Tag: Christianity

Lenkovtsy, Chernivtsi Province, Ukraine, February 12, 2024

Photo: spzh.media     

As has happened hundreds of times in recent years, another Orthodox church was violently seized by Ukrainian nationalists and schismatics.

In late 2018, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, together with the U.S. and Ukrainian governments, created the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” Since then, the supporters of this structure have routinely attacked those who profess the Orthodox faith and stolen their holy sites.

On February 8, a group of men in military uniform, with the help of armed police officers, attempted to seize the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in the village of Lenkovtsy, Chernivtsi Province, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

When the local faithful tried to defend their church, they were violently attacked.

As often happens, the display of violence was preceded by a vote by villagers to force the church into the schismatic organization patronized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople against the desire of the Orthodox Christians in the village.

Several videos have appeared online showing several parishioners being brutally beaten:

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According to the First Cossack outlet, the same group of people had seized another church in the Chernivtsi Diocese just two days prior.

The Chernivtsi Diocese reports that the churches were seized by hired militants from the Tigris security company.

Even as the Christians were being attacked, Epiphany Dumenko, the head of Constantinople’s OCU, was in the same region, proclaiming again that there is no religious persecution in Ukraine.

“How much bile must one have in one’s soul to say such a thing?” the Chernivtsi Diocese asks about Dumenko’s propaganda.

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Athens, February 12, 2024

Photo: Romfea     

Thousands of Orthodox Christian came out for a rally yesterday against the Greek government’s plans to legalize gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.

The rally, organized by the Center for Patristic Studies in Marousi, Greece, was held on Syntagma Square in central Athens.

According to the announcement issued for the rally, the people thus express their opposition to the “sodomization of Greek society” and emphasize their desire “to prevent the adoption of orphaned children, who would constitute an illusion of the fruits of an unnatural and barren union,” reports Romfea.

Furthermore, they underline that they do not want to become “accomplices in this crime against innocent children.”

Rally speakers included Archimandrite Athanasios (Anastasiou), former abbot of the Monastery of the Great Meteora, who called for resistance against the bill, invoking divine law and the protection of the Orthodox faith, the family, and Greek society.

Fr. Athanasios stated passionately:

We are facing the storm of religious and national discoloration. The political system and the anti-Christ establishment, that governs us, attempts blatantly and shamelessly to uproot our roots, our history, our Orthodox faith, our Hellenic-Orthodox tradition. It attempts to tarnish any beauty, bravery, and valor that exists in our blessed land; to smear what continues to radiate; to kill what continues to vivify and to resurrect spiritually; what can offer support, hope, and progress. We are facing the storm of atheism, anti-theism, anthropotheism, the deification of science, corrupted rightsism, subjection, xenomania, rayah mentality, graeculus mentality, unbridled hedonism, luxury, all kinds of flesh worship, and mainly the unnatural lewdness, the abominable sin of homosexuality. The purpose, of course, is visible and preordained: The total subjugation of our homeland and our people to the designs of globalization, the New World Order, and the New Age.

Contrary to the lamentable course of the government, Fr. Athanasios proclaimed Greece’s true hope:

We have the Holy and Orthodox Church, the ark of our salvation, our good, wise, and loving Mother, who regenerates us with Holy Baptism and Holy Chrism and grafts us into Her heavenly Body, nurses us, educates us, pacifies us, comforts us, sanctifies us, leads us to Heaven, and ultimately grants us participation in the uncreated, glorified, and eternal Kingdom of our Triune God! Our homeland, therefore, is thrice blessed and destined by God to be the salt of the earth!

A speech by Metropolitan Demetrios of Goumenissa was also read. “I praise you with all my soul for your vigilant zeal (a critical identity element of our race, our culture, and our valiant history),” he told the rally attendees.

His address concluded with:

Our people—with all the antibodies of its ecclesiastical manliness―does not stigmatize people of vile passions and psychosomatic falls. It prays for them compassionately, grieves for their harmful choices of loss, sympathizes with them far more honorably (than the lawmakers) and much more humanly (than the legitimizers). But in the end, this people does not tolerate being led and carried away, nor does it consent to international choices of social absurdity that (indirectly or directly, it does not matter) ultimately target the healthy traditional family of father and mother, the natural and physiological childhood, as well as the manly social moral resistance, the genotype, and phenotype of our historical continuity. May the God of our saints and heroes free us from this scourge that has become an unbearable pain for the majority of our people.

Both the Greek Holy Synod against gay marriage and gay adoptionThe Holy Synod of the Church of Greece came out with a statement today addressing the ongoing scandal surrounding the possibility of legalized gay marriage in Greece.

“>Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church and the expanded Greek hierarchs unanimously condemn gay marriage and adoptionThe hierarchs of the Orthodox Church of Greece met in an extraordinary session today, with the sole item on the agenda being the state’s intention to legalize gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.”>Council of Bishops have issued condemnatory statements. State authorities have expressed their intention to move ahead with their plans, despite the voice of the Church.

Both 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 of Mt. Athos, and a Athonite abbots and Sacred Community: Gay marriage bill threatens all of mankind and creationAnother statement has come from the Holy Mountain concerning the controversy over the Greek government’s plans to legalize gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.”>double assembly of the Sacred Community with the 20 abbots have issued condemnatory statements.

140 Greek Orthodox associations against the gay marriage billThe signatory associations include Orthodox missionary brotherhoods, parenting associations, student unions, scientific associations, and many more.

“>Earlier this month, 140 Greek Orthodox associations also united in their opposition to the relevant bill.

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Nun Magdalene (Nekrasova) Winter school break was always a real challenge for my godmother: I used to visit her in Tallinn and stayed for whole two weeks. Frankly speaking, it wasn’t much fun, when I think about it now. Your so-to-speak godchild comes to stay in your house and, most importantly, stays for a while. Not only does he live with you, but he also wants to eat, demands attention, asks all sorts of questions, and even expects you to answer them—because, you know, he is getting smarter every day! Big trouble from every angle, overall! My godmother not only tolerated me; Nun Magdalena (Nekrasova)Magdalena (Nekrasova), Nun

“>Nun Magdalene knew a lot about the benefits of humility, so she humbled herself. But she also loved me and so on the one hand she often humbled herself half-jokingly. On the other hand, she didn’t treat me as an annoying guest; she took my youthful quest seriously. But since her sense of humor was in good order, her ironic remarks about her godson’s intellectual and spiritual development stuck in my memory till these days. They still ring true today.

We lived during those good times when winters in Tallinn were white, really white (oh, and that smell of the burning stoves in the Old Town!), when the Nõmme district, where Nun Magdalene lived, resembled a good old fairy tale—soft snow enveloping the pine trees, the Church of St. John the Baptist across the street hidden under the blanket of snow – all this reminded me of the gentle world of Narnia. I had learned about Narnia from my godmother, as she never missed an opportunity to introduce me to good reads and new authors. We lived on Tähe (Starry) Street and I really hated its name: “What have these stars got to do with it?” I’d ask angrily. “It’s almost like the stars on the Kremlin and I have my own accounts to settle with Communism!” As I recall, my godmother even had to sit down once she heard this. She definitely had a serious score to settle if anyone did. Her many years of exile in Central Asia, hunger, torture, persecution, and the death of her loved ones… It wasn’t until the end of the 1970s that she was able to move to relatively peaceful Estonia, but even here it wasn’t all smooth sailing either, of course. So, I noticed that despite all the terrible trials (and these stories are a good reason for many new articles to be written!), Nun Magdalene was able to preserve a kind attitude towards people, even those who caused this suffering. So, to put it mildly, she took my politically motivated wailing quite compassionately. “Well! You certainly got a good hammering,” she said smiling. And then she laughed. She said, “Have you ever thought that this star, the so-called ‘tähe’, might remind us of another place?” “What other place?” I grumbled, all wound up with resentment, and moreover anti-communist—because as a formerly repressed person, my godmother, a nun, was the last person I would expect to hold such inconsistent views.

Tallinn in winter   

The Nativity of Christ is certainly once and forever, it’s not something that happens at a time strictly allotted in the calendar

“What if it’s about Bethlehem, the Birthplace of ChristThis essay was written in the early twentieth century by the excellent Russian Orthodox theologian, exegetist and liturgical scholar Michael Nikolaevich Skaballanovich (1871-1931). Master of Theology, Doctor of Church History and teacher at the Kiev Theological Academy for twelve years, M. Skaballanovich was eventually repressed by the Soviet Government and died in exile in Arkhangelsk at the age of sixty.

“>Bethlehem, for example?” she says. “By the way, the The Nativity of Christ. The Gospel of the FirstbornWhoever approaches the Lord Jesus Christ with obedience and humility will never want to be separated from Him. The beginning exercises of the newly-recruited army of Christ are the exercises of obedience and humility.”>Nativity of Christ is once and forever, and not something that happens at a time strictly set in the calendar. It’s high time we forgave our enemies. Or think about how we can stop making new ones.”

Later that evening, as we left the church, Nun Magdalene took me to the parish house. Dyad’ka Mart, known as Fr. Juvenaly in our days, the rector of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Vyshgorod, lived there at the time. He was a very young man at the time, but I still thought of him as a huge guy. And so he worked as a church groundskeeper. Whether you want to or not, have to respect him! I had a newfound respect for him when, at my godmother’s request, he started teaching English—using the Chronicles of Narnia as a teaching tool. So, this same Juvenaly, as it turned out, knew a great deal about music and he would occasionally sit down at the pump organ and give miniature concerts, playing something of his own. I remember how we used to go for a walk and stood under the windows of the parish house, with pine trees all around us, the snow falling softly, the smoke rising from the stove, and the music of Dyad’ka Juvenaly, that really sweeps you off your feet, uplifts you, and elevates your soul. So, there you are, standing there, and then it suddenly dawns on you: Well, by George, there are certain things more important than some “accounts” of yours, “politics” or something like “righteous anger.” Next, I turn around, and I see that my godmother has long since returned to her house on Tähe, for she is such a tactful lady! She was a woman with noble upbringing, tested by Soviet exile and prison!

I learned a good lesson, from both my godmother and Juvenaly the groundskeeper. Now, many years later, I remember the lesson only too well: It’s pointless to feel hatred. That music still resounds in my mind, along with my godmother’s words. I wish for all of us to hear this kind and bright music in our time, which is just as bad as it was then.

ROME — Imagine that two different governments are engaged in crackdowns against the Catholic Church, including putting priests and bishops in jail, limiting or even expelling religious orders, and subjecting Catholic organizations of all stripes to tight vigilance and control.

In the abstract, one might think that since the offenses are similar, the Vatican response would be the same, too. Yet the reactions of Pope Francis and his advisers to Nicaragua and China reveal contrast rather than continuity. 

With Nicaragua, the Vatican’s criticism has been clear, constant, and increasingly acerbic; when it comes to China, such pushback has been conspicuous mostly by its absence.

In the end, the explanation for this contrast probably lies not in moral analysis but geopolitics: China is a superpower and Nicaragua isn’t. Bluntly put, Francis needs to stay in Beijing’s good graces far more than Managua’s.

Pope Francis has spoken out on Nicaragua several times this year. On New Year’s Day, he prayed for Nicaragua, “where bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom,” assured the families and friends of those imprisoned of his closeness and prayer, and voiced hope “that the path of dialogue will always be sought to overcome difficulties.”

A week later, in an annual speech to diplomats, he said the situation in the country “remains troubling: a protracted crisis with painful consequences for Nicaraguan society as a whole, and in particular for the Catholic Church.”

“The Holy See continues to encourage a respectful diplomatic dialogue for the benefit of Catholics and the entire population,” he said.

Shortly after, Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, who had spent over a year in prison, and 18 others, were released from prison and exiled to Rome, where they were welcomed personally by Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin as official guests of the Holy See.

When it comes to China, on the other hand, Francis and his aides have been much quieter. Nothing was said when pro-democracy protests erupted and were quickly quashed in Hong Kong between 2019 and 2020; when a new national security law was imposed in the city which was used to arrest and charge several high-profile activists, including several prominent Catholics; or when Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested and convicted by a Hong Kong court with several others in 2022 for their pro-democracy advocacy.

The Vatican barely let out a whisper last year when Chinese authorities repeatedly violated the terms of the 2018 provisional agreement between China and the Holy See on episcopal appointments.

To the consternation of many, the terms of that agreement remain secret, prompting criticism that it has induced the Vatican to remain mute on China’s record on human rights and religious freedom.

Last spring, the Vatican simply issued brief statements voicing concern after China made several unilateral transfers of bishops without Rome’s knowledge or consent, including the November 2022 transfer of Bishop Pen Weizhao to the Diocese of Jiangxi and the April 2023 transfer of Bishop Shen Bin to Shanghai.

Rather than condemning such blatant violations of their agreement, Vatican officials have instead used these transfers to push forward efforts to strengthen ties.

In the case of the unauthorized transfer of Shen Bin to Shanghai on April 4, 2023, the pope’s approval was only announced three months later. That announcement was accompanied by an interview published by Vatican News, the Holy See’s official information platform, in which Parolin expressed hope that a resident papal representative to Beijing could soon be named.

Francis also offered a direct friendly greeting to the “noble Chinese people” during his final Mass in Mongolia last summer, and he also recently held a meeting with a delegation from the National Federation Italy-China in honor of the Chinese New Year.

With the 2018 provisional agreement up for renewal for a third time this fall, it appears there is an effort to accelerate the move toward strengthened ties, with more bishops being named in the span of one week at the end of last month than have been named for the entire duration of the 2018 agreement thus far.

Last month, the Vatican announced the suppression of the apostolic prefecture of Yiduxian in China and the establishment of the Diocese of Weifang, marking the first formal creation of a new diocese by the Holy See in China since the Communist revolution in 1949.

The Jan. 29 Vatican statement said the decision to replace the Yiduxian prefecture was made on April 20, 2023 — notably, in the interim between the unauthorized transfer of Shen Bin and the pope’s acceptance of that move — and that at the same time, Bishop Anthony Sun Wenjun, 53, had been appointed to lead the diocese.

Days before, on Jan. 25, the Vatican announced the ordination of a new bishop for the Diocese of Zhengzou, who it said had been appointed by the pope on Dec. 16, 2023 “in the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”

Then again on Jan. 31, the Vatican announced a third episcopal appointment in China, revealing that Bishop Pietro Wu Yishun, named bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Shaowu, Minbei, in the province of Fujian on Dec. 16, 2023, had been ordained a bishop earlier that day.

The most important takeaway from this slew of appointments — together with last year’s appointment of a resident papal representative to Vietnam — is that the Vatican is eager for diplomatic progress in the Far East. 

While the pope’s words on Nicaragua resounded in news headlines, his actions on China have also sent a clear message about his intentions and priorities, and as the old adage goes, actions often speak louder than words.

St. Julian the Hospitaller was born into a wealthy family in the early 4th century. According to legend, he had been recently married and was very jealous. While hunting, Julian had a vision that he would murder his mother and father.

While he was on his way home, his parents made an unexpected visit to Julian’s home. His wife gave them one of the best rooms. When Julian returned, he saw two figures in bed and assumed his wife was with a lover. In a jealous rage, he killed his father and mother.

When he learned what he had done, Julian was so horrified that he swore he would spend the rest of his life doing good works to atone for his sin. He and his wife made a pilgrimage to a distant country, where he built a hospital.

Julian’s hospital was near a river that people who were forced to travel by the Holy Crusades used to cross. Often, travelers drowned in the crossing, so Julian took on the responsibility of ferrying travelers across, and treating the sick.

One night, thieves came to the hospital and killed Julian and his wife in the same way that Julian had killed his parents. Legend has it that “there were great miracles without end in that place and land.”

St. Julian is considered the patron of ferrymen, innkeepers, and circus performers.

Photo: acathist.ru     

The most important place in the body of church services is occupied by the service we call the A Brief Historical Look at the LiturgyThe Rite of Divine Liturgy in its most basic form—reading the Holy Scriptures, prayers for the living, prayers over the Gifts, and finally, Holy Communion—had already taken shape in the first century.

“>Liturgy. Liturgy is a Greek word that means communal service. Sometimes it signifies service to our neighbor, charity, and sometimes service in the Altar. Divine Services have as their goal to bring us closer to God, to bring us closer to Him in prayer. However, the greatest manifestation of closeness, the Lord’s presence among the faithful, “Theosis” of man and nature is accomplished in the Mystery of the Eucharist, which is at the center of the life of the Church.

The Eucharist was established by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself during the Holy and Great ThursdayHow many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within thee. Let then no one approach it with indifference, no one faint-hearted, but all with burning hearts, all fervent, all inspired.

“>Mystical Supper He hosted. Jesus Christ assembled His disciples on the night when he was to be betrayed and given over to suffering, torment, crucifixion, and death. He assembled His disciples as their head, as the eldest, although in terms of age He was not their elder. He performed the ritual of the meal according to the pattern accepted by the people in the Old Testament Church, but with one unusual difference: when He broke the Bread, and when he elevated the Cup after having read the special prayers of thanksgiving to God for everything, He said to his disciples: Do this in remembrance of Me. The Bread is My Body, and this Wine is my Blood. When you remember Me in this manner, you will be eating of My Body and drinking of My Blood. And whosoever will do that, will abide in Me, and I will abide in him, forever.

During the Eucharist, we remember everything that happened to Christ: His Incarnation, His entire life, Golgotha, the Resurrection, and the Ascension. However, when we remember all of this in the symbolism of the Divine Liturgy, it all happens anew! My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (John 5:17), and this activity never ends. The Mystery, the Sacrament, of the Holy Eucharist rests in the fact that is does not consist only of our commemorations.

The Liturgy imparts a real, actual communion with God, illumining each participant, so that in a profound mystery, during each Liturgy the bread and wine that had been brought into the Altar is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Also, at the moment each of the faithful communing of the Very Body and Very Blood of Christ, is really, actually, not merely intellectually or seemingly, united with God Himself. During the We Have to Go to Liturgy, Even if We Stand There Like StumpsWe have to go to Liturgy, even if we stand there like stumps. Some will say: “I’m not how I should be. I don’t understand any of it. My mind can’t concentrate there.” But go, no matter what. One elder said: “When you stop into a perfume store, your clothes smell fragrant after you leave, even if you didn’t buy anything.” This is what happens, he says, when you go to Liturgy.

“>Liturgy, God’s fulfillment of His promise to be among men accomplishes man’s fullest enlightenment.

Here God’s unique action transpires, bringing Divine power into this world; and each of us partakes of that power. It enters into our hearts and acts through us in everything we do. That power of God imparts to everything you do, however seemingly insignificant, enormous importance, profundity; in this lies the spiritual meaning of Orthodoxy. Through everything that a Christian does in this world, participating worthily in the Eucharist, God’s power enters the world, the power that transforms the world that blesses the world, remakes the world. It does so even though the world does not understand it. The world does not even know about it. That is what the Eucharist is! That is why from the earliest days the Eucharist—the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the breaking of bread—has been the central fact of Christian life. The Eucharist is the greatest expression of Christian unity, of life in a single Body, the Single Holy Church of Christ. The Mystery is the source of that unity. We are a single Body – His Body. We all—living and dead—are one. In the Altar, the priest reads the words, “And all of us who partake of the one Bread and the one Cup do Thou unite one to another…” Everyone standing here, the living and the dead, the Church on earth and the glorified Church “which hath One Head.”

Out of the need, the poverty, the darkness of my ego, I approach the Divine Mystery and come into the light. “Thine light hath entered and illumined my darkness.” In those moments, we, still living here on earth, already enter into His grace-filled life, for He comes to us and “males our abodewith Him.” (John 14: 23)

During the Eucharist, the central, most important event takes place: Christ appears in our midst. Where two or three are gathered together in My Name (and it was just so that Christians gather together during the Eucharist), there I am in their midst. There Christ is in our midst with all the power of His compassionate love, able to decisively grant each of us everything that we need, and so that the seed of God’s word that enters into our soul when we hear the Gospel, the Good News, might not be wasted and perish, but might grow in every heart. Amid the reign of anarchy and chaos in this world, the Mystery of the Eucharist, the Divine Liturgy, is the anticipation of a different world, a different Kingdom, “where is the light of God.” The Eucharist is the link connecting the present and the future, our current state with the glorious Transfiguration to come.

In the Eucharist, time disappears, time enters into eternity. And we belong to and experience/take part in eternity. Because everything we remember as having been—Jesus Christ’s embarking on his mission to preach, the Mystical Supper—this in our intellect WAS, but in God IS. Everything that was, is. That is something impossible for the mind to comprehend.

Jesus Christ’s death is a sacrifice. There is His death, Resurrection, and Ascension. It all was and is. For us, it is yet to come, but for the Lord, it already is. And what is yet to come? Our own death, our own resurrection, our own ascension. But it already… is. During the Liturgy, we are in the past, the present and the future, and that is something that is not a concept, not a fantasy, not ideas, but actual reality. Such is the Mystery of the Eucharist.

Photo: mccvu.ru     

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

If you are blind, then the world for you is painted with only one color—the black color of the abyss, of the endless night in which there are no stars, no planets. And you are shackled in this blindness of yours, like a life prisoner. You will never see a rainbow, you will never understand the endless blue of the sky, the smile of a child, you will never appreciate the beauty of the mountains, the quiet dance of the ocean waves. And every day for you is like this black dawn, and the evening is a black sunset. You see nothing, and you sit by this dusty road of life and beg for alms.

Today, just a few minutes ago, we listened to the Sunday Gospel. Evangelist Luke describes very briefly and colorfully what happened at Jericho (see Luke 18:35–43). A blind beggar, weary from the midday sun, was probably dozing by the roadside. The sudden noise of the crowd stirred him up, awakened him. What is it, what happened, what’s going on? He’s asking this question because he doesn’t see anything. Then the crowd, the people around him, answer, “Jesus of Nazareth is coming”. Rumors about this new prophet, about the miracle worker, were already in the air. People had already heard about him. And, of course, the poor blind man had also heard about this amazing man.

The crowd buzzed, surrounded Christ in a tight ring, and left the blind man no chance, not a single loophole to get to Christ. In a moment, this blind man realizes that now he has only one chance in life for healing. It’s now or never. Either he will see clearly, or he will remain in this dark, joyless cage for the rest of his life. And suddenly the whole area, hot from the sun, from the sweat, resounded with a terrible, heartrending cry, which no one expected and which was shouted over the whole crowd, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! (Lk. 18:38–39). This is probably how ships send an SOS signal when they are sinking into the depths of the sea. In that cry there was everything—despair, faith, tears and hope, crying, and hoping for a miracle. The crowd shushed him, began, as it were, to stop this blind man, forcing him to be silent. Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria very accurately and surprisingly remarks: “Marvel at the persistence of his confession. How this blind man, in spite of the fact that many were trying to restrain him, did not keep silent, but cried out even louder, because the fervor from within moved him.”

This fervor from within this man, this cry, this desire for healing, this extraordinary faith—the Lord felt it all. Then the Evangelist reproduces the dialogue that took place between him and Christ. This dialogue was brief, but very deep and fateful for future millions of generations of Christians after this real meeting took place more than two thousand years ago. The Lord suddenly says: “Well, what do you want from Me?” What do you want me to do? And then the blind man says, Lord, let me receive my sight (Lk. 18:41). And then the Lord says these amazing words, Receive your sight, your faith has saved you (Lk. 18:42).

The mystery of healing anyone is the mystery of human faith. And look, not only the blind man who saw clearly followed Christ, praising God. The Evangelist says the whole people, seeing this miracle that a moment before, the man did not see anything, and suddenly he is singing his praise to God—all the people who were around him also gave praise to God. And as the Holy Scripture says, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (cf. Matt. 6:23). A person must first of all realize—and this is the task of each of us—that he has blindness. He must see his inner darkness, which hinders him very much. And this darkness very often disguises itself and pretends to be light. A person thinks that he has light, but inside he has only real darkness.

Every person is a parable for us. It is not abstract for anyone. This is a very important parable for us. Each of us is also a blind man by the roadside. We are sitting by this road of life. Every day we try to pray more, put more trust in God, and pray the Jesus prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And it really resembles the cry that this blind man cried out today. Every day the Lord, perhaps not audible to us, answers our prayer, Receive your sight, for your faith has saved you.

Now we are no longer a crowd on the road, not just some scattered people, each for himself, because we are already a Church. As Tertullian says, we come together to stand before God and surround Him with our common prayers. Once, in the seventies, in the Pyukhtinsky convent [located in Estonia], a priest was rebuking a demoniac. And when it was probably at its peak, the demon shouted through this woman to the priest, “Well, what do you have in church? It’s boring, it’s the same thing every day. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy! It’s all so boring. But I have everything new and interesting every day—bright, shiny, noisy and beautiful.”

When we listen to these words, we really know and understand that the world offers a modern person this very brilliant assortment of some new passions, ideas, tempting offers, entertainment. The world is trying to fill the human heart with vanity, with idleness. As the Romanian ascetic Raphael Noica says, the pleasure that the devil offers a person is a bribe with which the passions buy our will. That is, man takes the bait of pleasure, and his will is bought and weakened. A man either rushes upward and resembles God—Be holy, for I am holy (1 Pet. 1:16), or turns into an animal. As the Holy Scripture says, he is like the beasts that perish. (Ps. 49:12). And these many temptations, enticements, and promises with which the devil tries to lure a person, to lure these people’s souls into his nets, of course, are nothing more than glass beads, for which the American Indians once sold their priceless lands. But we understand and know that a Russian person is not a native [American], and he cannot sell his main treasure, which is his faith, his Orthodoxy for some empty earthly arrangements, for some empty thing, and so on.

St. Porphyry says that Christ is the ultimate desire of a man, above which there is nothing in the world. All senses can be satiated, but God, says the venerable elder, cannot be satiated. He is everything. God is man’s ultimate desire. And of course, the demon was lying when he spoke out, which I told about, that in the temple there is only “Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.” Of course, this penitential note is one of the most important, this repentance that we really feel, which we strive for. But along with repentance, and we know this, our prayer both at home and in the temple is filled with praise to God, not only, “Lord, have mercy,” but “Glory to Thee, O God,” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men” (Lk. 2:14). And how the old woman Gavriiliana exclaimed, “My God, I thank You day and night, with eyes open and closed, with words and without words, alive and dead.”

The believing heart always lives in the space of a miracle, in the space of this thanksgiving, in the space of penitent tears. Our simplest days—for we do not always have a feast day in our calendar—often we have everyday life, and we must color these days with colors of inspiration, depth, joy, and love. Otherwise, we too will be like this blind man in the abyss all the time. And this depth is present in everyday life, every day. It just needs to be found, because without faith, life is just a black hole in which the soul disappears, drawn into a black square, from the framework of which it is simply impossible to get out. With faith, life is a great mystery. As the saints say, life is a commission. What’s the assignment? It is heaven’s commission for man to meet God in his earthly days. St. Justin (Popovic) of Serbia admirably says that Christians seek the eternal in the temporal, the invisible in the visible, and God in the human. Christians are pilgrims of eternity, and they are constantly searching for divine gold in the earthly mire.

So let us try to look for this divine gold in the earthly swamp every day. It is scattered everywhere in every meeting, in every glance, in every little conversation we have. You just need to take a better look around you, take a deeper look into your own heart. Remember, there is a universally recognized human attitude, a saying that we have known since childhood: “I am a human being, and nothing human is alien to me.” Everyone knows that. Christianity, on the other hand, offers a different paradigm, a different way of looking at this world, a different system of values: “I am a human being, and therefore no human being is alien to me.”

Every day we walk along this dusty complex congested with traffic jams, overloaded with problems, overloaded with various business on the road of our lives, and we are often still blind, we often do not see. We are sick and unhappy. The Lord passes by every day, as in that parable. The same thing, the Lord is there every day. We are on a dusty road, and Christ is passing by us. And so, we have to shout harder, louder, more persistently, with great faith, like this blind man who spoke from his heart, “Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!”, as ships that are sinking give the SOS signal. And the Lord answers quietly and humbly, Receive your sight, your faith has saved you. But each of us knows that God can also respond to our cries, our shouts and calls with silence. For those who know how to listen, it is in this silence, as Nikolai Kavasila says, “It is in this silence that the Lord confesses His love for a person.” Amen.

February 3, 2019

Today the Church celebrates the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, St. Bernadette Soubirous. The first appearance was on Feb. 11, and she would meet with Bernadette a total of 18 times through July 16 of that year.

On Feb. 11, Bernadette went to gather firewood with her sister and a friend. She saw light coming from a rosebush at a grotto near the river, and in that light, a woman in a white dress appeared, holding a rosary. The woman made the sign of the Cross, so Bernadette knelt, took out her own rosary, and began to pray. When they had finished the rosary, the woman motioned for Bernadette to come closer, but she hesitated, and the woman disappeared.

Bernadette’s friend and sister had not seen anything, and Bernadette swore them to secrecy, but they quickly spread the story. The next Sunday, Bernadette returned and saw the lady again.

On her third trip on Feb. 18, Bernadette was accompanied by several adults, but only she was able to see the woman. The lady asked her to return for two weeks, telling her that she could not promise to make Bernadette happy in this world, but in the next.

Over the next few days, as Bernadette kept returning to the grotto, crowds gathered to join her, but no one else saw the lady. On Feb. 24, 250 people surrounded Bernadette as the lady told her: “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Go, kiss the ground for the conversion of sinners.” Bernadette wept and did as she had asked. She continued to drink muddy water and eat weeds as penance for sinners, and the onlookers quickly began to ridicule her.

On Feb. 27, Bernadette found that the spring she had been drinking from was no longer muddy, but now ran clear. A woman from the crowd with a paralyzed arm came to the water, hoping to be healed. Four years later, this was recognized as the first miraculous healing at Lourdes. There have been 67 verified cases of miraculous healings at that stream.

The woman eventually began telling Bernadette that the priests must bring people in procession, and have a chapel built on the site. Many believed now that Bernadette was seeing the Blessed Mary, but when she asked the vision, the woman smiled and remained silent.

Finally, on the Feast of the Annunciation, Bernadette came to the grotto, and asked the lady her name. The woman folded her hands and said “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Although Bernadette did not know what that meant, her parish priest was stunned, and told the local bishop.

Mary appeared to Bernadette twice more, on the Wednesday after Easter and on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. After a four-year investigation, the bishop declared the apparitions to be real, and worth believing.

In 1866, Bernadette left Lourdes to join a religious order, where she served until her death in 1879. A basilica was built and consecrated at the grotto at Lourdes.

St. Scholastica was born, with her twin, St. Benedict, around the year 480, into a noble Roman family in Italy. From an early age, Scholastica devoted her life to God, as Benedict reported that his sister was “dedicated from her infancy to Our Lord.” 

Scholastica’s mother died giving birth. When Benedict left home to study in Rome, Scholastica stayed behind to tend to the family’s estate. Benedict began living as a hermit, and then as the head of a community of monks in Italy. 

Scholastica was determined to follow her brother’s example. She lived for some time among a community of pious virgins, and some scholars believe she eventually founded a community of nuns there, five miles from her brother. He seems to have directed his sister and the nuns in the practice of the rule his monks lived by. 

Although St. Benedict’s life was formally chronicled, not much else is known about St. Scholastica. She visited her brother once a year, at a house halfway between their communities. According to Benedict’s biographer, at their last visit, the siblings prayed and conversed, but when Scholastica begged her brother to stay for the night, he refused. 

Scholastica then bowed her head in supplication to God. When she lifted her head, a violent storm struck, and Benedict could not leave. Pope Gregory wrote that Benedict complained to his sister, “What have you done?” She answered, “I wanted you to stay, and you wouldn’t listen. I have asked our good Lord, and he graciously granted my request.” 

Benedict had no choice but to stay. The siblings spent the night discussing spiritual matters, including the kingdom of heaven. 

Three days later in 543, Benedict received a vision of the soul of his sister, in the likeness of a dove, departed from her body and flying into heaven. He rejoiced with hymns and praise, and had her body brought to his monastery. Scholastica was buried in the grave that  Benedict had provided for himself, and when he died soon after, he was buried there as well. 

    

The countries of the former Eastern block are witnessing a significant increase in the number of self-proclaimed liberal democratic parties that aim to achieve progress comparable to the most developed Western countries. The overly ambitious objective of these parties is to instill so-called Euro-Atlantic values into the education systems of their countries so that the young people could shape their destinies in a free and democratic society. This article will review some of the most alarming issues currently affecting the children and students in the liberal western countries. We will examine whether this new education model that adamantly dismisses Christian values as obsolete and outdated is really as scientifically well-grounded as claimed. Additionally, we will explore the consequences of this model for society and future generations.

This new education model adamantly dismisses Christian values as obsolete and outdated

According to the LGBT community, the educational curricula currently used by most countries are predominantly based on gender segregation and impose burdensome heteronormative expectations and sexists roles upon men and women. That is why adoption of new school curricula is believed to be necessary to address problems related to sexual identity and homophobia. This could be achieved by introducing various textbooks and methodologies for children and young adults to enable them to challenge the “outdated” stereotypes with modern educational techniques.

The standards of sex education adopted by the World Health Organization in Europe indicate that in order to understand their gender identity, 0–4 year-old children ought to be instructed about masturbation and the pleasure they can experience when touching their bodies. Children aged 4 to 6 should be informed about early childhood masturbation, same sex relationships, diverse concepts of family, and taught to respect various norms of sexuality. As children reach the age 6–9, they need to be educated in various methods of conception, and taught about friendship and love between people of the same sex. When they are 9–12 years old, it is necessary to provide them with information about various gender identities, biological gender, and related concepts.¹

However, the systemic research conducted in the countries that had implemented the so-called Comprehensive Sexuality Education teaching methodology revealed that this strategy was not effective for the public health. This conclusion was supported by more than a hundred contemporary research papers that had studied the curricula in various countries to assess the effectiveness of sex education. They prove that this strategy is not successful and that it has many negative consequences, such as increased sexual activity, a greater number of sexual partners, early pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.²

The Comprehensive Sexuality Education curricula are based on so-called “gender theory” developed by the philosophers of the LGBT movement and on the human sexuality research conducted by Alfred Kinsey in the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Let us examine what is happening in the Western world as a result of the implementation of these educational programs, which were intentionally designed to challenge Christian values and moral norms in shaping the younger generation!

The origin and scientific significance of gender theory

Since the outset of the Age of Enlightenment (late seventeenth century), the Western World has been influenced by atheistically-inclined humanism. Later (starting from mid twentieth century), it was also impacted by radical feminism. Essentially, for more than 300 years, Christian moral values have been subjected to deconstruction, resulting in an inability to differentiate between “good” and “evil” or to distinguish “healthy” and “normal” from “sick and perverted.” To avoid being accused of slander and exaggeration regarding the current happenings in the “brave new world” that we, the peoples of the former socialist bloc, have been dreaming about for so long, let us examine what these authors are saying in their publications, as this may reveal possible developments in these countries.

For more than 300 years, Christian moral values in the Western World have been subjected to deconstruction

In The Global Sexual Revolution, German sociologist Gabriele Kuby charts the evolution of extreme feminism as it morphs into so-called gender ideology, which while preserving “pink” traits, eventually degenerates into totalitarianism and dictatorship. Her description of the process is provided below.

“They (radical feminists) declared that they would achieve even greater equality for women. In reality, their struggle was against marriage, family, children, and women as mothers, all in pursuit of achieving the complete deregulation of sexuality… They fought to transform the society in order to liberate it from what they considered “abnormality” (i.e. Christian norms.—V.V.), deconstructing the contrast between sexual identity of men and women, and challenging ‘mandatory heterosexuality.’”

According to Judith Buttler, a lesbian and the main ideologist of gender theory, “The term ‘biological gender’ is an ideal construct that is enforced over time. It is not a fact or a static state of a body; instead, it is a process in which regulating norms enforce the biological gender through constant repetition of certain norms.”³

Gabriele Kuby explains this statement as follows:

“Translation: There are no men or women. Gender is a fantasy, something that we believe in because we heard it many times. Social gender is not tied to biological gender, as the latter holds no significance and exists solely as a linguistic construct that people believe in because they hear it all the time. According to Judith Buttler, identity is something fluid and flexible without any male or female essence. Instead, there is only some sort of ‘performance and behavior that can be altered at any time…”

Butler is considered the greatest authority on “queer theory”. Just like “gender”, “queer” is the word that had been given a totally different meaning. The word “queer” is supposed to avoid reliance on such labels as “lesbian”, “gay”, “bi” or “transsexual”, which, while rejecting heterosexuality, imply its existence. Queer simply refers to anyone who is not straight. The contrast between heterosexuality and homosexuality must be eliminated for the sake of complete destruction of gender identity, because only then “the dominance of enforced heterosexuality” will be eradicated and people will be free to construct their identities as they desire.

“Eradication of freedom for the sake of freedom…

“These values, traditions and laws (inherited from Christianity.—V.V.) have been systematically dismantled over the last forty years. In the culture of prospering West, this process began with rebellious students. Today, this constitutes the agenda of the cultural revolution driven by the powerful elites of this planet. Since early 1970s, a powerful lobby aided by UN, EC and mass media has been fighting to change the system of values.

“The goal is absolute freedom, detached from any natural or moral boundaries, where man is considered to be a “bare” individual. For such absolute freedom, which seeks liberation even from the “dictatorship of nature”, any natural constraint is viewed as an obstacle that needs to be overcome.

“Hence, this kind of freedom has no concepts of “good” and “evil” or any norms. The specific tools used in this fight include deconstruction of the binary sexuality, changing of social norms and beliefs, especially among the young people, and achieving complete legal equality between homosexual partnerships and marriage, going as far as engaging in social ostracism and criminalizing resistance…

This kind of freedom has no concepts of “good” and “evil”, or any norms.

“Today, anyone in the political, academic, media, or even ecclesiastical realms who brings forth reasons why the sexual act belongs exclusively within the marital relationship between a man and a woman, and should be open to conceiving children, puts himself at risk. Anyone who scientifically discusses the risks and consequences of non-heterosexual behavior, or flat-out opposes sexual deregulation, opens himself up to becoming a social pariah. He may be excluded from public discourse, stigmatized with obscenities, lose his professional position, be harassed in many ways by interest groups, or otherwise discriminated against.

Criminalization through anti-discrimination laws and new punishable offences such as “homophobia” and “hate speech” is already a reality in some countries and is being promoted globally.

“Do those who consider themselves firmly on the side of good—who today so courageously battle the state terror of a bygone century—have the will to oppose the increasing curtailment of freedom in our own time? The dividing line between standing for freedom and relinquishing freedom is a willingness to pay the price today for not swimming with the sharks.”⁴

Back in 1992, when the socialist system collapsed and the West unveiled its true face, professor Henry Bower said, “At present, the scientific, and to a greater extent, the popular science community is increasingly turning away from scientific methods in order to conform to the liberal ideology as the only decisive way of ‘scientifically’ interpreting the world around us.”⁵

The scientific community is increasingly turning away from scientific methods in order to conform to the liberal ideology.

The number of examples of this continues to grow! Viktor Lysov’s The Rhetoric of the LGBT Movement in Light of Scientific Facts alone references several hundred contemporary research papers where the authors are either influenced by subjective preferences or maintain political correctness with respect to the LGBT ideology. In one of the chapters, Viktor Lysov quotes the following wonderful though of Austin Ruse:

“The reputation of real science has been stolen by its evil twin, a fake science that’s really just an ideology and a narrative. That ideology is simply masquerading in the credibility that rightfully belongs to real science.”⁶.

Considering space limitations, let us review just one example to illustrate the severity of the situation. In late 2018, The New York Times published an article where three scientists, James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian, demonstrated how ideology had overridden common sense in the realm of social sciences.

“Since August 2017, “ the article reported, “Lindsay, Boghossian and Pluckrose have submitted twenty articles in the format of conventional research papers to respectable peer-reviewed journals. The articles covered diverse topics, addressing various strategies to tackle social inequality, including feminism, masculinity, racial identification, sexual orientation, body positivity and more.”

Ideology has overridden common sense in the realm of social sciences.

Each of the articles posited a radically skeptical theory criticizing a certain “social construct” (e.g. gender roles). The articles were flamboyantly absurd and intentionally infused with humor to raise doubts about the seriousness of the research. From a scientific standpoint, the articles did not stand up to scrutiny, as the posited theories were not supported by the numbers provided, and the authors sometimes referenced non-existent or fictitious sources.

For example, one of the articles recommended that men be trained as dogs. The other suggested that white students listen to lectures while sitting in chains on the floor as a punishment for the fact that their ancestors were slave-owners.

The third article tooted extreme obesity as the free choice of a healthy person. The fourth article posited that masturbating while fantasying about a real woman is an act of sexual violence against the woman.

The article entitled Dog Park stated that the researchers have felt the genitals of nearly ten thousand dogs when they questioned the owners about the sexual orientation of their pets. In The Breast, the authors genuinely wondered what heterosexual men could find attractive in women. One of the articles about feminism, Our Struggle is My Struggle, was actually a slightly modified chapter from Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

At least seven of the twenty submitted articles were reviewed by leading scientists and accepted for publication. We say “at least seven” because seven more articles were under review when the scientists had to stop their experiment and reveal their identities.

James Lindsay recorded a video where he tried to justify their actions and explain their position.

“We believe that gender issues, racial identity and sexual orientation must definitely be researched,” he stated. “However, it is important to research them objectively, without preconceptions. The problem is in the way they are researched nowadays.”

“The existing culture mandates that only certain types of conclusions are deemed acceptable. For example, white skin color or masculinity are consistently associated with problems. As such, the fight against social inequality takes precedence over pursuing the objective truth,” he explained.

However, the authors of this experiment say that their reputation in the scientific community had been damaged in one way or another, and they have little hope for a positive outcome.

Boghossian is sure that the university will fire him or find another way to reprimand him. Pluckrose is concerned that she won’t be able to get her doctorate. Lindsay says that he will probably become “an academic pariah” who will not be allowed to either teach or publish serious scholarly works.

Nevertheless, all of them believe that the project was worth it.

“The risk of biased research continuing to influence education, mass media, politics and culture is far more concerning to us than any repercussions that we might face”, said James Lindsay in his interview to WSJ.⁷

Given numerous instances exposing the ideological influence on science, particularly within the social sphere, can gender theory remain the foundation of the so-called Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs mandated in an increasing number of countries?”

This article will inform Christian parents about significant challenges that their children may encounter as a result of implementation of these programs.

Since this article cannot address all aspects of LGBT ideology, let us focus solely on the Comprehensive Sexuality Education. It directly influences the components that are crucial for the future of the Christian world: the mindset of the future generation and societal norms of behavior.

What is modern Comprehensive Sexuality Education?

Comprehensive Sexuality Education claims to be broader and more detailed than “traditional sex education”, because it teaches children and youths to achieve sexual pleasure any way they can. Its programs obsessively prioritized promiscuity, while intentionally concealing the severe emotional, psychological and physiological consequences of engaging in such risky sexual behavior. Comprehensive Sexuality Education is based on the “idea of rights”. Its ultimate goal is changing sex and gender-related norms in the society, so many people rightfully refer to it as “education for the right of abortion, promiscuity and LGBT identity.”⁸

The ultimate goal of Comprehensive Sexuality Education is changing sex and gender related norms in the society

One of the primary objectives of Comprehensive Sexuality Education is the freedom of choice regarding sex change and recognition of children as sexually autonomous individuals. Several points from the list of “the rights of children” that are used as a basis for the Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs are provided below.

“Children exhibit natural aspects of sexuality from birth, hence any restriction of their sexual expression or activity is a violation of their sexual rights.

“The right to experience sexual pleasure from an early age is a fundamental human right of a child; this right is also associated with other rights of a child.

“Children have the right to have an abortion and sexual intercourse without knowledge or consent of their parents.

“The majority of societal norms regarding sexuality and gender, especially those rooted in religious beliefs, are repressive and unhealthy, so they must be changed.

“To develop healthy sexuality, children have the right to experiment with various sexual identities and orientations, and engage in related behaviors.”

According to the internationally recognized rights to health and education, children have the right to receive complete and uncensured sexual information without parental consent.

According to the leading international experts J. Reisman and M. Grossman, the roots of the sexual rights movement that gave rise to the Comprehensive Sexuality Education can be traced to the fraudulent research conducted by Dr. Alfred Kinsey. His publications became global bestsellers, and most psychologists firmly believe that they were the catalyst and foundation of the sexual revolution of the 1960s that is continuing up to the present day.⁹

In 1947, A. Kinsey founded the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, where he planned to conduct scientific research on “sex, gender and reproduction”. Alfred Kinsey’s objective was to prove that children have sexuality from birth and that promiscuity is common across all age groups, which is proof that such individuals are normal and healthy.

Nowadays, it is widely acknowledged that this human sexuality research was extensively falsified and intentionally misleading, as it was partially based on interviews with incarcerated inmates and involved experiments with prostitutes and pedophiles. Kinsey, however, insists that the findings are applicable to the entire spectrum of society.

Human sexuality research was extensively falsified

The Kinsey Institute’s most controversial work, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, has been publicized since 1948 and remains easily accessible to the public. It documents “sexual reactions” of children of various ages (from infants to teenagers) that were recorded and arranged in chronological order by their adult rapists. These pedophiles experimented with hundreds of children, making them experience what the researchers refer to as “orgasms”, but what in fact was screaming, convulsing, crying and resisting their sexual “partner”!

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. The conclusions published in the so-called Kinsey’s Report are still used to promote promiscuity, cheating, abortions, pedophilia, incest and homosexuality. These conclusions are also widely used to liberalize laws against sexual abuse, commute punishment of sex criminals, legalize same-sex marriage and so on.¹⁰