1.6 million people in the U.S. who identify as transgender, with nearly half of that population between the ages of 13 and 24.

The Leavetaking of Pascha is observed on Wednesday of the sixth week after Pascha. On this day, the forty-day celebration of the Bright Resurrection of Christ comes to an end, and for the last time, we greet each other with the words of Paschal joy: “Christ is Risen!” We then prepare to celebrate the upcoming feast of the Ascension of the Lord.

Photo: predanie.ru     

The Leavetaking of Pascha: History

The “Leavetaking”, or Apodosis of a feast refers to the final day of the post-celebration period for major or Great Feasts, which has its distinctive features in the liturgical services. From church history, it is known that the leavetaking of the most significant Christian feasts, such as Pascha (Easter), Nativity, and Pentecost, began to be observed as early as the fourth century. Later, the established liturgical order was adopted in its current form. The post-celebration period of Pascha is the longest among all the Great Feasts, lasting for forty days. This is because, according to Church Tradition, the Lord, after His Resurrection from the dead, remained on earth for these forty days and appeared repeatedly to His Most Pure Mother, as well as to His holy disciples and apostles.

The Appearances of the Risen Jesus During the Forty Days After Pascha

The day of the Leavetaking of Pascha was the last day of Jesus Christ’s life on earth when the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples to impart His final words about the Kingdom of Heaven. Accounts of the appearances of the Risen Lord during the forty-day period from Pascha to the Ascension are found in all four Gospels:

“According to John, Jesus first appeared to His disciples on the very day of the Resurrection when the doors were shut; then eight days later, when Thomas also came to believe. After that, as they were planning to go to Galilee and had not yet all gathered together, but some were fishing on the Sea of Tiberias, the Lord appeared to the seven who were fishing. What Matthew describes happened later, exactly when the earlier events narrated by John occurred, for He often appeared to them during the forty days, sometimes coming and then going again, not always and not everywhere being present with them.”¹

Appearance of Christ to the Apostles on the Sea of Tiberias. Fresco, Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, Mirozh Monastery, Pskov. 12 c.     

The Leavetaking of Pascha: History

Saint John the Theologian writes in great detail about this event. The twenty-first and final chapter of his Gospel is entirely devoted to describing the third appearance of the Savior, which took place at the Sea of Tiberias. On this occasion, the Lord not only appeared before His disciples but also shared a meal with them. Though after His Resurrection He no longer needed physical sustenance, He did this to provide greater assurance and to show that He had risen in the same body in which He had suffered on the cross. During this event, one of the most significant moments in the history of the emerging Christian Church occurred, as He entrusted the care of the Church to the holy apostle Peter:

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me (John 21:15–19).

“Since the meal had a purpose, Jesus entrusted Peter with the care of the sheep of the whole world, assigning this responsibility to him, first because he was chosen among all and was the mouthpiece of the entire apostolic company. Also, to show that Peter should have boldness, as his denial of Christ had been forgiven. Jesus did not remind him of his denial or reproach him for it but said: If you love Me, take care of your brothers and now prove that fervent love for Me, which you once proclaimed, saying you were ready to die for Me. He asked him three times, partly to show that He cares so deeply for the believers and loves His sheep so much that caring for them is a sign of love for Him; and partly, through the threefold questioning and confession, He healed Peter’s threefold denial, correcting his fall with a word, for the fall had been with words.

“From this event arose the custom of asking for a threefold confession from those who wish to be baptized.

“After the first and second questions, Peter called upon Jesus Himself as a witness, who knows all hearts; he no longer relied on himself or answered hastily, but each time added: ‘You know.’ When Peter was asked for the third time, he was troubled, doubting whether he truly loved as he thought, because previously he had thought much of himself and his strength, but the outcome had disproved him. Now he feared the same mistake. Hence, he answered with reverence, saying, ‘Lord, You know everything,’ the present and the future; You know that I love You now, as it seems to me; but whether my love will endure, that You know, not I. The Lord, having spoken to Peter about his love for Him, foretold him of the suffering he would endure. He said this to show that if He asked about his love, it was not out of distrust but out of confidence that he loved, for how could someone who would even suffer for Him not love Him? He asked to reveal Peter’s own love more clearly and to teach others that if we wish to love Him, we must show this love by caring for our brothers.

“By ‘lambs,’ perhaps He means those who are just beginning, and by ‘sheep,’ those who are more mature. Thus, whoever loves Christ must care for both lambs and sheep, must ‘feed’ the lambs, that is, watch over them with simple care, and ‘shepherd’ the sheep, which implies higher guidance. Sometimes, however, even the most mature need tender care, and the shepherds must feed them. ‘Shepherding’ indicates stricter oversight, while ‘feeding’ suggests gentler care. What then shall we render to the Lord, who loved us so much that He made care for His sheep the sign of love for Himself?”²

The next appearance of the Risen Lord, according to the interpretation of the blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, is described by Saint Matthew the Evangelist. Jesus commanded His eleven apostles to gather in Galilee and instructed them to embark on a worldwide mission. Here, the Savior gives a solemn promise of His continuous presence among Christians: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Amen” (Matt. 28:20).

Encouraging His disciples (since He was sending them among the Gentiles to face dangers and sacrifices), He said: do not fear, for I will be with you until the end of the age. Observe also how He reminded them of the end, to urge them to disregard dangers even more. Do not fear, He says, for everything will have an end, whether it be worldly sorrow or prosperity; therefore, do not fall away in sorrows, for they pass away, nor be seduced by blessings, for they will come to an end. However, this promise that He would be with them until the end of the world did not apply only to the apostles, but to all His disciples in general, for surely the apostles did not live until the end of the world. Thus, this promise applies to us and those who will come after us—but not in such a way that He will be with us only until the end and then depart. No! Rather, then He will especially be with us, in a clearer and more manifest way, for wherever the word ‘until’ is used in Scripture, it does not exclude what follows”³

Christ’s Appearance to the Apostles on the Galilean Mountain. Dečani Monastery, 14th Century, Serbia     

The Evangelists Mark and Luke recount the final conversation with the disciples, just before the Ascension. St. Mark records the farewell words and commandments given by the Savior to the apostles:

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen (Mark 16:15-20)

Apostolic Preaching. Circa 1668, Veliky Ustyug   

“Notice the Lord’s command: “Preach to all creation.” He did not say, “only to the obedient,” but “to all creation,” whether they listen or not. “Whoever believes.” It is not enough to merely believe, but also to “be baptized.” For whoever believes but is not baptized remains only a catechumen and thus will not be saved. “These signs,” He says, “will accompany those who believe”—driving out demons, speaking in new tongues, and handling snakes—both literal and metaphorical, as He mentioned elsewhere: I give you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions (Luke 10:19), clearly referring to metaphorical ones. However, the phrase “pick up snakes” can also be understood literally; for example, Paul took a snake in his hand without suffering any harm (see Acts 28:3–5). “And when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them.” This happened many times, as we find in stories where people drank poison and, by the power of the sign of the cross, remained unharmed. After speaking with them, the Lord was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it…. Do you see? Our action precedes God’s cooperation. God assists us when we take action and make a start, but when we do not act, He does not assist. Observe too that deeds follow words, and the word is confirmed by deeds, as with the apostles, whose subsequent deeds and signs affirmed their message. O Christ the Word, may our words about virtue also be confirmed by our actions and deeds so that we may stand perfect before You, who assist us in all our deeds and words. For to You belongs glory in both our words and deeds. Amen.⁴

The Leavetaking of Pascha. Divine Services

The church service for the Leavetaking of Pascha is conducted with special solemnity. On this day, three liturgical services are combined: the Paschal service, the service for the Sunday of the Blind Man, and the Forefeast of the Ascension of the Lord. The Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours, as well as the antiphons at the Liturgy, are sung in the Paschal manner. The day is a fasting day, but the Triodion prescribes that there be a “consolation for the brethren” at the meal: “We eat oil, and fish, and drink wine, giving thanks to God.” Thus, the faithful bid farewell to the Paschal hymns until the next year and transition (except for reading the prayer “O Heavenly King”) to the ordinary annual liturgical rule for prayers.

The days following Pascha have their own relaxation concerning the Wednesday and Friday fasts and release the faithful from full prostrations. These are days of spiritual joy when, following our Savior, we turn our hearts towards the Future, Everlasting Pascha, where we will receive eternal comfort and rest if we are found worthy.

The church hymns for this period mainly speak of this same theme. “Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon Thee. Now dance for joy and be glad, O Zion. And thou, O pure Mother of God, rejoice in the Rising of thy Son,” the post-Paschal Exapostilarion composed by St. John of Damascus, which we read daily in church and home prayers, always elevates our thoughts to the new world and the Heavenly Jerusalem. St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, in his interpretive commentary on the Paschal canon, elaborates on the spiritual meaning of this well-known, exalted prayer:

“The God-inspired poet heard the prophet Isaiah say: Thou wilt draw water from the wells of salvation’ (Isa. 12:3) (where the wells of salvation are understood to be the Divine Scriptures, according to the interpreters), and so he himself has borrowed many thoughts from the Divine Scriptures and watered the spiritual gardens of his hymnal canons with them. Now he draws from the same prophet the phrase: ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’ (Isa. 60:1), and he turns this into the present irmos, slightly altering the phrase and saying: ‘Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.’ The poet repeats this word ‘shine’ twice, firstly to confirm the enlightenment and secondly from an excess of joy, as it is customary for both those affirming something and those rejoicing exceedingly to repeat the same word, as the great Gregory also said: ‘Renewal, renewal, is our feast, brothers; let this be repeated with pleasure!’ (Oration for New Sunday). So, shine, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you; and the glory of the Lord, according to Theodore, is the Cross of Christ, for Scripture says: ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified’ (John 13:31); or, according to Gregory the Theologian, it is the Divinity of Christ, which Paul also confirms: ‘The Father of glory’ (Eph. 1:17), meaning Divinity; or, according to others, the glory of the Lord is the Divine light and radiance of His face, as it is said: ‘And the glory of the Lord shone around them’ (Luke 2:9), for these three have shone upon you, O Church of the Gentiles.

“To show that the Jews, seeing, do not see, as Isaiah prophesied, while the people sitting in darkness (that is, the Gentiles) saw a great light of divine knowledge, for among those very Jews the Sun of Righteousness, Christ, was hidden because of their unbelief. For, having been killed by them, He was hidden and ruled in the depths of the grave and Hades, while among us the Gentiles who have believed, He shone forth, for we recognized the rising of His Divinity and were illuminated by the light of piety and virtue. The poet commands the new Zion to dance spiritually and rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ the Bridegroom, for Christ’s joy and exultation are also ours. Then he turns his word to the Theotokos, not idly or in passing, but to show that this irmos belongs to the ninth ode, the hymnographer, origin, and creator of which is the Lady Theotokos. Therefore, he says to her: ‘And thou, O Theotokos, rejoice and be glad in the Resurrection of your Son. For as before your heart was pierced by a sword of sorrow because of the suffering and death of your Son, according to Simeon’s prophecy, so now it is meet for you to rejoice and be glad first, more than all others, for the Resurrection of your Son, as you prophesied in your song, saying: My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior (Luke 1:47).”

We live in a world absolutely choking with methods for communication: social media, print media, television and streaming services, advertising in every conceivable space, and the ubiquitous cellphone virtually glued to nearly every human hand. Whether all this “communication” is positive is another question.

In a typical Jon Stewart rant on a recent “Daily Show” about cancel culture and fears of being silenced by one’s ideological opponents, he said, “We are not censored or silenced. We are surrounded by and inundated with more speech than has ever existed in the history of communication. And it is all weaponized by professional outrage hunters of all stripes.”

What we don’t have, with apologies to the captain in “Cool Hand Luke,” is a failure to communicate. What we do have is a failure to listen. And this failure to listen is what fuels not only our political polarization, but also our alienation from one another, from our physical world, from ourselves.

In his 2022 message for the World Day of Communications, Pope Francis called on us to “listen with the ear of the heart.”

“We are losing the ability to listen to those in front of us, both in the normal course of everyday relationships and when debating the most important issues of civil life,” the pope warned.

“Listening is therefore the first indispensable ingredient of dialogue and good communication,” the pope told communicators, but it is a message that applies to all of us. In the current political season, but in fact for years now, opponents on our national ideological divides both bemoan that they are not being heard while at the same time not listening to one another, certainly not listening with the “ear of the heart.”

Father Robert Aaron Wessman in his book “The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World” (New City Press, $19.47) urges Christians to take on “the discipleship of crossing over” to “the other” as a means of healing polarization. “When one chooses to encounter the other, the likelihood of seeing the person who espouses the idea, and not just the idea that one disagrees with, becomes more likely.”

Such crossing over demands one listen with the ear of the heart. Otherwise, it’s just two people yelling at each other. This is hard work, and risky, Father Wessman notes, yet indispensable.

Learning to listen extends far beyond our political divides, however. Christian McEwen has written a poetic and profound book titled “In Praise of Listening” (Bauhan Publishing, $22). McEwen weaves together a vast amount of literary and spiritual sources, science, and personal stories to challenge us to listen to our world, one another and ourselves with more depth and precision.

Listening, she argues, is a way of being present. It is what we long for, yet what we so often lack, distracted by all the media around us, all that noise that pretends to be communication. “All too soon, not listening to other people becomes not listening to the larger world, and ultimately not even to ourselves,” she warns.

In a beautiful chapter titled “The Beloved Voice,” McEwen says, “Hearing is the first sense to develop in the human fetus, as it is the last to depart the dying body.” It is the mother’s voice that is first heard by the unborn child, and this voice becomes a lodestone for the infant. “The vocal nourishment that the mother provides … is just as important to the child’s development as her milk,” she quotes one expert as saying.

For all of us, McEwen argues, being heard is what we hunger for. It is so obvious, yet today we seem constantly to need to learn this anew. It is striking that when many survivors of abuse are asked what they want of the Church, so often it is to be heard. To hear is to recognize, to acknowledge.

McEwen’s book is an aural and soulful exploration of our world, contemplating the importance of listening to the world around us — plants and animals, even trees and moss! — as well as to our fellows and ourselves. While McEwen’s style would be best described as “spiritual but not religious,” one senses she is tapping into the wisdom of monks and sages, but also the wise women and men today who know the art of listening.

In a chapter titled “The little sounds of every day,” she quotes a cook, Alice Cozzolino, who talks about listening and focus as a part of her craft. We moderns suffer from “the addiction to the instantaneous,” but Cozzolino says, “that’s the antithesis of listening. Listening requires us to take a breath. It requires us to pause.”

McEwen ends her book with a simple quote by Brenda Ueland: “Listening is love.” It is what every spouse knows, what every child knows, what Pope Francis knows. It is what our world needs to learn once again.

Cyprus, June 12, 2024

Photo: churchofcyprus.org.cy     

“Today is undoubtedly a historic day and a day of joy,” the Synodal Committee of Monuments and Art of the Church of Cyprus stated yesterday.

The Church is rejoicing because finally, after 27 years of labors and legal battles, the Church’s most important case of antiquities theft after the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus has come to a close.

According to the statement, the Turkish antiquarian A. Dikmen, with the cooperation of the occupying regime, looted more than 50 Greek Orthodox, Maronite, and Armenian monuments, antiquities from museums, and private collections.

Photo: churchofcyprus.org.cy Among the thousands of items seized from the properties of the antiquities group in March 1997 were 318 Cypriot relics, including 6th-century mosaics, 8th–15th-century frescoes, icons, altar doors, manuscripts, and other antiquities.

The extended legal battle began in 2004. A partial repatriation of Biggest haul of looted church icons back in CyprusA ceremony marked the return of the 173 items that were stolen from Orthodox and Maronite Christian churches in the Turkish Cypriot northern part Cyprus.

“>173 relics took place in July 2013, and another 85 pieces in August 2015. The final stage of the Dikmen case came yesterday, with the signing of an agreement between Cyprus and Germany for the repatriation of 24 Church relics and 36 other antiquities.

The relics will be repatriated on June 20.

OrthoChristian has reported on the return of stolen Church valuables to Cyprus many times. 6th-century St. Andrew the First-Called mosaic stolen in 1970s returns to CyprusA mosaic of Apostle St. Andrew the First-Called, dated to the 6th century, was stolen from a looted church in Cyprus’ breakaway north in the 1970s, but now has been returned, bringing spiritual joy to the Cypriot faithful.

“>In 2018, a 6th-century mosaic of St. Andrew the First-Called was returned; Relics of St. Mamas of Caesarea, saved from auction, to be returned to CyprusThe woman who consigned the reliquary to the auction house had been unable to trace its journey to Germany, but Paphitis learned that it had been stole, like many other art treasures and cultural artifacts, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.”>in 2019, relics of St. Mamas of Caesarea, which were also saved from auction, were returned to Cyprus; Stolen 18th-century Royal Doors repatriated to Cyprus from JapanThe Doors, complete with icons of the Annunciation, the Three Holy Hierarchs (Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom), and St. Spyridon were stolen from the Church of St. Anastasios in the village of Peristeronopigi by the Turkish occupation army and its collaborators and later sold.”>in 2021, 18th-century royal doors were repatriated from Japan to Cyprus; Cyprus: 18th-century St. John the Baptist icon taken in 1974 by British pilot is returned to ChurchThe pilot’s son handed over the icon to a representative of Archbishop Chrysostomos during a ceremony on Wednesday.”>in February 2022, an 18th-century icon of St. John the Baptist was returned; and Stolen 16th-cenutry icon of Christ to be returned to Cypriot ChurchYet another icon stolen by looters at the beginning of the Turkish invasion in 1974 has been found abroad and returned to Cyprus.”>in July 2022, a 16th-century if icon of Christ was returned.

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Blessed Jolenta (Yolanda) was the daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde, was married to the duke of Poland. Jolenta went to Poland with her sister to supervise her education, and was eventually married to the Duke of Greater Poland, Boleslaus.

Jolenta used her position and her wealth to help the poor, sick, widowed and orphaned. Her husband earned the nickname “the Pious,” helping her build hospitals, convents, and churches. When he died, and two of her daughters were married, Jolenta and her third daughter entered the convent of the Poor Clares. They were forced to move to another convent during a war, and Jolenta was made abbess.

Jolenta was well-known for her pious example and her service to her Franciscan sisters. She was devoted to the Passion of Christ, and received a vision from Jesus, telling her of her own death. Many miracles are said to have occurred at her grave.

Melide, Ticino, Switzerland, June 12, 2024

Photo: cerkov-ru.com     

On Sunday, June 9, a Russian Orthodox church in south-central Switzerland was consecrated.

The Rite of the Great Consecration of the Church of the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in Melide was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Nestor of Korsun and Western Europe. Russian church in Paris suburb celebrates 100th anniversaryThe Church of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Clamart is one of the oldest parishes of the Western European Exarchate.

“>The day before, Met. Nestor was in Clamart, France, for the 100th anniversary of the Church of Sts. Constantine and Helen.

The relics of several saints who are highly venerated in the local area were placed in the altar: the martyrs Protasius, Gervasius, Nazarius, Kelsius and St. Ambrose of Milan, reports the Korsun Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Photo: cerkov-ru.com     

Following the consecration, Met. Nestor celebrated the first Liturgy on the newly consecrated altar together with parish rector Hieromonk Svyatoslav (Zasenko) and other local clergy.

At the Small Entrance, Fr. Svyatoslav was awarded the right to wear the palitsa.

Parishioners and pilgrims from Switzerland and Italy were present at the joyous service.

The day concluded with a festive meal shared by the hierarch, clergy, and laity.

***

Photo: cerkov-ru.com     

The Orthodox community in Ticino was established in 2010, initially holding services in a small Catholic church. Fr. Svyatoslav has been the rector of the parish community since September 2011. A year later, the community had the opportunity to buy a German Lutheran church in Melide that was built in 1931.

The first Divine Liturgy in the new church was held on June 9, 2013.

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This past week was one of the most liturgically rich of my priesthood. As part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the Marian pilgrimage was making its way through my diocese en route ultimately to Indianapolis. We processed with the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rochester, Minnesota, and then I celebrated a grand, festive Mass in the city’s Civic Center. A few days later, I said Mass in the town of La Crescent, which is just on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River, and then processed with the Eucharist, in the company of around three thousand people, to La Crosse, on the Wisconsin side. At the close of that procession, I handed the monstrance to my colleague, Gerard Battersby, the bishop of La Crosse, and then together we celebrated Mass for the gathered throng in the La Crosse Civic Center. All of these prayer services and Eucharistic liturgies were marked by song, bells, incense wafting from swinging thuribles, sumptuous vestments, and litanies galore. The day following the La Crosse Mass, I had the privilege of ordaining three young men as priests for my diocese of Winona-Rochester. The ordination liturgy, one of the most beautiful in the Church’s repertoire, featured—along with everything just mentioned—the anointing of the hands of the newly ordained, a formal welcome from all of the priests present, and a ceremony of investiture.

All of it was wonderful. All of it, I’m sure, lifted up the hearts and souls of those who experienced it. But in the minds of some, this sort of grand liturgical display gives rise to a question, even a criticism: What does it have to do with the Church’s work of caring for the sick and the needy? What does any of it have to do with Jesus, who walked, simply garbed, the dusty roads of Galilee and reached out to the poor? Does the preoccupation with music, vestments, processions, litanies, etc. amount to a sort of fussy aestheticism, a fixation on liturgical foo-foo? Don’t we, in fact, often hear precisely this critique from older priests in regard to younger priests?

Permit me to say that, as far as it goes, this concern is valid, for the Church, as Joseph Ratzinger reminded us, does three things: it indeed worships God, but it also evangelizes and serves the poor. And the particular genius of the Church is manifested when it manages to keep these three tasks in balance, each one correcting the others and each one leading to the others. If I might, for the sake of this article, focus on the first and last of these essential responsibilities, the worship of God must lead to care for the poor, and care for the poor must lead to the worship of God—and this for a simple reason. Worship is all about centering ourselves upon God, assuring through gesture, word, song, procession, etc. that God is the central and ultimate concern of our lives. But the more we love God, the more we come to love those whom God loves; and the more we love those whom God loves, the more we love the One who made them lovable in the first place. This is why St. John tells us that the one who says he loves God but hates his neighbor is a liar and why the Lord himself insisted that there are two indispensable commandments: love of God and love of our brothers and sisters. I would like to express this as a principle: the higher you go liturgically, the lower you should go in service of the poor; and the lower you go in service of the poor, the higher you should go liturgically. The danger is a one-sided stress on liturgy or a one-sided stress on service, the first leading to fussiness and the second reducing the Church to a social service organization.

There are so many great figures in the recent history of the Church who embodied my principle in their lives and work. One might think of Dorothy Day, the foundress of the Catholic Worker Movement. There was no one in the twentieth-century Church more dedicated to serving the poor and the hungry and to fighting against social injustice than Dorothy Day—and yet her devotion to prayer, Benediction, the Rosary, frequent spiritual retreats, and of course the Blessed Sacrament was absolute. Mother Teresa of Kolkata was an icon of service during her long ministry among the poorest of the poor. No Catholic in the twentieth century had a more embodied commitment to and identification with the suffering than Mother Teresa—and yet her love for prayer was boundless, her attention to the Eucharist unsurpassed. And if we turn the principle around, we might draw attention to Virgil Michel, Reynold Hillenbrand, and Romano Guardini, all stalwarts of the Liturgical Movement that was so massively influential at Vatican II. Each of these gentlemen argued that what happens at the Mass in its splendor must spill out onto the streets as a devotion to the suffering members of the Mystical Body of Christ. As older Chicago priests told me when I was newly ordained, Msgr. Hillenbrand invited Dorothy Day to Mundelein Seminary to stress precisely this relationship.

One of the sad developments in the years following Vatican II is the falling apart of what was once a unity. Now “liberals” tend to be those who worry about the poor and “conservatives” those who are preoccupied with the liturgy. But this is stupid—and dangerous for the Church. The more you are one, the more you should be the other, and vice versa. So once again, I would like to state my adage: the higher you go liturgically, the lower you should go in service of the poor; and the lower you go in service of the poor, the higher you should go liturgically.

“Who are you?”

It’s a question — perhaps the question — long pondered by philosophers and forensic procedurals since the dawn of time.

Ironically, we are all a bit too close to the subject to ever get a straight answer. In the same way science has charted more of outer space than the ocean, we remain far more comfortable gazing outward than in. The cosmos is forever trying to kill us but at least we see it coming. Beneath the still waters of the human psyche, there are monsters not worth discovering.

Those monsters are the subject of Richard Linklater’s recent film “Hit Man,” released first in some theaters and then on Netflix June 7. The movie follows Gary Johnson (not that one), a mild-mannered psychology professor played by Glen Powell, rocking a Jeffery Dahmer haircut and glasses that’s mitigated slightly by a pair of cutoff jorts. 

Now Gary is an adjunct professor, so he must supplement his income by moonlighting as tech support for the New Orleans Police Department, usually in sting operations involving hit men. As Gary explains in voiceover, real life hit men are an occupation found only in the movies, like a ghostbuster or a financially solvent film critic. 

When people believe the movies and try to hire an assassin to solve their problem, the assassin they contact is invariably an undercover cop. For an arrest to happen, the procurer must verbally assent to the murder and hand over the money, so the officer at hand must be a smooth operator and a patient fisherman.  

Gary is happy sitting at a safe distance in the surveillance van, until the field comes to him when the undercover cop fails to show. Hastily plugged in at the last second, the officers are shocked when Gary proves a natural. He stacks his résumé as the department’s best undercover assassin, using his psychology training to cultivate the ideal fictional hit man for each “customer.” His guises (including a redneck, Russian, and a Post Malone-looking guy) reveal as much about Gary as they do the buyer. 

Gary is also an avid birdwatcher, and in one scene explains to his bored colleagues how his favorite birds to spot are the ones that, without distinctive plumage, go unnoticed and uneaten. Gary is such a bird, driving his Honda Civic and feeding his cats so the world doesn’t disturb his peace. But like that other famous mild-mannered man Clark Kent, Gary himself feels like more of a disguise than the fake persona. He cares little for Superman and less for superego, the persona a valve for his bubbling id. 

It’s all fun and games until Maddy (Adria Arjona) tries to procure his talents. Maddy fears her abusive husband, and Gary finds her too innocent (and, frankly, too pretty) to entrap. Although premised on homicide and eavesdropped by the authorities, it’s a more charming first date than any I’ve had since the Obama years. She likes his persona, Ron, and moreover Gary likes him too. Ron is everything Gary wants to be, untethered from inhibition and the wearer of cool jackets. It is Ron, not Gary, who pursues her.

Linklater is the most philosophical director of our time, so despite all the later plot machinations he never loses sight of that central question of identity. Is the Self something we are, or something we create? Is there even a difference? We might judge Gary, or in this case Ron, for dating Maddy under false premises. But dating with pure honesty would doom the species in a generation, and the world must be populated. 

Is it the same man who puts a napkin on his lap for the first date, then licks barbecue sauce off his shirt for the 50th? The questions don’t stop at marriage. During college I knew men of unparalleled Dionysian capacity, only to see them years later in a tucked polo watching “Frozen” for the 400th time. Has the man evolved, or have two men passed the baton under one dome? Ask his wife; such distinctions matter less on the other side of 30. 

“Hit Man” was always an easy sell to me, with its true-blue movie star charisma, goofy disguises, establishing shots of New Orleans streetcars, etc. But what I admire most is its cold, dead, blackened little Grinch heart: While in the mode of a romantic thriller, “Hit Man” maintains a throughline of amorality which I find honest and in some ways more ethical than some of its contemporaries. 

The recent theme in cinema has been “positive nihilism,” most prominently seen and rewarded in Oscar juggernaut “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” These movies argue that nothing matters and rather than despair, we should celebrate our freedom from cosmic expectation. These characters never follow through, by coincidence the extent of their liberation is always Christian morality with a dash of premarital sex. Of course we don’t need God, because morality is just common sense. (Occasionally common senses don’t precisely align; we refer to these instances as “war.”)

None of this is new. Nietzsche’s famous “God is Dead” pronouncement was not him contracting his own hit on the deity, but rather the hypocrisy of a society that no longer believes in God but assumes his shadow is just the night sky. In another of those happy little coincidences, Gary often quotes from Nietzsche during his college lectures, with frequency as matters get hairy in his other life. Gary is a good man; he loves his cats, he loves his friends. But Ron is a dog person, so what happens when Gary proves the main obstacle to what Ron wants? 

Linklater doesn’t blink at the abyss; In fact, he bats his eyelashes.

Christ is Risen, My Dear Readers!

“I am a scalpel in God’s hands,” Saint Luke once said about himself. Indeed, he excised from the Body of God’s Church all that was impure, sinful, and heretical, anything that tried to parasitize upon It. Bishop Luke was not like St. Seraphim of Sarov

“>St. Seraphim of Sarov. He was different, with a complex and difficult character—sometimes too sharp and demanding, sometimes overly rigorous and strict. He was a demanding bishop who required full dedication from the clergy and did not bow to the authorities.

But God glorified Miraculous Help from Holy Hierarch Luke of the Crimea in Our TimesOn March 18 the Church celebrates the uncovering of the relics of a great saint and miracle-worker of our times, Holy Hierarch Luke (Voino-Yasenestsky), Archbishop of Simferopol and the Crimea. On St. Luke’s commemoration day, the readers of the Russian site Pravoslavie.ru shared their experiences of his miraculous help.

“>Bishop Luke with great glory, fame, and honor.

St. Luke’s character was shaped by his challenging and arduous life. From childhood, Valentin (his baptismal name) wanted to become an artist, but the poverty of ordinary people and the harshness of their lives forced him to make a different choice. Valentin became a doctor. He worked in rural districts for fifteen hours a day. No one cared whether he ate, slept, or rested. As the sole doctor for thirty thousand people, he had to be an obstetrician, pediatrician, ophthalmologist, surgeon, and more.

How different is the attitude of some towards their profession today! Often, people choose fields that promise the highest income. Initially, the foundation of this work is profit and calculation, not the desire to help those in need. Today, few choose a life of sacrificial service to others.

After his wife’s death, Valentin was left with four children, the eldest of whom was twelve and the youngest six. Nevertheless, Valentin received ordination, knowing that persecution would follow. And it did. The rest of St. Luke’s life was the carrying of a heavy cross as a bishop, a doctor, and a confessor. For this courageous and steadfast confession of the Christian faith, God granted St. Luke bright heavenly crowns, the radiance of which we see in the many miracles and healings that occur through prayers to this saint.

The Fear of God and Human Cowardice

As we honor the memory of one of the most renowned saints of modern times, St. Luke of Crimea, we often set before ourselves the example of his courage and heroism in confessing his faith in God. The name of Saint Luke is known to millions of believers around the world. Yet, no one remembers the names of the “Renovationists” who, in the same era, chose to cooperate with the godless Bolshevik regime. What led to such betrayal? Cowardice. At the heart of cowardice lies selfishness and self-centeredness. A coward is someone who places their own interests above God and all that is holy. They are always ready to betray for the sake of personal gain.

But why is cowardice so dangerous from a spiritual perspective? If we are born into this world, we must eventually depart from it. Our life will inevitably come to an end. For a coward, however, the most important thing is to preserve his life. Comfort becomes the meaning of his existence. He fears any risk that might lead to death or diminish the quality of his life. Yet, risky situations are given to us by God to foster changes and development within our soul.

The soul of a coward is like stagnant water. It gradually starts to decay and emit a foul odor, turning into a swamp. Pure water doesn’t stay still; it constantly flows. Similarly, the soul, while it is in the body, is called to change, to flow according to God’s providence. Sometimes it must plunge down a waterfall from great heights; at other times, it makes sharp turns. There is considerable risk in all this. Such a soul is always dynamic and evolving. A coward does not want to live this way; he seeks stability and peace. And if the price for that is betrayal, he is willing to pay it. The apostle John the Theologian says that the cowardly will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Rev. 21:8).

There is only one fear that contributes to the growth of the soul—the On the Fear of GodBut without fear, even if one should live in heaven, as St. Peter Damascene says, he will fall if he does have fear and is proud.

“>fear of God. From this fear comes repentance, leading a person to humility and salvation. St. Luke of Crimea possessed the fear of God and a courageous, brave soul. He never compromised with his conscience. Therefore, the memory of this righteous man will forever remain in the hearts and souls of Orthodox Christians.