Tag: Christianity

ROME — Stories abound regarding the simplicity, humility, and accessibility of Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle of the Philippines, who currently serves as a pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, and who was recently tapped by Pope Francis as his envoy to the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Congress this summer.

During the 10 years he served as the Bishop of Imus in the Philippines between 2001 and 2011, Tagle became well known to locals for not owning a car, preferring either to ride his bike or to hop on one of the cheap minibusses known as a “jeepneys” that working-class Filipinos use to move around. He rejected formal dress, and insisted that people call him by his nickname “Chito” rather than any ecclesiastical title.

Here’s a typical Tagle anecdote.

One day, a woman in Imus became concerned about her blind, alcoholic, out-of-work husband when he failed to return home for his daily lunch. She set out in search of him, fearing that he had ended up drunk in some local bar. She arrived in the town’s cathedral square, knowing it was one her husband’s favorite haunts, and began asking around.

To her astonishment, she was informed that her husband had been invited by Tagle to join him for lunch in the bishop’s residence, where she found the two men chatting amiably — and her husband, for the record, was stone cold sober.

Want another?

Shortly after Tagle’s installation as bishop, a small chapel in a run-down neighborhood needed a priest to say a 4 a.m. Mass for a group of day laborers. A youngish looking cleric showed up on his bike to celebrate, and while most people had no idea who he was, one astonished Massgoer recognized the new bishop and apologized for not arranging a better welcome. Tagle replied it was no problem, explaining that the priest who was supposed to come had called in sick the night before and Tagle decided to cover the Mass himself, without any fanfare.

I’ve even got my own Chito classic.

In 2014, I was in the Philippines to give a couple of talks, one of which was at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City. Tagle, who was by then the Cardinal of Manila, showed up, and in a complete reversal of the usual ecclesiastical protocol, upon greeting me he jokingly fell to one knee, in mock veneration, while I gave him an equally tongue-in-cheek blessing. (If you don’t believe me, I’ve got the photo to prove it.)

Post-March 2013, all this came together in the soundbite that Tagle was the “Asian Pope Francis,” incarnating the same lack of pretense, closeness to ordinary people, and passion for the underdog that characterized the new pope.

Tagle quickly became seen as a key Francis ally, serving as president of the pontiff’s all-important Synod of Bishops on the Family in 2014. When Francis brought Tagle to Rome as prefect of the then-Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2019, many observers regarded Tagle, now 66, as a serious contender to be the next pope.

Yet some of the luster appeared to go off that prospect in November 2022, when Francis fired the entire leadership team of Caritas Internationalis, the Rome-based federation of Catholic charitable groups around the world, citing “real deficiencies” in management, and relieved Tagle of his role as president, which he’d held since 2015.

In addition, some figures in and around the Vatican scene have also tired over the years of Tagle’s heart-on-the-sleeve personal style, privately joking about how long it will take him to break into tears when the topic turns to migrants, exploited Filipino expats, or some other victimized group.

For some observers, these tics have sown doubts about whether Tagle has the gravitas to be pope.

All this makes his appointment to represent the pope in the United States in July at the National Eucharistic Congress, including celebrating the closing Mass on July 21 at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, an important opportunity for Tagle to reframe impressions.

Granted, in itself being dispatched to represent a pope at a Eucharistic Congress isn’t always considered a plum assignment. Since the modern tradition of staging such gatherings began in the late 19th century, the Vatican’s Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses said there have been 51 such events on the international level and around 266 national congresses, including 10 in the United States since the first in Washington in 1895.

In general, serving as the papal legate at these events isn’t exactly a starring role. Ask yourself: Without using Google, can you name the pope’s envoy to the last Eucharistic Congress in the United States, held in St. Louis in 2001? (Confession: I couldn’t. A brief search coughed up the late Belgian Cardinal Jan Schotte, at the time head of the Synod of Bishops.)

However, there are a couple of reasons to suggest things may be different this time around.

For one thing, Francis is now 87 and battling increasing physical limits, all of which can’t help but invite speculation about what might come next. In that context, anytime a perceived papal candidate steps onto a stage, attention levels go up.

Second, this isn’t just any venue. Not only is the United States simply a bigger deal than most other settings, owing not only to its large Catholic population (fourth largest in the world after Brazil, Mexico, and Tagle’s own Philippines), but its wealth and geopolitical significance mean everything that happens in the States has global echoes.

Moreover, from the beginning there’s been a perception — often overstated, to be honest, but a perception nonetheless — that the United States is Francis’ biggest headache, due to presumed opposition to this maverick pope from a majority of the country’s bishops, a strongly conservative cohort of younger clergy, and aggressively conservative and traditional currents among the laity.

As a result, the specter of the “Pope Francis of Asia” playing on what will amount to the biggest stage in American Catholicism this summer should be compelling drama indeed.

While the Eucharistic Congress affords Tagle the chance to reframe perceptions of himself, it’s important to note that it creates the same possibility for the American church.

At a time when many observers — including, to be painfully honest, some of the closest advisers to Francis himself — see the Catholic community in the United States as hopelessly politicized and divided, with some American Catholic currents seen as actively resisting the renewal called for by the pontiff, here’s a chance to project a completely different image — a large, multiethnic and multilingual community, united by an essential of the faith in Eucharistic devotion, and excited by the possibility to be engaged in something positive and constructive.

In other words, this Eucharistic Congress, aside from its stated purpose of rekindling Eucharistic faith and devotion, could also fundamentally change American perceptions of a Roman figure, and Roman perceptions of America.

I suppose it’s theoretically possible to imagine higher stakes for a big Catholic happening that isn’t a conclave, but those really ought to do.

San Francisco, May 24, 2024

The canonization of St. John in 1994. Photo: stjohns30th.com     

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia will festively celebrate the 30th anniversary of the canonization of the Holy Hierarch and Wonderworker St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco this summer.

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, reports the ROCOR Synodal site.

The 10th anniversary of the episcopal consecration of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, First Hierarch of ROCOR, will also be celebrated.

A reception will take place after the Divine Liturgy for the benefit of the St. John Benevolent Fund.

More information can be found at stjohns30th.com.

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.

“>On September 30 of last year, the 30th anniversary of the uncovering of St. John’s incorrupt relics was celebrated. ROCOR’s Western American Diocese held a pastoral conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of St. John’s canonization ROCOR pastoral conference dedicated to St. John (Maximovitch) held at San Francisco cathedral (+VIDEO)The conference, held at the Holy Virgin, Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral, home to the relics of St. John, was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of his glorification.”>in April of this year.

Watch the service for the canonization of St. John from 1994:

​

  

  

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

On June 1, Archbishop José H. Gomez will ordain 11 new priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

In the days leading up to their ordination, we’ll be introducing a new soon-to-be Father. Los Angeles, meet your new priests!

Age: 30

Hometown: Covina

Home parish: Immaculate Conception Church, Monrovia

Parish assignment: St. Clare of Assisi Church, Santa Clarita

As someone who was born on the day of the Northridge earthquake in 1994, you might expect Rudela’s path to the priesthood to be full of jolts, shakes, and aftershocks.

Instead, it has been a slow and steady rumble of faith, love, and perseverance, with a strong foundation set by his Croatian immigrant parents.

One of four boys, Rudela had a typical experience of a devout Catholic family: Mass every Sunday, Catholic school, youth ministry.

His parents had emigrated separately from Croatia, then met and married in Los Angeles. The family spoke Croatian at home and participated in cultural things like dance groups and watching Croatia in soccer.

It all felt very normal until having to face some things that were uniquely American.

“I was like one of the very few immigrant families at my grade school growing up,” Rudela said. “So they’d mention things like we’re gonna throw a ’50s party. Well, what did that look like? And they’ll say, ‘Go ask your grandparents.’ I can’t ask my grandparents, they have no idea. So you’re really learning the American culture. You’re growing up here. My parents are having to learn the culture.”

Youth ministry continued in high school at Don Bosco Tech in Rosemead, and that’s when people began asking him if he had considered becoming a priest. It stuck with him into college at UC Riverside, where he was studying to become an engineer.

One day in college, Rudela’s friend, Mike, offered him a sort of faith challenge.

“He told me, ‘You know, Marko, real men pray the rosary,” Rudela said. “He told me to pray the rosary every single day. So I started doing that, praying the rosary in the evening before I went to bed, sometimes falling asleep before finishing it. But what happened was I realized that three months into praying the rosary, I felt called to go even deeper into my relationship with Jesus.”

He began going to adoration every day for a couple of semesters and slowly he began to feel God calling him to the priesthood. So he called the Archdiocese of Los Angeles vocations office, graduated college in March, and started at St. John’s Seminary that August.

“Engineers were promised, if you get your degree, you’ll have a decent salary by the time you’re finished,” Rudela said. “So that was my hope. But you know, God called and he had a different plan for me.”

He really felt the profound call of the priesthood while at the seminary, especially after the Rite of Admission to Candidacy, where he officially professed his intention to become a priest.

“I still have the candle for candidacy up in my room,” Rudela said. “And that moment of candidacy really stood out to me. This is the moment when, in a sense, I have firmly promised to start this path of discernment toward priesthood. Now with ordination around the corner, looking back at those five years since candidacy, you can really see the way that God was working in my life.”

It’s no surprise that someone so steady in his faith would find inspiration in St. Josemaría Escrivá, who was called the “saint of the ordinary” and found Jesus in the midst of our regular, daily lives.

“That’s really helped me realize that every task I do in the parish, every prayer that I offer, any work I do throughout my life, it’s ordinary, but consecrated,” Rudela said. “To God it’s something.”

With that inspiration in his heart as his big day nears, Rudela is not looking forward to anything major, but instead the everyday things in the life of a priest that many may take for granted.

He cites accompanying priests on sick calls and seeing the joy that the sacrament of confession brings to other people as experiences that have spoken to him while serving in the parish. 

“I really hope to be able to be there for the people of God, especially if they need some spiritual guidance, and offering Masses for them,” said Rudela. 

Bratislava, Slovakia, May 24, 2024

Photo: First Cossack     

A protest rally in support of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church was held outside the Ukrainian Embassy in the Slovakian capital earlier this month.

The demonstration was organized by Ukrainian refugees and immigrants who are parishioners of the Cathedrals of Sts. Rastislav and Nicholas, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists with reference to the First Cossack channel.

The event was also supported by priests and laity of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, which recognizes only the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

The defenders of the UOC emphasized:

We call on the leadership of foreign countries to oblige Vladimir Zelensky and all opponents of Orthodoxy in the Ukrainian leadership to stop the persecution of the UOC and stop inciting inter-confessional hostility, and to return to the UOC the Kiev Caves Lavra and all the holy sites seized by nationalists and schismatics.

They recalled the election promises of President Zelensky not to interfere in religious matters and called for the release of His Eminence UOC bishop-abbot faces years in prison for sermon mentioning roadblocks, monastic brotherhood respondsThe Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) detained His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk, the abbot of the Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra, yesterday. According to a court ruling, he is to be held in a pre-trial detention center for 60 days without the possibility of bail.

“>Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk and Security Service raids offices of Orthodox journalists and lawyersOne of the four men detained is the rector of a church in the capital.”>journalists who are being unjustly detained.

In the video on the Union of Orthodox Journalists, the faithful sing Christ is Risen and make various speeches in support of the UOC. One man also holds a poster with a picture of His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny after he was Persecuted Metropolitan Longin attacked at home, has to undergo surgery”This happened on the night of January 22, 2024. Someone knocked on the door three times, and when I opened it, I was struck and knocked unconscious.”

“>physically assaulted in his own home.

His Eminence Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro also Metropolitan of Montenegro in support of persecuted Ukrainian Metropolitan-Abbot of Svyatogorsk LavraThe Serbian hierarch is himself no stranger to state persecution.

“>came out in support of the unjustly detained Met. Arseny this week. Another Serbian hierarch, His Grace Bishop Gerasim of the Gornji Karlovac Diocese in Croatia, published an open letter Persecuted Ukrainian hierarchs are confessors of the Orthodox faith—Serbian hierarch’s open letterHis Grace Bishop Gerasim of the Gornji Karlovac Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia published an open letter in support of the UOC and its persecuted hierarchs on Wednesday, May 15.”>last week in defense of all the persecuted hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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

Deut. 4:32-34, 39-40 / Ps. 33:4- 6, 9, 18-20, 22 / Rom. 8:14-17 / Mt. 28:16-20 

Last Sunday, we celebrated the sending of the Spirit, which sealed God’s new covenant and made a new creation.

In this new creation, we live in the family of God, who has revealed himself as a Trinity of love. We share in his divine nature through his body and blood (see 2 Peter 1:4).

This is the meaning of the three feasts that cap the Easter season — Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi.

These feasts should be intimate reminders of how deeply God loves us, how he chose us, from before the foundation of the world, to be his children (see Ephesians 1:4-5).

Today’s readings illuminate how all God’s words and works were meant to prepare for the revelation of the Trinity and God’s blessing in Jesus Christ — the blessing we inherited in baptism, and renew in each Eucharist.

By God’s word the heavens and earth were filled with his kindness, we sing in today’s Psalm. Out of love, God called Abraham and chose his descendants to be his own people, Moses says in today’s First Reading (see Deuteronomy 4:20, 37). Through the Israelites, he revealed to the nations that he alone is Lord and there is no other.

In Jesus, God’s word took flesh as a son of Abraham (see Matthew 1:1). And Jesus reveals in the Gospel today that the one God is Father, Son and Spirit, and that he desires to make all peoples his own.

As he led Israel out of Egypt, God freed us from slavery, Paul says in today’s Epistle. As he adopted Israel (see Romans 9:4), he gives us the Spirit by which we can know him as “our Father.”

As God’s heirs, we receive the commissions of Moses and Jesus today. We are to fix our hearts on him, and to observe all that he has commanded. The Eucharist is his pledge — that he will be with us until the end, that he will deliver us from death to live forever in the promised land of his kingdom.

Revelation: Removing the VeilThis revelation was given by God to the Apostle John because we needed to know it.

“>Part 1, If Christ Is With Us, Death Is DefeatedThe book of Revelation teaches us a lot, especially when we begin to carefully delve into its words, when we see how Christ holds the world in His hands and acts with wisdom in all things.”>Part 2, Why Did the Lord Leave Man the Book of Revelation?Only the people of God, the saints, can receive revelations from God, and only they can interpret them, because a revelation, words from God, is given from God, from the Holy Spirit.”>Part 3, For the Time Is at Hand…We have to understand that God acts outside of time, and the events of Revelation don’t relate only to the end times.”>Part 4, Blessed Is He That Readeth…Christ sent the revelation through an angel to His servant the Apostle and Evangelist John, who conveyed the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ about what he saw and heard.”>Part 5, He Hath Made Us Kings and PriestsA man who is close to God, my dears, truly feels like a king—he has no need of anything. At the same time, he may have absolutely nothing.”>Part 6, John, Our Companion in Tribulation, and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus ChristOne of the most significant and frequent references to the Holy Trinity is in the text of Revelation.”>Part 7, Because Thou Hast Left Thy First Love…The greatest miracle is that the Church exists.”>Part 8, Fear None of Those Things Which Thou Shalt SufferThus, God says the following: He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Nothing exists outside of Him; in Him is everything. He is the Beginning and End of all things.”>Part 9, Holding Fast to the Name of ChristTo hold fast the name of God is a blessing; it’s martyrdom, and it’s a confession.”>Part 10, Sin Is Marriage with SatanSin will never lead us to good; it brings only evil, torment, and suffering. It’s the consequence of our deeds, not the punishment of God.”>Part 11

“That which ye have already hold fast till I come”

But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come (Rev. 2:24-25). God will not allow them to face great trials if only they preserve what they have before His coming. This is a very important word from Christ. “Keep what you have until I come.” It’s like our Baptism. What happens in the Sacraments isn’t just a ceremony—it has its own essence. During Baptism, the priest gives you a candle so you understand what you’re receiving at that moment. You’re given a fire that you have to preserve, living in such a way that no one extinguishes it in you. Because throughout your life, satan will try to extinguish your candle through all kinds of circumstances, temptations, and sins. And if he manages to extinguish it, then he drives grace out with the help of sin. Christ says here: “Keep what you have. Keep it until I come.” Our struggle is to preserve the grace of God until Christ comes—until the Second Coming, until the end of our life (which is coming soon). Until Christ visits us, we must preserve this grace.

    

And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches (Rev. 2:26-29). The morning star is the one that shines and heralds the morning and the sun. It’s a symbol of victory, a symbol of light, a symbol of the coming of the Sun of Truth, Christ. We all have ears, but which of us hears is another question. We all have eyes, but which of us sees? We have to ask these questions sometimes. Christ often speaks about it: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Mt. 11:15, 13:9). Of course, we’re not deaf—we can hear. But do we hear with our hearts? Do these words enter into our hearts? If they had, we’d probably be different.

“Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”

Let’s briefly look at the next epistle, the epistle to the bishop of the Church of Sardis, a city in Asia Minor. And unto the angel of the Church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead (Rev. 3:1). These words should shock the person reading them. These are words of Christ outside the four Gospels; this is the only book besides the four Gospels in which Christ Himself speaks to us. It’s fearful, what He says to the bishop: “By name you’re alive, but in reality, you’re dead.” This is a terrible word of Christ to us. Why was he dead? Because he sinned before God; he did something that made his soul dead.

We have said that sins brings death to the soul. It’s hard when the soul of a man dies. But God has the power to raise the dead. This is our hope. We have to examine ourselves, whether we’re alive or not. And how can we know that someone has died? When he doesn’t answer. You push him, talk to him, kick him, turn him around—nothing, he’s dead. You check his pulse—it’s stopped, he’s dead. It’s the same in the spiritual life. You tell him one thing, another, but nothing touches him. Trials, sorrows, and difficulties happen in his life, but he doesn’t come to himself. There’s nothing inside him that could direct him to God.

When we were on the Holy Mountain, there was a good man who would often come visit us there. He was a scientist and an atheist. He was a good man, selfless; all the good there can be in a man was in him. But he was an atheist. He would often come see his close relative, a monk. He never went into the church, not even out of curiosity. I suggested that he go into the church at least once for the sake of interest, but he said: “No, I’m an atheist.” One time I took him to Katounakia, to Fr. Ephraim. Fr. Ephraim gave him a real electric shock. Along the way, I explained to the young man that here, on the Holy Mountain, we don’t say to each other: “Good evening! How are you?” They communicate a little differently there. And among the older generation, there were also some Athonites who were a little rude. You had to speak to them in a fitting way: “Bless!” And then kiss their hand. The young man refused to kiss his hand. I said: “What bad thing will happen to you? There are eighty-year-old monks here who spent fifty years among these rocks. This man is a great prophet. Why’s it hard for you to kiss his hand?” “No, I won’t do it.”

​Athonite monks. Photo: orlov74.livejournal.com     

As soon as Fr. Ephraim saw him, he turned to him and said:

“Come here, captain!”

Certain people were called “captains” in Fr. Ephraim’s time.

“Sit down. Do you go to church?”

“No.”

“That’s why you stink.”

He told us to go outside and he “checked” the guy, leaving him without a penny, as they say. He was inside for a whole hour. Fr. Ephraim told him his whole life down to the hour he was born—he told him everything. The guy came out, sweating, in tears, wanting to confess. It was a miracle! Glory to Thee, O Lord! He came to his senses.

Another elder, who had prayed for this man for many years, had a vision. While praying for him, he saw him in a coffin, dead. He ran up to push the coffin so the man would fall out. When he touched the guy, he was like smoke; it was impossible to grab onto him. An angel of the Lord appeared and said: “Father, don’t try in vain; he’s dead.” Unfortunately, indeed, he didn’t believe; he remained steadfast in his ways; his soul was already dead. He didn’t feel anything anymore. Even this electric shock from Elder Ephraim didn’t wake him up.

Perhaps we’re the same. Or maybe even worse. At least he admitted he was godless, while we say we’re Church people, and we go to talks, and to Confession, and we commune, and we fast. We’re so scrupulous that we might call the radio station ten times to ask if we’re eating oil today. But try to approach and touch him. Or if he finds out that his son wants to become a monk or a priest, then we’ll see what happens. Yet, we consider ourselves very “alive.”

    

A man came to Mt. Athos to become a monk. He was followed by his father, who went to catechetical talks, was a member of a religious organization, and came to get his son so he wouldn’t become a monk. He wanted to commune the next day. I asked him: “Aren’t you embarrassed to commune?” He said: “Father, I came to the Holy Mountain, how can I not commune?” “And what was your purpose in coming to the Holy Mountain? You want to take your son, who decided to become a monk. I can’t allow you to commune.” I didn’t permit him to receive Communion. This was a Church person. He stirred us all up, making a fuss.

You know, there’s nothing scarier than a man who thinks he’s churchly but who’s actually dead. Another knows that he’s not close to the Church, but there’s a glimmer of hope that he’ll wake up one day, that he’ll be able to get his head straight, come to his senses, and repent for living without God. And we, supposedly churched people, consider ourselves good people. We’re pious, but we commit the most serious sins. The most terrible sins aren’t lust and fornication, but hatred, hostility, and avarice.

Look at what avarice does with people in the Church. Stern dictators. Among such people, we know some employers—a fearful work. Sometimes people come for advice: “Father, I want to go work for this man. He’s a believer.” “Son, go somewhere else! He’ll swallow you alive.” “But he’s always in church…” Yes, he can spend whole days in church, fast without oil, but if you go work for him, he’ll eat you up. It’s scary. Our elder said: “Who do they believe in? Kronos? Haven’t they ever read the Gospel?”

Christians, spiritual people, are ready to trample on their subordinates; they drink the blood of others, they don’t give a single penny of alms. They make a scandal over millions; they make a scandal over ten pennies; they’re stingy; it’s horrible what’s going on inside them. They’re dead on the inside. The other guy at least knows he’s dead. But this guy thinks he’s alive, thinks he’s a Church man. It’s scary. And it’s unlikely that such people will be resurrected. He lives like a werewolf.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God (Rev. 3:2). Because of your carelessness, because of your indifference, the rest of the Church members are in danger of dying. If you, the bishop, are dead, what’s left for the rest of them? The others will also doze, and they may die. Wake up and encourage others so they don’t perish. Your deeds won’t stand before God, they’re useless; you have no deeds to present before God.

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent (Rev. 3:3). This applies to all of us. We all have to remember what we were like when we came to the Church, how God took us out of the ignorance and darkness we were in and led us to Himself; brought us closer. How our soul came alive then, how it burned with love for God. We heard His word and it lived within us. We hurried to church to receive Communion, to Vigil; we wanted to fast, to hear the word of God. It was like that; we experienced it, but then we lost it. We lost it because of our negligence. We started to sin and lost it.

But we have to remember that the only way to wake up is to remember where you fell from. Turn around and look at where you were, how you began, and where you wound up. Our elder would say: “Where you came from—go back there again.” Through the same door. Look at how you fell, how you cooled off, why you froze. So go back. Start struggling as before; do what you used to do with joy but now only with compulsion. Repent of everything that’s happened to you. Repent, weep, and ask God to visit your soul.

    

If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee (Rev. 3:3). “I will come like a thief, unexpectedly, when you least expect it, and I will turn everything upside down.” Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy (Rev. 3:4). You see, man is a name [in the Greek text: “έχεις ολίγα ονόματα”—“you have a few names”]; there are no nameless ones for God. Everyone has their own name. There were several people in Sardis who, despite the bishop, remained undefiled by a wicked life. “They will walk with Me, because they’re worthy; they have kept their garments clean, have no dirtied them with heresies or the sins of the Nicolaitanes.

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches (Rev. 3:5-6). “Whoever remains faithful and overcomes, him I will clothe in white robes.” They remind us of the white robes we wore in Baptism; white robes symbolizing a pure life. Whoever remains faithful will inherit a place in the Kingdom of God.

Sts. Donatian and Rogatian were brothers and martyrs in the third century.

Donatian was the first to convert to Christianity, and after his baptism, he became a devoted witness to the faith. His example was so inspiring that his brother, Rogatian, was moved to convert.

At the time, the emperor Diocletian was persecuting all Christians. The brothers were arrested before Rogatian was able to be baptized. They spent the night in jail praying, and the next day, refused to renounce their faith. The brothers were tortured and then beheaded. Rogatian received a baptism of desire by the blood of his martyrdom.

In the fifth century, a church was built over the tomb where they had been buried. In 1145, a bishop had their relics transferred to the Cathedral of Ostia.

Revelation: Removing the VeilThis revelation was given by God to the Apostle John because we needed to know it.

“>Part 1, If Christ Is With Us, Death Is DefeatedThe book of Revelation teaches us a lot, especially when we begin to carefully delve into its words, when we see how Christ holds the world in His hands and acts with wisdom in all things.”>Part 2, Why Did the Lord Leave Man the Book of Revelation?Only the people of God, the saints, can receive revelations from God, and only they can interpret them, because a revelation, words from God, is given from God, from the Holy Spirit.”>Part 3, For the Time Is at Hand…We have to understand that God acts outside of time, and the events of Revelation don’t relate only to the end times.”>Part 4, Blessed Is He That Readeth…Christ sent the revelation through an angel to His servant the Apostle and Evangelist John, who conveyed the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ about what he saw and heard.”>Part 5, He Hath Made Us Kings and PriestsA man who is close to God, my dears, truly feels like a king—he has no need of anything. At the same time, he may have absolutely nothing.”>Part 6, John, Our Companion in Tribulation, and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus ChristOne of the most significant and frequent references to the Holy Trinity is in the text of Revelation.”>Part 7, Because Thou Hast Left Thy First Love…The greatest miracle is that the Church exists.”>Part 8, Fear None of Those Things Which Thou Shalt SufferThus, God says the following: He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Nothing exists outside of Him; in Him is everything. He is the Beginning and End of all things.”>Part 9, Holding Fast to the Name of ChristTo hold fast the name of God is a blessing; it’s martyrdom, and it’s a confession.”>Part 10

We continue reading the book of Revelation. The Saint John the Theologian, Apostle and EvangelistThrough humility, not calling himself by name, nevertheless speaking of himself in the Gospel, refers to himself as the disciple ”whom Jesus loved.” This love of him by the Lord, showed itself when the Lord was on the cross he entrusted His Most Holy Mother to him saying: ”Behold your mother.”

“>Apostle and Evangelist John, while on the island of Patmos, on the Lord’s Day, saw Christ before him in great glory, Who told him some things about the bishops of the seven Churches of Asia Minor. He calls the bishops the angels of the Churches. We already read the epistles to the bishops of the Churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos.

Apostle John the Theologian and his disciple, the Apostle Prochorus     

Now we turn to the epistle to the angel of the Church of Thyatira: And unto the angel of the Church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, Who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass (Rev. 2:18). Do you remember how the Apostle John saw Christ? His feet were like fine brass, a precious metal, and his eyes like flames of fire. He saw Him in such striking glory. Christ asks to write to the bishop about the following: I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first (Rev. 2:19). First the Lord tells him about good deeds—this bishop had love, faith, patience, and served sincerely. His last works were greater than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (Rev. 2:20). You see, God speaks very directly and sincerely to man. God doesn’t play tricks us on and doesn’t laugh at us. God doesn’t act like we do: “Should I tell him or not? Maybe he’ll misunderstand me. I hope he doesn’t think anything bad about me, doesn’t get offended.”

God speaks directly. Of course, only God can do this, not us, because we don’t see the soul of another as God sees it. But when the Church speaks about something, for example, it doesn’t allow heretics to commune, it doesn’t allow us to pray together with heretics, it calls something a heresy or delusion, then it speaks about it very definitely. And we start arguing that that it didn’t need to be said, that it’s better to do everything with love, it’s better not to tell someone, so as not to hurt him, that God is for everyone…

Such manifestations of love, of course, aren’t real. We think we have love by behaving this way. But deeds and actions that harm another can’t be called love. Like a doctor, despite all his love for you, should tell you the truth. And it’s important that you tell the truth for the doctor to make the correct diagnosis. If a doctor, out of love, doesn’t want to give a diagnosis, and says: “Mama, what a wonderful child you have, a creation of God; it’s impossible that he’d be sick with something; go home.” But the child could die on the way. The doctor has to diagnose, he has to understand what’s happening with the boy, and tell the patient about it. No matter how much he loves you, he must, unfortunately, tell you about your problem. That’s the only way to cure someone.

When the Church makes a “spiritual diagnosis,” it says: “This is a delusion, a heresy, it cuts you off from the Church of Christ and Divine Communion.” The Church acts this way not because it hates or rejects anyone. It acts this way with the goal of healing a man with all its love, with all its sincerity; it calls things as they are for the sake of saving a man. We can’t tell someone: “Don’t worry, my dear, we’re all the same; we all believe in one God, we’re all children of God.” That’s a mistake. You can’t tell someone: “Don’t worry.” You’ll harm him. I have problems with blood sugar, and you’ll start saying: “Don’t worry, eat some cake—nothing bad will happen. And if you’re still hungry, eat some more.” Okay, thank you very much for your love, but that’s ruinous for me. Of course, I’ll eat everything; it’ll all be gone in a minute, but what then? Such love is destructive.

You can’t tell a heretic: “It doesn’t matter. We’re all God’s people. You believe in God too.” You harm him this way. Tell him the truth. “I love you, very much, I value your deeds, but you have some problems. You’re outside the Church. You can’t prosper outside the Church; you need to enter the Church.” Just as Christ says: “I know your deeds; I know you’re a good person, that you love God.”

The Holy Fathers and the shamed heretics. Fresco from the Patriarchate of Peć in Kosovo     

Quite often, both I and other spiritual fathers face such difficulties. Someone comes to see you, a Freemason. He asks: “Can I receive Communion? Can I be in the Church?” You say: “Stop! Freemasonry, Masonic lodges, altars, and the Church are not compatible with each other. Masonic lodges are one thing and the Church of Christ is another.”

The man might resist, resent, come and go a hundred times, but by refusing, we leave him the opportunity to be saved.

One day, a Catholic, a very pleasant man, a university teacher, came to see our Elder on the Holy Mountain. He told the Elder:

“You know, I love Orthodoxy, the Holy Fathers; I read the Holy Fathers (and indeed, he knew the works of the Church Fathers very well), I try to live in an Orthodox manner, but I can’t leave my church, Catholicism.”

The Elder responded:

“You’re a good man, and everything you do is very good. But you don’t belong to the Church; you’re outside of the Church.”

The Catholic started walking back and forth. The Elder was adamant. I remember, this Catholic teacher spent three or four days in bed; we offered him to get up and eat something, but nothing helped. We were worried he was going to die.

“Have some tea!”—no answer. He had experienced a great shock. We asked the Elder to talk with him a bit.

“Leave him alone. Nothing bad will happen to him,” the Elder said.

And indeed, nothing happened. The Catholic struggled with himself and came and went for three years before he decided to become Orthodox.

Westminster Abbey, London     

“If you want to enter the Church, there’s no other path. There’s one Church of Christ, not ten.”

We believe “in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.” There can’t be many Churches—that’s heresy. This man suffered to accept it. But it’s the truth. Had the Elder said to him: “My son, don’t worry! Stay where you are; since you read the Fathers and you try to live like an Orthodox Christian, that’s good enough,” then nothing would have come out of it. The man suffered, was sick from the blow, but managed to come out of it and accept the truth, get baptized, and become Orthodox. Today he’s an Orthodox priest in Rome, in Italy; he tries to labor spiritually. Now he talks about what he had to go through.

The truth often shakes us; it’s hard for us to receive it. But you can’t tell someone else: “Don’t worry, live however you want.” He tells you he’s married but he meets up with another woman when he has free time. When his wife annoys him, he can go to the other woman for comfort and enjoyment.

“My dear son, that’s not how it’s done.” “No worries, it was our mutual decision.” You can’t do that. If you want, do as you know how; you have the right—you’re a free man. But that’s not how to do it. He’s suffering, he’s in pain; he eats himself up on the inside until he decides to stop. And if you tell him: “It’s okay, of course, you need comfort, you’re still young, you can repent when you’re older,” then this man is lost.

God doesn’t lie to people

God doesn’t The Ninth Instruction. That One Should Not LieI wish to remind you, O brethren, about lying, for I see that you do not strive very hard to restrain your tongues and from this we are easily drawn into much evil. Make note my brethren that in every matter, as I constantly tell you, one may acquire a habit either for the good or for the evil; and so one needs great heedfulness so that we will not be robbed by lying, for one who lies has no union with God. Lying is foreign to God.

“>lie to people. You see, here He’s telling the bishops the truth. He also speaks about the good things: I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee. What is He talking about? Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (Rev. 2:19-20).

We don’t know for sure if the bishop had a wife Jezebel, because bishops were mostly married in the early centuries of Christianity. Perhaps he really was married to a Jezebel, who was a false prophetess, teaching people the heresy of the Nicolaitanes, who said you can achieve salvation by giving in to bodily passions and lusts, fornication, and the like. Or this bishop allowed this heresy in his Church. It was his fault for allowing heretics to present themselves as prophets and teach the servants of God falsehoods, that fornication and eating food offered to idols is permissible, that there’s nothing terrible in this.

The Nicolaitan heresy greatly disturbed the early Church, because Nicholas was one of the seven deacons chosen by the Holy Spirit; he was an important, revered person in the Church.

The Apostle Peter ordains the seven deacons, fresco of the New Tokali Church in Cappadocia     

But he became an heresiarch, teaching that asceticism isn’t just fasting, prayer, and abstinence, but also another endeavor—engaging in carnal lusts to overcome your body and your very self. It’s a delusion, but it penetrated into the Church and disturbed it. The heresiarch Nicholas also proposed freely eating food offered to idols—meat sacrificed to false gods. God didn’t want the bishop to accept such things. Christ doesn’t want such things; He says: I have a few things against thee.

There have always been false brethren in the Church, false Christians, false prophets. And there still are today. If you turn on the TV, you’ll see various prophets and prophetesses. They work “miracles,” every night they “see” the Theotokos, every day they “see” Christ. Unfortunately, there are people who believe this. Such satanic gifts have always existed, and they are always opposed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It continues: And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not (Rev. 2:21). The Lord gave this woman (or this heresy) time for repentance, but she didn’t want to give up her sins. Fornication isn’t only a carnal sin but also a spiritual departure from God. Man is called to marriage with Christ. Christ wants to be the Bridegroom of our soul.

When a man moves towards sin, it’s spiritual fornication. He departs from God and contracts a marriage with sin and satan. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds (Rev. 2:22). The Lord will leave them where they sin; they will be punished by their deeds. They will experience great tribulations through this; they will go through trials. God won’t punish, but our deeds will punish us and exact a toll from us. Satan is man’s worst enemy. Sin will never lead us to good; it brings only evil, torment, and suffering. It’s the consequence of our deeds, not the punishment of God.

Gustave Doré, Illustration to Milton’s Paradise Lost, 1866     

And I will kill her children with death; and all the Churches shall know that I am He Which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works (Rev. 2:23). The word of God is harsh. It doesn’t mean God will kill these children. Every sin brings death. Sin gives birth to death; the consequences of sin are fatal, they lead to spiritual death, the most terrible kind. The soul withers. Sin isn’t terrible because it’s a kind of transgression of the law of God. When you break the law, you ask for forgiveness, and that’s the end of it. But sin has a terrible consequence—it kills. The soul withers through sin. Anyone who knows the state when his soul is alive, how he prays and is close to God, immediately feels like he’s turned into a corpse if he happens to sin. He’s not moved by anything anymore. If before that he was moved by the very name of Christ, his heart began to tremble, tears flowed, he hurried to church to receive Communion, to be at Vigil with desire and love, he forgot everything to experience something spiritual, then man dies in sin: Even if he sees Christ in front of him, he feels nothing. Sin is DestructiveDeath, infirmity, temporality and susceptibility to passions entered this world with the sin; they are interwoven. Sin destroys everything in a man, both his body and his soul. Any doctor is perfectly aware of it.

“>Sin is the death of the soul.

I am He Which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works (Rev. 2:23). Christ uses the expression “search the reins and heart” speaking of Himself in the Old and the New Testaments. This is one of the proofs that the One Who spoke in the Old Testament is the pre-Incarnate Christ, the un-incarnate Word of God. In the New Testament, the Incarnate Word speaks, so He uses the same expressions that in the Old Testament belonged to Yahweh, the Lord. In the New Testament, they belong to Christ.

Why does He search the reins and the heart? At that time, people believed that the heart contains a man’s memories and thoughts, that it’s the center of everything; and the reins¹ were the center of all desires. The Lord will reward everyone according to their deeds; He’s the Judge of the universe. Again, these are words from the Old Testament. Knowing these words, you can answer Jehovah’s Witnesses who say that Christ was created, that He wasn’t in the Old Testament.

To be continued…

Volzhsky, Volgograd Province, Russia, May 23, 2024

Photo: kalach-eparx.ru     

A new monument to Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II was unveiled over the weekend at the Kalach Diocesan Center of Orthodox Culture in the village of Zaplavnoe, Volgograd Province.

The grand opening of the monument took place on Saturday, May 18, the anniversary of the birthday of the martyred last emperor of Russia.

Photo: kalach-eparx.ru     

The bust was blessed by Hieromonk Nikita (Sergeev) from the Church of St. Nicholas in Zaplavnoe, reports the Kalach Diocese.

The event took place thanks to the active participation of the national Alley of Russian Glory project, which seeks to perpetuate the memory of those who glorified their homeland and educate the younger generations about heroic traditions.

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

Pope Francis formally recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian teenager whose birth in 1991 will make him the first “millennial” to become a saint.

In a meeting May 23 with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for Saints’ Causes, the pope signed decrees advancing the sainthood causes of Blessed Acutis, as well as one woman, and six men.

The Vatican announced May 23 that the pope had signed the decrees and that he would convene a consistory to set a date for the canonization of Acutis and other future saints: Blesseds Giuseppe Allamano; Marie-Léonie Paradis of Québec, Canada; Elena Guerra; and eight Franciscan friars and three Maronite laymen who were martyred in Damascus, Syria, in 1860.

Blessed Acutis was born and baptized in London to Italian parents in 1991, but the family moved back to Milan, Italy, while he was still an infant.

After he started high school, he began to curate, create or design websites, including one for a local parish, for his Jesuit-run high school and for the Pontifical Academy “Cultorum Martyrum,” according to the saints’ dicastery. He also used his computer skills to create an online database of Eucharistic miracles around the world.

He volunteered at a church-run soup kitchen, helped the poor in his neighborhood, assisted children struggling with their homework, played saxophone, soccer and videogames, and loved making videos with his dogs and cats, according to carloacutis.com, the website dedicated to his cause for canonization.

“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan,” he wrote when he was 7 years old.

He was devoted to Our Lady, praying the rosary every day, and to the Eucharist.

“The Eucharist is the highway to heaven,” he wrote. When people sit in the sun, they become tan, “but when they sit before Eucharistic Jesus, they become saints.”

When he was only 15, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia and died Oct. 12, 2006. He had said, “I’m happy to die because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God,” according to carloacutis.com.

His mortal remains were moved to the municipal cemetery in Assisi in 2007 to fulfill his wish to be in the city of St. Francis. Then his remains were moved to the Shrine of the Renunciation at the Church of St. Mary Major in Assisi in 2019. He was buried wearing Nike sneakers, black jeans and an athletic warmup jacket — clothes he was used to wearing every day.

In February 2020, the pope formally recognized a miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession and in October that year, the teen was beatified during a Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis. An estimated 117,000 pilgrims visited the teen’s tomb in just the first year after his beatification, the Diocese of Assisi said the day before his feast day, Oct. 12, 2021.

The two miracles attributed to the intercession of the teen involved alleged miraculous recoveries for a young boy in Brazil in 2013 and a young woman in Florence in 2022.

The miracle Pope Francis recognized May 23 that paves the way for the blessed’s canonization involved a young woman who was born in Costa Rica in 2001 and moved to Florence in 2018 to study.

The woman fell from her bicycle at 4 a.m. July 2, 2022, and suffered a serious head injury, according to the dicastery website. Even after emergency surgery removing part of her skull to reduce severe intracranial pressure, doctors warned her family she could die at any moment.

An associate of the young woman’s mother began praying to Blessed Acutis the same day, and the mother went to Assisi and prayed at the blessed’s tomb July 8 — the same day the young woman began to breathe on her own again. She slowly recovered basic mobility and a CT scan showed the hemorrhage was gone. After a period of rehabilitation therapy and a complete recovery, she and her mother visited his tomb Sept. 2.

Pope Francis has urged young people to learn about Blessed Acutis, who “did a great deal of good things,” despite his short life.

“Above all, he was impassioned by Jesus; and since he was very good at getting around on the internet, he used it in the service of the Gospel, spreading love for prayer, the witness of faith and charity toward others,” the pope told young Italians Jan. 29.

“Prayer, witness and charity” were the hallmarks of Blessed Acutis’ life and should be a key part of the life of every Christian, he said.