Tag: Christianity

Vinnitsa, Vinnitsa Province, Ukraine, February 19, 2024

Photo: eparhia.vn.ua     

Hundreds of Orthodox Christians, motivated by their faith in Christ, came out to pray on the street outside another church that was recently seized by the schismatics of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

On February 12, the faithful of the Church of the She Who is Quick to Hear Icon of the Mother of God in Vinnitsa held a meeting at which they expressed their loyalty to Christ in His Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev All Ukraine, specifically to try to prevent provocations, reports the Vinnitsa Diocese.

Nevertheless, soon thereafter members of the schismatic OCU cut and replaced the locks on the church and locked the Orthodox Christians out.

In response, hundreds came out on the evening of February 15, the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, to pray outside the abused church.

Under the open sky, by the gates of the church, a paraklesis to the Mother of God with the akathist to the Meeting of the Lord was prayed.

​

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Mt. Athos, February 19, 2024

Photo: Romfea     

On Thursday, February 15, Greek Parliament voted to legalize gay marriage and adoption by gay couples, making Greece the first Orthodox country to do so (though gay civil unions had already existed in Greece and a few other Orthodox countries).

The decision has caused an uproar in Greek society. Just as Church representatives continually spoke out against the bill before it was adopted, so several hierarchs have condemned the newly adopted law.

Among the Church representatives that have issued statements is Grigoriou Monastery, one of the 20 ruling monasteries on Mt. Athos. The brotherhood states unequivocally: “In the Greek Parliament, Christ is crucified again.”

Read the monastery’s complete statement:

“The rulers of the people have gathered against the Lord and against His Christ” (Orthros of Holy Friday)

In the Greek Parliament, Christ is crucified again.

The Ruler of the universe is insulted by lawless judges, save the praise worthy ones.

“The anointed of the Lord,” our baptized nation, is targeted. The forces of darkness, both foreign and domestic, are complicit in this endeavor.

The dragon was wroth against those who have the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 12:17).

Those who do not compromise with the commands of the globalists enter into great temptation. These are ancient travails.

The Church, the Synod, the clergy, and the people spoke out, raising their voice to the heavens: “It’s a crime!” But it falls on deaf rulers’ ears.

A day of abhorrence. The Fall of Constantinople pales in comparison; and even the deprivation of our homelands. Yet, there is an eye of justice.

The heavy consequences now fall on our own shoulders, and those of our children. The elderly, the young, and the unborn, we will all bear them. Especially for the innocent children, for whom the most shameful child abuse is being prepared.

Everything that has been legislated against God was presented as social progress: adultery, and abortion, and automatic divorce.

Now, “homosexual marriage” will accelerate this “progress.” We are falling lower and lower. We are swept into anthropocentrism, into idolatry.

For convenience, and with ease. Ionesco was absolutely right. In Paris, one after another they became rhinoceroses. Only one resisted, saying: “I will remain human.”

We knew and lived through the horrors of Soviet atheism. Now we’re enduring the horrors of the “white demonism” (St. Nikolai of Ohrid).

But let us take courage. Christ said, I have overcome the world. The Church remains forever.

It remains to annul the law in practice. To support our children in virtue and modesty. And that will be something magnificent.

Let us stay with Christ. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God (Ps. 20:7). Prayer is our strength.

The Church, after all, must take refuge in the “desert.” Whatever that prophetic desert may be. However, far from colluding with sinful legislation and lawless legislators.

Let us not be affected by the fear of poverty, social and psychological isolation. The Light of the Resurrection accompanies us.

In similar situations, our Holy Fathers triumphed with their courage. They preferred the labor of virtue, and, when necessary, exile, tribulation, deprivation.

Whether it concerned heretical doctrines or anti-evangelical morals.

In Babylon, the Three Youths were not concerned with their welfare, but rather endurance in the furnace.

The Patriarch in Constantinople during Julian the Apostate, recommended kollyva instead of the idol sacrifices imposed on the market.

A symbol of voluntary poverty, for the sake of Christ. To keep our conscience clean, unaffected by temptations.

Victory belongs to the slain Lamb. Ultimately, the crucified Christ will triumph, and those of us who are Christ’s, crucified with Him.

He expects us to follow Him. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing (2 Cor. 6:17), so that He might remain in our lives.

The Triodion opens in a few days; Great Lent is near. The life of repentance is neither folklore not a show of piety.

It is the practical and heartfelt distancing from all iniquity. Because the Resurrection awaits us!

Statements were previously issued Mt. Athos: We are opposed to any form of marriage that contradicts the GospelAmidst the controversy surrounding the Greek government’s proposal to legalize gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, the Holy Mountain has raised its voice.

“>by the Sacred Community of Mt. Athos, which consists of one representative of each of the 20 ruling monasteries, later by the Mt. Athos: We are opposed to any form of marriage that contradicts the GospelAmidst the controversy surrounding the Greek government’s proposal to legalize gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, the Holy Mountain has raised its voice.”>Sacred Community together with the monastery abbots.

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St. Conrad was born into a noble family in northern Italy, and married Euphrosyne, the daughter of a nobleman.

While he was out hunting one day, Conrad ordered his attendants to build a fire. The wind caught the flames, and spread them to nearby fields, forests, towns, and villages. Conrad and his men ran in fear, and an innocent man was convicted and sentenced to death for setting the fire.

When he found out, Conrad publicly took the blame, and saved the man’s life. He paid for all the damaged property, and he and his wife gave everything they had to the poor as restitution. He then joined a group of Franciscan hermits, and his wife joined the Poor Clares.

Conrad became known for his holiness and his gift of healing. Although he tried to live as a hermit, he received many visitors hoping to experience his holiness.He moved to Sicily and lived there as a hermit for 36 years.

According to legend, the Bishop of Syracuse visited Conrad and asked him if he had any food to offer his guests. Conrad went to his cell, and returned with freshly made cakes. The bishop accepted this as a miracle. Conrad visited him later to make a confession, and when he arrived, he was surrounded by fluttering birds.

St. Conrad died kneeling before a crucifix.

St. Simon is a relative of Jesus’, possibly a first cousin. He is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, and is listed as one of the brethren of Christ in Acts, present at the birth of the Church on the first Pentecost.

Simon was also reported to be at the martyrdom of St. James the Lesser, and was chosen to succeed James as the bishop of Jerusalem. In the year 66, before the city fell to the Romans, Christians received a divine warning. Simon led them to relocate at nearby Pella.

After Jerusalem was destroyed, Simon led the Christians back to the city. Under his leadership, they performed miracles and converted many.

St. Simon was eventually arrested and tortured for being Jewish and a Christian. He was crucified and died a martyr for the Church.

The Vatican’s decision to allow varying implementations of its recent document on blessings for people in irregular and same-sex unions is part of a “great move toward decentralization” in the Catholic Church amid the ongoing Synod on Synodality, said Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego.

“We have witnessed the reality that bishops of various parts of the world have made rapidly divergent decisions about the acceptability of such blessings in their countries, based substantially on cultural and pastoral factors, as well as neocolonialism,” said McElroy in a talk delivered at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Feb. 16.

McElroy, who was served as delegate in last October’s month long Synod gathering, was referring to Fiducia Supplicans (“Supplicating Trust”), the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Dec. 2023 document outlining the possibility of informal, non-liturgical blessings for Catholics in irregular or same-sex relationships.

Such decentralization, McElroy said, must not “obscure” the “rigorous obligation” of the Church everywhere to protect “LGBT persons” and accompany those who are divorced and remarried without an annulment.

While McElroy did not mention the continent by name, the most notable global reaction to Fiducia Supplicans was a public statement from bishops’ conferences across Africa, approved by Pope Francis, declaring that it would not be “appropriate” to carry out the blessings outlined in Fiducia in Africa due to cultural differences.

In his remarks at LA Congress, the 70-year-old cardinal acknowledged that “it is wholly legitimate for a priest to personally decline to perform the blessings outlined in Fiducia, because he believes that to do so will undermine the strength of that union.”

But McElroy also blamed opposition to such blessings on “an enduring animus among far too many towards LGBT persons.”

It is “distressing,” the prelate said, that opposition to Fiducia has focused “overwhelmingly on blessing those in same-sex relationships” compared to people in heterosexual relationships that might also be considered sinful.

As a papally appointed synod delegate, McElroy will participate in the second part of the synodal assembly in Rome, set for later this year in October. At last year’s session, he said, most participants agreed it was time for a “paradigm shift” in giving women more decision-making roles and responsibilities in the Church, resulting in a proposal labeled as “urgent” in the meeting’s synthesis document. 

In another LA Congress talk on synodality in the Church later that afternoon, Sister Teresa Maya, CCVI, said she was surprised to hear similar proposals from the different reports that emerged during the synod.

“I never thought I would read [these statements] in my lifetime,” said Maya, a theologian and former head of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). “Something is shifting.”

The Sister of Charity of the Word Incarnate credited the fact that some women were included in roundtable discussions with bishops and laypeople, and allowed to vote at last year’s gathering in Rome. 

“I thought the fact that women were sitting at those tables made a difference,” she said to applause.

Today the Church honors the seven founders of the Order of Servites.

These seven men, Buonfiglio dei Monaldi (Bonfilius), Giovanni di Buonagiunta (Bonajuncta), Amadeus of the Amidei (Bartolomeus), Ricovero dei Lippi-Ugguccioni (Hugh), Benedetto dell’ Antella (Manettus), Gherardino di Sostegno (Sostene), and Alessio de’ Falconieri (Alexius), were born in Florence, Italy. They lived as hermits on Monte Senario, and were devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On Friday, April 13, 1240, the hermits received a vision of Mary. She held a black habit in her hand, and a nearby angel held a scroll that read “Servants of Mary.”

Mary told the men: “You will found a new order, and you will be my witnesses throughout the world. This is your name: Servants of Mary. This is your rule: that of St. Augustine. And here is your distinctive sign: the black scapular, in memory of my sufferings.”

The men did as Mary had told them. They wrote a rule based on St. Augustine and the Dominican Constitutions, adopted the black habit of the Augustinian monk, and lived as mendicant friars.

In 1304, the Order of Servites received the approval of the Holy See.

The Church remembers these men on Feb. 17 because that is said to have been the date of death of one of the founders, St. Alexis Falconieri, in 1310.

Pope Clement XI beatified the men on Dec. 1, 1717, and Pope Leo XIII canonized them in 1887.

On Miracles and DarwinIf everything comes down to blind, random evolutionism, then the problem of ancestral sin disappears. The need for salvation and for the Savior also disappears, which means that the Resurrection and the phenomenon of holiness are eliminated.

“>On Miracles and Darwin

And God Created Man in His Own Image. Mosaic of the Cappella Palatina. Palermo, Italy Spiritual knowledge is far superior to scientific knowledge as it leads us to the Truth. If it were true that man evolved from apes, Christ would have said to St. Paisios:

“I created you from an ape to humble you.”

God did not do this. If we assume that God accidentally chose only two chimpanzees, apes, or hominids out of hundreds of thousands and gave them an immortal soul in His image and likeness, then we would implicitly consider God extremely unjust. He would be a tyrant if he denied hundreds of thousands of hominids (except two) the sublime gift of theosis, which would not be consistent with His love. After all, animals have no freedom to choose.

God created man as a new being, not one produced from an animal, even if He used the same matter—earth—and the same principles of creation and design. A special act was required for this. Even if God used the same principles, man is fundamentally different. Through man, God manifests Himself in the world in a special way, by means of the intensity of His grace, which animals do not have, and particularly by His incarnation. This is the most important thing. God had to create man as a new being for this reason, as animals are unable to attain human reason. And when I say “reason”, it mysteriously applies to the body as well.

In addition, the “garments of skin”—that is, an animal body, which far from God, were given to our ancestors after they had fallen into sin through disobedience. Before the fall people had bodies similar those of the angels, to quote Sts. St. Gregory the Bishop of NyssaSaint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, was a younger brother of Saint Basil the Great. His birth and upbringing came at a time when the Arian disputes were at their height.

“>Gregory of Nyssa, St. Maximus the ConfessorSaint Maximus the Confessor was born in Constantinople around 580 and raised in a pious Christian family.”>Maximus the Confessor and Saint John of DamascusSaint John of Damascus was born about the year 680 at Damascus, Syria into a Christian family. His father, Sergius Mansur, was a treasurer at the court of the Caliph.”>John of Damascus. In other words, the human body was once spiritual and immortal, but after the fall it became biological, “animal”, corruptible, and mortal. The Scriptures and the Holy Fathers, who were personally enlightened by God and had knowledge far superior to science, said this. Spiritual science has been shown to be superior to modern science in many cases, which focuses on the immanent.

God, Science and error

There are many cases of errors in science, both intentional and unintentional, because mortal man is not immune from mistakes. However, in divine revelation, there are no errors. You should know that the saints were enlightened by God, and even if they might not have comprehensive knowledge of problems unrelated to salvation, scientific or other problems, then Divine Providence enlightened them in problems related to human salvation, and the Church recognized them as reliable. This is because the Church is concerned with the salvation of man. And the problem of human origins is strictly related to human salvation.

I personally know of two cases in the Church today that I still cannot define. In the first instance, a person had problems with the devil because he had unknowingly agreed with so-called Christian evolutionism, which accepts the possibility of man’s evolution from animals. In the second instance, a monk who had previously had the gift of unceasing prayer could no longer pray, because he had the thought: “Well, what if it [evolutionism] is true?” The thought of species evolving from one to another caused him to freeze in a state of demonic stupor, and prayer stopped in his heart. He was unable to do anything with himself until he chased away the thought.

In fact, brethren, Holy Mount Athos and all the saints, both modern and ancient, have opposed evolutionism, including the theistic version that acknowledges Divine intervention in Creation. That is, they are against evolution from one species to another. Some confessors of the faith languished in Communist prisons for this, and the Communists were unable to refute their position. Of course, they were tortured, but that’s another subject.

One of these was a very famous theologian who, at a public meeting, after lengthy calculations by Communists who tried to prove that man evolved from apes, was asked in an insulting and derogatory manner:

“Well, what do you say now, comrade?”

The theologian replied calmly, saying something along the lines of:

“Those who believe that their mother is an ape have an ape as their mother, and those who believe that their Father is God have God as their Father.”

And since we are talking about theology, I don’t know if you are aware that there is a canon from a very important Council, the Council of Carthage, which states:

“Whosoever says that Adam, the first man, was created mortal, so that whether he had sinned or not, he would have died in body—that is, he would have gone forth of the body, not because his sin merited this, but by natural necessity, let him be anathema.”

No one, brethren, wants to go against the holy canons and the experience of the Holy Fathers just to say that we as the eternal image of God evolved from generations of mortal hominids. Because evolutionism presupposes death. The mortal body presupposes death. Man was surely immortal before the fall.

The arguments of science are generally the deductions of learned men, based on what we observe today. They themselves say that these are theories. Sometimes they have no serious theories at all, only experiments. For example, experiments explaining why African pygmies are so short. This is an example.

The Truth is a Person

These are mysteries. Even for believers, much of this world is a mystery. The Risen Christ is most important, as only He can lead us out of the horror of loneliness and insecurity, and the chaotic monotony of meaninglessness. He is the Truth. The Truth is a Person, and absolutely compatible, capable of interpenetration, of full perichoresis [see below], for which man craves and which is in fact a Paradisiacal state.

The truth of interpenetration, global Adam and human perichoresis must be explained as it is essential for finding the truth. There is a clear difference between us and animals, although I have already explained in older videos what this means.

Perichoresis and Creation

Unlike the rest of Creation, which was created by command, at the creation of man all the Persons of the Holy Trinity held counsel and took part in the creation of man when God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Gen. 1:26). You see that the plural is used in relation to God, whereas the singular is used in relation to man: Let us make man (singular) in Our image (plural).

The Holy Scripture continues to use the same disagreement between the singular and the plural, stating: So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them (Gen. 1:27). This disagreement, which may seem strange at first glance, is actually very accurate. Why?

What do we know about God? We know that God is one in three Persons. These Persons are so closely connected to each other that They make one God. This is called perichoresis in theology—the indwelling relationship of the Persons.

There is no image in the material world that would precisely describe this spiritual reality. However, it is possible to imagine three beams of light interpenetrating each other, forming one new beam. There are three of them, and yet it is one. You can imagine three sounds produced by three different musical instruments. There are three of them, but the music is one.

Since one God in three Persons created man in His Own image and likeness, it means that God created a single man in His image and likeness, consisting of many personalities of two sexes—male and female. This means that God did not create eight billion people currently living on earth. God created one giant mind in His image, in which all these personalities will be inter-penetrable so that they may know each other’s thoughts, share experiences with one another and all of them, each preserving its uniqueness, may work together as one common mind in order to attain a single common goal, which is theosis, the eternal perfection of the person. That’s the aim, you see.

You can imagine how this synergy takes place by looking at how the parts of the body work together, consciously and in full natural coordination. You can see that I am now talking, breathing, keeping my balance, and all of this is in natural coordination. All parts of my body are cooperating for one purpose—to try to speak to you and help you with God’s help.

Thus, when the holy Apostle Paul spoke several times about the Church as a body with many different parts, of which Christ is the Head, it was not a metaphor or a figure of speech. He spoke about a tangible reality. Unfortunately, we no longer live in this reality today, as we are separated by sin. As a result of the catastrophe of sin, one Adam fell and split into composite personalities. The one mirror of one God fell and was shattered into smithereens. This is the fall of Adam.

On the gift of reading minds

Yes, brethren, the gift of reading minds is a natural gift that was lost after Adam’s fall. Once someone draws closer to God, this gift appears within him. For example, St. Joseph the Hesychast—he would be sitting at a table with his disciple and at some point begin to cry, saying:

“Now the soul needs prayer and help.”

St. Ephraim of Katounakia possessed the gift of clairvoyance as well. A young man once battled with thoughts about whether St. Ephraim had a particular gift or not. Driven by these thoughts, he found out where the elder’s cell was and decided to go there and ask the elder if he was clairvoyant or not. Of course, he did not tell anyone about his inner struggle, because he was ashamed. The elder was already waiting for the young man at the gate of his cell. He asked him, either jokingly or angrily:

“What is it to you if I’m clairvoyant or not?”

You see? But, of course, the most famous possessors of this grace-filled gift on Holy Mount Athos were Sts. St. Paisios the AthonitePaisios the Athonite, St.

“>Paisios and Elder Porphyrios ( Bairaktaris), a Short BiographyOn November 23, 2013, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the resolution to canonize Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) of Kafsokalivia. His commemoration date is December 2, on which OrthoChristian.com will post more on the elder’s teachings.On November 23, 2013, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the resolution to canonize Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) of Kafsokalivia.”>Porphyrios are associated with too many cases of clairvoyance to tell about them all here. Whole books have been written about them, and I personally know quite a few such cases, which I have heard about from people who have experienced them.

In fact, Christ came to do this—to reunite one global Adam, to assemble him from his fragments, from composite personalities. Christ tells us:

“Well, okay, you have sinned, broken away, and that is why you suffer. Let’s restore everything! Those of you who want can unite with Me and through Me with one another.”

Do you understand? This is salvation, brethren. This is Paradise. It is the revival of global Adam through the unity of love and the interpenetration of personalities in the image and likeness of the most blessed, eternal and loving God.

Conclusions

This is the truth, this is humility—to be conscious of the fact that each one of us is only an infinitesimally small cell of this cosmic body of global Adam, of which Christ is the Head. If we live by ourselves and break away from the body, we rot, suffer, and are worthless. You can see that in the example of the body. When a part is removed, it begins to rot, loses its value, and is discarded. Brethren, we are nobody on our own. When we are united with Christ, we become children of God and are transformed into beings that are omnipotent, omniscient, blessed, and eternal. We only need to want it and try to put it into practice.

When we said at the beginning that humility is accepting the truth as it is, and not as we would like it to be, I meant exactly that. This is a mystery—the experience of full unity with Christ and unity, interpenetration with the personalities of the other people, and for this reason humility cannot be described, as St. John Climacus said. It must be experienced.

No species of ape or other animal has access to this existential level or has this purpose in life. Our drama is that, although we did not evolve from apes, our civilization is moving in that direction. And if we accept this truth for what it is, it is humility as well.

May the Good God help us fulfill our mission, brethren!

Thank you for so kindly staying with me for so long!

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Nigeria has witnessed the bloodiest year of Islamist attacks against Christians in 2023, with more than 8,000 killed, according to a new report by the Catholic-inspired NGO, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety).

The report published Feb. 14 – which was Ash Wednesday – gives harrowing details of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria.

“The combined forces of the Government protected Islamic Jihadists and the country’s Security Forces (NSFc) are directly and vicariously accountable for hacking to death in 2023 of no fewer than 8,222 defenseless Christians – covering a period of 13 months or Jan (2023) -Jan (2024),” said the report, signed among others by the Director of Intersociety, Emeka Umeaglalasi.

The killings, according to the report, were carried out by a broad range of actors, including Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies with 500 deaths, Jihadist Fulani Bandits with 1,600 deaths and “Islamic-inspired” security forces with 1000 Christian deaths.

It said the January 2023 to January 2024 killings marked “the deadliest in recent years,” and blamed the woeful failure of the Nigerian government and the security forces for failing to “rise to the occasion.”

But the killings over the past year are part of a long-standing war against Christians, dating back to 2009 when Boko Haram started its murderous campaign in Africa’s most populous nation.

“Nigeria has become the second deadliest Genocide-Country in the world accounting for more than 150,000 religiously motivated defenseless civilian deaths since 2009,” the report states.

It says about 100,000 Christians were among the 150,000 killed while moderate Muslims accounted for about 46,000, and members of other religions accounted for the remaining 4,000 defenseless civilian deaths.

The report says the death toll in Nigeria is surpassed only by the numbers in Syria, which has been embroiled in a devastating civil war since 2011 with civilian deaths of 306,000 out of about 21.5 million citizens.

According to the report, the systematic murder of Christians in Nigeria amounts to “a silent genocide,” highlighting the absence of media coverage and the indifference of the global community.

The report also states that the killings and the related horrific and atrocious violence against people or groups and their properties based on ethnic and religious factors resulted in the destruction of tens of thousands of homes of civilians, more than 18,500 Christian places of worship, 1000 religious shrines and 2,500 Christian/Traditional education centers. During the same period, over 59,000 square kilometers of land that belonged to native Christians and non-Muslims were taken over and their inhabitants displaced and expelled.

The report cites both national and international sources to state that the Boko Haram group and its affiliates were responsible for the kidnapping and disappearance of at least 22,500 mostly unarmed Christians between 2009 and 2014, during which time they also recklessly demolished or set fire to 13,000 churches and 1,500 Christian schools, and compelled over 1.3 million others to leave to avoid being killed or coerced into Islam.

“Between 2016 and 2023; a period of eight years, more than 30,000 defenseless civilians were abducted by Islamic Jihadists and, some say, “Islamic-inspired” security forces in Nigeria,” the report states.

According to the International Alliance against Genocide, Nigeria is listed among fourteen ongoing genocides in the world.

Umeagbalasi told Crux that the Muhammadu Buhari government (2015-2023) and even the Bola Tinubu government – which went into office in 2023 – as well as the Nigerian security forces have been complicit in the killing of Christians in Nigeria.

“This government is not different from the Buhari government,” he said.

The report makes the point even more forcefully.

“The most shocking of it all is that the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen operate freely and unchallenged with impunity and reckless abandon; with the Nigerian Security Forces (NSFs), widely accused of being ‘Islamic-inspired,’ turning blind eyes or looking the other side; except when it comes to protection of Fulani cows and their herders; or arresting members of the victim communities and their leaders; labeling them “bandits,” the report says.

Emeka said there is a “silent genocide” going on in Nigeria.

“If you look at the definition of genocide, then you find out that genocide is already going on in Nigeria: Anti-Christian genocide,” he told Crux.

Gender Theory: Science or Ideology?The modern-day comprehensive education programs for younger generation that teach that children have the right to sexual knowledge and pleasure are based on these pseudo-scientific experiments and speculations.

“>Part 1. Gender Theory: Science or Ideology?

    

Teaching of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) results in a dramatic increase in the number of children and youths opting to change their biological gender. In 2017, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported that over the past five years the number of children applying to sexual identity clinics quadrupled among those aged 3–10 and sextupled for children and youths aged 3–18. Compared to 2009, this represents a twenty-fivefold increase. Moreover, when compared to 1997, when the early sexuality education program was initially integrated into the curriculum materials, the surge appears even more substantial.¹ This increased demand created a huge market for plastic surgeons and turned these types of surgeries into an exceedingly lucrative business.

Chris McGovern, former advisor to the Department of Education of Great Britain, says, “This has become an industry. People are making a career out of encouraging children to question their gender at an age when they need to be allowed to be children.”’

Joanna Williams, a university professor and an author of Women vs. Feminism, believes that feminists are trying to change the gender-related policies in schools and that sometimes children are being forced to “unlearn” the difference between boys and girls.

Feminists are forcing children to “unlearn” the difference between boys and girls

“Research suggests that only one percent of the population experiences gender issues. Although the number of transgender children is small, it is growing rapidly. Encouraged by their experiences at school, children are beginning to question their gender identity at ever younger ages.”

Joanna Williams adds that the growing number of children referred to gender-related consultations (and, consequently, to sex change clinics) is caused by the new policies adopted in schools that “encourage even the youngest children to question whether they are really a boy or a girl.”²

Before undergoing the final sex change surgery, children are required to go through four phases.

1. Children aged 3 and up may be referred to the Gender Identity Development Service by their family doctor or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services;

2. Before reaching adolescence (at the age of eleven), the patient might receive prescriptions for hormone blockers, even though the full extent of the psychological effects of these medications and their impact on the brain is unclear.

3. The third phase begins at sixteen, when estrogen or testosterone is prescribed after the patient has been taking hormone blockers for a minimum of twelve months.

4. The last phase is the sex change surgery.

Some known side effects of hormonal therapy are listed below.

When transitioning from male to female, potential side effects may include infertility, vision issues, decreased libido, susceptibility to gall bladder disorders, increased risk of deep vein thrombosis, heightened risk of pulmonary embolism, susceptibility to depression, frequent mood swings, and other conditions.

Transitioning from female to male is linked to such side effects as susceptibility to type II diabetes and cardiovascular disorders, liver damage, liver cancer, weight gain, polycystic ovary syndrome, increased risk of endometrial cancer, and others.³

The fourth phase involves irreversible mutilation of the body! Boys are subjected to emasculation (amputation of genitals), while girls undergo mastectomy and hysterectomy (removal of breasts and uterus).⁴ As a result, young people can become permanently disabled, not only losing the ability to procreate but, as observed in practice, also experiencing the deprivation of any sexual pleasure. (It is ironic that feminists protesting against female circumcision in Islam, advocate for transgender programs that involve far crueller mutilations of people of both genders!)

Young people can become permanently disabled, losing the ability to procreate

This information is presented in the trailer for a short documentary (the link is provided in the Sex Change Problems note) that depicts the lives of teenagers who underwent hormone therapy and sex change surgery in the USA. In the documentary, they talk about their concerns, disillusionments and problems that led to their decision to revert to their biological gender, even though they understand that something has been irreversibly lost. The documentary, produced by Family Watch International in collaboration with the American College of Pediatricians, includes testimonies of parents, sexologists, pediatricians, endocrinologists, psychiatrists, surgeons, therapists, and other specialists.⁵

Dr. Michelle Cretella, the President of the American College of Pediatricians, maintains a very firm stance.

“So transgender ideology—yes, it’s child abuse because we are gaslighting our children. And now that they’re thoroughly confused, they will think that they really are the opposite sex and will be sent down a medical pathway. As they approach puberty, they will be put on puberty blockers and then on cross-sex hormones. That combination will permanently sterilize most, if not all, of those children and also put them at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and various cancers. If girls have been on testosterone, which is their sex change hormone, for a full-year, by age sixteen they can get a double mastectomy. So, gaslighting, pubertal castration and surgical mutilation: It’s institutionalized child abuse.”⁶

Later all these young people become members of the LGBT community! However, a great number of research papers indicate that the risk of psychiatric disorders, suicidal behaviors (resulting in suicide), alcohol and drug addiction, various types of cancer and other serious diseases is on average 4–5 times higher than in the heterosexual segment of population.⁷

The United Nations (UN) frequently uses paid lobbyists from high-budget corporations to promote adoption of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in the national legislation of its member countries.⁸ Paid “sexual and reproductive health services” may include sexual-health-related consultations, family planning, testing and treatment of STDs, as well as prevention and treatment of AIDS. This also includes related pharmaceutical products, vaccines, contraceptives, abortions, and other related services. Early sexualization of children through Comprehensive Sexuality Education may create lifelong clients who will be paying for these products and services all their lives. That is why this is a serious multi-billion-dollar business.

Sexualization of children through Comprehensive Sexuality Education is a serious multi-billion-dollar business

The severity of the problem compelled the European Center for Law and Justice to conduct a thorough investigation. Based on this investigation, a report was issued in early 2021 detailing the financial involvements and connections between the experts of the UN Human Rights Council and several private organizations. The main conclusion of the report is that private foundations are directly financing UN experts to develop programs aligned with the foundations’ interests. These programs are subsequently promoted as independent recommendations of the UN and used by governments and international courts to support or justify their decisions. This is a violation of the rules for adoption of the resolutions of the Human Rights Council and a blatant breach of the experts’ code of conduct, as the experts are supposed to be independent from both governments and private foundations. George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and associated entities rank among the most generous sponsors of the UN experts.⁹

The documentary The War on Children reveals shocking facts about various programs, strategies and guidelines implemented by UN and its divisions under the guise of improving sex education to foster greater tolerance to the idea that children are “taught” how to “change their gender”, achieve “sexual pleasure with same-sex partners, inanimate objects, animals, and non-consenting persons.”

A brochure Healthy, Happy and Hot explicitly informs HIV-infected young people that they can engage in sexual activities without notifying the partners about their HIV status and without using contraceptives!”¹⁰

All of this makes it very difficult for the supporters of Comprehensive Sexuality Education to convince us that this program does not sexualize children and is only geared towards reduction of teen pregnancies and STDs. In reality, the Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs go far beyond the “academic presentation of life facts”. Rather than simply providing information, the primary goal appears to be influencing and shaping opinions, behavior and decisions of young people concerning their sexuality and sexual identity. Furthermore, this form of education ingrains high-risk sexual behavior in children from a very young age, potentially resulting in severe physical and mental harm later in life!

Can parents object to the implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools or stop their children from changing their gender because they are too young to make such a decision? It turns out that they cannot, if the legislation regarding the CSE has already been enacted in their country! In Germany, parents who refuse to allow their children to attend the Comprehensive Sexuality Education classes are first fined and then imprisoned.¹¹ In Great Britain, parents who oppose their children’s decision to undergo sex-change surgery, are simply deprived of their parental rights!¹²

In Germany, parents who refuse to allow their children to attend the Comprehensive Sexuality Education classes are first fined and then imprisoned

In certain countries, such as Canada, the situation is dire. Parents there are prohibited from disclosing their children’s situations to the media, and all such publications are forcibly withdrawn or removed by the police. Rob Hoogland, father of a fourteen-year-old girl, decided to talk to a local radio journalist Alexandra Gerson about his struggle with the authorities to protect his child from physical and mental harm.

“Court injunctions,” as reported in the article about this case, “have silenced all mass media in Canada, as a result no paper or electronic media is currently covering the story. Other than Gerson who spoke about Hoogland’s arrest in the blog of an American journalist, only American publications have been covering the story in the past few days…

“After Rob Hoogland gave several interviews to Canadian bloggers, the Supreme Court of British Columbia convened last Thursday. Judge Michael Tayman ruled that all records quoting the father be removed from social media. One of the bloggers, Laura-Lynn Thompson, declined to remove her publication and was visited by the police, who had an order to locate the recording equipment and personally remove the video clip.”¹³

We came across this particular case by chance, as Canadian authorities do not permit any investigation to ascertain the actual number of similar cases! Such a media blackout, however, creates a dangerous precedent, as parents fighting against the arbitrary actions of social services concerning their children can vanish in prisons (or who knows where!) and nobody in or outside the country will know anything about their fate!

Another law has been proposed in Canada, which, if passed, will criminalize any efforts involving therapeutic or Christian spiritual counseling for young people that assists them in overcoming uncertainty regarding their sexual identity and accepting the reality of their biological gender! Individuals violating this law will face severe penalties, including fines and imprisonment for up to five years.¹⁴ It’s anticipated that similar measures will soon extend to the entirety of the liberal and democratic West. According to one of the authors, “So, the people who fervently advocate the freedom of choice regarding gender and sexual orientation and identity exhibit zero tolerance for those seeking to return to heterosexuality!”

In other words, the situation is beginning to take on the characteristics of Satanism!

Meanwhile, it was announced in the USA in 2016 that dozens of social genders existed and failure to comply with the regulations establishing the correct pronouns when addressing such individuals would result in a substantial fine of $250,000!¹⁵ Luckily, soon the Republicans led by President Donald Trump came into power, and prevented the practical implementation of this regulation. However, as soon as the Democrats returned to power, things got back to the way they were and negative changes continued at full throttle. In early 2021, the House of Representatives (the lower chamber of Congress) adopted amendments to the 1964 Equality Act that allow children aged fourteen and above to change their gender without their parents’ consent. This act will be reviewed in Senate (upper chamber), where the amendments will probably be passed without any difficulties, since both chambers of Congress are dominated by the liberal and globalist Democratic Party. The updated act will become effective as soon as President Joe Biden ratifies it, and he said that he is definitely going to sign it.

Religious schools will be subject to sanctions if they adhere to traditional teaching based on biology and the Bible

When this act is adopted, federal civil rights legislation will include such terminology as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. Under the Equality Act, religious schools, adoption centers and other charity organizations will be subject to federal sanctions if they adhere to traditional teaching about sex and marriage based on biology and the Bible or genetics and the Book of Genesis. Both religious and atheist doctors will be in breach of civil rights laws if their expert opinion suggests that sex change is unnecessary. Moreover, refusal to perform an abortion will be considered “pregnancy discrimination”.¹⁶

Given the longstanding extraterritoriality practices of the United States (imposing their country’s laws worldwide), it’s likely that U.S. ambassadors, including the one in Sofia [Bulgaria], may try to introduce similar amendments in all countries under the U.S. influence.

Who promotes, funds and profits from the criminal Comprehensive Sexuality Education industry?

Internationally recognized expert and child psychiatrist Dr. Miriam Grossman posed the following rhetoric question during one of her speeches at the UN.

“Who came up with the notion that it’s necessary to teach the world’s children about high-risk sex acts their parents never heard of? The usual suspects: Planned Parenthood, and the Sexuality Education and Information Council of the United States (SEICUS). These groups portray themselves as guardians of our children’s health; they claim to provide students with all the information and skills they need to make smart choices. Their curricula, they declare, are comprehensive, age appropriate, ideologically neutral, and medically accurate. I’ve discovered that the vision of these two groups is not sexual health. It is sexual freedom. These large and powerful organizations believe in sexuality that extends from cradle to grave. They tacitly endorse early sexual activity and multiple partners as well as sexual experimentation, which are the very behaviors that fuel the epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, abortion and emotional distress… One of the learning objectives [of sexuality education] is to “change social norms.” They envision a world without sexual taboos and restrictions—a world free of Judeo/Christian morality where each individual, regardless of age, should be free to make his or her own sexual choices”.¹⁷

The vision of these two groups is not sexual health. It is sexual freedom

How were these two organizations formed? In 1942 c, a racist, known for her support of eugenics and German Nazism, founded Planned Parenthood¹⁸ in the United States. Over time the organization expanded globally and evolved into the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Mary Calderone, an ardent advocate of Alfred Kinsey’s ideas, was appointed the Medical Director. In 1964, Hugh Hefner, the publisher of the Playboy magazine, provided Mary Calderone with funding specifically allocated for their joint project entitled the Sexuality Education and Information Council of the United States (SEICUS).¹⁹

After a while, IPPF and SIECUS gained recognition in the United Nations Organization, skillfully leveraging this status to become the world leaders in development and promotion of comprehensive sexuality education programs. These programs included the controversial philosophical experiments of the Kinsey Institute. Currently, their partners include a number of UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNFPA as well as many other institutions!²⁰

In 2014—2015, The Center for Medical Progress uncovered Planned Parenthood’s involvement in a significant international scandal, which became the subject of investigation by a parliamentary questionnaire commission. The scandal was centered around hidden-camera videos shot by activists that unambiguously demonstrated that for many years, Planned Parenthood had been involved in racially-motivated abortions, false advertisement, selling aborted embryo organs, covering up sexual abuse of minors, protection of sex traffickers, concealing cases of pedophilia, providing amoral consultations to children, and many other unethical activities.²¹

Even though Planned Parenthood could not refute the authenticity of the incriminating video clips, they are trying to sweep the most shocking details under the carpet. Specifically, they are trying to hide the fact that the organization has been turned into an abortion factory selling the organs of unborn babies and that its management and employees are profiting from it! The latter exposes a questionable morality behind the organization’s attempt to persuade women to undergo abortions. According to the organization’s own records, it facilitated 327,653 terminated pregnancies in 2013–2014!²²

Planned Parenthood has been turned into an abortion factory selling the organs of unborn babies

However, a year and a half later, the Center for Medical Progress discovered that no action had been taken against Planned Parenthood. In fact, the organization had entered into contracts for the sale of aborted babies’ organs for years to come. In other words, Planned Parenthood needs a steady stream of pregnant women whose unborn babies will have to be killed so that the organization can fulfil its contractual obligations. For example, this type of a contract was in place with Stem Express laboratory. The laboratory that paid Planned Parenthood approximately one million dollars annually for abortions in order to receive lungs, brains and other body parts of aborted babies.

Despite the discovered evidence, the government of President Barack Obama continued financing Planned Parenthood, allocating a gigantic amount through government grants that exceeded 500 million dollars per year. This does not include additional “financial injections” received from a number of powerful international corporations. A fellow democrat Hilary Clinton, then presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, had stated on many occasions that if she won the elections, she would unequivocally support the organization and all abortion clinics.²³

During the court proceedings, the undercover journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who had made the compromising videos using a hidden camera, were indicted on fourteen counts related to recording confidential information without consent! The underhanded court order was executed upon the direct request of then-California Senator Kamala Harris, the current Vice President of the United States. An article in the Washington Examiner (see note at the end of this paragraph) states that she has “dirty political dealings” with Planned Parenthood! Only in 2019, the Court of California started preliminary hearing of witnesses’ statements under oath, some of which were shocking! For example, obstetrician-gynecologist Forest Smith stated that the abortion industry (which comprises various organizations) employs fraudulent practices to ensure that babies are born alive during abortion procedures. Then the babies are murdered, in order to ensure the organs and tissues to be sold are fresh and intact!²⁴

The endless delays in the legal proceedings against Planned Parenthood and the attempts to prosecute the investigative journalists suggest that the entire criminal abortion cartel in the USA (and globally!) benefits from protection at the highest levels. These suspicions are confirmed by the existence of well-organized global black market dealing in human organs, tissues and genetic material, while the revenues of abortion clinics are measured in billions of dollars!

The entire criminal abortion cartel in the USA (and globally!) benefits from protection at the highest levels.

Unlawful removal of children from their families because “their rights are violated” (not only in Norway but globally) also results in a number of crimes against the most vulnerable members of society. For example, Nancy Schaefer, an American senator, speaking at the world congress in Amsterdam, Netherlands revealed shocking facts about child abuse. In her report entitled The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services presented to the government of the USA, she revealed numerous cases of trafficking between various states and countries where children were sold for prostitution or to high-ranking pedophiles. According to official statistics, the child mortality rate is six times higher in so called “foster care” than in their own families. We suggest that readers familiarize themselves with the facts from her report (see the link to video in the note), as it clearly reflects the things happening behind the curtains of the western democratic countries that are deliberately covered up by their governments.²⁵

According to Gabriele Kuby, “Those who control the young people control the future, and they will win the culture war. Western Christian culture is based on family and sexual norms that make the family possible; that is. on monogamy…

“Let us clarify something. If Christian values are not passed on from generation to generation, the tradition disappears, as the saying goes, “God has no grandchildren”. The word tradition comes from Latin tradere which means to pass on and to guide. If one generation does not receive the things that are good, true and fair, it will not be able to pass them on to the next generations. It is an interruption of culture.”

She continues, “Then who will benefit from sexualization of children and teenagers and training them about ‘the need for diversity’? We can suppose several participants in this process:

• Those who want to create rootless people that are easy to manipulate for the purposes of achieving global strategic goals.

• Those invested in curbing global population growth without altering worldwide wealth distribution.

• Those affected by ‘heterosexual normativity’ and seek recognition through its destruction.

• Those interested in observing the decline of the Western population in a ‘demographic winter’.

• Those who have a vested interest in the dismantling of religion, particularly Christianity!”

In the end, the author reaches the following conclusion:

“The cultural revolution of our time increasingly limits individual freedom and broadens the power of the state over the individual and of international organizations over the states—in the service of the financial oligarchy and for toppling the moral order. Indeed, changing of values can lead to changing the world order, and since the changes are global, one can expect that the purpose of the revolution is to create a new world order. Rootless, dependent, malleable masses may be ready to celebrate a new—global—savior.”²⁶

Indeed, changing values can lead to changing the world order

The “children’s rights” mentioned in the first part of the article allow the government, acting on the basis of the fictitious assumption that such measures best safeguard the interests of the children, to enforce highly stringent and oppressive laws against parents! It is easy to see that the Democratic Party of Bulgaria, backed by President Rumen Radev, lawyer Hadjigenov, and several other liberal leaders and organizations, is advocating for Constitutional amendments that are intended to align Bulgarian legislation with these liberal and globalist laws!

For years, hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian parents, guided by the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria, have vehemently opposed the pressure from the European Union and USA to amend our legislation in ways that would allow the introduction of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools and grant authorities the ability to remove children from parents who allegedly violate their “fundamental sexual rights”. Will we allow this to happen?

The United States has new intelligence about new Russian capabilities concerning a space-based nuclear weapon that could threaten the U.S. satellite network, according to multiple reports.

The development underscores the greater urgency that the Vatican and Catholic prelates have given to warning of the need for global nuclear disarmament.

The New York Times reported Feb. 14 the U.S. government has informed Congress and its allies in Europe that Russia has made advances on a new, space-based nuclear weapon designed to target the U.S. satellite network.

Russia does not appear close to deploying the weapon, the report said, meaning the threat is not immediate. But if deployed, the technology could “destroy civilian communications, surveillance from space and military command-and control operations by the U.S. and its allies,” the Times reported. The report also raised alarm that Russia is preparing to abandon the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which bans all nuclear weapons in space.

Reports of the new intelligence came after Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a cryptic statement Feb. 14 warning about a “serious national security threat,” urging President Joe Biden to “declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat.”

Other lawmakers pushed back, arguing there was no cause for public alarm.

In a joint statement later the same day, the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pushed back, saying their committee “has the intelligence in question, and has been rigorously tracking this issue from the start.”

“We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing an appropriate response with the administration,” the statement said. “In the meantime, we must be cautious about potentially disclosing sources and methods that may be key to preserving a range of options for U.S. action.”

The White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Feb. 14 at a press briefing that classified briefings with Congress were scheduled prior to Turner’s statement, calling himself “a bit surprised” by the public statement when there was already “a meeting on the books for me to go sit with him alongside our intelligence and defense professionals tomorrow.”

The Catholic Church has long opposed the use of or the development of new nuclear weapons as intrinsically immoral, and has been calling for nuclear-armed nations, including the U.S., to join international agreements that would ban these weapons.

In a Jan. 22, 2024, statement marking the third anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Archbishops John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Paul D. Etienne and three Japanese prelates wrote that “no nuclear weapons powers or their allies have stepped forth to support the treaty, even as the geopolitical climate continues to deteriorate and the risk of nuclear accident, miscalculation, or war increases.”

“The nuclear-armed states have a moral obligation to hear the voices of the majority of the world and to listen to those who are threatened by annihilation at the decision of any one of the nine leaders of the nuclear weapons states,” they said. Signing the statement along with Archbishops Wester and Etienne were Japan’s Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki, Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Hiroshima and retired Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki.

In a message to the first Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2022, Pope Francis said, “The Holy See has no doubt that a world free from nuclear weapons is both necessary and possible.”

“In a system of collective security, there is no place for nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction,” the pontiff said.

Archbishop Wester, whose Santa Fe Archdiocese he has referred to as “the birthplace of nuclear weapons,” on a Nov. 29 visit to New York for the United Nations’ second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, told The Good Newsroom that Catholics needed to recognize nuclear disarmament is a “pro-life” issue and must wake up to its urgency from “a false sense of complacency.”

“Climate destruction is indeed very important, but this is equally important, in some ways more important,” he said, “because while climate change is gradual, this would be instantaneous. This would be the destruction of human civilization within about 24 hours.”