Tag: Christianity

    

On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

“>fifth Sunday after Pascha, at the Sunday Liturgical reading the Church remembers the Gospel passage, which in theological literature is called, “Christ’s Conversation with the Samaritan Woman” (Jn. 4:5-42).

The theme of the Sunday of the Paralytic

“>Sunday of the Paralytic continues to develop in it, and completely new notes and meanings begin to sound.

What makes these two Sundays similar? They are united by one common subject.

The time of the Old Testament is over. It was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. A new era of the New Testament has begun.

The Pool of Bethesda is no longer needed, nor is the descent of the Feast of St. Archangel MichaelToday, dear brethren, we celebrate the glorious feast of the lightning-like Archangel Michael and all the heavenly bodiless powers. On this day let us talk of the boundless world of the angels.

“>Archangel Michael into it. This is because the One Who is immeasurably greater than the pool and millions of times stronger than the Archangel Michael has come to Bethesda. God, Who deigned to become man for our salvation, has come into the world. He is able to heal all those lying at the Pool of Bethesda with one word, as He did with the paralytic.

During Christ’s meeting with the Samaritan woman, the same thing happens. Though in this case it is not so much the physical as the spiritual healing of a sinful woman—a half-pagan, promiscuous woman. And here, too, there is an Old Testament object—the well of the holy Patriarch Jacob, which provided the whole area with refreshing water in the desert lands of the Southern Levant.

And here is the One Who is greater than water and greater than Patriarch Jacob. He came to give the world new Heavenly bread and new Heavenly water. By the bread that comes down from Heaven (cf. Jn. 6) we should understand the Body and Blood of Christ, and by the new water, the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, which nourish believers, just as the roots of trees are nourished by living spring water. And the soul of such a person blooms and is fragrant with Heavenly aromas!

And these new Heavenly bread and water become the foundation of the future indestructible Church of the New Testament!

Let us recall the words of the Savior to the Samaritan woman: If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water… Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (Jn. 4:10, 13-14).

And then our Lord Jesus Christ says: But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:23, 24).

Here we see a direct relation between water and God the Spirit, Who, together with the Father and the Son, gives this living grace—water—to people.

And he who worships the Father in spirit and in the truth (Jn. 4:23) will drink this living water of God’s grace, and it will give him such bliss and joy that he will never agree to part with it, not for all the riches in the world, even if his biological life is threatened.

This happened, for example, with the Samaritan woman herself (she is known in Church history as the holy Martyr Photina (Svetlana), the Samaritan Woman, and Her SonsDuring the time of the emperor Nero (54-68), who displayed excessive cruelty against Christians, Saint Photina lived in Carthage with her younger son Joses and fearlessly preached the Gospel there.

“>Martyr Photina (in Greek, “light”, “the luminous one”, in Church Slavonic “Svetlana”), with her sons Victor (named Photinus, that is, “Light”) and Joses, and some other martyrs who suffered with the Samaritan woman (Anatola, Phota, Photis, Paraskeva, Kyriake, Domnina and the holy Martyr Sebastian). The feast day of the holy Martyr Photina and those who suffered with her is April 2.

They suffered terrible torments, but did not renounce Christ. Once they had tasted of God’s living water, they became light-bearing and began to radiate light to the world. Because the inner darkness of their heart had been enlightened by the Paschal light of Christ, and they were given real, genuine, blessed life in God. This became their greatest treasure and the pearl of great price, for which one can sacrifice everything (cf. Mt. 13:45, 46).

Today we too have a well, but not Jacob’s. We have a greater one! The Well of the Holy Trinity—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the Church.

The winds of persecution are blowing, trying to destroy and fill this well with sand. But the light-bearing living water of the grace of the Holy Spirit still shines in it. Come and quench your thirst, drink your fill and enjoy it. It will change, purify, heal and sanctify you. And it will give you eternal life.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Photo: molitvaslovo.ru     

One of the most common objections I hear from protestants criticizing Orthodoxy, or even Catholicism, is: “The saints are dead, they can’t hear you.”

The saints in heaven are not dead. That is a fundamental rejection of what Christ did during His decent into Hades. He emptied the graves of the righteous dead and pulled everyone into heaven. Christ Himself said in the gospels, God is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living. For in Christ, all are alive (Luke 20:38).

The saints who are alive in Christ in heaven partake of the uncreated energies of God, as He shares some of His attributes with us (cf. 2 Pet.1:3–4). Therefore, the Saints in Heaven are actively aware of what is going on with us down here on earth in the church and act as a cloud of witnesses for us (cf. Heb. 12:1–2). This is also evidenced by the fact that St. John was able to hear all living creatures in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (cf. Rev. 5:13). Because they are aware of us, they very much are still concerned with what goes on with us here on earth and actively cheer us on until the end of days, praying fervently for us on our behalf. They want vengeance for us even in heaven (cf. Rev. 6:10), and it’s been shown that Rachel wept over her lost children of Benjamin and Judah during King Herod’s massacre of the infants (Matt. 2:18, referencing Jer. 31:15). The saints praying for us is seen in the Bible (Rev. 5:8, and 8:3–4), and with all of this being put together, the cherry on top is that if all these accounts are true and they are aware of us, they intercede for us on our behalf, and are alive in Christ, then what more shall we doubt? That we can ask the saints in heaven to pray for us, just as the holy apostle James encourages us to pray for one another. He also says the prayers of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). This means that some people’s prayers mean more to God than others, which is a fact (see Prov. 15:33). This sentiment that some people’s prayers are worth more than others is reflected many times in the scriptures, but one particular instance is reflected in St. Job, where God tells Eliphaz that he and his two friends are unworthy before Him, that they need to sacrifice bulls and rams before God, that Job will pray for them, and that God will actually answer if Job prays (cf. Job 42:8). Therefore, if that is true, then since the saints in heaven have absolutely no more sin, they have MUCH more valuable prayers than anyone on earth does. Remember what Our Lord said in the gospels that he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest man on earth (Matt. 11:11). So why wouldn’t we seek out the prayers of those who are deified in heaven if they hold this much power in prayer? We Orthodox Christians believe it would be unwise not to ask them.

There are usually two objections that protestants bring up if they make it this far into the scriptural references that I listed above.

Protestant objection 1) They usually bring up this verse: For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). This is not an adequate objection to anything I’ve said. The word mediator here means “bridge,” not intercessor. Christ, is the only mediator between God and man because Christ is both God and Man. Since He is both God and Man, He alone bridges the gap of salvation between God and man because He is the God-Man. Mediation is not intercession.1 Tim 2:5 is a soteriology verse. It talks about salvation, not prayers and intercession. These are two completely different things, so this verse is not saying what some Protestants might claim it says.

Protestant objection 2) “Okay, so maybe the saints are aware of us and pray FOR us, but where does it say that we can pray TO them? Where does scripture show anybody asking a saint for intercession?”

This is easy to show. The parable of the Rich man and Lazarus is where we see this happen (Luke 16:19–31). The whole parable is fascinating, but verses 24, 27, and 30 particularly stand out, because the man in hades is asking not for Jesus or for God the Father, but for Abraham to have mercy on him. This shows that God delegates authority to His saints, and this account by Christ Himself reveals the active communion of these people beloved of God. As the Orthodox Study Bible annotated, “A man who isn’t even a believer calls out from Hades and converses with Abraham.” Souls of the departed have awareness of and concern for the state of those still on earth, but the intercessions of the wicked man are also heard, although they avail nothing, which in contrast to James 5:16. If this is the case in the Old Covenant, it’s even more the case in the New Covenant.

There are examples of these things even in the Old Testament as well. A couple of examples are Tobit 12:15, when Archangel Raphael claims himself to be the angel who brings the prayers of the saints to God. This, however, does not imply that the only interaction of the saints who have passed on is through prayer to God for us; but in some very rare circumstances, by God’s divine permission, saints of Old Testament can directly interact and appear to the faithful. In 2 Mac. 15:12-16, Onias the High Priest who has been dead for several decades, and the Prophet Jeremiah who had been dead for centuries, appears to Judas. Onias tells us in verse 14 that Jeremiah is one who loves his brothers and prays fervently for the faithful and the whole city. This is an amazing text that shows the saints were alive before the general resurrection, as also shown on Mt. Tabor when Moses and Elijah were with Christ during his Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–4). In 2 Mac. 12:45, this sentiment of believers praying for one another is also mirrored in the opposite way. It displays a long-standing Jewish tradition of praying on behalf of the souls that have departed this life. That is because intercession goes both ways! Not only do the saints pray for us, but we also pray for those who have reposed. There has always been a relationship and connection between the souls on earth and the souls of the spiritual realm. The Church militant (Christians on earth) and the Church triumphant (Christians in heaven) are one united Church, and they always have been. That the Church triumphant and Church militant are not separated entities or Churches, but are one united Church is shown in St. Paul’s letter, when he says, From whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named (Eph. 3:15).

In conclusion, the prayers and active communion with the saints is not a pagan distortion, it’s not a Roman conspiracy, and this is not worship of the saints. This is a true and very ancient and important practice that all Christians must embrace. For we have a family in heaven who cares for us, and we should care for them, too. Keep the traditions that have been passed down to us. Through the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God and of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us!

When Father Jaime Arriaga left Mexico at age 17 and returned to California where he had lived briefly, he didn’t realize that was the last time he’d see his parents for decades.

But 23 years later, his parents arrived from Mexico in the early morning of June 1 to see their son in a new country, a new life and with a new title: Priest.

Arriaga was one of 11 men — along with Miguel Cabrera, Joseph Cho, Thomas Green, Anthony Huynh, Eric Mejia, Eduardo Pruneda, Alejandro Reynaga, Marko Rudela, Lucio Trinidad, and Stephen Watson — ordained as new priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a special event at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. More than 3,500 invited guests and 260 priests attended the ceremony featuring the biggest priest ordination class in the archdiocese since 2008.

After seeing his parents and experiencing the Rite of Ordination, Arriaga was full of emotions.

“There was a time when I cried and I just couldn’t stop,” he said. “There was a beautiful moment when we were receiving blessings from the priests. I don’t know who it was but he told me ‘Jaime, God loves you.’ And that just gave me so much peace.”

Emotions were on display both during and after the ordination. Tears, laughter, hugs, excitement, and more.

However, in Archbishop José H. Gomez’s homily, the most important one was love.

Gomez addressed the 11 ordinandi by pointing out Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John — “love one another as I have loved you” — to his 12 apostles that he chose to be the first priests. 

“He is making you co-workers in his plan of love,” Archbishop Gomez said. “And that’s why the Son is now sending you into the world — to continue his mission of love.

“Remember what Jesus tells you today: ‘It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.’ My brothers, your priesthood will always be fruitful if you stay rooted in his love.”

Later in his homily, Archbishop Gomez noted the challenges happening in the world today, but also said people are looking for love and Jesus, offering priests unique opportunities to evangelize, including the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival.

“Through your priesthood, Jesus will come to seek and save the lost, to gather into one all his children from the ends of the earth,” he said. “What an exciting time to be a priest!”

To begin the Rite of Ordination, each candidate’s name was read aloud, and they stood and announced their presence. After Archbishop Gomez recited his proclamation and found them worthy, the cathedral broke out into applause and they received their first standing ovation of the day.

After reciting the Promise of the Elect, the 11 prostrated themselves at the altar while the Litany of the Saints was sung.

The rite continued with the Laying on of Hands, Investiture with Stole and Chasuble, and Anointing of Hands, all traditional rituals used in priest ordinations for centuries.

For Father Watson, having each priest line up to lay their hands on him and give a blessing was especially profound.

“You don’t see who’s doing it,” he said. “So to have hundreds of priests coming and just having that fraternity and the power of the Holy Spirit, it was overwhelming. I was crying like a baby.”

Following the Kiss of Peace procession from the archbishop, bishops and priests, the final symbol welcoming them into the priesthood, the newly ordained priests — like graduates who shift the tassel on their mortarboards to signify graduation — were led to finally sit with the college of priests who were there to welcome and celebrate them.

There, they received more applause and another standing ovation.

As crowds packed into the cathedral’s outdoor plaza to stand in line for first blessings from the newly ordained, the relief of the moment finally came for many of the priests.

“I remember when I was little playing that I was a priest,” Father Pruneda said. “I can’t believe that now I’ll be able to celebrate Mass, becoming what I always wanted to be.

“I’m excited, I’m happy, my heart is full. It’s been so long waiting for this moment.”

“The Lord has been good to me,” Father Trinidad said. “How can I repay the goodness?”

For family members of the new priests, the day was a culmination of years of hope, dreams and prayer.

For Father Reynaga’s sister, Lorena, she felt proud that her brother was fulfilling a wish that their maternal grandmother — also his baptismal godmother — had hoped for years before she died 12 years ago: To have a priest in the family.

“She’s seeing it now,” she said. “She got the best seat in the house.”

Guillermina Cabrera described her son, Father Miguel Cabrera, as a good student who wanted to join the FBI, but she noticed a change in her son once he began attending Catholic Mass and joining activities while at San Diego State’s Newman Center.

“Our Lord only lends us our kids; they’re not ours, they’re his,” she said. “So I surrendered Miguel to him.

“He was meant to be because his name is Miguel Angel. He has a strong name and he has the protection of a lot of people praying for him. I’m proud of him.”

As Father Arriaga’s parents stood nearby, tears welling up in their eyes as they saw the line of people waiting for blessings, they could only give thanks to God.

“Since he was a child he told me that when he grew up he was going to be a priest but I didn’t think that it would happen,” his mother, Lidia, said in Spanish. “I feel very proud and very grateful to God because it is a great blessing.”

“I thanked God for giving us the gift of life so that we could give it to him,” said his father, Simon.

Between November 15, 1885 and January 27, 1887, St. Charles Lwagna and many other martyrs gave their lives for the faith in Namugongo, Uganda. Catholicism began to spread there in 1879, when the White Fathers, a congregation of priests, were received peacefully by King Mutesa of Uganda.

The priests began baptizing and converting a number of pages in the king’s court. But after Mutesa died, his son Mwanga, a corrupt man who ritually engaged in pedophilic practices with the young pages, took the throne. After Mwanga had a visiting Anglican bishop murdered, his chief page, Joseph Mukasa, who had been converted and protected the younger boys from the king’s actions, denounced Mwanga. Joseph was beheaded on November 15, 1885.

Charles Lwanga became the chief page at the age of 25. He was also a Catholic, and took on the role of protector for the younger pages. The night that Joseph was martyred, Charles took many of the pages to the White Fathers to be baptized, fearing for their own lives. Another 100 catechumens were baptized in the week after Joseph’s death.

The next May, Mwanga learned that some of the pages were being instructed in the faith, and began to separate the Christians. 15 total pages between the age of 13 to 25 came forward to proclaim their faith, even when the king threatened their lives.

The boys were bound together and forced to walk to Namugongo, two days away, where they would be burned at the stake. On the way, one of the older boys, Matthias Kalemba, told his captors, “God will rescue me. But you will not see how he does it, because he will take my soul and leave you only my body.” The executioners cut him and left him for dead on the road.

At the site where they would be burned, the boys were kept together for 7 days. On June 3, 1886, the Feast of the Ascension, Charles Lwanga was separated from the others. The executioners began burning his feet. When they had been nearly burnt, the captors promised to let Charles go if he renounced his faith. Charles refused, saying, “You are burning me, but it is as if you are pouring water over my body.” When they set him on fire, he continued to pray, and as flames reached his heart, he cried out, “Katonda! (My God!)” and died.

His companions were all burned together on the same day, praying and singing hymns until their death.

St. Charles and his companions were beatified in 1920, and canonized in 1964. St. Charles is the patron saint of African Catholic Youth Action.

Sts. Marcellinus and Peter were two fourth-century martyrs who were highly venerated after the discovery of their tomb and the conversion of their executioner. 

Although not much is known about the two men, they lived and died during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. In 302, Diocletian changed his tolerant stance towards Christianity and began a campaign to eliminate the Church from his empire. 

Diocletian ordered the burning of several Catholic churches and their sacred texts, and had many clergy and laypeople imprisoned and tortured. His goal was to force Christians to submit to the Roman pagan religion, and worship him, as emperor, as a divine being. 

In the middle of this persecution, around 303, a Roman exorcist by the name of Peter was imprisoned for his faith. While he was in prison, tradition holds that Peter freed Paulina, the daughter of the prison-keeper Artemius, from demonic influence, through his prayers. 

Paulina, Artemius, his wife, and his entire household were said to have converted when they saw this demonstration of Christ’s power over demons. They were all baptized by the Roman priest Marcellinus. 

After this, Marcellinus and Peter were called before a judge, who was determined to enforce the emperor’s decree against Christians. Marcellinus testified courageously to his faith, and was beaten, stripped of his clothes, and deprived of food in a dark cell filled with broken glass. 

Peter also refused to deny Christ and was returned to his jail cell. 

Arrangements were made to execute the two men secretly, so that the faithful would not gather in prayer and veneration where they were buried. Their executioner forced them to clear a tangle of thorns and briars, which they did cheerfully, accepting their deaths with joy. 

Peter and Marcellinus were beheaded in the forest and buried in the clearing they had made. Their location remained unknown for some time, until a devout woman named Lucilla received a revelation informing her where they were buried. 

With the assistance of another woman, Firmina, Lucilla recovered the two saints’ bodies, and had them re-interred in the Roman Catacombs. Sts. Marcellinus and Peter are among the saints named in the Western Church’s most traditional Eucharistic prayer, the Roman Canon. 

St. Pope Damasus I, who was a great devotee of the Church’s saints during his life, composed an epitaph to mark the tombs of the two martyrs. The source of his knowledge, he said, was the executioner himself, who had subsequently repented and been baptized into the Church. 

St. Justin was born around the year 100, in the Palestinian province of Samaria. His parents followed the Greek pagan religion, and raised Justin to do the same, but Justin’s father also provided him with an excellent education in literature and history. 

Justin was an avid lover of truth. As a young man, he studied philosophy, searching for truth in various popular schools of thought. But he became frustrated with the professional philosophers’ intellectual conceits and limitations, and their indifference to God. 

After studying for several years, Justin had a life-changing encounter with an old man, who questioned his beliefs, especially the idea of studying philosophy as a means of obtaining truth. The man urged Justin to study the Jewish prophets, and told him that the authors had not only received God’s inspiration, but also predicted the coming of Christ and the foundation of the Church. 

Justin had always admired Christians from a distance for the beauty of their moral lives. He wrote in his Apologies: “When I was a disciple of Plato, hearing the accusations made against the Christians and seeing them intrepid in the face of death and of all that men fear, I said to myself that it was impossible that they should be living in evil and in the love of pleasure.” 

Justin was baptized around the age of 30. After his conversion, he continued to wear the cloak associated with philosophers in Greek culture. Inspired by the example of Christian martyrs, he began living a simple, austere lifestyle. He was likely ordained a deacon, because he preached, did not marry, and gave religious instruction in his home. 

Justin is best known as the author of early apologetic works that argued for the Catholic faith against claims from the Jews, pagans, and non-Christian philosophers. Several of the works were directed to Roman officials, to refute lies told about the Church. His two most famous works are “Apologies” and “Dialogues with Tryphon.” 

These works provide explicit descriptions of the early Church’s beliefs and modes of worship. Scholars have noted that Justin’s descriptions correspond to Church tradition on every essential point. 

Around the year 150, Justin wrote his first defense of the faith, to Emperor Antonius Pius, convincing him to regard the Church with tolerance. In 167, however, Emperor Marcus Aurelius began persecuting Christians. 

Justin wrote to Marcus Aurelius, trying to demonstrate the injustice of the persecutions and the superiority of the Catholic faith over Greek philosophy. Justin emphasized the strength of his convictions, stating that he expected to be put to death for expressing them. 

Justin was seized with a group of believers, and brought before Rusticus, prefect of Rome. The prefect made it clear that Justin’s life would be spared, telling him, “Obey the gods, and comply with the edicts of the emperors.” Justin responded that “no one can be justly blamed or condemned for obeying the commands of our Savior Jesus Christ.” 

Rusticus then questioned Justin and his companions about their belief in Christ and their manner of worship. “Hear me,” he said, “you who are noted for your eloquence, who think that you make a profession of the right philosophy. If I cause you to be scourged from head to foot, do you think you shall go to heaven?”

“If I suffer what you mention,” Justin replied, “I hope to receive the reward which those have already received, who have obeyed the precepts of Jesus Christ.

“There is nothing which we more earnestly desire, than to endure torments for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he explained. “We are Christians, and will never sacrifice to idols.” 

Justin was scourged and beheaded, along with six companions who joined him in his confession of faith.

Author and Sunday school students holding the history timeline     

I have been teaching Sunday school for over fifteen years. While already a teacher at the catechism department of a theological college, I finished the course there. Currently, I mostly teach children aged eight to eleven in our middle level class.

While preschoolers readily come to the right conclusions and emotions when offered an interesting story, the elementary schoolchildren typically need a little more information to achieve this

I used to teach for quite awhile the subject that had the “Church Calendar” as its working title. I talked to children about church feasts, important events from the church life, and the saints. So, if preschoolers easily came to the right conclusions and emotions when entertained with an interesting story, the elementary students needed a little more time and information to achieve this. They ask a lot of profound questions, correlate my story with the historical events they have already heard about, and opine on the actions, background and consequences.

In this regard, I was no longer satisfied with the idea of “telling them something about the saints.” Children are more interested in the context of the time, but when you skip and first tell one story followed by another, you end up with a lot of inconsistencies as a result. For example, in one lesson, we are talking about one monastic saint who lived in the woods of the Russian north in the twelfth century. Then, at the next lesson, we discuss a Roman martyr from the time of Nero, then later on, the life and works of one of the apostles. But the children would constantly distract you by asking the myriad of questions about who reigned, what they wore, and what they rode at the time.

During the Church history lesson     

Over time, I conceived the idea of teaching a course on the universal Church history. Sure, I teach young children and so it is a scary and momentous undertaking, but I wanted to reveal to them a holistic view of the development of Christianity. They also learn about the Old and New Testaments, so history would have complemented their understanding of it, bringing it forward, closer to our time. As for the stories about the saints, they would have logically fitted into this context.

But I needed to arrive at a core concept to build such a course. Young schoolchildren cannot be given lectures—it would kill their interest and motivation. They need something that appeals to their experience, and at the same time, prompts their active participation during the lesson. That’s how the idea of creating a history timeline was born.

Of course, this is not my invention, nor is it anything new; history teachers actively use it in classrooms. But this idea is truly ingenious in its simplicity—displaying the movement of time on paper, placing events one after another.

So, all I needed was:

• sheets of paper I cut in half lengthwise;

• a glue stick to connect the cut sheets together into a long scroll;

• a pencil and a ruler to separate the images from the captions;

• marker pens so that children could write dates, names, and events;

• colored printouts—mostly icon reproductions.

I prepared the paper scroll in advance, but we glued the images and added notes at the end of each lesson. The children were assigned roles in advance: someone glued, while another added notes. I allocated about five to seven minutes for this assignment.

There was nothing special about this set of lessons. At first we tried to remember what we learned during the previous lessons, and then, in a free-flow discussion, we talked about a new topic. I made a PowerPoint presentation for each lesson. This is a critical element; no colorful stories sans pictures will ever work for younger schoolchildren. Pictures help them to visualize the epoch and remember the important things.

Timeline of historical events     

What were our images? First of all, the images of saints: reproductions of icons, paintings and graphic art. We started our conversations about each saint with an impromptu research: the children looked at the icon and contemplated what they could say about the person on the icon based on his appearance, clothing, and the objects he held in his hands. Over time, we learned to distinguish the holy hierarchs from the monastic saints, and martyrs from the holy rulers—the Equals-to-the-Apostles. At the end of our lessons, we would usually look at our icon and try to analyze it once again.

I also made sure to include photos and drawings of locations of the events we have talked about. The Egyptian desert and its monasteries made a strong impression on the children. It looks so unlike the one in the “Aladdin” cartoon: none of those dunes, only stones, cliffs, and the sky pale from the heat. While we were looking at those photos, we had a conversation about ancient monasticism.

The children showed great interest while viewing pictures of reconstructions of ancient cities, such as Alexandria, Antioch, Cappadocia, Constantinople, and Rome. They studied palaces, hippodromes, temples, baths, figures of people and horses. This way, they saw the lesson material coming to life before their eyes. At the same time, the modern photos of those places reinforced their impressions about them.

At first glance, it may seem that it is necessary to talk only about the saints and important events in the life of the Church, while the rest is a waste of time. They only have one lesson every week, and it’s a short lesson, so why don’t we just speak more about the deeds of the righteous people and miracles? I tried it. It gives poor results.

If you focus on giving the children only the hagiographic material, there is a danger they will begin to perceive it all as fairy tales

If you give children only hagiographic material and talk exclusively about Holy Tradition, there is a danger that they will begin to perceive it all as fairy tales. Many of them do perceive them as fairy tales, especially the ones who rarely or never attend church (we have such children in our Sunday school). What can they think of St. Spyridon of Tremithus

“>St. Spyridon of Tremithus holding a brick with fire bursting out of it and water flowing from it? How can we convey to them that this is not a fairy tale, but the saint was one of those who preserved and defended the true Christian faith? This is where historical material comes to our help.

The children enjoyed our lessons. They asked a lot of questions and were happy to learn new things: “We’ve got this icon at home!” “My mother read about this to me!” “I saw it at church!” Or, one of them had been to Turkey and saw the ancient ruins similar to the ones I showed on the pictures. Others watched a cartoon about Great Martyr George

“>St. George the Victorious. Someone else is fond of Roman legions and is happy to add to my story. Ancient history comes to life, and visual elements help in this process.

Before each lesson, the children unfold the ribbon of time. They look at the pictures and reread the captions. They compare who is older, St. Nicholas

“>St. Nicholas or St. Athanasius the Great the Patriarch of AlexandriaSaint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, was a great Father of the Church and a pillar of Orthodoxy.”>St. Athanasius of Alexandria? What happened earlier—the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God or the First Apostolic Council?

We learned the course of the general history of the Church—from the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles to the fight against iconoclasts—in two years. I intentionally took my time and didn’t plan these lessons to last long; it was more important to see how the children reacted, to return to one topic and stay longer on another. It was interesting to experiment—some topics were a hit, while others were taken in poorly and didn’t stir any enthusiasm. For example, the children really enjoyed discussing Tertullian’s words, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity,” but the conversation about heresies and the fight against them was difficult and way too abstract for them.

Next year, I plan to begin a study of the history of the Russian Church with the same group of students, and create a new timeline. Of course, we didn’t get to the Church schism, but we didn’t need to—it’s too complicated for younger schoolchildren. It is enough that we have looked at the first formative stages in Church history, from the Apostles who gathered in the Upper Room, to the Christian capital city of Constantinople. Children will grow bigger and study these topics once again, dwelling more deeply and gaining new information. The major thing is to keep their interest alive.

Moscow, May 31, 2024

Photo: synod.com     

The feast of the Uncovering of the Relics of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco (September 29/October 12) has been added to the liturgical calendar of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Holy Synod made the relevant decision yesterday on the request of His Eminence Metroplitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, reports Patriarchia.ru.

His relics were uncovered in the Holy Virgin Cathedral “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in San Francisco on September 30, 1993. The joyous event was already commemorated annually in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, but now will be honored by the entire Russian Church.

ROCOR celebrated the 30th anniversary of the uncovering of his relics 30th anniversary of uncovering of incorrupt relics of St. John (Maximovitch) celebrated in San Francisco (+VIDEOS)One of America’s greatest saints was celebrated in California over the weekend.

“>last fall. It will celebrate the 30th anniversary of his canonization ROCOR to celebrate 30th anniversary of canonization of St. John (Maximovitch) (+VIDEO)The celebration will be held on Friday and Saturday, June 28-29 at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, where St. John’s relics are located.”>this summer as well.

The Russian Synod also added the feast of the Uncovering of the Relics of Righteous Juliana of Lazarevo (August 11/24) to its Churchwide calendar.

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In what increasingly represents a pattern in the Northeast and Midwest, the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, on May 28 announced a restructuring plan designed to merge approximately 34% of its 160 parishes.

Since April, the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, and the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, have all revealed or expanded similar initiatives.

“The Diocese of Buffalo is facing multiple challenges including a significant priest shortage, declining Mass attendance, aging congregations and ongoing financial pressures brought about by our Chapter 11 filing,” explained Bishop Michael W. Fisher in a statement May 28.

“This plan,” Bishop Fisher added, “resulted from the lessons learned as we brought parishes together in the parish family model and determined rather quickly that scaling back the number of parishes would best allow us to use our limited resources to help reenergize a spiritual renewal in the diocese.”

Diocesan statistics provide additional context, depicting a Catholic community where 49% of parishes report a decline in registered households, only 12% initiated new Catholics this past Easter Vigil, and 59% post a negative operating balance.

Sixty percent of diocesan parishioners are over the age of 60, while 59% of parishes note a steady decline in baptisms, with more than half averaging just one baptism per month.

The average age of Buffalo diocesan priests is 76; in just six years, 63% will be between 65 to 70.

In 2020, the Diocese of Buffalo formally filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy code, as it simultaneously attempted to compensate 900 claimants alleging sexual abuse by priests, religious and other diocesan employees.

In March, additional monetary strain was apparent as the diocese moved to sell its 1930s-era downtown Buffalo headquarters, which listed for $9.8 million.

Nonetheless, a diocesan website FAQ said Chapter 11 status is not the cause of the intended parish mergers; it is instead “helping us to take a hard look at ourselves to determine what our future needs to look like.”

Launched in 2019, the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan initially suggested no parishes would be merged. But as the process progressed, it became apparent families of parishes would need — according to a frequently asked questions document on the diocesan website — to “rightsize and reshape appropriately for the future.”

Employing a collaborative model, the current 160 parishes were grouped into 36 “families of parishes” announced in December 2021. A pilot phase, involving an inaugural group of six families of parishes, began shortly thereafter.

According to the diocese, the final number of merged parishes will follow a clergy and parish leadership review of recommendations. These can either be agreed to, or an option for an alternative parish — or parishes — within the family of parishes can be suggested for merger. These determinations will take place between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1, 2024, and the process to begin merging identified parishes is expected to commence this fall.

The merger recommendations were based upon demographics, sacramental participation, and financial support, explained a diocesan official in a May 28 statement.

“We also looked at the variations of our urban, suburban and rural parishes,” said Father Bryan Zielenieski, vicar for renewal and development and leader of the Road to Renewal effort, “because factors like poverty rates, availability of transportation, proximity and limited resources impact overall parish long-term vitality.”

In his statement, Bishop Fisher presented the diocesan restructuring as a prioritizing of assets.

“These difficult changes associated with our renewal allow limited resources to be directed to the greatest needs in our community,” Bishop Fisher said. “The work of the Holy Spirit within our diocese and the support of the Western New York community has been an incredible blessing.”

Moscow, May 31, 2024

Photo: patriarchia.ru     

By decision of the Holy Synod of Moscow Patriarchate yesterday, there can be no concelebration with the hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church who recently themselves concelebrated with two “hierarchs” of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

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

“>On May 19, five Bulgarian hierarchs, Metropolitans Nicholas of Plovdiv, Cyprian of Stara Zagora, Iakov of Dorostol, and Bishops Zion of Velichka and Vissarion of Smolyan, served in Istanbul with various hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and “Archbishop” Evtstraty (Zorya) and “Bishop” Avraamy (Latish) of the OCU sect.

Latish is the sole monk of the Kiev Caves Lavra who decided to One Lavra monk joins schismatics to become abbot of their “Lavra”Fr. Avraamy also appealed to the monks of the Lavra who remain faithful to the Church, blaming the present situation on the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which he argues is “inciting hostility and confrontation.”

“>leave the Church, in order to become the “abbot” of the schismatics’ Lavra brotherhood, and subsequently a “bishop.”

The Moscow Patriarchate Synod heard a report on the matter yesterday by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations, and “expressed deep sorrow” over the incident, “which has seriously damaged relations between the Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches,” reports Patriarchia.ru.

“The participants of the session stated the impossibility of concelebration with the mentioned hierarchs who entered into ecclesiastical communion with the schismatics. It was noted with regret that the Patriarchate of Constantinople continues to take actions aimed at deepening the division in Orthodoxy.”

The schismatic concelebration also caused some Bulgarian priests and faithful denounce episcopal concelebration with Ukrainian schismaticsIt is noteworthy that the official site of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church never published any news about the concelebration. However, it didn’t escape the attention of the Bulgarian clergy, monastics, and faithful.

“>degree of outrage amongst the clergy and faithful of the Bulgarian Church, many of whom sent letters of protest to the Holy Synod.

There was also a tense moment in Russian-Bulgarian Church relations when the former rector of the Russian representation church in Sofia was evicted from the country Russian Church rep expelled from Bulgaria, banned from N. Macedonia—Church respondsThe Russian Church’s Department for External Church Relations issued a statement yesterday “strongly protesting against the unjustified expulsion of its representatives from Bulgaria.”

“>in September, having been deemed a threat to national security.

With his expulsion, the church, which is home to the relics of the Holy Hierarch and wonderworker St. Seraphim (Sobolev), was closed, and debates began about who legally owns it: Bulgaria or the Russian embassy in Sofia, and who was responsible for appointing clerics and reopening the Church: the Bulgarian or Russian Church.

His Holiness Patriarch Neofit of Bulgaria Patriarch Neofit appoints Bulgarian priests to church where Russian priests were expelledThe church has served as a representation of the Russian Orthodox Church for many years, but two priests and another church employee were branded threats to national security and expelled from the country last week.

“>appointed Bulgarian clerics to serve there, but the church never reopened under them. Then, in Holy Synod appoints new rector for Russian church in SofiaFr. Vladimir served the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA in various capacities for a decade (1989-1999) and earned a degree from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary during his time there.”>mid-October, the Russian Holy Synod appointed a new rector.

On Services resume at Russian church in SofiaServices have resumed at the Russian representation Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Sofia, a month and a half after the former rector was evicted from the country.

“>November 10, the doors of the church reopened and the new rector served a moleben of thanksgiving.

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