Tag: Christianity

Yonkers, New York, December 14, 2023

Photo: Yonkers Firefighters Local 628 (Facebook)     

Firefighters worked hard to make sure the actual church building at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Yonkers, New York, didn’t burn early on Tuesday morning.

However, the adjacent building, used for storage and occasional Bible studies was seriously damaged.

Thankfully, there were no human casualties as 70-80 firefighters fought the blaze for a few hours after it broke out at about 3:00 AM, reports ABC 7.

The property was just purchased earlier this year by a community of Jordanians within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, who until recently were meeting in the Greek Orthodox church in nearby Rye.

The buildings purchased by St. George’s were under construction and authorities believe the construction may have caused the flames.

The community still hopes the main church building will be ready in time for Christmas services.

“It happened right before Christmas, and it’s just a really big punch in the gut, as far as the community. But they got a strong heart, unbelievable faith, and love,” said Fr. Elias Villis, chancellor for the Greek Archdiocese.

​

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Pope Francis said he has decided to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major instead of in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican and that he has simplified the rites for a papal funeral.

In a Dec. 12 interview with Mexican news outlet N+, the pope, in good humor, discussed plans for his own funeral as well as the trips he still hopes to complete during his pontificate.

Still recovering from what he described as bronchitis that has affected him since late November — prompting him to cancel a planned trip to the United Arab Emirates — the pope said he feels “quite well” physically and continues to improve. Yet asked if people should be concerned about his health, he responded, “Yes, a little bit, yes. I need them to pray for my health.”

The pope said he had already discussed preparations for a papal funeral with his master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli. “We simplified them quite a bit,” he said, and jokingly added that “I will premiere the new ritual.”

Pope Francis celebrated the funeral Mass for Pope Benedict XVI in January 2023 following a rite based on, but not identical to, a papal funeral, since Pope Benedict was not a reigning pope at the time of his death.

Breaking with recent tradition, Pope Francis said he has chosen to be buried at the Basilica of St. Mary Major because of his “very strong connection” with the church. Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903, was the last pope not buried at St. Peter’s Basilica; Pope Leo’s tomb is in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Six popes are buried at St. Mary Major; the last to be interred there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.

Pope Francis said he wants to be buried in the Marian basilica because “it is my great devotion,” adding that he would visit St. Mary Major on Sunday mornings when he traveled to Rome before becoming pope. Pope Francis often prays before the icon “Salus Populi Romani” (“health of the Roman people”) displayed in the basilica before and after his international trips to entrust his safety to Mary.

“The place is already prepared,” he said.

Asked about his future travels, the pope said that a trip to Belgium is “certain” and that two other trips, to Polynesia and Argentina, are pending.

In a statement published Dec. 13, the Belgian bishops’ conference said Pope Francis will visit in 2024 to mark the 600th anniversary of the country’s two prominent Catholic universities.

He added that despite being publicly critical of Pope Francis, Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, did invite the pope to visit Argentina. “It is important to distinguish between what a politician says on the campaign trail and what he or she will actually do afterward,” the pope said.

But he added that any long-distance trips will have to be “rethought” due to his age and limited mobility. Just days before his 87th birthday Dec. 17, Pope Francis said that “old age doesn’t come alone, old age doesn’t put on makeup, it comes as it is.”

“The limit that one is given at the end of the day, when everything here ends and something else begins, matures you a lot in old age,” he said. “It’s nice.”

In a year in which the legacy of the world’s first nuclear test has been thrust back into the spotlight due to the success of the Oscar-contending movie “Oppenheimer,” New Mexico’s Catholic archbishop is protesting a recent congressional move to cut long-standing compensation for victims of nuclear testing and uranium mining from a defense bill.

“Where is the justice?” asked Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe.

Central to Wester’s complaint is that the decision means that New Mexicans who suffered health complications as a result of the nation’s first nuclear test in 1945 will not receive financial compensation.

As part of the federal government’s top-secret Manhattan Project to make the first atomic bombs during World War II, the “Trinity” test was the world’s first nuclear test, which was carried out on July 16, 1945, at a test site located 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

In the years after the “Trinity” test, people living in the surrounding New Mexico counties began reporting health issues, including diseases such as heart disease, leukemia, and other cancers. According to researchers, these health troubles appeared in families who had no prior history.

People who reported such incidents became known as “Downwinders” because they lived near, or downwind, from the test site.

Hence, those affected became known as the “Trinity Test Downwinders,” including different generations of affected families. They include not just farmers and ranchers who live near the site, but also Navajo Nation miners who dug uranium used for the test.

Access to healthcare remains difficult and unaffordable for many of the Downwinders, and they have yet to receive any compensation from the federal government.

In a statement on the recent decision by congressional lawmakers, Wester highlighted a blessing and healing ceremony he held last year for a dozen “Trinity Test Downwinders” where, he said, some of them “were openly weeping, saying finally, we are being heard after generations of cancers.”

“I again offer prayers today for those past cancer deaths but also for those yet to come,” Wester said in a Dec. 11 statement. “Even though atmospheric nuclear weapons testing ended long ago in 1962, future cancer deaths will still far exceed past deaths due to long-lived fallout.”

“Why is it that our government does not inform us of this future suffering while also failing to justly compensate for past and present suffering?” Wester asked.

The congressional decision to remove the compensation dates back to the summer, when the Senate passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 with the addition of a bipartisan amendment that would have both extended the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act and expanded it to include not just those impacted in New Mexico, but those impacted by nuclear testing and uranium mining in other states, as well.

However, earlier this month, the Senate and House Armed Services Committees dropped the amendment from its conference report on the National Defense Authorization Act, which means the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is likely to vanish when it expires in 2024.

Passed in 1990, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act provides financial compensation for medical treatment for people exposed to radiation from uranium mining and atmospheric testing in Utah, Nevada and Arizona. It provided lump sum payments of between $50,000-$100,000 to those who qualified, with the exact amount a person receives based on multiple factors.

On June 7, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the RECA Extension Act of 2022, which extended the termination of the RECA Trust Fund and the filing deadline for all claims for two years from its date of enactment. Thus, absent another expansion, claims are valid only up until June 10, 2024.

After the amendment to extend and expand the legislation was dropped, Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico said “he is not giving up on justice for New Mexicans.”

“Despite bipartisan support, Republican leadership blocked the inclusion of this critical provision in the NDAA,” Lujan said in a Dec. 7 statement. “By doing so, they failed to do right by people whom the federal government harmed. But I am not giving up on justice for New Mexicans and all those deeply impacted by radiation exposure and nuclear testing.”

Spokespersons for both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees did not respond to a Crux request for comment on why the amendment was removed. As of Dec. 12, the conference report version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 was still being voted on.

For Wester, however, the removal of the amendment is only part of the problem. It’s also the fact that at the same time, Congress earmarked billions of dollars for production of nuclear weapons.

Wester highlighted that of the $10 billion Congress has authorized the Department of Energy to use in New Mexico this fiscal year, $7.5 billion of that “will be spent directly on nuclear weapons research and production, while much of the remainder is to dump radioactive and toxic waste in our state.”

By way of contrast, New Mexico’s entire operating budget is $9.4 billion, he noted.

“It is we who suffer the environmental contamination and have the nation’s only permanent radioactive waste dump at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,” Wester said. “And yet Congress fails to compensate the Trinity Test Downwinders. Where is the justice in this?”

“And why is it that despite all of this nuclear weapons money, New Mexico remains among the very poorest of states, with the most children living in poverty and the worst public education?” he added.

Wester is a leading Catholic advocate for nuclear disarmament worldwide, in part because of the presence of two weapons laboratories and the nation’s largest nuclear weapons depository in New Mexico. He has published a pastoral letter on the topic, taken a pilgrimage to Japan on the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and recently participated in the Second Meeting of the State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

In his Dec. 11 statement, he further lamented the expansion of nuclear weapons production, noting that the current “nuclear arms race is arguably more dangerous than the first.”

“Expanding nuclear weapons production and in particular plutonium pit production at the Los Alamos Lab, is feeding an accelerating new nuclear arms race that imperils all of humanity,” Wester said. “Robert McNamara, Defense Secretary during the Cuban Missile Crisis, said that we survived the first nuclear arms race only by luck. Clearly, luck is not a sustainable survival strategy.”

Wester also thanked the New Mexican congressional delegation for their efforts to get the Trinity Test Downwinders justice and compensation in the defense bill. However, he challenged them to change their tune on supporting expanding nuclear weapons programs as job programs, and instead “promote jobs that accord with Christ’s teachings of peace and harmony.”

“Let us work diligently to prevent potential new downwinders from the ever-increasing threat of nuclear war,” Wester said. “And let’s have justice and compensation for our existing Trinity Test Downwinders!”

The closure of U.K. Catholic churches to prevent the spread of COVID-19 caused widespread mental and physical suffering, a new survey has revealed.

The bishops of England and Wales decided to close their churches March 20, 2020, just three days before the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced a national lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus and take pressure off health services. The churches remained shut until the following July.

The study undertaken by the Catholic Union of Great Britain, a group set up to scrutinize public policy and make representations to the government on behalf of the church, discovered that 62% of 1,000 people interviewed said their mental and physical well-being were harmed by not being able to go to church.

“The impact of these decisions on people’s lives cannot be overlooked,” said James Somerville-Meikle, Catholic Union deputy director, in a Dec. 8 statement.

“Words like ‘isolated,’ ‘depressed’ and ‘lonely’ appeared time after time,” he said. “It was a harrowing reminder of the impact that restrictions imposed on our churches for the best part of two years had on people’s lives.”

Somerville-Meikle said: “Perhaps it’s no surprise that the vast majority of people (90%) want to see places of worship classed as ‘essential’ in any future pandemic, and never forced to close again.”

Somerville-Meikle noted that Prime Minister Johnson was not asked directly about the decision to lock down churches as part of his evidence to the U.K.’s COVID-19 Inquiry in early December.

He said the survey results would be sent to Heather Hallet, the chair of the inquiry, with a request to hold “a stand-alone evidence session on places of worship in the New Year.”

Catholic Union President Sheila Hollins of Wimbledon, a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the results of the survey were “shocking” and “distressing.”

“They confirm that the lockdown of churches was not only hugely unpopular, but had a real impact on people’s well-being,” she said when the report was released.

“The increase in the number of people feeling lonely or depressed as a direct consequence of the closures is particularly shocking,” she emphasized.

“It is vital that the COVID inquiry properly considers the decisions to close and reopen churches during the pandemic,” Hollins said.

“There is a very strong sense that faith and faith communities were pushed to one side when decisions were made, and this needs to be addressed in the learning from the inquiry,” she added, saying that “it’s clear from these results that places of worship should never be forced to close again.”

The churches stayed closed seven weeks after garden centers and construction workers were allowed to resume their services because they were put into the same higher-risk category as pubs, cinemas, hairdressers and beauty salons.

At the time the government argued that “social distancing” within them would be difficult at a time of elevated risk of infection.

The survey by the Catholic Union was the first major study of Catholic attitudes towards the closure of churches during the pandemic and the impact it had on people’s health.

One responder described the church closures as “one of the most distressing experiences of my life.”

Another said: “I became very depressed — it felt (like) a part of me was missing.”

“I live alone and going to daily Mass is the most important event in my life,” another participant said.

The survey also found that just 25% of responders thought that it was necessary to close churches, and that 93% of responders did not think that politicians gave enough consideration to people’s faith when making decisions during the pandemic.

The bishops successfully appealed against the churches being subjected to a complete lockdown during the second wave of restrictions in 2021.

Pogost, Arkhangelsk Province, Russia, December 12, 2023

Photo: vk.com     

Tragedy struck the Holy Dormition-St. Alexander of Oshevensk Monastery on Saturday, as the holy habitation’s church went up in flames.

Abbot Theodosy wrote simply on the monastery’s Vkontakte social media page: “My dears! I ask for your prayers.”

The monastery, founded in 1460 by St. Alexander of Oshevensk, is situated in the Russian far north in the village of Pogost in the Arkhangelsk Province. The gate church dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, built in 1834 and recently restored, was destroyed in the fire. It was the monastery’s only functioning church. Abbot Theodosy and the brotherhood have been working to restore the rest of the monastery.

The fire was first noticed at around 9 AM on Saturday, and firefighters quickly arrived on the scene and managed to put out the fire within three hours, reports 29.ru.

A local resident reported that besides the St. Nicholas Church, the main monastery building also burned down.

Photo: vk.com     

However, thankfully, there were no human casualties, and the prayer life of the monastery continues, with services in the trapeza. The brotherhood consists of two priests, one monk, one novice, and three laborers.

Fr. Theodosy wrote yesterday:

My dears. Brothers and sisters. Life carries on. The prayer life is ongoing in the monastery, and it will continue that way. The brethren warmly thank everyone who showed concerned for our trouble. We will survive, brothers and sisters, we will survive.

Despite the tragedy, the brethren remain faithful. Elsewhere, Fr. Theodosy wrote:

We have a tragedy, a common tragedy! Due to a furnace fire, our gate Church of St. Nicholas in the Oshevensk Monastery has burned down. In such difficult times, churches are burning! Apparently, the Lord is reminding us once again that only together are we strong! Let’s unite and help our monastery. Everyone’s participation is important! Whoever can contribute: with a kind word of support, prayer, or financial transfer. We can do it together!

Photo: oshevenskoe.ru     

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The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it will once again consider a high-stakes abortion pill case that could impose new national limits on abortion.

The Supreme Court will be reviewing a lower court’s August ruling that reimposed restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone. The Biden Justice Department and the abortion drug manufacturer Danco Laboratories appealed the decision in September.

The court allotted one hour for oral arguments in the case, called Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration (AHM v. FDA). Because of its potential to curtail the use of the drug that accounts for over half of all U.S. abortions, the case is expected to be the most consequential abortion case since Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade.

Mifepristone works by cutting off the nutrients necessary for an unborn baby to survive, essentially starving the child to death. A second pill called misoprostol is then ingested to induce contractions to expel the dead baby from the womb.

In 2022, several pro-life groups and individuals, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), sued the FDA arguing that the administration had not properly reviewed the drug before approving it and that its continued use endangers women.

ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley reacted to the news in a Wednesday morning statement in which she urged the Supreme Court to uphold “common-sense safeguards” around mifepristone.

“Every court so far has agreed that the FDA acted unlawfully in removing common-sense safeguards for women and authorizing dangerous mail-order abortions. We urge the Supreme Court to do the same,” Hawley said.

Texas federal district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a ruling in April that entirely invalidated the FDA’s mifepristone approval, a decision that was subsequently overturned by higher courts but would have essentially made the abortion pill illegal.

The most recent ruling in AHM v. FDA was made by the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in August invalidated the FDA’s post-2016 rule changes to mifepristone. This means that pre-2016 restrictions on abortion drugs, which included a ban on mailing them or administering them via telemedicine (without an in-person doctor’s visit), would be reimposed.

The 5th Circuit said in its ruling that the FDA failed to “consider the cumulative effect of removing several important safeguards” and “to gather evidence that affirmatively showed that mifepristone could be used safely without being prescribed and dispensed in person.”

Despite the appellate court ruling, the abortion pill is still available under the post-2016 rules as the lawsuit awaits action from the U.S. Supreme Court. This is because of an April decision by the Supreme Court to keep mifepristone available under the post-2016 regulations for the duration of the litigation process.

Ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision to review the 5th Circuit’s limited mifepristone restrictions, over 100 U.S. lawmakers wrote a letter to the Supreme Court in November urging it to broadly revoke the FDA’s abortion pill approval.

Hawley said on Wednesday that “the FDA has harmed the health of women and undermined the rule of law by illegally removing every meaningful safeguard from the chemical abortion drug regimen.”

“Like any federal agency, the FDA must rationally explain its decisions. Yet its removal of common-sense safeguards — like a doctor’s visit before women are prescribed chemical abortion drugs — does not reflect scientific judgment but rather a politically driven decision to push a dangerous drug regimen.”

Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Province, Russia, December 12, 2023

Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru     

The city of Ekaterinburg, founded by Emperor Peter I in 1723 and named in honor of St. Catherine and his wife Empress Catherine I, is celebrating its 300th anniversary this year.

In honor of the anniversary and its patronal feast, the Ekaterinburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church held a procession through the Ural capital on December 7. A copy of the Mt. Sinai icon of St. Catherine with a particle of her relics was carried in the procession, as well as a reliquary with another particle of her relics that was gifted to the diocese from Orthodox faithful in Crimea on the occasion of the anniversary, the diocese reports.

Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru     

The procession of 3,700 people was led by His Eminence Metropolitan Evgeny of Ekaterinburg, His Grace Bishop Vladimir of Shadrinsk, and His Grace Bishop Theodosy of Nizhny Tagil.

“The Ekaterinburg frosts were no obstacle for the faithful. Like our glorious ancestors, the faithful celebrated the 300th name’s day of Ekaterinburg with a fervent prayer to their Heavenly patroness,” the diocese writes.

Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru     

Holding banners and crosses, the faithful marched through the city to the chapel located on the site of the altar of the St. Catherine Cathedral that was blown up nearly a century ago by the Bolsheviks. The newly gifted relics will be permanently kept in the chapel. The procession ended with a moleben to St. Catherine.

After the procession, all the participants were treated to hot tea and food.

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A congressional report released this week revealed that major abortion advocacy organizations received nearly $2 billion in federal funds between 2019 and 2021.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showed that several pro-abortion groups “received $1.89 billion in federal funding” over the years in question, the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus said in a review of the data.

Of that amount, the vast majority — $1.78 billion — went to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the report said.

Smaller amounts totaling around $111 million went to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), MSI Reproductive Choices (MSI), and “four domestic regional organizations.”

Most of the funding was disbursed through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the pro-life summary said.

Under the Hyde and Helms amendments, the caucus noted, federal funds were not used to pay for abortions directly. But “neither the Hyde nor Helms amendments limit funding for abortion providers,” the group pointed out.

“Federal funding of abortion providers expands the reach and influence of abortion advocates, giving taxpayers’ stamp of approval to the agenda of abortion advocates,” the caucus said.

The report showed Planned Parenthood receiving its nearly $2 billion worth of funds from several federal sources, largely through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements but also including “grants and cooperative agreements” and loans forgiven via the Paycheck Protection Program, a COVID-era federal relief initiative.

“Overall, the federal funding Planned Parenthood received in 2019-2021 grew by $170 million” since the last GAO report released in 2021, the caucus said.

Both IPPF and MSI are global abortion groups that together carry out millions of abortions around the world every year. IPPF, the pro-life caucus said, received “approximately $2 million” in federal funding over the years reviewed, while MSI received about $1.3 million.

The figures come from health care funding data provided by the GAO. On her website, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on Tuesday that the government released the data after she and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, along with dozens of other congressional members, filed a request for it in January 2022.

The study itself was published in November and “publicly released” this week.

“It is appalling that big abortion providers are continuing to receive billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding,” Blackburn said on Tuesday, claiming that Planned Parenthood “illegally siphoned over $90 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, specifically designed to help our mom and pop shops keep their doors open.”

Smith, who co-chairs the House Pro-Life Caucus, argued that federal dollars “should not be funneled to big abortion corporations like Planned Parenthood, which has killed over 9.3 million unborn children since 1970, including 1.11 million between 2019-2021.”

“This money would have been better spent helping the businesses that were forced to close or providing comprehensive medical support for both women and children,” Smith said.

Let Us Fast in EarnestThus, let us begin on these fasting days to give ourselves to an intent study of fasting and prayer; and let us, at the same time, begin to fast and pray indeed.

” class=”tooltip”>Part 1/1: Let us Fast in Earnest
The Meaning and Significance of FastingFasting is a necessary means for success in the spiritual life and for attaining salvation; for fasting—depriving the flesh of excessive food and drink—weakens the force of sensual drives.” class=”tooltip”>Part 1/2: The Meaning and Significance of Fasting
Accustoming Ourselves to FastingTo make our disposition towards fasting firm, we have to accustom ourselves to fasting slowly, carefully, not all at once, but gradually—little by little.” class=”tooltip”>Part 1/3: Accustoming Ourselves to Fasting
Spiritual FastingLet the mind fast, not permitting empty and bad thoughts; let the heart fast, refraining from sinful feelings; let our will fast, directing all our desires and intentions to the one thing needful…” class=”tooltip”>Part 1/4: Spiritual Fasting
What is Prayer?A great prayerful power is at work in the prayers of the Holy Fathers, and whoever enters into them with all his attention and zeal will certainly taste of this prayerful power to the extent that his state of mind converges with the content of the prayer.” class=”tooltip”>Part 2/1: On Prayer. What is Prayer?
How to Prepare for Prayer?Thus, if you want to pray, gather all your thoughts, lay aside all external, earthly cares, and present your mind to God and gaze upon Him.” class=”tooltip”>Part 2/2: How to Prepare for Prayer?
How to Pray?Absorb every word of prayer, bringing the meaning of every word into your heart; that is, understand what you read and feel what you have understood.” class=”tooltip”>Part 2/3: How to Pray?
What to Do After Prayer?Begin, for example, to reflect on the goodness of God, and you’ll see that you’re surrounded by the mercies of God both physically and spiritually, and you’ll fall before God in an outpouring of feelings of gratitude.” class=”tooltip”>Part 2/4: What to Do After Prayer?
About the Jesus PrayerIn order not to get lost in the various methods and definitions of the Jesus Prayer, it’s enough to follow these teachers: St. John Climacus, St. Nilus of Sora, Fr. Seraphim of Sarov, and Dorotheos.”>Part 2/5: About the Jesus Prayer

Photo: rosphoto.com     

Psalm 83 says: Blessed is the man… who hath made ascents in his heart (v. 6). What is this ascent? In terms of prayer, this is nothing other than gathering your thoughts and senses together and presenting them to God—in prayer. And ecclesiastical books include ways to do this. In the old books, this is called the entrance prayers and the departure prayers, and in our books—the usual beginning.

The entrance prayers are still used today by the Edinoverie Old Believers: Yesterday, Today, TomorrowThe Edinoverie allows you to truly, as a in monastery, break away from worldly vanity, immerse yourself in a prayerful condition, look at the Orthodox faith through the prism of greater strictness with yourself, and pull yourself up to a personal spiritual height.

“>Old Believers. They read like this: “O God, cleanse me a sinner! God, be merciful to me a sinner! Thou hast created me, O Lord, have mercy upon me! Countless times have I sinned, O Lord, forgive me! It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos… And the dismissal: Glory to Thee, O Christ our God and our hope, glory to Thee!” and the rest. What is the meaning and significance of this beginning? It can, among other things, serve as an excellent way to gather our thoughts, wandering through various subjects, concentrate them on the incarnate economy of our salvation, and thus plunge our entire sinful existence into the abyss of God’s boundless mercy.

So, the penitential prayers of this beginning, “O God, cleanse me,” and the others remind the attentive reader of the times of the Old Testament, when fallen mankind sighed to Heaven, which was closed to him, for mercy. The hymn of the Theotokos, “It Is Truly Meet,” reminds of the Heavenly door that opened the Kingdom of grace for us by the Incarnation of the Son of God, our Savior. The dismissal, “Glory to Thee, O Christ our God,” points to the salvific time of the New Testament, and causes us to give thanks and glorify the Lord God for granting us salvation. In this way, the entrance prayers gather our scattered thoughts and concentrate them on the incarnate economy of our salvation and prepare us for salvific prayer. It’s used at the beginning of prayers, and the beginning is also read again at the end, though here called the departure prayers; and both the entrance and departure prayers are necessarily accompanied by a prostration.

For us, the beginning of prayer uses the usual beginning, which is: “Blessed is our God;. Glory to Thee, our God; O Heavenly King; Holy God (3x); Glory, both now; O Most Holy Trinity; Lord have mercy (3x); Glory, both now; Our Father.

What is the meaning and significance of this rule? It has a deep meaning and high significance.

A Christian man, as a creation of God by his origin and as a son of God by the grace of redemption, is always obliged to bless his Creator and Savior if he doesn’t want to be an outcast of mankind. And so, following the example of the holy Psalmist, who said of himself: I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth (Ps. 33:1), he will always, and especially when beginning to pray, call out: “Blessed is our God, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.”

To be continued…

Angels are a light for monks and the monastic life is a light for everyone.
St. John Climacus

Schema-Nun Sepphora (Shnyakina) Proposals are increasingly being made to canonize the famous Eldress Sepphora (Shnyakina). More and more pilgrims are coming for help to her grave at the Monastery of the Icon of the Savior “Not Made-by-Hands” in the village of Klykovo of the Kozelsk district of the Kaluga region. More and more people share stories about their meetings with the eldress during prayer or even on the operating table.

Matushka was born on March 19, 1896 in the village of Glukhovo of the Gavrilovka district of the Tambov province, to the large family of Nikolai and Matrona Senyakin. The girl was named Daria in Baptism. Of the Senyakins’ thirteen children only three survived: Daria and her two brothers, Vasily and Pavel. Vasily fell on the battlefield in the First World War, and Pavel was killed during the “dispossession of the kulaks” in the 1930s.

In her childhood and early youth, Daria often went to the local Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, where some nuns lived. They taught the girl how to perform the Jesus Prayer and control her inner state. Even then Daria kept her soul pure. While young people would go around the village singing to the accordion, she did not participate in these amusements, considering them an empty pastime.

When Mother Sepphora’s father, the only breadwinner of the family, died, her mother did not have the means to send Daria to a convent, to which her soul had been longing since childhood. The girl had to consider marriage, and in 1916 the twenty-year-old Daria married her fellow villager Dmitry Shnyakin. The marriage was an act of love and obedience towards her mother, because she did not have passionate feelings for her husband. In marriage Daria gave birth to four children: a son who died in infancy, and three daughters—Alexandra, Paraskeva and Lydia. The young family lived under the same roof with her husband’s parents-. After the birth of each child, they sent her on a pilgrimage. For Daria it was a welcome gift, which she remembered with joy. Leaving her earthly chores—taking care of children, a cow and a large household—she, along with the pilgrims, went to meet the Heavenly. At that time she managed to visit Sarov, Diveevo and the holy places of Kiev.

In 1933, the Shnyakin family was dispossessed; their hut was dismantled, Daria’s parents-in-law were exiled to Solovki, and Daria and the children were thrown out onto the street. Shortly before, Dmitry had gone to work in the town of Bolokhovo eighteen miles away from Tula and started working at a mine. Daria moved in with him, and they lived there until the Great Patriotic War, when her husband went to the front, and Daria moved with the children back to the Tambov region. In 1950 her husband died, and the family took up residence in the town of Kireyevsk twenty-five miles away from Tula.

One day during prayer, Daria had a vision: angels performed the monastic tonsure over her. Arriving at the The Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, Where Fates are DecidedNow many churches and monasteries have been restored and opened, but the Lavra was, is and will be the heart of Orthodoxy in Russia. It has a special mission.

“>Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, she told a priest about this wonderful vision at confession. At the Lavra, on October 20, 1967, the father-superior, Abbot Gerasim, tonsured Mother Daria into the mantia with the name Dosithea. The seventy-year-old Mother Dosithea made Sergiyev Posad her home for a long time, where she lived with her eldest daughter Alexandra. At that time not only laypeople, but even monks from the monastery would come to her for advice and consolation. She knew how to comfort a grieving person, but she could also denounce someone, mentioning such sins that they did not dare utter.

After her daughter Alexandra’s death in 1984, matushka returned to live in Kireyevsk. In December 1989, Metropolitan Serapion of Tula and Belev tonsured Nun Dosithea into the schema with the name “Zipporah”, or “Sepphora” in Russian, which means “bird” in Hebrew. She so wanted to live and die at a convent, and she prayed so fervently for this to the Mother of God, that the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her in a dream and said, “Don’t worry, you won’t die in the world. You will die in Klykovo, in a monastery.” At that time, matushka did not know where Klykovo was, and she usually asked everyone who came to her if they were from Klykovo.

The village of Klykovo is situated near the famous Optina Pustyn: Spiritual retreat of Tolstoy and DostoevskyOptina Pustyn in the Kaluga Region is one of the most beloved Russian monasteries.

“>Optina Monastery of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple. When in 1923 the churches of Optina Monastery were sealed and many priests were arrested, some of the brethren moved to the village of Klykovo. The center of the spiritual life of this community was the local Church in honor of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands”. But in 1937 this church was also closed, and it was not returned to the Russian Orthodox Church until the spring of 1991. By that time the church was a sorry sight—there was no roof, no floor, no windows; even trees had grown inside. The local collective farm first used it as a repair shop, and later stored nitrogen fertilizer in it for many years.

The Monastery of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands”. Photo: Monasterium.ru     

Archbishop Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk blessed the setting up of a bishop’s dependency in the village of Klykovo by the efforts of the brethren who had come from Optina Monastery. The first eight monastery laborers who came here from Optina in 1993 eked out a miserable existence. Services were attended by five to eight old women. Gradually, with God’s help and private donations, by 1999 the Church of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands” had been completely restored, and a monastic community had begun to form. On July 17, 2001, the Holy Synod decreed the opening of the Monastery in honor of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands” in the village of Klykovo.

Mother Sepphora was very fond of Optina Monastery, in which God’s blessing always abided. In 1988 the eldress visited the famous monastery. As she walked among the ruins she said, “Grace! There is so much Grace here!” During the restoration of Optina Monastery its spiritual father, Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin)Iliy (Nozdrin), Schema-Archimandrite

“>Schema-Igumen Iliy (Nozdrin), blessed the monks who were restoring Klykovo to be spiritually nurtured by Schema-Nun Sepphora. The brethren found the schema-nun and began to turn to her for spiritual guidance. They called her the “mother of monks” and a “Heavenly bird”, and the first living space built by the monk laborers was a wooden house for Mother Sepphora.

On the Nativity Eve 1996, Schema-Nun Sepphora moved from Kireyevsk to Klykovo, where she was taken by the future monastery’s father-superior—Abbot Mikhail (Semenov), who had been spiritually nurtured at Optina Monastery. From that time until her death, matushka struggled at the Monastery dedicated to the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands”. With the arrival of the eldress in Klykovo, life at the construction site was in full swing. From that day on the monks were no longer in such need as before; through her prayers, funds began to flow into the restoration of the church.

The eldress would come out of her cell only to church where it was terribly cold, and pieces of brick often fell from the church arches onto worshippers. The 100-year-old schema-nun stood and prayed, dressed in a light coat with a vest-jacket over it. She didn’t sit down at the Liturgy at all. She allowed herself to sit down only during Vigil when the kathismas were read; sometimes she tapped her legs with a stick, saying: “Stand! Stand!…” Matushka led a strict life of fasting. Three days before Communion she ate only prosphora and drank some water, and after taking Communion she retired and prayed without receiving anyone. In Klykovo she was visited by Optina monks, nuns and novice nuns from the Convent of St. Ambrose of Optina and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God near the village of Shamordino; people suffering from all over Russia flocked to her for help and spiritual healing.

Schema-Nun Sepphora’s main service was eldership, which is the highest manifestation of pastoral wisdom. The Lord bestowed great spiritual gifts upon her. She comprehended many secrets of ascetic work in spirit.

“Matushka led a remarkably high spiritual life,” Abbot Mikhail recalls. “She led an angelic life. She prayed in such a way that it was obvious to me that the blind old woman saw the angelic realm as clearly as you and I see each other. The Lord endowed her with all the spiritual gifts that a human being can have.”

For her great love for God and long-suffering secret deeds, people’s thoughts were revealed to Schema-Nun Sepphora. The eldress’s spiritual legacy is her instructions—her live voice recorded on tape.

The unshakable ascetic fell asleep in the Lord on May 13, 1997 at the venerable age of 101. The funeral service over Schema-Nun Sepphora was performed by Fr. Iliy (Nozdrin). She was buried in the cemetery near the altar of St. Nicholas Chapel of the Church of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands”.

After her repose miracles began to occur. There are numerous testimonies of miraculous help at her grave.

Mother Sepphora’s Instructions

When asked: “What is the main virtue?”, the eldress would answer: “To entrust all your life to God.” We cannot but recall the words of our contemporary, the philosopher Alexei Fyodorovich Losev (1893–1988): “Faith in God is theory, and trust in God is practice.”

A novice asked her:

“How should I live, Mother? Such a tough time—nothing but temptations everywhere!”

“Get out of bed and turn to the Lord: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us.’ And ask Him for everything—where you should go and what you should do. Otherwise, the enemy will lead you. When go outside, you see seven roads, and you need only one… Be silent And keep praying: ‘Lord, my Treasure! Thou art my happiness…Thou art my Peace… I surrender to Thy will!’”

She instructed a young nun:

“Love the Psalter: it’s so sweet! The whole service is made up of it.”

Eldress Sepphora regarded the Jesus Prayer as the most important and advised people to read it everywhere: on a journey, in public places and while working; because turning to God will protect a person from evil in any life situations.

Schema-Nun Sepphora (Shnyakina) Schema-Nun Anastasia recalls:

“She did not like it when people judged others. She forbade me to do it, saying, ‘Never dare speak ill of anyone. Everybody stands before God. The Lord alone knows how to sort out their lives. Who are we to condemn others!’”

Schema-Nun Sepphora taught her spiritual children:

“You should turn often to saints in prayer. If there are five icons in your home, you must know the troparion to and the Life of each of them, otherwise these are an exhibition of paintings rather than holy icons… We must know the Holy Scriptures, to be able to think and reflect on them.”

She kept repeating to her spiritual children:

“Pray, work and trust in God.”

She always tried to draw the attention of those who visited her to the need to control their feelings. She often said:

“Our tongue is like a dragon: we talk too much all the time. Our heart is like a lion: it is always angry and ‘growling’. Our legs are like hares: they run away from obedience and from good deeds. Our hands are like a rake: we all want to grab everything. And our eyes are like hawks: we want to see everything; curiosity gives us no rest.”

Whenever women came to her and began to complain about their lives, Mother Sepphora would warn them:

“You will be left with a trough.”

That is, if you are dissatisfied with what you have, do not appreciate it and do not thank God for it, but want to have more and more all the time, then you—like the old woman from the “Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” by Alexander Pushkin, who was not pleased with the great gifts from the golden fish and only demanded more and more—will be left with just a broken trough. So she taught people to appreciate life and what they had.

The ascetic exhorted everyone to pray for their parents.

Mother Sepphora would say that parents should not shout at their children or scold them. They should bring up children with love and instruct them gently on the right path. A child is like raw wax, from which you can mold whatever you want. And if children are naughty or disobey their parents, the mother should pray to God that the Lord will have mercy on them and guide them on a good path. Women are often busy with themselves, and this is one of the causes of the diseases of our age.

The eldress’ prophecies

Eldress Sepphora struck people with her clairvoyance. She saw clearly the fate of every person who came to her.

The monastery’s father-superior, Schema-Abbot Mikhail (Semenov), recalls his personal communication with the eldress:

“When we didn’t have a telephone in the monastery, and it was very inconvenient; there was no contact with the outside world. When I had already arranged for a telephone cable to be laid (I had already received both a cable and a tractor), the chairman suddenly didn’t permit it! So I came to matushka in a dejected state, complaining to her about these difficulties. And she said to me: ‘Don’t worry about a phone: soon you will have a handheld one—not only will you call on it, but you will also watch TV!’ How could we have imagined this back then, if none of us had ever seen computers? They were a wonder, and at the time they were such that you could chop wood with them. But matushka already knew and understood that there would be tablets and smartphones.”

The eldress would say that Klykovo would become a town and be called Spassk, in honor of the Savior, and the spiritual heart of Spassk would be the holy monastery of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands”.

Her prophecies also concerned global events in the world. “Every word of the Apocalypse must surely be fulfilled. Only unshakable faith can save humanity,” she would say. Before the Second Coming, cities will be closed and it will be impossible to go to Jerusalem.

For example, she warned that hard times (in Russia) could return: the Communists could come to power again at any moment if people stop praying and if the Church grows cool, ceasing to have high authority in society and becoming purely formal. Then denunciations against Christians will be written again and Christians will be killed again. But it won’t last: the former Government would return and sweep away the Communists. Matushka always clarified that some of her prophecies might not come true—it all depends on whether or not people sincerely turn to God with prayer.

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​Eldress Sepphora’s grave     

To this dayб miracles occur at the grave of Eldress Sepphora. She helps everyone who comes to her with prayer requests. The Monastery of the Icon of the Savior “Not-Made-by-Hands” lovingly receives hundreds of pilgrims, monastery laborers and sufferers from everywhere. People come to Mother Sepphora’s grave and to the wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God, “Helper in Childbirth”, in front of which miracles occur as well. The monastery keeps an archive with documents and addresses of individuals who have left testimonies of healings and miracles that happened to them after praying to Mother Sepphora.