Tag: Christianity

Waymart, Pennsylvania, May 20, 2024

Photo: sttikhonsmonastery.org     

The Monastery of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in Waymart, Pennsylvania, the oldest Orthodox monastery in America, founded by the future Patriarch St. Tikhon of Moscow in 1905, is in need of urgent help.

The power line infrastructure at the monastery is in a dilapidated state, putting the monastery in danger of fire. And according to the relevant utility companies, the monastery is responsible for paying to fix the problem.

Thus, the monastery has launched a GoFundMe with a goal of $25,000. As of Sunday, May 20, the fundraiser had gathered just under $7,000.

The fundraiser describes the problem in more detail:

This appeal is for a completely new power system running to the monastery: transformer box, conduit, running new 220 lines (an acre away) and the labor of a professional installation. The power line and power pole at the monastery are both having dangerous issues: the pole is rotten and ready to fall on the monastery and wires are rubbing the roof and ready to cause a fire. Pennsylvania power and light are unable to fix this problem because it is too far off the transformer and they say it is our responsibility to pay for the work! Everything for the power to the monastery needs to be removed, relocated and reinstalled. Unbelievable! Our electrician is working to remedy this dangerous situation this week please help if you can!

Read more about St. Tikhon’s Monastery in the article, “St. Tikhon of Moscow’s Gift to AmericaSt. Tikhon’s Monastery is home to a rich history and a great many “treasures” of Orthodoxy, some known, some relatively unknown, which stand as a testament to the prayers and labors of our American apostle, St. Tikhon, and his continuing heavenly protection.

“>St. Tikhon of Moscow’s Gift to America.”

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A few weeks after my second son was born, I began listening to audiobooks. Determined to fight postpartum fog, I told myself that I could at least try to learn something while caring for a newborn and toddler. 

I started with Abigail Tucker’s Mom Genes: Inside the New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct. What could be more benign than learning about the biological, neurological, and psychological changes that just happened to me? 

Benign it wasn’t. While standing over a pot of boiling water, preparing to disinfect some breast pump parts, I listened to Tucker lay out the statistics showing that children who have their maternal grandmother present and involved in their lives tend to thrive better than those who do not.

My mother died five weeks before I was disinfecting those pump parts. “I’m doomed,” I thought to myself. “My sons are doomed.” I was now, in the words of another author, a motherless daughter and a motherless mother. 

The maternal grandmother makes a statistical difference largely because she has a vested interest in the health of her daughter and because she teaches her how to care for her young. 

Those hands-on lessons involve everything from how to determine when to head to the ER to how to get kids to eat vegetables. A grandmother assists in modeling tender correction. She helps her daughter know when to keep kids close or when to let them roam free. 

According to Tucker’s research, motherhood is ideally undertaken as a kind of apprenticeship. The art of caring for children is honed with tutelage.  

Things haven’t turned out as grim as I feared. An aunt has stepped into the breach, as have several women in my parish. And I frequently draw on my memories of how my mom raised me and my brother. 

For Catholics, the concept of learned motherhood is something to think about. 

For one, mentorship is a huge area of opportunity for new moms and women religious in formation who are called to be spiritual mothers. 

But our Church invites us all to think about how to better exercise maternity this time of year. 

In his 1961 decree Mater et Magistra, Pope John XXIII explained that the Church “is the Mother and Teacher of all nations. Her light illumines, enkindles and enflames. No age but hears her warning voice, vibrant with heavenly wisdom. She is ever powerful to offer suitable, effective remedies for the increasing needs of men, and the sorrows and anxieties of this present life.” 

A few years later in 1964, Pope Paul VI added “Mother of the Church” to the list of Mary’s titles. Six years ago, Pope Francis added this memorial to the Roman Calendar. Now, on the Monday after Pentecost, Catholics remember Mary not only as the mother of our Lord, but as our mother, to whom we were entrusted at the foot of the cross. 

As an amateur theologian, I’ll leave the explaining of how Mary and the Church are both our mothers to the pros. But it stands to reason that Mary is the Mother of Mother Church. 

This is where the ideas in Tucker’s book start making sense at an even deeper level: that when the members of the Church model Mary’s motherhood, they provide the most “effective remedies” for the “needs, sorrows, and anxieties” of life. 

When are some key moments for the Church to model Mary’s maternal love? 

The first is when her members are sick or suffering. When kids are sick, they want their mother. Our Lady stood at the foot of the Cross to offer her Son the assurance He was not alone. She who had birthed Him would be there to hold Him when He was taken down from the Cross. Likewise, she was present to the disciples in the Upper Room, comforting them in their grief and fear.  

The Church extends this maternal presence to the ill and heartsick in many ways. University and hospital chaplains, parish priests administering Last Rites, lay workers who tend to migrants, refugees, or persons in war-torn areas, religious sisters caring for children and women: all of these can learn from Our Lady on how to comfort God’s people.

Children also need their mothers to shape their moral lives. Along with fathers, mothers are entrusted with instructing their children in determining right from wrong. They teach them to be truthful. As they get older, children look to their mothers to help them discern more complex moral and interpersonal matters.

But a mother is also needed when a child confesses wrongdoing. Children look to see if their mother will meet them in that moment with love or anger. They want love. They want mercy. They want to know they still belong. 

The Church best exercises this maternal care in the confessional. Pope Francis has said that confession should not be a “torture chamber,” but an “encounter with God’s mercy.” While the priest acts as a spiritual father, he can also model Mary’s maternal tenderness in the sacrament. 

Finally, the Church shows her maternal care by helping her children strengthen their relationship  with Christ, starting with baptism. 

The most important thing a mother can do for her child is to have him baptized. In fact, the prayer of St. Gerard for expectant mothers ends this way: “Preserve me in the dangers of motherhood, and shield the child I now bear, that it may be brought safely to the light of day, and receive the sacrament of baptism.” 

Given today’s plummeting rates of sacramental participation, what could be more important mission territory? 

The Church can model Mary’s motherhood when she thoroughly prepares parents seeking baptism for their child, either in a class or a meeting with the parish priest or staff. She can help parents understand that their child’s spiritual and eternal well-being is far more important than any material gain, educational opportunity, or other temporal hope they have for their infant. And they can bring those parents more gently and securely into the fold, too. 

These are but a few ways the Church can extend Marian love and maternity to her members. There are no doubt many more. 

On this memorial, may we as a Church pray the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta with renewed vigor: “Mary, be a mother to me now.” 

After already being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House by President Joe Biden on May 3, Father Greg Boyle — the founder and director of Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries — received another honor: the Los Angeles City Council named May 19 as Father Greg Boyle Day. May 19 is also Boyle’s birthday.

During its meeting on May 17, the council recognized Boyle for his decades of community work and for helping to transform thousands of lives.

“For decades, Father Boyle has committed his life to serving others in Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. “Whether it was door-knocking in the Pico-Aliso projects, marching alongside the señoras of the Boyle Heights community, building a place for refuge for immigrants seeking a safe place to sleep, Father Boyle has been dedicated to the cause of uplifting those who are often left behind in our society.”

“Everything that happens here in Los Angeles is heard and seen throughout the entire world,” said Capri Maddox, executive  director of LA Civil Rights. “We are the City of Angels, angels are our messengers. Whether it’s entertainment, government, or social justice, what we do here matters. That really sends a message of what’s right or wrong in the world. Today, we are highlighting one of our angels. It’s great for the world to see.”

In reading the proclamation, a small crowd clad in shirts emblazoned with the Homeboy Industries logo spoke at the dais one by one. Then Boyle came up to speak.

“It’s the privilege of my life to know the thousands of men and women who have come through our doors at Homeboy. The day won’t ever come when I have more courage or more nobility or dignity than all those people who have walked through our doors since 1988.

“This is the invitation of every single person here and every elected official to image something wildly different than the divisions that plague us.”

After presenting Boyle with the framed proclamation, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to him and ended with a Homeboy Industries saying, “And I’m glad you were born.”

A native to Los Angeles, Father Boyle entered the Society of Jesus in 1972 and was ordained a priest in 1984. He served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church from 1986 to 1992, where he began a job-training program for at-risk youth that would eventually become Homeboy Industries.

He’s also written several books, including his memoir about Homeboy Industries, “Tattoos On the Heart.” His next book is scheduled to be released in October, titled, “Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times.”

Boyle was one of 19 people awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, given to “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public, or private endeavors.”

“It is an honor to recognize you here today and for being a reminder of the importance of championing this work,” Hernandez said. “Your impact will be felt for generations to come.”

The Myrrh-bearing Women. Artist: Robert Anning Bell     

This Sunday is called the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women; that is, women, bearers of myrrh. Having heard this phrase, “women, bearers of myrrh”, we can suppose that the profession or occupation of these women mentioned by the Holy Evangelists was to anoint the reposed with myrrh; that is, when someone died, they were to anoint with fragrances and aromatic spices the body of the one who had departed to the other world. But we are mistaken! This is not why they are called myrrh-bearers, but because they bore an entirely different myrrh in their hearts—they loved Christ.

Thus, their occupation was not anointing the deceased with fragrances. We can say much more beautiful words about them: The myrrh-bearing women were bearers of the myrrh of love for Christ. And inasmuch as they were bearers of this extraordinary, fearless, beautiful love for Christ, the Church considered it appropriate to dedicate this Sunday almost immediately after the great feast of the Resurrection of Christ, called the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women.

Why have we called the myrrh-bearing women bearers of love? There are a few amazing virtues that we can learn by looking at their relationship to the Lord. Usually when we talk about this Sunday, we underscore the significance of women, and explain the meaning of this wondrous and blessed gift that is woman. And when we immerse ourselves in the stream of modern ideology, we even get the sinful desire to demonstrate woman’s superiority over man, proceeding from the Gospel reading for this Sunday, as if emphasizing these women’s heroism, courage, love, etc. And we would fall into this trap by wishing to prove that women are higher than men, in part due to the fact that they were the first to receive the news of the Resurrection: “Rejoice!” (Matt. 28:9). Perhaps there is a bit of truth in this, but we will never understand the Gospel in this vein.

I think that the myrrh-bearing women attract our attention by other wondrous virtues. First of all, they are bearers of love, who had enormous love for Christ. They did not abandon Him when He was abandoned and left by all, including by the apostles, who knew in some measure just Who Christ was. They saw Him on Mt. Tabor, they knew that He is God, and that they must not abandon Him. They saw Him in all different situations, when Christ worked miracles and healed They saw how He spoke, and understood that no one could ever have spoken or could ever speak as Christ did. This means that the apostles had very weighty reasons why not to abandon the God-Man, their Teacher, when He needed them near Him more than ever.

And Who accompanied Him when He was being insulted, when filthy words were being flung at Him, when people mocked Him and laughed at Him, when He hung alone on the Cross? The myrrh-bearing women. When love is beautiful, authentic, and true, it never abandons a person who has been left alone. To the contrary, a person who loves is ready to follow one who has suddenly found himself alone and in grief—no matter how heavy and dangerous the context of the real circumstances is—and think nothing of it.

The myrrh-bearing women also did this amazing thing. When we meet lonely, abandoned, and unneeded people, let us also learn from the women, the bearers of this myrrh of love, and be close to them.

The words I heard in an interview on a television program with the most worthy Metropolitan Bartholomew (Anani) seared my heart for life. He was asked, “What was the most painful thing in your life?” He replied:

“The most bitter thing for me will always be that my parents died all alone, without comfort, because I was in prison and couldn’t be with them.”

So, when someone dies, you need to be there with him, not leave him alone. You need to hold his hand, stroke his forehead, speak affectionately with him, and be attentive to his every move as he departs from this life. After all, he has become so important and precious to you that you cannot leave him at his moment of death.

Death can also be emotional and spiritual when you are abandoned by all, when everyone is mocking you—deservedly or perhaps undeservedly. But there is another kind of death—loneliness. But if you have a person who truly loves you, you will not be alone.

The second excellent lesson that we can learn from the myrrh-bearing women is that when we truly love God, we receive more than we expect. For here is what love actually means: receiving something of which, as you know in the depths of your soul, you are unworthy. Love is what you will never deserve to receive! You are so unworthy in comparison with the one who loves you so beautifully and abundantly, and you know that you do not deserve to be loved with such strong love as that with which he loves you.

There have been many cases in our lives when each of us as felt conquered by the love we received. Perhaps we expected to be scolded, spat upon, but we received love instead. This is an extraordinary virtue. Why? Because such love possesses enlivening power. And love is always good and tender, and hides a delightful nobility. It never wounds.

The souls of the myrrh-bearing women were torn apart by the sorrows of Passion Friday. They went to seek Christ the crucified, Christ the mocked, Christ the spat upon and tortured… They sought this Christ from early morning in order to perform the appropriate rite over Him Whom they loved. Otherwise, they would not have dared to go out in the dark—after all, at that time there was a patriarchal mentality. Women did not have the same freedoms as they do today. But these women, these bearers of the myrrh of love, ignored all danger.

They could have thought that those guarding the grave would chase them away. But they didn’t think anything of the sort! They had only one thought: to take care of the crucified Christ. And to their great surprise and horror, as the holy evangelists write, they found the tomb empty (in fact, it wasn’t empty—it was filled with the light of Christ’s Resurrection) and they received the tidings that Christ was no longer there! The angel said to them:

“Why seek ye the Living among the dead? He is risen! Go and tell the apostles that they will meet Him in Galilee, as He told them before.”

How excellent, how wondrous is God when you love Him as these myrrh-bearing women did! They thought that they would see Christ dead, crucified on Great Friday. But to their great joy they met Christ resurrected; Him Who conquered death for our sakes and deified our human nature making it just as bright, beautiful, and filled with nobility and with His Resurrection. Only sin spoils and blackens each of us—and how horrible it is to bear the burden of sin.

When you truly love, as did these women, these bearers of the myrrh of love, God always gives you more than you deserve; more than you expect.

And the final thing that we can learn from the myrrh-bearing women, from Mary Magdalene who also goes out early in the morning and sees the grave empty. She meets Someone in the garden where the Christ’s tomb was. And she thinks He is the gardener. She asks Him from a soul darkened with pain:

“Where is the Lord? Perhaps you have taken Him from there and put Him in another place?”

And Christ answers her, but she does not recognize His voice. You see, when we love someone very much, we know every modulation and tone of his voice; these are distinguishing signs for us: “This is the person I love!” The person’s voice means so much to you that as soon as you hear it you feel at peace, and the muddy waters of your soul become clear. But Mary Magdalene did not recognize Him them. She only recognized Christ when He called her by name:

“Mary!”

And she answered with all simplicity:

“Rabboni (Teacher)!”

What can we learn from this? That every time God calls us by name, the name we received at Baptism, we are revived. In the Gospel of John it is said that the sheep know their shepherd by his voice (cf. Jn. 10). We can recognize the Shepherd by His voice only at the moment when He calls us: The Shepherd calls His sheep, He calls them to the Kingdom of God.

When God calls you by name, only then will you recognize God, as it happened with Mary Magdalene.

“And springs well up, sweetly calling us by name.”[1]

This, I think, is what we learn from the women, the bearers of the myrrh of love:

When we love, we do not abandon a person who is alone, sad, and abandoned, when he is experiencing the most acute need for help.

When we love someone very much, we receive much more than we deserve. This is what happened to the myrrh-bearing women who sought Christ as dead, but met Christ Resurrected.

The myrrh-bearing women became the first missionaries of the Risen Christ.

When God calls you, you learn to recognize Him and delve more deeply into Him.

May God help us to emulate these women, these bearers of the myrrh of love, so that each of us might become bearers of Christ’s love!

Pravoslavie.ru

Photo: stjohndc.org     

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (15:43-16:8)

Today in the life of the Church we commemorate Christ’s secret disciplesThis is an example of how people who, as we believe, deserve condemnation for their hypocrisy or cowardice turn out to be even more self-denying and courageous disciples of Christ.

“>Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus as well as the Synaxarion For the Sunday of the MyrrhbearersOn this day, the third Sunday of Pascha, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing women; and we also commemorate Joseph of Arimathæa, who was a secret disciple, and also Nicodemos, who was a disciple by night.”>myrrh bearing women.

We are told that Joseph of Arimathaea was a man who was looking for the Kingdom of God. We typically gloss over these words quickly without reflecting on what this means. What does it mean when the gospel says that he was looking for the Kingdom of God? It means that he was pious and reverent. He loved God and sought to do His will in all things, as much as it was possible to do so. His thoughts, words and actions were directed towards serving the living God in the hopes of experiencing the Kingdom promised by the prophets that had come before. Of course, he did not really understand what that entailed, but he didn’t have to. He had faith that God would keep His promises, even if the righteous Joseph didn’t fully understand what was happening or what would happen.

I often tell you that we get used to hearing these stories and a possible downside of that is that they lose their ability to surprise us if we don’t engage them and go a bit deeper. We think it is just a basic detail that Joseph took the body of Jesus down from the cross, but it wasn’t. It was a very powerful act of faith. Think of it: Jesus was crucified as a criminal and potentially an enemy of Rome, as well as an enemy of the Jews. Joseph was himself a Jew and a member of the Jewish council called the Sanhedrin. This council was the highest Jewish authority in the land at that time. They were responsible for the legislative and judicial questions. They functioned like a cross between the senate and the supreme court. We believe that this council contained 71 members. Each of the men of this council were not just average Joes but the whose who of the Jewish world in that region at that time. These men were not anonymous but well known.

I am telling you all of this to paint a picture for the personality and faith and the utter courage that Joseph of Arimathaea demonstrated in going to Pontius Pilate and asking for the body of Jesus. He had very little to gain from an earthly perspective and so much to lose. Here was Jesus the crucified one who was hated by many of the Jews and perhaps the Romans and Joseph asks for permission to take down the body and wrap it respectfully and then goes above and beyond once again by offering up his own empty tomb that was going to be saved for his eventual death, and he gives up his future final resting place to honor the body of Jesus, whom he believed to be the messiah who was supposed to usher in the Kingdom of God. But what Joseph did wasn’t hidden. Everyone would have found out about it. Everyone would have known. If there had been any questions about what Joseph believed before, they would all be gone after that. Everyone would know that he loved Jesus. And he didn’t just love Jesus, he loved Him above anything else. The Life of Saint John ChrysostomThe treasure of treatises and letters which St. John left behind, included the moving sermon that is heard at Easter Sunday services. The loss of his sermons which were not set down on paper is incalculable. Nevertheless, the immense store of his excellent literature reveals his insight, straightforwardness, and rhetorical splendour, and commands a position of the greatest respect and influence in Christian thought, rivaling that of other Fathers of the Church. His liturgy, which we respectfully chant on Sundays, is a living testimony of his greatness.

“>St. John Chrysostom says,

“This was Joseph, who had been concealing his discipleship. Now he became very bold, after the death of Christ. For neither was he an obscure person nor unnoticed. He was one of the council, and highly distinguished, and as we see, courageous. For he exposed himself to death, taking upon himself the enmity of all by his affection to Jesus. He begged for the body and did not desist until he obtained it. Not only that, but by laying it in his own new tomb, he actively demonstrated his love and courage.” The Gospel of St. Matthew, Homily 88.

I wonder if our actions in life are courageous and show that we love Jesus? Are we ashamed to appear as Christians? Do we just try to blend in all the time? Do we hide what it means to be a Christian? Do we hide the teachings of Christ and His Church in order to blend in to the crowd and not cause waves? Are we more concerned with being liked than with honoring Christ? I ask these questions because it seems clear that in every persons life, there are times when you will be forced to do one or the other. We are pretty good about surfing the waves of change and walking the tightrope between our faith and our public appearance, but we shouldn’t expect that this will always work. There may be a day when we will be forced to choose between honoring God or honoring the world. Nearly every week we read stories of the martyrs who were forced or compelled to offer sacrifices to idols. Yet they did not because their faith in Christ gave them courage. Today there are people who want you to bow down to new idols and false ideologies, whether they be colored flags, or political ideologies or artificial intelligence.

One day you’ll have a difficult decision to make about whether to honor God or honor something else. I suspect that on that day, most of us will do whatever is consistent with the preparation of our hearts. Joseph sought to do Is It True That the Will of God Is in Everything?The world lieth in evil not because God wants it, but because sin-loving man wants it.

“>God’s will, to be well-pleasing to God, to be faithful every day of his life. So on that day when he had to decide, he chose the path of integrity and faithfulness. His heart was prepared for this moment, no matter what it might cost him.

He was at risk of losing friends, influence, power and prestige. As Chrysostom says, he was even at risk of losing his life. But to Joseph, this was the right way to honor God and to show love to Jesus Christ. If this love is demonstrated by one who knew nothing of Christ’s resurrection, how much more love and faith should each of us demonstrate in light of Christ’s resurrection from the dead?

And Glory be to God forever AMEN.

St. Ives was born in Kermartin, near Tréguier, Brittany, on October 17, 1253. He was the son of Helori, the lord of Hermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. 

In 1267, Ives was sent to the University of Paris, where he studied civil law, and then in 1277, he went on to Orléans to study canon law. When he returned to Brittany, he had received minor orders, and was appointed the “official,” or ecclesiastical judge of the archdeanery of Rennes.

Ives studied Scripture extensively. Evidence suggests that he may have joined the Franciscan Tertiaries sometime after his appointment in Rennes. The bishop of Tréguier invited Ives to become his official in 1284. Ives was committed to his position, and didn’t hesitate to resist unjust taxation by the king, which he considered an encroachment on the rights of the Church. 

Ives was known as the “advocate and patron of the poor” because of his charity. When he was ordained, he was appointed to the parish of Tredrez in 1285, and eight years later to Louannee, where he died on May 19, 1303. 

St. Ives was canonized by Clement VI in 1347. He is the patron saint of lawyers. 

Joy of All Who Sorrow Icon of the Mother of God. Photo: Yuri Gripas   

My car had broken down and I couldn’t get to church to greet the Icon of the Mother of God “the Joy of All Who Sorrow”The wonderworking “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon of the Mother of God was glorified in the year 1688.

“>Joy of All Who Sorrow Icon of the Mother of God. Feeling dejected, I was watching the Liturgy online from our St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, and I wondered why the Lord allowed this to happen to me: After all, it’s my icon, it’s celebrated on my birthday. But when Metropolitan Nicholas (Olkhovsky), the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, who brought the icon, started talking about the wonderworking icon, it cleared something up in my mind. After all, I was planning to go to the other service, and then I wouldn’t have watched this one or heard the wonderful story told by the Metropolitan.

This is what Vladyka Nicholas said:

We didn’t particularly plan it, it’s out of our hands, but I believe it’s providential that this sacred treasure—the Joy of All Who Sorrow Icon of the Mother of God—is visiting our church. We brought it from the Synod of Bishops in New York. It’s a wonderworking, beautiful, salvific icon, full of prayer. The Mother of God loves us and has come to strengthen our faith as well.

The icon has its own history. In 1920, Bishop Nestor (Anisimov) opened a shelter for children, orphans, and the sick and the elderly in Harbin, and there he built a church in honor of the Joy of All Who Sorrow Mother of God. One Orthodox woman heard about it and presented Vladyka Nestor with this icon for the church. It was completely dark—nothing could be seen on it.

Time passed, and during one service, the priest noticed that the icon had begun to renew itself somewhat. It went on for an hour, two, three, and he watched. In a short period of time, less than a day, the icon completely renewed itself, and everyone saw the most pure face of the Mother of God, this wonderful image.

Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky)   

Then the icon wound up in Europe, and the ever-memorable Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky)Philaret (Voznesensky) Metropolitan

“>Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky), who himself served as an archimandrite in Harbin, was able to bring it to New York. Since 1965, this sacred icon has been kept in the lower Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in our Synod of Bishops. The icon doesn’t go anywhere; it’s always there, and you can come and pray before it.

And here we have such a wonderful miracle. It was out of our hands; it came from above: The icon is visiting us. We can look at it, and moreover, we can pray and understand that we also have darkness, blindness, and just sin inside us. But with prayer, with repentance, we can purify ourselves and remain God-enlightened Orthodox Christians. As the icon has renewed itself, so we can also renew our soul, heart, and mind, our whole life. I urge you all to strive for this.

Metropolitan Nicholas and Archpriest Victor Potapov. Photo: Yuri Gripas     

Having heard this story, I decided to ask Archpriest Seraphim GanGan, Seraphim, Archpriest

“>Archpriest Seraphim Gan, chancellor of the Synod of Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, why this icon, which is usually kept in New York, suddenly came to us so unexpectedly.

“Vladyka decided to bring the icon to comfort and strengthen the Washington flock, which, like everyone else, is fasting for Holy Week and Christ’s Pascha,” Fr. Seraphim told me.

Then Batiushka, whose grandfather, the well-known Archpriest Rostislav Gan, also served in Harbin, added some details to the story. According to him, the icon renewed itself in the 1930s, right in front of people praying at the Liturgy in the Church of the House of Mercy founded by Vladyka Nestor.

The Kamchatka representation in Harbin, 1930s. Source: Korostelyov, V. V., Orthodoxy in Manchuria, 1898-1956: Essays on History. Moscow: 2019, p. 195     

The House of Mercy was considered a representation of the Kamchatka mission, which Vladyka Nestor headed before the revolution and which he hoped to return to. Fr. Seraphim recalled that the brotherhood of the podvoriye included future hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad, namely Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) and Archbishop Nathaniel (Lvov).

“It’s interesting to note that at that time in Harbin, as in other cities of China where Russian emigrants lived, the miraculous renewal of holy icons and even frescoes in churches was happening,” said Fr. Seraphim. “These miracles strengthened the faith of the emigrants, who were experiencing all kinds of difficulties at that time. And now this icon reminds us that Heaven doesn’t abandon us, that prayer draws God’s mercy to us.”

I was already planning to write this article, but something kept making me put it off. It was planned that the icon would be going back to New York. But it turns out my story was not over yet. A few days later, I made it to our church, for another service; I wasn’t even thinking about it. I quickly venerated the icon in the center and suddenly froze in my tracks: Right before me was the Joy of All Who Sorrow Icon, the very one from Harbin, which was supposed to already be back in New York! “Mother of God, you waited for me. Thank you!” flashed through my mind.

And now I’m thinking that maybe the Lord and His Mother deliberately made it so I “unexpectedly” wound up in church on a different day, to give me such a gift and show that they love me?

The first Pope John was born in Tuscany, and served as an archdeacon for many years before being selected as pope in 523, succeeding St. Pope Hormisdas. 

During Pope John’s reign, Italy was ruled by King Theodoric, an Ostrogoth. Like many of his tribesmen, the king believed the Arian heresy that Christ was a created being rather than the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. 

In 523, Byzantine Emperor Justin I ordered Arian clergy to surrender their churches into orthodox Catholic hands. In the West, this angered Theodoric, who responded by trying to use the pope’s authority for his own means. 

Although Pope John believed in the true nature of Christ, Theodoric expected him to intercede with Justin on behalf of the Arian heretics. John’s refusal would eventually lead to his death. 

John traveled to Constantinople, where he was honored as St. Peter’s successor by Emperor Justin and the Church’s legitimate Eastern patriarchs. John crowned the emperor and celebrated the Easter liturgy at the Hagia Sophia Church in April 526. 

Theodoric was furious when he learned that John had not supported the Arians during his visit to Constantinople. The gothic king had already killed John’s friend Boethius (honored by the Church as St. Severinus Boethius). 

The pope, exhausted from his extensive travels, was imprisoned in Ravenna and deprived of food. He died around May 18, and the date became his feast day.

Karlovac, Karlovac County, Croatia, May 17, 2024

Photo: spzh.live     

The suffering hierarchs, clergy, and people of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church are new confessors for the Orthodox faith, fighting to preserve holy Orthodoxy against those who have “align[ed] themselves with dark forces from the depths of hell,” says a hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

His 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.

“The strength that the Risen Giver of Life provides us in these days is the power we invoke upon you, because today you, the Orthodox guardians of the faith, are suffering alongside the Lord and experiencing your Holy Friday every day, anticipating the Resurrection that brings life, peace, and freedom,” the hierarch writes.

Read Bp. Gerasim’s open letter:

Open Letter of Support to Our Suffering Brothers, Bishops, and the God-loving Faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Recalling the self-sacrificial love of Christ on Golgotha and joyfully celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior, by which death became life, hell turned into Paradise, fear into joy, horror into delight, and death transformed into eternal immortality, we cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering and persecution of His living Body, the Church in Ukraine. For if we believe we wish well, but remain silent in our good thoughts, then the evildoers raise their voices and, through their actions, persecute the righteous and those who love the truth!

Our thoughts and kneeling prayers are directed to the Lord due to the suffering and blatant persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where our Holy Church daily endures the blows from the persecutors of the true faith, from those who do not even hesitate to align themselves with dark forces from the depths of hell.

Undoubtedly, we have imprisoned captives in Ukraine today, new confessors of the Orthodox faith, including the Most Reverend Metropolitans: Ukrainian hierarch sentenced to 5 years in prisonA hierarch of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and the confiscation of property for various supposed crimes against the state.

“>Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav, 30th anniversary of persecuted abbot of Kiev Caves LavraThe abbot marked the occasion with a Divine Liturgy in the house church where he celebrates the services while the state continues its persecution campaign against him.”>Pavel of Vyshgorod and Abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra, UOC’s Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye placed under nighttime house arrestMet. Luke emphasized that he is being attacked for an ecclesiastical position, not for anything political, as he prays for Ukraine and its authorities and army at every service.”>Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol, Another Ukrainian hierarch hospitalized under pressure of state persecutionThe canonical hierarch spent eight months last year in round-the-clock house arrest, and is still under nighttime house arrest.”>Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kanev, 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.”>Arseny of Svyatogorsk, Persecuted Metropolitan Longin detained at checkpoint following another surgeryThe sickly and much persecuted Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny, one of the staunchest hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was subject to harassment by Ukrainian officials again this week.”>Longin of Bancheny, and many other bishops and clergymen together with their faithful and steadfast flock. All our aforementioned brothers suffer unjustly, in fabricated and utterly false judicial processes and accusations, imprisonments, physical assaults, deprivation of places of worship, and every other denial of basic human rights.

Dear suffering brothers, you stand on the side of justice and truth, as in the times of terrible persecution and suffering in the mid-20th century, Hieromartyr Sabbas (Trlaich), Bishop of Gornji KarlovacThe bishop and the priests were told that they were undesirables and that they must abandon their flocks. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zagreb, Aloysius Stepinac, openly told Vladyka that he must leave ‘Croatian’ Karlovac, otherwise he would be liquidated. Vladyka answered him: ‘Even if it costs me my head, I will not abandon my people!’ Soon it became clear that the Catholic Archbishop was not joking. Vladyka Sabbas was arrested and horribly tortured. During the tortures and beatings in Plashkom, the Ustashi used a gramophone to play the hymn, ‘As many as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ’.

“>St. Sabbas (Trlajić), the holy martyr and Bishop of Gornji Karlovac, who spoke God-inspired words still relevant today: “True peace doesn’t rest on force, but on justice. Justice comes from goodwill, not from self-will… Without faith in God, there’s no mutual love. Without love, there’s no goodwill among people. Without goodwill, there’s no justice, and without justice, there can be no true and lasting peace on earth!”

We call for justice and love and we pray to the Lord to enlighten the unreasonable persecutors of Christ and His flock, to grant peace to our Holy Church in the areas where you tirelessly serve God, to strengthen the entire fullness of the Church of Christ on His path, to fortify you and give you the strength to selflessly surrender to the Lord and persevere in your mission to preserve the faith and steadfastness in your ancestral homes. What they are doing to you today is the systematic eradication of Orthodoxy and the shameless persecution of Christ, Whom you bear witness to, confess, and love with all your heart, all your soul, and all your deeds!

The strength that the Risen Giver of Life provides us in these days is the power we invoke upon you, because today you, the Orthodox guardians of the faith, are suffering alongside the Lord and experiencing your Holy Friday every day, anticipating the Resurrection that brings life, peace, and freedom.

Continuously repeating the words of the Savior: If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (Jn. 15:20), because of you who suffer for the sake of justice, your free speech, and brave confession of faith, remain firm and unwavering, for he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Mt. 24:13).

With a kneeling prayer that the Risen Lord may pour out His grace and love on the suffering brothers and sisters in Christ, we greet you with the greeting of joy and new life, CHRIST IS RISEN!

BISHOP OF GORNJI KARLOVAC

†GERASIM

With the clergy and the God-loving faithful

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Romania, May 17, 2024

Holy Dormition Church of Argeș Monastery. Photo: Wikipedia     

Two churches in Romania that date back hundreds of years have been proposed for inclusion as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Minister of Culture Raluca Turcan announced on Wednesday that several cultural and natural monuments have been included in Romania’s tentative list, including the Three Holy Hierarchs Church in Iași and the Holy Dormition Church of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, reports the Basilica News Agency.

Other proposed sites include two castles, several former communist prisons, and a cave near the Black Sea Coast.

Three Holy Hierarchs Church in Iași. Photo: Wikipedia     

The Three Holy Hierarchs Church of the monastery of the same name in Iași was founded in 1637–1639 by Prince Vasile Lupu. Within this monastic establishment, a printing press and a college, which later became the Royal Academy, operated. In 1970, the monastery was closed, and services were held only on its feast day on January 24th. The church resumed its full liturgical life after the fall of the communist regime.

The Dormition of the Mother of God Church of Argeș Monastery was built between 1514 and 1517 at the behest of St. Neagoe Basarab, who was then the ruler of Wallachia. The church is also associated with the anonymous legend of Meșterul Manole. The Curtea de Argeș Monastery served as a model for many other churches subsequently built in Wallachia.

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