Tag: Christianity

Photo: flickr.com     

The Orthodox Church is a liturgical Church and one of What is Prayer?A great prayerful power is at work in the prayers of the Holy Fathers, and whoever enters into them with all his attention and zeal will certainly taste of this prayerful power to the extent that his state of mind converges with the content of the prayer.

“>prayer. We believe that the grace of God, given to the world through the Chrysostom on the Crucifixion of ChristAnd He came to the place of a skull. Some say that Adam died there, and there lies; and that Jesus in this place where death had reigned, there also set up the trophy.”>Crucifixion and the On When Christ Will Be Resurrected in Our HeartsWhat is Pascha in a nutshell? It is the way out of hell.”>Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, extends to the entire Church and is communicated to every believer, primarily through prayer. Prayer is the most intimate activity of a believer and the yardstick of his spiritual life. It is performed in the heart, where the grace that we received in the sacrament of Baptism is hidden. This grace given to us by God presupposes our efforts for its further development and work in our hearts.

Prayer is undoubtedly the highest expression of our love for God. Therefore, we can say that we love God as much as we pray. Everything in the Orthodox Church—architecture, church paintings, icons, hymns, singing, and rites full of symbolism—is designed to create a prayerful atmosphere, to help believers pray from the heart, in experiencing their mystical union with God. Through the Holy Church sacraments and services, through daily prayers, through our thanksgivings and prayer petitions, through the Word of God, through the Holy Mysteries the Lord Jesus Christ is invisibly present among the faithful. The Eucharist symbolically presents Christ to us in the fullness of His earthly life. During the Divine Liturgy we become like His contemporaries—we listen to His Word in the Gospel readings, immerse ourselves in contemplation of His image on icons, feel His fragrance in the aroma of incense, and like the Apostles at the Last Supper, we are at the same table with Him when we partake of His Body and Blood.

Through prayer, which must continue incessantly—that is, at any time, in any place and as often as possible—we enter into living communion with God. In this way we participate in the life of God Himself, Who is the Trinity of love of the three Divine Persons. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Rom. 5:5)—this should be the fruit of prayer. And it must be extended to our neighbors as well. A believer who prays sincerely, seriously and from the bottom of his heart is filled with love for his neighbors and for the whole world around him.

Prayer, in turn, is the first fruit of faith, as a gift to man from God and its most intimate expression. Because in order to pray we must first come to believe in God. Although, we know of cases when people pray that God reveal to them that He exists. And God reveals Himself to them! The prayer of Blessed Augustine is well known: “O Lord, Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Prayer is the rest of the soul in God. And is there such a person on earth who does not seek and crave for peace of heart and mind?

Let us consider in more detail the question of church prayer and personal prayer. The services of the Orthodox Church are extremely rich in hymns and stichera, in which various petitions, praise and thanksgiving to God are offered up. The Orthodox faith, in essence, has a monastic leaven and a deep penitential, but at the same time Paschal character. It was monks who always strove to live till their death according to the Gospel to the utmost, following the example of the poor, chaste and obedient first Ascetic—Christ Himself. Thus, they set an example for believers. Monks are especially called to prayer. The monastic principle of life comes from the testament of the holy Apostle Paul: Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).

Church prayer has a special contrite or penitential character, because sin is a universal, painful reality that means the alienation and separation of man from God. If a person realizes his sin and asks for God’s forgiveness, it should not paralyze him and plunge him into despair, but on the contrary, through repentance new energy should awaken in him to struggle with sin and do good. The pain of sin is eventually transformed into victory through the Resurrection of Christ. “For behold, through the Cross joy has come into all the world,” we sing at almost every Vigil to celebrate on Sunday a little Pascha. Orthodox spirituality is largely that of joy and Resurrection. St. Seraphim of Sarov († 1833), one of the greatest Russian ascetics in the history of the Orthodox Church, greeted all his visitors who flocked to him by the thousands with the words, “My joy, Christ is Risen!”

Through the seven sacraments of the Church, through other services and prayers of the Church, the saving grace of God is given to believers for their faith. But what is the Church? It is a community of believers who gather for prayer to celebrate the Eucharist and other sacraments. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Church is the Body of Christ (cf. Col. 1:24). It means that the members of the Church in their unity form a living body similar to a human body. But the Body of Christ is also the Eucharist, because the Eucharistic bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through the prayer of a celebrant, and so the faithful really become the Body of Christ or the Church of Christ. Without the Eucharist, the Church cannot be the Body of Christ, but will remain just an assembly of people. The holy Apostle Paul says: Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular (1 Cor. 12:27); For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread (1 Cor. 10:17). The Eucharist is the source of all the sacraments.

Believers are called to participate in services actively, sing prayers together, and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ together. The faithful experience every Sunday as the Lord’s Day, primarily through their participation in the Liturgy. A Christian who misses the Divine Liturgy three Sundays in a row without a sound reason becomes spiritually indifferent and remains without the strengthening grace of the holy sacraments. The wedding garments (Mt. 22:11), in which we must take part in the Lord’s Supper, mean our reconciliation with those who have sinned against us, intense prayer, marital abstinence and Eucharistic fasting. A believer must purify his conscience in the sacrament of confession before receiving the Holy Mysteries.

    

No sincere believer can say that he does not need the Church, that God is everywhere, and therefore he can pray anywhere. This is an individualistic, egoistic way of thinking that ignores the fact that God Himself is the unity of Three Persons, that you can only fulfil yourself in unity with your neighbors. Our need for community with others is inherent in our very nature, because we were created in the image of God. We can fulfil ourselves as individuals in the image of the Divine Persons only when we are open to our neighbors and unite with them. The Church is the very place where we unite with our neighbors in love through common prayer and serving those who need help. Only in the Church and only through the Church can we overcome selfishness, which is the highest expression of sin. The Romanian theologian Fr. Dumitru Staniloae (1903–1993) called the Church a “laboratory of the Resurrection.” Through the holy sacraments and through common prayer we constantly experience our personal resurrection in the Church, overcoming our selfishness, which can lead us to spiritual death before physical death.

Personal prayer is inspired and supported by church prayer and is its continuation. It can be performed anywhere and anytime. Our prayer must be as frequent and good as possible. Early Christians, especially monks, frequently repeated certain verses from the Holy Scriptures (especially from the Psalms) attentively to occupy the mind with prayer continuously. Over time this prayer developed into the Jesus Prayer.: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” which was also inspired by the Gospel Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee.

It should be emphasized here that the Orthodox tradition does not distinguish between the spirituality of monastics and laity. Both monks and laypeople are called to attain the same spiritual heights, which in the language of the Bible are called perfection. When Christ says, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect (Mt. 5:48), He addresses all people regardless of their social status. And although the lifestyles of monastics and laypeople differ, the goal of all Christians is the same. The same applies to prayer: laypeople and monks alike are called to unceasing prayer. This does not mean that we must stop working, but it means that we must turn our every action into prayer: And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father (Col. 3:17).

In post-war Romania, some monks from Antim Monastery in Bucharest founded a prayer group called the Burning Bush (Rugul Aprins in Romanian). The purpose of this movement was to spread the spirituality of hesychasm among intellectuals, with special attention to unceasing prayer. The results were stunning. Many people, while remaining active in society, mastered unceasing prayer—that is, they attained a state of prayer that is beyond all words. Unfortunately, after the Communists seized power in Romania, the prayer group was banned and its members were imprisoned.

Of course, it is not easy for us to attain this prayerful state, because it is ultimately a gift from God. Nevertheless, efforts on the part of those who pray are absolutely necessary. Experienced father-confessors advise us to pray in the morning and in the evening, before and after meals, with the prayers that are in every prayer-book. The rest of the time—at work, on a journey, anywhere and anytime—try to say short prayers in your mind as often as possible; for example: “Lord, have mercy”, “Lord, help me”, “Lord, hasten to mine aid”, “Lord, do not forsake me, a sinner”, or pray the Jesus Prayer. It is also important to read the Holy Scriptures, especially the Psalms as penitential prayers and the New Testament.

The most important thing in prayer is when we focus our attention on the words we say so that our mind shouldn’t be distracted by something else, but should descend into the heart. Every prayer of ours must become a prayer of the heart, because the center of our being is concentrated there. In fact, all energies that permeate us, our physical and psychological forces, are renewed in the heart. The mind itself is the energy of the heart. The mind will not find peace unless it descends into the heart, where its proper place is. The grace of the Holy Spirit, received by us in Baptism, dwells in the heart. If prayer remains at the level of the intellect, it does not touch the heart, remains purely intellectual, formal and fruitless. Such prayer does not bring joy and peace to the soul, but, on the contrary, causes fatigue and boredom. Our mind must descend into the heart, and with it prayer. We should pray with great attention, reverence and humility, being always mindful of our sinful state. We must also ask God to give us the gift of prayer. Because genuine prayer is a gift from God.

When we pray properly, purely, without extraneous thoughts, with humility and love for God, we feel the warmth of grace in the heart, spreading in our chest and throughout our body. Being filled with grace is expressed by our love for all people and for all Creation, in our fundamental unity with the world around us. Only in perfect unity with all people and with all Creation do we understand ourselves as personalities in the image of the Divine Persons. Otherwise we will remain in a state of selfish personalities who care only about themselves, pursuing only their own interests, ignoring others or even doing them harm. It is clear that in such a selfish state our soul will never find peace. We will never be grateful for what we have. Such people see enemies in their close ones and will blame them for their own failures.

Now let’s ask ourselves why it is so hard for us to attain pure prayer, which gives us peace of mind. This is because we are under the strong influence of the fall, which constantly divides the inner unity of our being. Our hearts are constantly attacked by extraneous thoughts and desires that break up their wholeness. Let’s not forget that sins and passions (a passion is a recurring sin that becomes a bad habit or vice) are unnatural to humans and are not part of our nature created by God. On the contrary, sin is something extremely abnormal and irrational out of all that exists. But we are so used to sin that we often do not realize what is really part of our original nature and what destroys us. Sin constantly eats away at a person, and unless we fight it, it gradually destroys us.

Prayer works in exactly the opposite direction. By grace it restores our nature. However, this is an extremely labor-intensive task, precisely because our minds are so easily distracted by worldly things. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 Jn. 2:16). All this has such a strong effect on the minds of modern people that they cannot concentrate well on prayer or immediately return to worldly vanity after prayer. In order to pray properly, continuous ascetic efforts are needed. You should force your mind to turn away from external things and focus on the practice of prayer. But we should not stop praying even if our minds are constantly distracted during prayer. If we pray regularly and as often as possible, the mind will get used to prayer and will be more attentive to what it is doing. In this way, prayer will acquire quality and become pure, not overshadowed by extraneous thoughts. And at some point it will descend into our hearts simultaneously with our minds. Then the renewal of our being will begin.

    

In order for the mind to pray as purely as possible—that is, with attention concentrated in the heart—certain conditions are required. The Savior tells us: And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses (Mk. 11:25); But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret (Mt. 6:6). He also says, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mk. 11:24). Therefore, we must pray with confidence that God will answer our prayers even if He does not fulfill them the way we wish. No prayer uttered with faith and humility will be in vain.

We must also forgive our neighbors who have sinned against us, because rancor prevents us from praying purely. We cannot pray when we are tense or too tired, because then we will not be able to penetrate into the “secret closets” of our hearts. Prayer requires both external and inward peace. In addition to these requirements, experienced father-confessors insist on the importance of The Meaning and Significance of FastingFasting is a necessary means for success in the spiritual life and for attaining salvation; for fasting—depriving the flesh of excessive food and drink—weakens the force of sensual drives.

“>fasting and other ascetic practices conducive to prayer. No one can pray on a full stomach, and the Holy Spirit does not dwell in those who seek physical pleasures. The more we abstain from eating and drinking, the easier it is for our minds to penetrate into our hearts.

Indulgence in eating and drinking directs our minds to sensual pleasures and incites bodily desires. Therefore, it is recommended in the Orthodox Church to fast every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year and during the four major fasts. Fasting can be total (on Holy Friday, Holy Saturday and Christmas Eve) or partial if we abstain from animal products. Prostrations and bows while reciting the Jesus Prayer or other short prayers also help us master prayer and teach us humility. It should be mentioned that fasting and other ascetic practices recommended by the Orthodox tradition are not aimed at the mortification of the body, but at the mortification of the sins and passions working through the body. A reasonable Ascetic Life Means Caring for Your Spiritual Health, and not Restricting Your FreedomThe cultivation of the passions has led us to a dead end. The passions promise instantaneous pleasure, but they are disadvantageous in the long term.

“>ascetic life is of great benefit for people. And only those who practice it realize this important truth.

Pope Francis this week prayed for men who want, start, or needlessly prolong wars, with the prayer coming ahead of the 80th anniversary of the 1944 Allied landings in Normandy.

“People want peace!” the pope wrote in a June 5 message. “They want conditions of stability, security, and prosperity in which everyone can fulfill their duties and destinies with serenity. To ruin this noble order of things for ideological, nationalistic, or economic ambitions is a serious fault before mankind and before history, a sin before God.”

The pope’s prayers were conveyed in a written message to Bishop Jacques Habert of Bayeux and Lisieux in Normandy, France.

The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day with events promoting peace May 28–June 9, including a Franco-British ecumenical liturgy at the Bayeux Cathedral followed by a candlelight procession to the British cemetery for a prayer vigil on the evening of June 5.

On June 6, Mass was celebrated on the beaches of each of the five landing sectors, and on June 8 the diocese will offer a Mass for peace in remembrance of its 138 priests, seminarians, and religious women who lost their lives in the Second World War.

Pope Francis in his message decried the loss of life in World War II, especially the death of the many young men who were killed during the D-Day operation, as well as the civilian victims of bombardments.

“We remember the colossal and impressive collective and military effort made to restore freedom,” he said. “And we also think of the cost of this effort: these immense cemeteries where thousands of graves line up of soldiers — most of them very young, and many of them from far away — who heroically gave their lives, enabling the end of the Second World War and the restoration of peace, a peace which — at least in Europe — will have lasted almost 80 years.”

The D-Day landings, the pope said, “evoke, more generally, the disaster represented by this appalling world conflict, in which so many men, women, and children suffered, so many families were torn apart, so much ruin was wrought.”

“It would be pointless and hypocritical to remember it without condemning and rejecting it definitively,” he underlined, recalling St. Paul VI’s appeal at the United Nations on Oct. 4, 1965: “Never again war!”

The pope said he finds it worrying that there is serious consideration of the possibility of another generalized conflict in the world.

“If, for several decades, the memory of past errors has underpinned a firm determination to do everything possible to prevent another open world conflict, I note with sadness that this is no longer the case today, and that men have short memories,” he said. “May this commemoration help us to recover it!”

Pope Francis called for prayers for all the victims of wars, past and present, and asked God to welcome all those who have died in those conflicts.

“Let us pray,” he said, “for the men who want wars, those who start them, stir them up senselessly, maintain and prolong them uselessly, or cynically profit from them. May God enlighten their hearts and set before their eyes the trail of misfortune they provoke!”

He also prayed for peacemakers: “Wanting peace is not cowardice; on the contrary, it requires the greatest courage, the courage to know how to renounce something. Even if the judgment of men is sometimes harsh and unjust toward them, ‘the peacemakers will be called sons of God’ (Mt 5:9).”

“May God have mercy on us!” the pope said.

June 6, 2024

Photo: terrnews.com     

A group of current and former employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind are calling for protection from retaliation for sharing concerns about the “serious risks” of the technologies these and other companies are building. This is according to a report from Bloomberg.

These IT specialists are voicing their deep concern that neither the AI companies nor our society are ready for the potentially dangerous consequences of AI development, and there is no government oversight of the process. Among the few voices of warning are the employees, but they have all signed broad confidentiality agreements, as they stated in public letter signed by 13 people.

One great cause for concern is the fact that in recent weeks, OpenAI dissolved one of its most high-profile safety teams and experienced a series of staff departures. The employees had signed non-disparagement agreements, and violating them according to their consciences would affect them financially. After some pushback, OpenAI said it would release past employees from the agreement. But as one former employer wrote on X, “employees may still fear other forms of retaliation for disclosure, such as being fired and sued for damages.”

Because AI companies’ activities are not yet subject to regulation, whistleblower programs are unlikely to protect the concerned employees, since those programs only apply to reports on illegal activity. Since no one has legislated the potentially dangerous consequences of AI, there can as yet be no court action against the companies.

As another former employee, wrote, “There’s nothing really stopping companies from building AGI [artificial general intelligence—a hypothetical version of AI that can outperform humans on many tasks] and using it for various things, and there isn’t much transparency,” said the former employee, who risked foregoing his equity in order to avoid signing a nondisparagement agreement. “I quit because I felt like we were not ready. We weren’t ready as a company, and we weren’t ready as a society for this, and we needed to really invest a lot more in preparing and thinking about the implications” Bloomberg reports.

***

In early March of this year, Metropolitan Kliment (Kapalin), of Kaluga and Borovsk a member of the Higher Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, at the international conference “God-Man-World” stated that the Russian Orthodox Church will study the concerns of believers related to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in the context of moral and ethical standards, and will present its findings to the authorities to seek solutions to these problems, as reported by TACC news agency.

“The Church’s task now is to carefully study all the concerns, all the problems that the development of artificial intelligence poses for believers, particularly Christians, and to highlight this to the state. The state must consider how to address this,” said Metropolitan Kliment.

According to him, a commission on social life, culture, science, and information, created by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, is researching issues related to the ethical aspects of AI development. Metropolitan Kliment, who heads this commission, noted that while the church cannot prohibit the development of artificial intelligence, it can “raise its voice” and influence this phenomenon in some way.

The hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church mentioned that the issue of AI development has already been discussed by the Greek Orthodox Church at its council, and separate documents on this topic have been adopted by Catholics and Protestants.

In April, 2023, the ROC called on the Russian government to forbid the use of AI with a human face. The Patriarchal Commission on Family, Motherhood, and Childhood Protection of the Russian Orthodox Church stated the necessity to establish a ban on anthropomorphizing (attributing human characteristics and qualities to inanimate objects) programs, and to legally mandate a disclaimer for neural networks indicating that a person is interacting with artificial intelligence. This position was presented by the chairman of the commission, Fr. Feodor Lukyanov, at a roundtable discussion on the legal regulation and application of neural network technologies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), the Russian news agency Vedomosti reported then. Attorney Pavel Katkov stated then that Fr. Feodor’s proposals are technically possible to put into practice, but would decrease Russia’s advantage in the IT field.

The Russian Orthodox Church cannot directly introduce bills into the State Duma, but as an organization representing a significant portion of society, it proposes various initiatives to parliamentarians and the government, Vedomosti quoted head of the external communications department of the Polilog consulting group, Larisa Gelina as saying. Additionally, church lawyers can be involved in the development of specific bills and legislative acts.

Neural networks are currently one of the most contentious topics for legal regulation, and not only in Russia, Gelina continues. Fr. Fyodor’s speech primarily shows that the Russian Orthodox Church is keeping up with modern trends and demonstrates to believers a readiness to respond promptly to new challenges. She said that public discussion is ongoing.

St. Norbert was born around the year 1080, in Xanten, Germany, to a high-ranking family with ties to the imperial court. As a young man, Norbert was extremely intelligent, and was marked for high office in the Church, the state, or both.

Norbert was ordained as a subdeacon, and eventually served an appointment with the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, and then the German Emperor Henry V. Although his work involved distributing aid to the poor, Norbert lived a pleasurable, luxurious life, with no particular personal piety.

In 1110, he accompanied Henry V on a trip to Rome. The pope and the emperor were fighting over the right to choose the Church’s clergy and control property. Although their negotiations failed, Norbert was moved by the pope’s argument that the Church must govern himself. He also saw his emperor imprison the pope in order to get his way.

This was not enough to prompt immediate reform for Norbert, until he came close to death about two years later. While riding on horseback, he was caught in a storm and nearly killed by a lightning bolt. His frightened horse threw him, and Norbert lay unconscious for a long time. After this experience, he quit his work, and went to a monastery to pray and discern God’s call.

At the age of 35, he felt called to the priesthood. He gave all his wealth to the poor and began to work as a barefoot, begging pilgrim, trying to reform those who lived as he once had.

Pope Callixtus II gave Norbert permission to live as an itinerant preacher, and asked him to found a religious order so that others could follow his example. Norbert settled in northern France with a small group of disciples, who lived according to the Rule of St. Augustine. On Dec. 25, 1121, they were established as the Canons Regular of Premontre, also known as the Norbertines.

Norbert also established a women’s branch of the order before returning to Germany to preach. He founded a lay branch, the Third Order of St. Norbert, and his work spread throughout many Northern European dioceses.

Norbert was eventually chosen as Archbishop of Magdenurg. He worked hard to reform the morally and financially bankrupt diocese, but was only partially successful, with three attempts made on his life. He traveled to Rome in 1130 to resolve a papal succession dispute, and then became a close advisor to the new emperor of Germany, Lothar.

When his health began to fail, Norbert returned to Magdeburg, dying there on June 6, 1134. Pope Gregory XIII canonized St. Norbert in 1582. Currently the Norbertines are present in 25 nations around the world.

Liturgical texts, Indigenous Catholics, youth and young adults — along with funding for a decades-long anti-poverty effort — are under discussion when the nation’s Catholic bishops convene in June for their annual spring meeting.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced May 13 that its 2024 Spring Plenary Assembly takes place June 12-14 in Louisville, Kentucky. Public sessions of the gathering, the agenda for which has not yet been finalized, will be livestreamed June 13 and 14 via the USCCB website.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the U.S., and Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, president of the USCCB, will address the bishops at the assembly.

The bishops — who meet in fall and spring general assemblies each year to conduct business and to discuss various canonical and civil issues — are also set to receive updates on the Synod on Synodality, the National Eucharistic Revival and its attendant July 17-21 National Eucharistic Congress, the USCCB’s recently launched mental health campaign, migration and the possible opening of a canonization cause for Adele Brise, a 19th-century Belgian immigrant and woman religious whose visions of Mary near Champion, Wisconsin, were deemed worthy of belief in 2010 by Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Before their public sessions, the bishops — whose schedule includes communal prayer and dialogue — will evaluate the status and future of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Established in 1969 as the official anti-poverty agency of the U.S. bishops, and funded by an annual nationwide collection, CCHD has to date awarded over $440 million to almost 12,000 community organizations working to end the root causes of poverty in the U.S.

However, declining donations to the campaign and a shift in available post-pandemic resources — plus long-running criticisms, both doctrinal and political, made by some with respect to the projects funded by the CCHD — have brought the initiative to an inflection point, although the USCCB did not indicate in its spring meeting announcement if any formal votes on the campaign are on the horizon.

Among the action items up for vote at the plenary are pastoral frameworks for ministry to Indigenous and to youth and young adults, along with decisions relating to texts for the Liturgy of the Hours, the Roman rite’s form of the church’s divine office, which consists of canonical “hours” of prayer observed throughout the day by clergy, religious and laity. Typically, clergy and religious — but not laity, although it is highly encouraged — are obliged to pray the divine office.

Father Dustin Dought, executive director of the USCCB’s Secretariat of Divine Worship, told OSV News that some of those texts relate to feasts within the liturgical year that Pope Francis had inscribed into the General Roman Calendar in 2021 — the July 29 obligatory memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus (formerly dedicated solely to St. Martha); and the optional memorials for three doctors of the church: Armenian abbott St. Gregory of Narek (Feb. 27), St. Hildegard of Bingen (Sept. 17) and St. John of Avila (May 10).

The bishops also will assess “other non-Scriptural” texts within the Liturgy of the Hours, among them “supplementary texts (such as) antiphons, long responsories, short responsories, versicles, introductions before the feasts of saints, and introductions to the Lord’s Prayer,” said Father Dought. He added that another Liturgy of the Hours item entails the translation of its general instruction, and “new translations of the psalm headings, the rubrics, the decree and the (Liturgy of the Hours) apostolic constitution” (“Laudis Canticum,” promulgated by St. Paul VI).

The proposed pastoral plan for Native Americans and Indigenous ministry — which the bishops will take up at the spring meeting after tabling it last fall pending further discussion — has been “a long time coming in terms of a process that has involved consultation with various groups,” Chieko Noguchi, USCCB executive director of public affairs, told OSV News.

Currently, the U.S. government recognizes 574 American Indian nations and tribes and Alaska Native entities — although this is not an exhaustive account of Indigenous peoples as some do not have federal recognition. Noguchi noted that any pastoral framework for Indigenous and Native ministry must be “wide enough that it encompasses” the “many different cultures that are affiliated with Native and Indigenous communities.”

“There are vast cultural differences among the various tribes,” she said. “For the statement to be useful to those who work in that ministry area, (the bishops) wanted to address that (point), which is why (the plan) was withdrawn from a vote (during the fall assembly).”

Noguchi also said the document — prepared by the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Native American Affairs, and titled “Keeping Christ’s Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry” — is “expected to acknowledge the church’s historical failings (regarding Indigenous peoples) and to suggest concrete ways to better listen and respond to the needs of Native and Indigenous people today.”

She told OSV News that “among the things that will be addressed is the issue of boarding schools,” through which both the U.S. and Canadian governments sought to forcibly assimilate Indigenous peoples by separating children at an early age from their parents, families and communities — including those who had been Christian for some time — and depriving them of their languages, cultures and identities.

Historically, Catholic Church leaders were co-opted by government officials into participating in these violations of natural law engineered by the government, with clergy and religious abandoning the church’s previous model of missionaries integrating into Indigenous communities, sharing the faith through their cultures, and providing education locally. The residential school system ended up severely damaging the familial and social fabric of Indigenous nations, and saw thousands of students physically, mentally and sexually abused.

In July 2022, Pope Francis embarked on a penitential pilgrimage to Canada, during which he apologized for the church’s role in that nation’s residential school system in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Yet the wounds of the residential school legacy still ache, admitted Jenny Black Bear, a member of the Lakota and director of religious education for St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.

“We see a lot of generational trauma from that,” Black Bear, who serves as a consultant to the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Native American Affairs, told OSV News. “It’s like it’s rolling down into the next generation, and the next generation. So our challenge here in teaching our faith and trying to evangelize our people … is to overcome that, and to work with people and let them know that it’s OK to be a Lakota Catholic. I’ve had so many people over the years tell me they were told they had to choose to be a Lakota person or choose to be Catholic. … It’s OK to be both.”

Black Bear also said that “leadership and faith formation,” along with an increase in priests and religious to serve Indigenous communities, are also top needs.

At the same time, Black Bear told OSV News that she is “hopeful that our people will continue to grow in our faith and come back to our faith if they’ve been away, and come back and realize … the love of God, the love of Jesus.”

The proposed pastoral plan for youth and young adults reflects “three of the biggest issues” for those generations, said Paul Jarzembowski, associate director for laity at the USCCB’s Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

The document, “Listen, Teach, Send: A National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults,” underscores that “young people want to know that they’ve been heard (and) they want to be listened to,” he told OSV News. “They want to know they are a valuable part of the church and a part of our lives.”

In addition, the bishops “felt we need to share the faith in a way that’s compelling, that’s dynamic,” he said. “Let’s figure out how we … really touch their minds and their hearts (with) the fullness of all that the church offers.”

Lastly, “we constantly want to make sure that young people know they have a vocation, that they have a place in God’s plan,” Jarzembowski said. “The notion of that third word (in the document title), ‘send,’ really touched on addressing the vocational challenge: ‘How will you change the world?’”

With the U.S. surgeon general issuing a 2021 advisory on a mental health crisis among the nation’s youth, Jarzembowski told OSV News that “mental health will certainly be addressed in the framework,” especially since the U.S. bishops launched a National Catholic Mental Health Campaign in October 2023.

While a given pastoral framework provides guidance for ministry, Noguchi highlighted the importance of recognizing there is no “one size fits all” approach — and that the documents, once approved by the bishops, will only come to life as they are put into action.

“Those who are working in those specific issue areas will know their audiences best and the nuances (at hand),” she said. “It’s going to be in the implementation of this that you’re going to see a lot of fruits emerge.”

We Gave Up Everything to Find SalvationFr. Dionisie was an “old-fashioned” monk who tried all his life to adhere to the traditions he received from the elders and to pass them on to his disciples and spiritual children, for all seventy-seven years of his monastic labor.

“>Part 1

For the 20th anniversary of the repose of the holy and Venerable Dionisie of Romania and Mt. Athos (1909–2004), who will be Romania: Elders Paisie (Olaru) and Dionisie (Ignat) proposed for canonizationThe names of two more of the holy elders under consideration for canonization in 2025 by the Romanian Orthodox Church were revealed over the weekend.

“>canonized in 2025.

The following article was originally published in “Familia Ortodoxa” No. 5 (64), May 2014.

Cell of the Great Martyr George at Colciu Skete. Photo: Fr. Silviu Cluc     

“So you can direct your mind and it will be closer to God, forever…”

In 1965, when Fr. Gimnazie departed to the Lord, his beloved brother in flesh and spirit Fr. Dionisie was forced to take the wholeburden of the priesthood and spiritual fatherhood upon his shoulders; and in 1979, when Fr. Gedeon also reposed, he became the abbot of the cell, according to the rules of the Holy Mountain.

Father described the order of the ascetic life:

It’s exactly the same in the cells as it is in the monastery. You have a set time when you have to go read Vespers. There’s an appointed time after Vespers when you can refresh yourself with some food; a set time after dinner when you go read Compline. After that you go to your cell, and if there are a few hours left before you have to go to church, then you read the lives of the saints, that is, spiritual books that a monk needs to know—the lives of all the ascetics of piety. And you definitely have to complete your usual rule before the church bell starts to ring. You make 150 prostrations and go twelve times around your prayer rope with bows from the waist. It takes an hour or so. You should commune of the Holy Mysteries once every two weeks, because that’s how it was when I came to the Holy Mountain. After the service on Friday morning, you had to go tell your confessor about your thoughts, how you sinned, what you did. After you confess, go back to your cell and read the rule for Communion,

This is what he had to say about the rule of the Jesus Prayer:

In the Cell of St. Anna, the old-timer monks say that at the large skete, they would fulfill their rule and even the Vigil by praying the Jesus Prayer. Out loud. It was for everyone. They would go out to the middle of the church one by one and pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus Christ…” And the other monks would listen attentively, not dozing. Then one of the fathers, adorned with grace, saw the Savior descend to the middle of the church and stand there, listening to their prayers.

Therefore, we have to say the Jesus Prayer. If a man, a monk, would say, “Lord Jesus Christ,” with every breath, then little by little he would learn noetic prayer and be adorned with it. Now it may be impossible for us to achieve noetic prayer, but to say the Jesus Prayer all day is the most blessed work. The enemy hears it and can’t draw near to you.

At the end of the twentieth century, with the arrival of Elder Joseph to Vatopedi Monastery and with the new flourishing of cenobitic life there, Colciu Skete also saw a multiplication of the number of monks, which rejuvenated and strengthened the old brotherhood.

A little later, God permitted a new trial for Fr. Dionisie: He lost his sight. Although he found it difficult to bear, as he was very physically active, Father later said:

“I prayed to the Mother of God to send me a gift: that I wouldn’t grumble from this blindness, and that she would have mercy on me. Now she’s made it clear to me that the state I’m in is good for me. And now I’m calm. It was and is useful for me to be like this.”

One of the few consolations left to Fr. Dionisie after he went blind was to sit on a bench near his cell and listen to the sounds of nature:

“When I listen for a bit, this is my consolation. Because if you can’t see anymore, then how can you rejoice? You have no joy at all. How many photos, how many icons I could see… but how to rejoice if you can’t see? But thank God! May God help us; may He fulfill my desire for holy salvation!”

“Rarely have I seen a man so noble as Fr. Dionisie”

Archimandrite Ephraim, abbot of Vatopedi Monastery, with Elder Dionisie on the threshold of his cell Fr. Dionisie gave rest to whomever knocked on the door of his cell. Romanians, Greeks, Russians, Bulgarians, laymen and monks coming from the most unexpected corners of the world would receive an answer to their existential questions and counsel and help to know the depths of their hearts and acquire peace. The Elder wasn’t like the sages of this age, and strictly speaking, he had no education; he spoke to everyone according to their needs. And as we knew him and understood him, three virtues remained in our hearts that he, whether by word or through his life, humbly placed before those who came to him thirsting to hear words of eternal life. And these three virtues are obedience, patience in tribulations, and humblemindedness,

recalls Archimandrite Ephraim, the abbot of Vatopedi Monastery.

When he learned that many people had photographed him without his knowledge, Fr. Dionisie lamented and said:

“What photos? What’s there to photograph? A poor old man who can barely walk? They want to make a saint out of me. But I’m like a dead man—a little while longer and I’ll be gone.”

Elder Joseph of Vatopedi Elder Joseph of Vatopedi, a disciple of the great Elder Joseph the Hesychast, saw him as his co-laborer in prayer, and until his last days would visit Elder Dionisie for counsel and Confession, and other Vatopedi fathers would send various pilgrims to him who were looking for spiritual nourishment. Father would humble and reproach himself:

“Vatopedi keeps sending people to me, telling them I’m a spiritual man, but it’s not true. I can’t even see them—what am I supposed to tell them? I don’t have the gift of words! What should I, a poor blind man, tell them?”

Having attained the measure of perfected wisdom, Father taught his disciples:

We know that our way of life tends not to be so monastic anymore, receiving laymen, serving them, and this despite the fact that many come here only to tempt us. And we don’t really know their hearts; it’s all just how it seems to us. Let us try to have love, to show them love. Although we know that it’s hard and quite vexing, we have to do it so as not to harm ourselves from this side and that—because Orthodoxy doesn’t oblige us to see the mistakes of others, but to see ourselves, humble ourselves, and consider ourselves worse than all.

Perhaps the best description of Elder Dionisie’s earthly existence and angelic manner of living was given by the same Fr. Ephraim of Vatopedi:

He moved to the Cell of St. George at Colciu Skete in 1937, and until his departure to the Lord, he spent nearly seventy years in a humble room, all of fifty-four square feet, in patience and the thirst for silence. But he came to know Christ there and immutably understood that, as Geronda Joseph the Hesychast said, at the end of patience, when all human consolations are gone, the sweetness of Divine consolation descends into the heart.

His entire being breathed humility: his bright face, his warm smile, his meek and edifying word, his modesty, kindness, and simplicity, the way he hid his monastic labor and his deeds—in a word, his spiritual nobility. Rarely have I seen a man so noble as Fr. Dionisie.

May his blessing be upon us!

The creators of the hit series “The Chosen” announced May 29 that Season 4 would be available for public streaming exclusively on “The Chosen” app and on the show’s social media platforms beginning Sunday, June 2, at 7 p.m. ET.

Episode 2 will be released on Thursday, June 6, at 8:30 p.m. ET with ensuing episodes being released on Sundays and Thursdays over the course of four weeks.

Season 4 will be available for free on “The Chosen” app first before being released on other streaming platforms. Additional streaming and broadcast options for Season 4 viewing will be announced soon.

Dallas Jenkins, creator, director, and co-writer of the show, announced on March 10 that due to legal matters the release of the current season would be delayed.

“The Chosen” premiered in 2017 with its pilot episode, “The Shepherd.” Jenkins then had the idea to create a multi-season show about Jesus and his followers. VidAngel — now Angel Studios — saw “The Shepherd” and decided to partner with Jenkins to create “The Chosen,” which became the largest-ever crowdfunded television series.

Angel Studios created the pay-it-forward model, which allowed others to donate financially to fund “The Chosen,” enabling others to watch it for free. However, Jenkins explained in his video announcement that of the pay-it-forward contributions, “less than half of it actually came to us. It was somewhere around 40%.”

Jenkins explained further that “The Chosen” was “solely responsible for the financing of future seasons.” Additionally, they had to form a company, pay more than 65 full-time employees as well as the cast, run marketing campaigns, and more.

In 2022, realizing the current model was not sustainable, “The Chosen” came to a new agreement with Angel Studios, which allowed them to shift part of their relationship to the Come and See Foundation — a nonprofit whose mission is getting “The Chosen” to the entire world and financing its production. With this agreement, new seasons of the show were released on “The Chosen” app and on Angel Studios simultaneously before anywhere else.

Shortly after the agreement, however, Angel Studios “breached our contract on multiple occasions to the extent that we believed it should be terminated, which would dissolve our relationship with Angel,” Jenkins explained.

In order to solve the dispute, a third-party arbitrator was used and on May 28 the arbitrator “comprehensively affirmed our position and agreed that the contract had been breached,” Jenkins said. The relationship between “The Chosen” and Angel Studios is effectively over.

“We do not take pleasure in this and I want to thank Angel and the Harmon brothers for their extraordinary efforts in helping launch this show, but we came to the conclusion that we simply had no choice for the future of our company and this show,” he expressed.

In an email response to CNA, Lori Heiselman, vice president of public relations at Angel Studios, said the company will be appealing the decision.

Despite the delay in the release of Season 4, Jenkins, the cast, and the crew continue to be hard at work filming Season 5, which will depict the events that took place during Holy Week.

“For three weeks we had over 600 people per day on set and we filmed some of the biggest moments from Holy Week,” Jenkins told CNA in an interview. Some of these scenes, Jenkins shared, include the triumphal entry and the turning of the tables.

“If the content ends up as intense and passionate and exciting as the filming, this is going to be an immensely impactful season,” he said, adding: “We’ve had multiple scenes where the 600 extras were in the scene with us and afterwards tears just streaming down their face telling me ‘My goodness just watching this is changing my life.’”

When asked if he feels any added pressure that this season depicts some of the most important and historic moments in history, Jenkins shared that since Season 1 “there’s pressure to get all of this right.”

“I mean Season 1 when we were just telling the story of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, I felt immense weight to get Mary Magdalene’s story right,” he said. “I want to honor these people that God chose to change the world and chose to be followers of Jesus here on Earth … So, we’ve always felt the pressure to get it right, but at the same time I feel like God’s got this.”

Jenkins added that he also tries to ignore the noise — whether it be criticism or praise — and focuses on “honoring God and the Spirit and the intention of Jesus in the Gospels. And if I can do that, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Season 5 or Season 1, or whether we’re covering Holy Week or the launch of his ministry, every word matters and getting this right matters.”

Vyatka, June 4, 2024

Photo: Newsler.ru / Andrey Kotelnikov     

Yesterday, the commemoration day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the bishops of the Vyatka Metropolia celebrated the Divine Liturgy and a prayer service with an Akathist to St. Nicholas of Myra at the Holy Dormition-St. Triphon Monastery in Kirov. These services preceded the beginning of the All-Russian Velikoretsky Cross Procession.

This procession, which attracts thousands of pilgrims, is the largest annual procession in Russia.

The Divine Liturgy and prayer service to St. Nicholas were led by Metropolitan Mark of Vyatka and Sloboda. He was joined by Bishop Paisiy of Yaransk and Luzsk, Bishop Vsevolod of Urzhum and Omutninsk, and numerous clergy.

Photo: Newsler.ru / Andrey Kotelnikov     

Pilgrims of the Velikoretsky Cross Procession, who gathered once again on Vyatka soil to undertake the long journey with the icon of St. Nicholas to the place of the its discovery on the banks of the Velikaya River, participated in the services.

Archpriest Alexander Balyberdin, the dean of the Dormition Cathedral, addressed the faithful with a sermon.

After the Liturgy in the church, a prayer service with an Akathist was performed on the Cathedral Square of the St. Triphon Monastery in front of the Velikoretsky icon of St. Nicholas.

The Governor of the Kirov Region, A.V. Sokolov, addressed the pilgrims with words of guidance and congratulations.

Then, 20,000 pilgrims left the walls of the St. Triphon Monastery following the Velikoretsky icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The main celebrations of the Velikoretsky Cross Procession will take place on June 6 on the banks of the Velikaya River, at the site of the appearance of the Velikoretsky icon of St. Nicholas.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

During the month of May in Jerusalem, the major holidays of the three major religions — Christian Easter, Jewish Passover, and the month of Ramadan — passed with an almost total absence of pilgrims from abroad.

The holy sites and the streets of the Old City are usually crowded with tourists and pilgrims at this time of year, but they have been empty for the past eight months due to the Israel-Hamas war.

Muslims orderly make their way to the entrances of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for noon prayer, but otherwise, the Via Dolorosa is completely empty. There are no pilgrims ascending to the Holy Sepulcher. The Sanctuary of the Flagellation, maintained by the Franciscans at the starting point of the Via Crucis path, is always open — but that is empty, too.

Things aren’t any better at Gethsemane.

“Before the war, we had more than a hundred groups a day. Today, we welcome two or three groups on a good day,” Brother Siniša Srebrenović, the guardian of the Franciscan Convent of the Agony (Gethsemane), told CNA. “They mostly come from Asia or South America. Some come from Eastern Europe, mainly Orthodox Christians.”

The absence of pilgrims also means the absence of income.

“We friars sustain ourselves with the offerings of the pilgrims. The charity of the pilgrims also helps cover the maintenance expenses of the sanctuary and some development projects,” Srebrenović explained. “Today, everything is at a standstill. Workers from the Palestinian Territories do not have permission to come, and the financial resources are only enough for the ordinary. Despite this, the custody continues to financially support its workers and has not laid off any of them.”

At the Holy Sepulcher, the waiting time to enter the edicule (where Jesus’ tomb is kept) is just a few minutes, compared with up to two hours last year. The daily procession of the Franciscan friars inside the basilica is attended by only a handful of faithful — mostly residents of Jerusalem.

Even Bethlehem is empty

“Tourism in Palestine is effectively zeroed out. Every day we lose $2.5 million,” lamented Majed Ishaq, director general of the marketing department of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine.

He described to CNA a dramatic situation: “Tourist facilities are closed; people working in the sector — including many Christians — have had no income for months. People are trying to sell houses, cars, furniture, to survive.”

“International tourism passes through Israel; they control our borders. We are under a kind of siege,” Ishaq continued. “Reaching Bethlehem is still possible, but cities in the north, like Nablus or Jenin, and also Hebron further south, are almost unreachable. Even local tourism and internal travel are severely affected due to attacks by settlers.”

Some groups arrive, especially via Jordan. The hope is that something will move at least by the end of the year, especially for the Christmas holidays.

According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, just over 80,000 people (tourists and pilgrims combined) entered the country in April — a decrease of 77% compared with April 2023 and 80% compared with April 2019, the peak year before the pandemic.

Cumulatively, from January through April, about 285,000 tourist arrivals were recorded, a decrease of about 78% in relation to the corresponding period in 2023.

“The decline is attributed to the impact of the ‘Iron Swords’ war [the name Israel has given to the campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the events of Oct. 7, 2023] although in the months that have passed since the outbreak of the war, there has been a certain increase in the number of tourist arrivals to Israel, but it is not yet possible to identify any trend.”

Dr. Yaron Ergas, director of research, statistics, and information management at the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, told CNA that “the Ministry of Tourism conducts a survey among incoming tourists, where they are asked several questions including the main purpose of their visit. Tourists choosing ‘pilgrimage/faith based tour’ are considered religious tourists. That percentage, in 2019, was 16.6%” out of about 5 million entries.

At the outbreak of the war, in October 2023, “we stopped the surveys,” Ergas explained, so there is no useful data on religious tourism since then.

“Recovery is not expected until late 2025,” he added.

Other statistics, focused on Christian pilgrims, were provided to CNA by the Christian Information Centre (CIC), sponsored by the Custody of the Holy Land. CIC has been providing information about Christianity and on the Holy Land, including shrines, holy places, and liturgies, for more than 50 years. Additionally, it is the only official channel for booking Masses in the holy sites.

From October to December 2023, approximately 2,800 groups (107,000 individuals) had booked at least one celebration through the CIC, and they all canceled as soon as the war broke out. Of these, 95% were Catholics and 4% were Protestants. Ninety percent were groups from abroad. From January to April of this year, the groups registered by the CIC ranged from 100 to 200 per month (averaging 5,000 to 6,000 individuals per month).

The lack of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land is especially due to the fact that many companies are unwilling to issue insurance policies for those heading to a territory considered dangerous and risky.

Arrivals from Southeast Asia and South America continue, however (while the United States remains the top country for entries, the second group surprisingly comprises Indonesians). This is largely due — as the pilgrims themselves admit — to the fact that agencies do not refund prepaid trips, which many have invested their life savings in. This compels people to travel despite everything.

“We want to encourage Jews and Christians leaders to push their believers to come on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We assume, and I think it is correct, that there’s a desire to come and visit,” Pini Shani, deputy director general and head of marketing administration of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, shared with CNA.

Hopes for the 2025 Jubilee

In 2025 there will be two interesting events for religious tourism in the Holy Land.

“A special exhibition of the Isahia scrolls will be held in 2025 at the Israel Museum to commemorate its 60th anniversary. We are confident that many people will show interest. We will try to engage people who come on pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit this special exhibition,” Shani said.

Furthermore, in 2025, Catholics will celebrate a jubilee year.

“We were very encouraged by the pope’s call for the jubilee,” Shani said. “The churches of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Annunciation in Nazareth, and the Nativity in Bethlehem will be jubilee places; people will be encouraged to visit them, and we’re sure it will help to recover tourism.”

The main Christian religious leaders in the Holy Land have never stopped issuing appeals to pilgrims to return to the holy places. “Do not be afraid, return to Jerusalem and to the Holy Land! Your presence is always a presence of peace, and we sincerely need peace today; may you come and bring us your peace,” said the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, at the end of the Palm Sunday procession.

An echo of those words is found in the message released by the Dicastery for Evangelization on May 28, on the occasion of the 45th World Tourism Day, to be held on Sept. 27 on the theme “Tourism and Peace.”

“The interest that moves millions of tourists can easily be linked with the commitment to brotherhood, so as to constitute a network of ‘messengers of peace’ who speak to the entire world to invoke the end of all war and the reopening of territories full of history, culture, and faith. … Being peace-builders is not only possible; it is required of those who embark on a journey,” the dicastery’s message said.

Donetsk, June 4, 2024

Photo: spzh.live     

There have been new attacks on the Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra, this time from cyber criminals.

The Union of Orthodox Journalists reported that the Lavra, located on the high banks of the Seversky Donets River in a scenic national park, has had to change its email address because the former one was hacked.

On June 1, 2024, unknown individuals hacked the email and deleted the YouTube channel of the Svyatogorsk Lavra of the UOC.

The monastery’s Telegram channel reported that efforts are currently underway to restore the YouTube channel.

The brethren of the Lavra request prayers for the successful resolution of the situation.

The monastery also warned recently that fake messages are being sent to messenger users, supposedly on behalf of the Lavra’s treasurer, Archimandrite Theophan, requesting assistance.

“We officially declare that Archimandrite Theophan does not use any messengers; they are not even installed on his phone. The messages are being sent by scammers,” the official website of the Lavra stated.

In late April, Security Service detains Metropolitan-abbot of Ukrainian Church’s Svyatogorsk LavraSecurity Service (SBU) employees blocked and searched the monastery this morning.

“>OrthoChristian reported that the abbot of Svyatogorsk Lavra, Metropolitan Arseny had been taken from the monastery for interrogation, and sentenced to 60 days of detention without bail. He was accused of being pro-Kremlin and of giving information on the location of Ukrainian soldiers. The incident used to accuse him was a sermon in which he cited that certain persons were unable to reach the monastery because they had been detained at a security post.

The Svyatogorsk Lavra, under the guidance of its highly respected abbot, has been housing and feeding hundreds of refugees for a decade now. Unfortunately, the Lavra and its sketes have repeatedly come under attack during the war since February 2022, suffering considerable damage.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!