Tag: Christianity

Kitros, Pydna-Kolindros, Greece, June 10, 2024

Photo: Romfea     

A retired hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople reposed in the Lord this morning.

“The bells of the churches in Katerini tolled mournfully on Monday, June 10 at 7:30 in the morning, announcing the passing of the late Metropolitan Elder Agathonikos, formerly of Kitros, who peacefully took his last breath early that same morning,” reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.

The Metropolitan, who was being cared for at the Metropolitan center in Katerini, reposed after a long illness at the age of 86.

The flags at the Metropolitan administration and churches and monasteries throughout the Metropolis are flying at half-mast. The Metropolis of Kitros is officially a diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople but administered as a part of the Church of Greece.

His body will be placed in the Holy Ascension Cathedral in Katerini starting this afternoon.

May his memory be eternal!

***

Met. Agathonikos was born in Agios in 1937. He graduated from the Theological School of the University of Athens.

In 1960, he was tonsured a monk at St. Varlaam Monastery in Meteora, ordained a deacon, and appointed as a preacher. In 1964, he was transferred to the Metropolis of Gortynos and ordained to the priesthood and received the title of archimandrite.

In the coming years, he served in various ecclesiastical schools and as the director of the Youth and Preachers Department for the Archdiocese of Athens. He was also the vice president of the St. Andrew Orphanage in Nea Smyrni.

He later served the Greek community in Iraq.

In 1985, he was elected Metropolitan of Kitros, Katerini, and Platamon, where he served for 28 years, carrying out rich spiritual, charitable, and social work, including the beautification of the cathedral in Katerini and many other churches.

He founded a library for the Metropolis and ordained 100 clerics, ensuring their spiritual and ecclesiastical training.

During his tenure, 27 churches were built and 40 were consecrated. At his prompting, 32 spiritual centers were built, serving both the pastoral and charitable needs of the Metropolis. He also renovated the ecclesiastical nursing home and founded a daily meals program. A free clothing store was also established.

He is also known as the reviver of monasticism in the Metropolis of Kitros, with the reopening of old monasteries and the establishment of new ones.

In 2013, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece relieved him of his duties due to irreparable health issues.

He patiently and silently endured the trial of his long illness.

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Imbued with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the model for loving and serving others freed from the pursuit of wealth, power or fame, Pope Francis said.

“If we let ourselves be conditioned by the quest for pleasure, power, money or consensus, we become slaves to these things,” the pope said before praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square June 9.

To grow in freedom, Christians should look to the example of Jesus in welcoming God’s love into their lives and sharing it with others “without fear, calculation or conditioning,” he said.

Although Jesus was met with fear from his relatives and resistance from religious authorities at the outset of his public ministry, Pope Francis said, the Holy Spirit rendered him “divinely free, that is, capable of loving and serving without measure or condition.”

Jesus was free in relation to wealth, the pope said, since he left the security of Nazareth “to embrace a poor life full of uncertainties, freely taking care of the sick and whoever came to ask him for help without ever asking for anything in exchange.”

Nor did Jesus seek power, Pope Francis noted, since “despite calling many to follow him, he never obliged anyone to do so.” The pope added that Jesus never sought the support of the powerful “but always took the side of the last, teaching his disciples to do likewise, as he had done.”

Jesus was also free from “the quest for fame and approval,” the pope said. “For this reason, he never gave up speaking the truth, even at the cost of not being understood, of becoming unpopular, even to the point of dying on the cross.”

Pope Francis encouraged Christians to ask themselves if they are at all imprisoned by the “myths of money, power and success” at the cost of their own peace and that of others.

After praying the Angelus, the pope highlighted an upcoming international conference on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and he encouraged the international community “to act urgently, by all means, to come to the aid of the people of Gaza, exhausted by the war.”

“Humanitarian aid must be able to reach those in need, and no one can prevent it,” he said.

The pope also recalled the 10th anniversary of a meeting at the Vatican between the Israeli and Palestinian presidents in 2014, and he called for “ongoing negotiations between the parties, even though they are not easy.”

“I hope that the proposals for peace, a cease-fire on all fronts and the freeing of hostages will be accepted immediately for the good of Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.

Alaska, formerly known as Russian America, continues to preserve its Russian Orthodox roots, despite having become a part of the United States in 1867, almost 160 years ago. We spoke about this phenomenon with filmmaker Simon Scionka, a subdeacon at Holy Theophany Church (OCA) in Colorado Springs, who with his colleague Silas Karbo produced a fascinating documentary about Orthodoxy in Alaska called, “Sacred Alaska”.

​

—Simon, why is Alaska sacred?

—Why is Alaska sacred? For many reasons. Orthodoxy in America is very interesting, it is multiethnic and multicultural. It comes from different paths and angles. But arguably, Orthodoxy first came to America through Valaam monks, including St. Herman of Alaska

“>St. Herman, who brought it from Russia, from Valaam, to Kodiak Island and ultimately to Spruce Island where he lived. What we see here is real holiness.

Simon Scionka I would say that St. Herman’s Spruce Island: The Beauty America is MissingSt. Herman can be an aid to the reawakening of spiritually dull America. If we want it, the beauty of all things St. Herman can help us begin to know what is happening in our own hearts and souls.

“>Spruce Island is America’s Holy Land in some ways. If you can, go there and experience it—through St. Herman’s prayers and through his holiness, through his ministry and service to God, we really see that it is sacred. But if we look at the native cultures before they became Orthodox, we see that they lived very spiritual lives, connected to nature, to the environment, to each other, and to their understanding of God and the Creator. So, they very much see their land as sacred in that way as well. It is something that predates Christianity.

You go there and you’ll see this magnificent place, the beauty of God’s creation. You encounter the magnificence of the mountains or the vastness of the tundra. You realize that this environment is much bigger than yourself. And you get the sense of being in God, in God’s power, in God’s presence. I think it is tangible there in Alaska. You can experience it that way.

—What did you discover about Alaska, Alaskans, and Orthodoxy while making this film?

—We discovered very much. When we first started making the film, we had a rather loose idea. We really wanted to tell the stories of the early saints, the missionary efforts of The Life of Our Holy Father Saint Herman of Alaska “I clearly remember,” he says, “all the features of the Elder’s face, which shone with grace: his pleasant smile, meek and attractive gaze, his humble, quiet manner, and his amiable words. He was not tall, he had a pale face, covered with wrinkles, his eyes were gray-blue and full of brightness, and on his head he had a few gray hairs. His speech was not loud, but very pleasant.”

“>St. Herman, of St. Innocent, and of St. Yakov, who was the first native to be ordained, with his missionary efforts to a different tribal culture in Alaska.

Spruce Island But then we spent some time with people who are Orthodox today, and we found many things. What is interesting is that there is a real legacy, particularly among the Yupik people. They have remained strong in Orthodoxy to this day, through the influence of the saints that evangelized these areas. It is a really beautiful example of living the Orthodox faith. They live very simply in these rural territories; they are connected to nature and their environment, connected to one another within the community. They hunt and fish and take care of their elders and their neighbors, and live their Orthodox life in this humble, simple, even somewhat hidden, but very beautiful way.

I think this discovery had a great impact on me personally, and I hope this comes across in the film. Many of us can watch and say, “Okay, our place is very different, but it is the place where God put us; where we live, and who is around us—family, friends, neighbors, and our church community. How can we really take care of one another, and serve one another, and fulfill Christ’s commandment to love one another as He loves us, and to say—how can we do that? Sometimes, we make life more complicated than it needs to be. And we even make our faith more complicated than it needs to be.

I think it was a big discovery for me, how we can be a little less complicated in our faith and just love our neighbor.

—Is Alaska still Russian?

—Is Alaska still Russian… I would perhaps say no. But, of course, it is a remnant, a beautiful remnant of what the Russians brought to Alaska, particularly in bringing Orthodoxy to Alaska. It remains today. You see the churches, the cupolas, the crosses. They look very much like the Russian churches. And the landscape there is very similar to parts of Russia, to be sure—with berries, the tundra, and all that.

We can even draw this parallel—St. Herman lived on Spruce Island but he came from the island of Rejoice O Valaam, beloved of St. Herman!In beautiful Lake Ladoga, the largest in the formerly Finnish territory of Karelia, is the Athos of the North—the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior.

“>Valaam. There are some similarities in the nature of these two islands—the trees, the rocks. And even inland, in the tundra, some parts of the culture are very similar to the Russian culture, like going into the forests, picking berries, etc. It is like village life in Russia.

But are the Yupik people similar to people in the U.S.? Partly yes, partly no—particularly in the villages. It is village life, especially native village life in Alaska, and it is really quite unique. I have traveled all around the world over the past 25 years; I’ve been to Africa, South America, and other areas. But it was very interesting to be in Alaska. In one sense, I was in the United States of America, and in another sense, I felt like I was in a totally different country—even the way Yupik village life works, the way people communicate, their culture. They just operate in a very unique way.

I found it very beautiful and inspiring, and I really enjoyed my time with them.

Spruce Island     

—When we talk about Alaska, we usually think of St. Herman and St. Innocent. Did you feel their presence? How did you communicate with them while making the film, and how now that the job is already done?

-Sure. St. Innocent of Alaska and Moscow

“>St. Innocent and St. Herman are both great saints from Russia, who for us here in the U.S. are part of our grouping, if you will, of Orthodox saints of North America. They are a large part of how Orthodoxy came to the land of North America.

Did I feel their presence up in Alaska? Absolutely! In particular I would say that the strongest is that of St. Herman. I was able to venerate his relics, which are in Kodiak. I have been to Spruce Island, and spent time in that land where he lived his monastic life of prayer. You really feel his presence there on the island; it is very tangible, very moving and beautiful.

Silas Karbo on Spruce Island During the filmmaking process I was back in Russia with my family, because my wife is from Kostroma. We went there to visit her family and drove from Moscow to Kostroma through Sergiev Posad. We always stop there at the [Holy Trinity-St. Sergius] Lavra for a couple of days to visit and pray there. I was able to make some connections. We usually venerate St. Innocent, whose relics are there. I also got permission to film briefly there. So, yes, St. Innocent, through his prayers, is a very large part of our project.

It was amazing to be able to visit his relics and pray to him during the filming process, and to continue to do so afterwards.

—One priest in your film said that St. Herman and St. Innocent maintained the Alaskan context, which is different depending on the region—Yupik or Aleut. What different contexts did you see?

—There are more saints in Alaska, but we mostly talk about three of them—St. Herman, St. Innocent, and St. Yakov. St. Yakov was of Russian and Aleut descent; he went to Russia to study and then came back. But he was sent by St. Innocent to the Yupik people, who were a different group of people, whom he did not know. He evangelized them. However, none of these saints were there to simply impose on the local people the Russian way of doing things, but rather to teach them the Orthodox way of doing things. These native Alaskans embraced Russian Orthodoxy. But they also had to do and learn things, like their own language and culture.

It was very interesting to see things that we do not show in our film. We were able to see early prayer books. No one forced them to learn the Church Slavonic language in order to read all the prayers. The Church said, “Okay, let us translate this into the local language, so that they would have Cyrillic lettering.” But it was their language written in Cyrillic, and they learned how to read the prayers. Even today they still sing in their native language, which is quite beautiful to hear. We included some troparia and a few other moments in the film when the prayers are sung in the local Yupik language.

Yes, just seeing that was quite beautiful.

—Can you explain why the preaching of St. Herman, St. Innocent, and other ascetics in Alaska was so special? What was the difference between them and the preaching of other people in other places?

—I am not a historian, but this is a part of what I learned through some of the reading and from the people I spoke with in Alaska, particularly Eulogy for the Newly-Departed Servant of God Archpriest Michael Oleksa
Offered on December 5, 2023 by the Right-reverend Alexei Bishop of Sitka and AlaskaIn following this path, Father Michael did not hide the teachings of the Alaskan elders and the lives of native peoples under a bushel basket, but rather he put it on a candlestand so that their light could be seen throughout the entire world.

“>Fr. Michael Oleksa. His books really delve into all of this quite deeply, and I highly recommend them because they have all the stories of what these missionaries did.

But to summarize it, they were very patient with these people. They listened to stories from the native cultures and traditions in order to get to know the people, to get to know the language, to build relationships, to help them and to serve them in particular ways. Even before they really began preaching and converting people to Orthodoxy, they wanted to learn and respect who these people are, to understand them. And then they would also find ways to make connections with the Christian story, to tell the story of Christ to these people who had never heard about Jesus Christ before, and tell it to them in a way that made sense and was tangible and connected.

While there were things that I am sure had to change within the culture, there were areas where they had some common ground on which they could build a foundation. They could show how Orthodox Christianity could be the fulfillment of what they believed and the completion of those things—the truth of Christ, Who Christ is, and that He has always been there. It helped them make a connection, to see that yes, this is true because of Christ.

They were able to do that in a way that was very respectful of the culture and honoring their traditions. But they also brought them into the fullness of faith in Christ, and the fullness of the Orthodox faith.

—How did it happen that the seeds sown by St. Herman and St. Innocent sprang up so abundantly and continue to bear fruits even now, more than two centuries later? Alaska is probably unique in this regard, because we rarely see this in other places.

The grave of Matushka Olga in Kwethluk —Yes, I would agree that Alaska is unique in this regard. We talk in our film about Matushka Olga Michael: A Helper in Restoring the Work of God’s HandsWhile all of the canonized saints of North America have so far been men, over the past few years an Orthodox woman, native of North America, has slowly become known to more and more people, particularly other Orthodox women.

“>Matushka Olga Michael, who was the wife of a priest. She had, I think, nine children, and worked as a midwife in her village. She lived a very saintly, holy life, a life of prayer, of real physical struggle in that environment, and in real love for people, helping women.

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is now officially taking steps to canonize her as OCA Synod glorifies Matushka Olga of Alaska among the saintsMatushka Olga (†1979) has long been venerated in Alaska, throughout America, and abroad. She is remembered as a humble mother, midwife, and priest’s wife who was filled with love for everybody, and especially abused women.

“>St. Olga of Alaska, from the tiny village of Kwethluk.

You see the sort of legacy, if you will, of what St. Herman and St. Innocent began and planted, and which continues to grow to this day, even continuing to produce saints. It is really quite beautiful.

How is it happening? I do not know. It is just the work of the Holy Spirit. But I think that what the saints tried to do, to bring Orthodoxy, was very natural, because the Yupik people particularly embraced Orthodoxy. It truly became a part of who they are.

It is interesting—I live in Colorado, I have friends there and some of them Orthodox, some not. I say to them, “I am going to Alaska because there are native Alaskan Orthodox people in these small villages.” And people say, “What? We have never heard that!” They have no idea about Orthodox communities there, and these communities are very thankful and grateful for the work of St. Herman and St. Innocent, who brought Orthodoxy to Alaska.

—You just mentioned Blessed Olga, who was glorified by the OCA several months ago. She became the first canonized woman in North America and the first from the Yupik tribe. What did you discover about her during your work?

—We traveled to Kwethluk, which is a rather remote village. To get there you have to take a boat up the river in the summer time, or in the winter you can drive a pickup truck down the river, which is pretty amazing. It was a wild experience. I have never experienced that before.

The church in Kwethluk     

She lived and served in a very simple, humble, and beautiful way. As some of the people in our film said, she worked hard, she went to church, she sang prayers. She sang Christmas carols and showed the beauty of life in Christ.

She always had extra children in her house. If anyone needed clothing, she clothed them. If anyone needed food, she fed them. When anyone had hardships, struggles, faced challenges, or had been abused, she would come for them, make a tea, sit with them, and listen to their stories, and through those encounters she brought comfort and peace to other people’s lives. You can just see this in her life.

This is again a certain takeaway for me: How can we, as Orthodox Christians who live wherever we live—in the U.S., in big cities, in Moscow, with busy lives—just live with our Orthodox faith in our work, in our studies, in our family life.

Fr. Andrew on Spruce Island I think St. Olga’s life is a very beautiful example, which lets us think, “Okay, I can do that. I can love the people that God has put before me. And that is the challenge we all have. What does it mean to become a saint? Can we go to church? Can we read our prayers? Can we sing Christmas carols? Can we love our neighbor?” We can really see this in the life of Matiushka Olga.

—It was very interesting for me to hear in your film familiar Russian Orthodox prayers in native Alaskan languages.

—Yes, it is fascinating and beautiful. That was important for us. One of the things we wanted to do in the film was to allow people to hear the native language. You can even recognize many of the tones, but all the words are in the Yupik language; and it was very nice to hear these prayers.

St. Olga of Alaska You said in the film that when Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867, it could have been expected that the local people would throw away everything related to Russia. But in fact, they even became more Russian. How can we explain this?

—This is the point Fr. Michael tries to make in the film. “Look, sometimes your broader view of history is: ”Well, the Russian people were just over there exploiting the natives for labor and forced them to convert to Orthodoxy.” Fr. Michael argues, “No, that is not what happened.” Because if that was what happened, the natives would have burned down the churches and gotten rid of Orthodoxy.

No, something else was clearly going on, because Orthodox Christianity resonated with who they were, and they truly became Orthodox Christians. So, they remained Orthodox Christians, and that is because Orthodox Christianity was really connected with who they inherently were as a people. For them it made sense, they remained Orthodox. And in fact, Orthodoxy even continued to grow for a number of years after the Russians left.

—It was nice to see elderly people who said that they were Russian Orthodox, and whose parents and grandparents were also Russian Orthodox. That means that Orthodoxy has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. How would you explain this phenomenon?

—When they became Orthodox it was real for them. It was not forced, it made sense to them. As a people, they pass it down from generation to generation and continue to do so now.

Do they have struggles? Of course they do. We are all struggling; in every culture you go through these waves. Sometimes it is hard to pass down these things from generation to generation. And obviously, those in Alaska are struggling as well, like we are in other parts of the country or in the world.

To me, one of the important things to show in this film was the idea of remembering our elders, honoring our elders, and honoring those traditions of learning who we are and where we came from, and striving to keep those traditions alive as we pass them from generation to generation.

So you see it up there, and it has been going on. And God willing, such events as the glorification of Matushka Olga as a saint will hopefully be a real encouragement to the next generation of Alaskan natives and to all of us, who can look to her as an example, and keep the faith alive.

We just have to look at our elders, our saints, who have come before us and say, “What can I do to be like them?

Fr. Ishmael and Herman Davis, in native costume     

—Do you think we should hold these people up as an example for ourselves?

—Very much so, yes. I think that what you can see is an example of how we can live. Sometimes I like to refer to a kind of a hidden life. People just live humble, simple lives in the glory of God, and I think that today this could be a real example to us of how we can live our faith.

—You made your film in English. Are you going to translate it into Russian?

—Yes. We have translations with subtitles in Russian, Greek, Romanian and Serbian. We are finishing subtitles in those languages because we would love to release the film in other countries as well. Right now, the Russian subtitles are being edited and finalized. As a filmmaker, I would like to try to get the film into a couple of Russian film festivals, and then we can have a wider release of it in Russian and other languages.

Pope Francis once again renewed his call for a cease-fire in Gaza following the rescue of four hostages that led to what officials in Gaza said was the killing of more than 270 Palestinians in an Israeli rescue operation that one European Union diplomat deemed a “massacre.”

Addressing pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square June 9, the pope recalled the recent commemoration of the invocation of peace held at the Vatican 10 years ago, saying the historic meeting “showed that joining hands is possible, and that it takes courage to make peace, far more courage than to wage war.”

“I encourage the ongoing negotiations between the parties, even though they are not easy, and I hope that the proposals for peace, a ceasefire on all fronts, and the freeing of hostages will be accepted immediately for the good of Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.

Pope Francis also expressed hopes for an emergency meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which will be held June 11 near the Dead Sea. Jordan’s King Abdullah II convened the meeting, which will be co-hosted by Egypt and the United Nations.

“I encourage the international community to act urgently, by all means, to come to the aid of the people of Gaza, exhausted by the war. Humanitarian aid must be able to reach those in need, and no one can prevent it,” the pope said.

The pope’s appeal for peace came as more details were made public in the aftermath of a rescue operation in Gaza that freed four hostages: Noa Argamani, 26; Almog Meir Jan, 22; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 41. All four were kidnapped at the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, an estimated 274 people, including 64 children and 57 women, were killed and an estimated 700 wounded during the June 8 raid, The Associated Press reported. Israeli Defense Forces issued its own report on casualties from the raid, saying that “less than 100” people were killed.

Eyewitnesses told AP that Israeli fighter jets bombed areas of the Nuseirat refugee camp. However, Israeli military officials said that the use of such force was due to their troops being under fire.

The Reuters news agency reported that a Telegram account run by Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades claimed that three hostages, including a U.S. citizen, were killed during the Israeli military operation. A spokesman for the Israeli military denied the claim, calling it a “blatant lie.”

Nevertheless, while Israelis celebrated the return of several hostages, concerns were raised regarding the Israeli military’s tactics throughout the war in Gaza that has led to the deaths of nearly 37,000 Palestinians.

In several tweets posted to his X account June 8, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said he shared “the relief” of the hostages’ families and called for the release of all hostages.

However, Borrell wrote, the reports on “another massacre of civilians are appalling. We condemn this in the strongest terms.”

“The bloodbath must end immediately,” he said.

The rescue operation came amid growing divisions within Israel regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy in Gaza. Centrist politician and member of Israel’s war cabinet Benny Gantz resigned from his post June 9, making good on a threat to leave if Netanyahu did not come up with a plan to return hostages and a post-war Gaza strategy.

In a televised news conference announcing his departure, Gantz accused the Israeli prime minister of “preventing us from advancing toward true victory.”

“That is why we are leaving the emergency government today, with a heavy heart, but with a whole heart,” he said.

Ohrid, June 10, 2024

Photo: liturgija.mk     

The Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric liturgically celebrated the canonization of two new saints during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at St. Sofia Cathedral in Ohrid yesterday, Sunday, June 9.

At its session on Macedonian Orthodox Church canonizes new saintsThe Macedonian Synod previously canonized two saints in March 2022.

“>April 11, the Holy Synod of the MOC-OA canonized three saints: the Righteous Spase and Spasa Višenski and the Venerable-Martyr Stefanida of Bitola.

Photo: tge.mk     

Yesterday, His Eminence Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid led the glorification of the holy siblings Spase and Spasa, together with 16 other hierarchs, including guest hierarchs from the Serbian and Bulgarian Churches, and priests from throughout North Macedonia, reports the Diocese of Tetovo and Gostivar.

Festivities began the evening before at the Church of St. Athanasius in the village of Višni with Vespers and the washing of the relics of Sts. Spase and Spasa. The relics were then delivered to the St. Sophia Cathedral in Ohrid, where the final panikhida service for the new saints was served.

***

Photo: tge.mk     

Tradition says that Sts. Spase and Spasa were brother and sister, orphans, who fled from the Turks and settled in inaccessible terrains. St. Spasa went to a cave church in Višni, where she spent her ascetic life and where she rested in peace. Long after her death, one sleepless night, the saint appeared to a woman named Maria, a Christian from Belica who was immobile, asking for mercy for the peace of her soul: “Tell the people of Višni to gather my bones for I have no peace!” After appearing a second time, Maria gained a strange strength and together with her brother, they set out in the darkness to find the relics. And at that moment, while wrapping the relics to carry them to the church in the village, she was filled with joy, her step became light, and her painful and stiff posture became unusually nimble and easy.

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ROME — It’s the nature of Catholic social teaching to be a terribly imperfect fit with the left/right dynamics of Western politics, which have dominated things since the French Revolution. Conservatives tend to be good on religious freedom life issues and tradition, while liberals generally back the church’s peace-and-justice agenda but are often tone-deaf on much of the rest.

As a result, it’s pretty much always a glass half full or half empty exercise when one asks about the relationship between a given pope and a specific Western government.

For instance, how should one characterize the bond between President Joe Biden, only the second Catholic Commander-in-Chief in American history, and Pope Francis? Biden obviously is an enthusiast for much of Francis’s agenda when it comes to climate change and poverty, yet there are deep rifts not only on Ukraine and Gaza, but also matters such as so-called “gender theory.”

It’s worth recalling that in April, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to clarify that the Catholic Biden had no intention of following the pope’s lead in the Vatican document Dignitas Infinita on transgender issues.

All this is useful background to bear in mind as we sift through the results of the June 6-9 elections for the European Parliament — which, at first blush, might well be styled as a stinging rebuke to Pope Francis in the church’s own historical back yard.

In France and Germany, the two real superpowers of the European Union, precisely the sort of far-right, nationalist, and populist which are the bête noire of the pope’s imagination scored their biggest victories.

In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen surpassed President Emanuel Macron’s own faction so thoroughly that Macron was forced to dissolved parliament and call snap elections for June 30. In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany finished at 16 percent, humbling the Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and becoming the country’s second-largest political force.

That result in Germany, by the way, came after the country’s Catholic bishops publicly declared in February that the party’s platform is incompatible with church teaching, and even fired a parish worker who was a prominent party member.

In general, while the political center in Europe more or less held, in the sense that mainstream parties still will be the dominant forces in the new parliament, it’s a center destined to shift to the right — especially given the major losses of both Green and liberal parties, each of whom dropped more than twenty seats.

As a consequence, this is likely to be a European Parliament which is at least slightly more Euro-skeptical. It’s also likely to be less enthusiastic about some of the more contested aspects of the EU’s much-ballyhooed “Green Deal” to fight climate change, such as phasing out the sale of gas-burning cars.

Most notably, it’s likely to be a parliament inclined to a tougher line on migrants and refugees. In France, Le Pen famously has vowed to scrap laws allowing migrants to become legal residents, and also to limit financial benefits for new arrivals to reduce incentives to migrate.

Alternative for Germany, meanwhile, has proposed changing Germany’s constitution to eliminate the right to an individual hearing in asylum cases, and also immediately deporting all refugees whose applications to remain in the country are rejected. It’s also floated the idea of foreigners who commit crimes in Germany being sentenced to prisons outside the country.

In other words, for a pope for whom global solidarity, environmental protection, and immigrant rights are cornerstones of his social agenda, it’s not exactly the stuff of dreams.

On the other hand, the “square peg in a round hole” dynamic of the church’s relationship with Western politics also means that the rise of the far right in Europe could actually be good news from the pontiff on at least a couple of fronts.

For one thing, many of the right-wing populist movements across Europe tend to be more pro-Russia than the political mainstream, so their positions on the war in Ukraine tend to be a bit closer to the Vatican’s, though obviously not for the same reasons. Still, this may be a European Parliament less inclined to uncritically support a policy of arming Ukraine to the teeth, which would be gratifying to Francis.

Needless to say, the pope’s well-known opposition to “gender theory,” whatever precisely one understands that to mean, likely will get a more receptive hearing from the parliament’s new composition. It’s also less likely that the chamber’s new composition will be quite as aggressive as the previous body in pressing the EU to recognize abortion access as a fundamental right.

Finally, the results in Germany specifically may produce a slightly chastened progressive majority within the country’s Catholic establishment, realizing they new seem out of touch with a growing cohort of voters, and in any event creating new perceived priorities in church/state relations.

If that new reality in any way slows down the controversial “Synodal Path” of the German Catholic church, which the Vatican itself has tried to rein in on multiple occasions, Francis probably wouldn’t see that as a bad outcome either.

In other words, the bad news for popes is that whenever Westerners vote, they’re never going to get everything they want. The good news, however, is that there’s also always a silver lining — a point which be of some comfort to Francis right now.

Ukraine, June 10, 2024

Metropolitans Onuphry and Tikhon with an icon of All Saints of North America. Photo: news.church.ua     

His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada, primate of the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America, led a delegation visiting Sister Orthodox Churches this month.

Ukraine

The trip began with a visit to the much-suffering Ukraine, where Met. Tikhon visited several monasteries and concelebrated with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the primate of the persecuted canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Met. Tikhon is the first Orthodox primate to visit Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022.

The OCA primate, who is a monk of St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Waymart, Pennsylvania, arrived in Ukraine on June 1, and that evening he celebrated the All-Night Vigil together with His Beatitude Met. Onuphry at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi.

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Met. Tikhon thanked the Ukrainian primate for his warm welcome and presented him with an icon of the Synaxis of the Saints of North America.

In his words, he expressed his support for canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine:

As I thank Your Beatitude and the clergy and people of Chernivtsi for your welcome and for your generous hospitality, I would like to reiterate my unyielding fraternal love and support for Your Beatitude, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the entire Ukrainian people.

He also voiced the OCA’s support for Ukraine, while calling upon state authorities to cease its persecution of the Church:

While we, of course, affirm the right and obligation of your beloved country of Ukraine to defend itself against unjustified aggression, we also implore the civil authorities of this land to respect religious freedom, due process, and the norms of international law.

The next morning, the metropolitans concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at Holy Ascension-Bancheny Monastery together with a host of hierarchs and clerics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, during which Met. Tikhon ordained a Ukrainian subdeacon to the diaconate.

Thanking him for his joint prayer, Met. Onuphry presented Met. Tikhon with a commemorative gift. In his speech, Met. Tikhon noted the spiritual life and social outreach of Bancheny Monastery.

Met. Tikhon also recalled his first encounter with Met. Onuphry many years ago, when the future Ukrainian primate visited St. Tikhon’s Monastery and paid a visit to the future OCA primate’s “very small and humble cell.”

Following the Divine Liturgy, Met. Tikhon, Met. Onuphry, and the hierarchs of the UOC visited the orphanage under the care of the brotherhood of Bancheny Monastery, the sisterhood of Boyany Convent, and His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny. The children gave a festive concert for their guests and presented them with Paschal baskets.

Met. Tikhon visited disabled children and children with severe illnesses, offering them his primatial blessings.

The following day, the OCA delegation made its way to the Holy Dormition-Pochaev Lavra, one of the main spiritual centers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where it was greeted by the Lavra abbot His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Pochaev, and the monastery brotherhood.

Met. Tikhon and UOC hierarchs present concelebrated a moleben at the monastery. He then presented the brotherhood with an icon of Christ “as a token of unity in Christ and gratitude for the warm welcome and hospitality.” He referred to the Lavra as “one of the brightest beacons of Orthodoxy in the world … synonymous with the steadfast confession of the holy and saving Orthodox Christian faith.”

In turn, Met. Vladimir presented Met. Tikhon with an icon of the Pochaev Mother of God.

The OCA delegation was blessed to venerate the relics of Sts. Job and Amphilochy of Pochaev. Photo: news.church.ua     

His Beatitude and the OCA delegation then venerated the relics of Sts. Job and Amphilochy, the wonderworkers of Pochaev.

Met. Tikhon then visited the Holy Spirit Skete in Pochaev and the Theophany Convent in Kremenets.

That evening, he also visited the Cathedral of Sts. Sophia, Faith, Hope, and Love in Ternopil and Kulivtsi Monastery, where he venerated sacred treasures and met with hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and faithful.

The visit to Ukraine concluded the next day with visits to the Convent of the Entrance of the Theotokos and the residence of the Bukovina and Dalmatia metropolitans in the city of Chernivtsi.

Romania

Met. Tikhon and the OCA delegation then traveled to Romania, visiting the famous Putna Monastery June 4–5.

His Beatitude was greeted by the Putna brotherhood and abbot Archimandrite Melchisedec, who led him to the monastery church and offered a brief presentation on the history of the monastery and its saints.

On Wednesday morning, Met. Tikhon celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the monastery. He then addressed the brotherhood:

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“I want to express my gratitude to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church for the blessing and invitation to serve the Divine Liturgy here, at this sacred Monastery of Putna,” His Beatitude said following the service.

Met. Tikhon serving at Putna. Photo: Putna Monastery     

“And it is truly a blessing that I will bring back with me to my faithful of America, to share with them the love and hospitality of the Romanian Orthodox Church and especially of this holy monastery. The monastery is the place above all where one learns humility,” he added.

Met. Tikhon then gifted Abbot Melchisedec with an epigonation.

On Friday, June 7, Met. Tikhon and the OCA delegation were received at the Patriarchal Palace by His Grace Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești, vicar to Pat. Daniel. Bp. Varlaam offered a presentation on Church life in Romania, and Met. Tikhon emphasized the importance of the example of Romanian monasticism, especially for the OCA.

Turkey

Photo: ec-patr.org     

Met. Tikhon and the OCA delegation then visited the Patriarchate of Constantinople from June 7 to 10, meeting with hierarchs and members of the Patriarchal Court. On June 8, they were invited to a luncheon with Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn, and other hierarchs of the Patriarchate.

That evening, Met. Tikhon the delegation attended Great Vespers at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George, where they also attended Liturgy the next morning. Following the service, they had lunch with Patriarch Bartholomew and other hierarchs. His Beatitude offering greetings to Pat. Bartholomew on his upcoming name’s day, tomorrow.

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Iași, Iași County, Romania, June 10, 2024

Photo: YouTube     

2024 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Holy Hierarch Dosoftei of Iași, a beloved saint of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Archdiocese of Iași is holding commemorative events in his honor throughout the year.

St. Dosoftei was discussed during the recent symposium, “Explorations in the Romanian and European Biblical Tradition,” in recognition of his contributions to Romanian culture. Additionally, the liturgical program of the recent Byzantine Music Festival in Iași included a Vigil in honor of St. Dosoftei, reports the Basilica News Agency.

The service featured several compositions inspired by the Holy Hierarch’s Psalter in Verse sung by the Patriarchal Cathedral’s Tronos Psaltic Group.

The hierarch, who lived between 1624-1693, was the first national poet and versifier of the Psalter in the entire Eastern Orthodox space, the first translator of universal dramatic literature and historical literature into Romanian, as well as the first translator of liturgical books in Moldova.

In honor of the 400th anniversary of his birth, the Archdiocese of Iași is preparing to publish a critical edition of St. Dosoftei’s Psalter in Verse.

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From the Vigil Service in honor of St. Dosoftei. Photo: basilica.ro     

St. Dosoftei was born in Suceava in 1624, receiving the name Dimitrie in Holy Baptism, because he was born near the October feast of the Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki.

The young Dimitri learned to read and write from the most famous teachers in Moldova and at the school of the Holy Dormition Monastery in Lvov. He was gifted by God with a special intelligence and studied the Scriptures and Patristic writings with great zeal. He also learned to speak and write in Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Polish, and Ukrainian, and translated many ecclesiastical texts into Romanian.

He also learned the spiritual works of prayer, obedience, humility, and asceticism at Probota Monastery, where he received the angelic tonsure in 1649 with the name of Dosoftei. Increasing in love and wisdom, he became a spiritual father and the abbot at Probota, guiding his monks to the love of God and His Holy Scripture.

Due to his prestige as both a learned and virtuous man, he was called to the episcopal ministry, and in 1658, he was consecrated Bishop of Huşi. A year later, he moved to the See of Roman, and in 1671, he was elected Metropolitan of Moldova, where he amazed everyone with his gentleness, humility, wisdom, and kindness.

St. Dosoftei ably led his Metropolis during times of upheaval, and continued translating and printing holy texts in Romanian. The first printed works were his Psalter in Verse and the Akathist to the Mother of God. He also reviewed the Romanian translation of the Old Testament, that was then included in the Romanian Bible beginning in 1688.

In fall of 1673, he was sent into exile in Poland because of his anti-Ottoman convictions, and was briefly replaced as Metropolitan, before returning the following year. He continued his very fruitful translation and publishing work. He also wrote about a number of saints whom he knew personally.

In 1686, St. Dosoftei was taken hostage by retreating Poles together with the Metropolis’ treasury and the relics of St. John the New and spent his last years in exile, where he continued his scholarly work.

As a faithful and sacrificial pastor, the holy hierarch endured the hardships and deprivations with dignity, caring for his Orthodox community in Poland. The holiness of his life shone not only on his spiritual children, but even King Jan Sobieski often came to participate in the services celebrated by St. Dosoftei.

Despite the pressures placed upon him, St. Dosoftei refused to convert to Uniatism and remained Orthodox until his passing into eternity on December 13, 1693. From the testimonies of the monks who accompanied him in exile, we learn that the saint knew the time of his calling to eternity by the Lord. The gentle hierarch Dosoftei was buried at the Nativity of the Lord Church in Zhovkva, today in Ukraine.

Suffering trials and many troubles in this transient life, St. Dosoftei of Moldova remains through the ages a theologian for the whole of the Orthodox Church, a hierarch with a holy life, and an unmatched teacher of the true faith in the language of his people. Enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he served the Church of the Savior Christ with love, humility, and wonderful deeds, and now prays in heaven for the salvation of our souls.

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Blessed Edward Poppe was born on December 18, 1890. He was an excellent student, but very mischievous as a child. In 1902, he received his first Communion and made his Confirmation, which made him more serious and dedicated to Christ.

In 1904, Edward’s father began plans to have his son begin a baking apprenticeship, which would allow him to enter the family business. Edward, however, felt a calling to the priesthood. After seeking advice from a priest close to the family, Edward’s father told his wife that “God has not given us our children for ourselves.”

Edward’s father died when he was 16 years old, and as one of 11 children, Edward felt that he should take on the family business, but his mother insisted he enter the seminary. Five of Edward’s sisters went on to become nuns, and another brother became a priest as well.

In 1910, Edward was drafted to the military, serving as a battlefield nurse in World War I. He prayed often to St. Joseph, which led to the miraculous recovery of several prisoners of war.

Six years later, at the age of 25, Edward was finally ordained. He served as an associate pastor, ministering to the poor and the dying, and the children in his parish. He taught catechism and founded Eucharistic associations.

Edward had a weak constitution, and ended up being transferred to rural Belgium for his health. In 1919, he suffered a heart attack, and spent his recovery time praying and producing thousands of writings against the evils of Marxism and secularization. At this time, he also adopted the spirituality of St. Therese of Lisieux.

In January 1924, he had another heart attack, and died six months later, on June 10, 1924. Blessed Edward was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1999.