Tag: Christianity

Last week, the presidents of three Ivy League universities—Harvard, MIT, and Penn—appeared before Congress to address the issue of anti-Semitism on their campuses, in the wake of the conflict between Hamas and the state of Israel. In their formal statements as well as in the conversation with the congressional committee members, they acknowledged the tension between free speech and the legitimate regulation of certain types of provocative rhetoric. But as the dialogue unfolded, Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, became increasingly impatient with what she took to be the presidents’ diffidence regarding extreme forms of anti-Semitic speech at their universities. She finally pressed each one of them: “Would calling for the genocide of Jews constitute a violation of the code of conduct at your school, yes or no?” Astonishingly, each of them balked, insisting that it depended upon the context.

All three women have justifiably faced massive blowback and calls for their resignations, due to the baffling lack of moral clarity in their statements. I should like to explore, however briefly, what has made this kind of moral opaqueness and muddle-headedness possible. First, in the minds of far too many people today, the category of the intrinsically evil act has disappeared. In classical moral philosophy, an intrinsically evil act is one that is, by its very nature, so disordered that it could never be justified or permitted. Good examples of this include slavery, rape, the direct killing of the innocent, and acts of terrorism. Nothing in the circumstances surrounding such acts or in the intentionality of the one performing them could ever turn them into something morally praiseworthy. When we lose a sensitivity to the intrinsically evil, we fall, automatically, into a moral relativism, whereby even the most egregiously wicked act can be justified or explained away. To give just one obvious example, abortion, which involves the direct killing of the innocent, is justified by millions today on account of its purportedly positive effects.

The great Catholic moral philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe was formed in the highly relativistic ethical thinking that was fashionable in the early twentieth century. Her professors blithely taught that moral statements had no real objective referent; they were rather simply expressive of the feelings of those who uttered them. But when she saw the newsreel films of the liberated Nazi death camps, which showed piles and piles of corpses, she knew that she was seeing something intrinsically evil, something objectively wicked. And consequently, she abandoned the philosophy in which she had been trained. Sadly, the very relativism and moral indifferentism that Anscombe rebelled against are back with a vengeance. Just how far our own culture has embraced this very bad philosophy was revealed last week in Congress. For in a way, Rep. Stefanik was asking the ultimate softball question: Do you think that inciting people to genocide, the wanton and indiscriminate killing of an entire race of people, is wrong? To be met with the answer, “Well, it depends upon the context” signaled to her, quite correctly, that her interlocutors had moved into complete and dangerous moral incoherence.

Another reason for the inanity on display at the Congressional hearing is the tendency, so typical in woke circles, to divide the world into the simplistic categories of oppressor and oppressed. The roots of this are in Marx and Nietzsche in the nineteenth century as well as in Michel Foucault and the Frankfurt School theorists in the twentieth century, but it has spilled onto the streets largely through the ministrations of the contemporary professoriate in so many of our universities. On this reading, there are simply good guy oppressed people and bad guy oppressors, and once we have sorted everyone into one or the other category, our moral reflection is essentially done. So, whites, Westerners, men, straight people, and Christians are under suspicion, while people of color, those from the global East or global South, women, gays, and non-Christians are lionized. The motives of the first group are routinely questioned, while those of the second group are routinely praised; the first contingent is given the benefit of no doubt, and the second is given the benefit of every doubt. Nuance, careful distinctions, subtle moral reasoning—who needs them, once we’ve decided who is oppressor and who is oppressed? So why not accept a sweeping condemnation of the bad groups? And what’s wrong, therefore, with chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which, by the way, is functionally equivalent to what the Ivy League presidents were implying in their reluctance to condemn the genocide of Jews?

Might I suggest that the great tradition of Catholic social and moral thought would be a very healthy corrective to the errant speculations evidenced last week in Congress? Let us apply it to the recent conflict in the Middle East. Was Hamas’ attack on Israel intrinsically evil? Yes. Does Israel have a right to defend itself? Yes. Can Israel, in the undertaking of its legitimate self-defense, do so disproportionately and indiscriminately? No. Those responses are, appropriately, both definitive and sufficiently nuanced. If I might put it this way, the answers given by the Ivy League presidents last week were nuanced when they shouldn’t have been and definitive when they shouldn’t have been.

And may I observe that we should not miss this moment? That appalling Congressional testimony served to blow the lid off of an increasingly dysfunctional culture on the campuses of our universities, which have become, sadly, not places where truth is sought, but hotbeds of woke ideology. Donors, parents, alumni—wake up. Do we want to be sending our kids to schools whose presidents cannot muster the intestinal fortitude to resist calls for genocide?

Kiev, December 11, 2023

Photo: news.church.ua     

On December 9, 1990, then-Archimandrite Onuphry (Berezovsky) was consecrated Bishop of Chernivtsi and Bukovina. He has been primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church since August 13, 2014.

Over the weekend, he celebrated the 33rd anniversary of his episcopal consecration at St. Panteleimon’s Convent in Kiev, beginning with the All-Night Vigil on Friday night, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.

His Beatitude was concelebrated by a host of bishops and local and visiting clergy. The next morning, he was joined by 33 hierarchs and a host of clergy for the Divine Liturgy at the same monastery.

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Prayers for peace and for all those who suffer were offered during the service.

Reflecting upon his decades of service to the Church, His Beatitude told his flock: “If anything was good, it was only through your prayers and with your help.”

And encouraging the people, he emphasized that despite all the present difficulties and temptations, “we must thank God for everything, love God and our neighbor, and endure everything that God allows,” for which, “there will be a great reward, not only on Earth, but also in Heaven.”

Photo: news.church.ua     

“For a Christian there is always a bright hope. For those who do not know Christ, the future is dark and incomprehensible. But for those who know and love Christ, there is always, wherever they may be, light at the end of the tunnel, and this light is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” the Ukrainian primate concluded.

His Beatitude received greetings from brother primates, including His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada, and His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

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The method used by the Canadian government and several U.S. states to record assisted suicide deaths leads to incomplete statistics and less accountability, anti-euthanasia advocates said this week.

The issue was thrown into sharp relief late last month when, in a Nov. 28 X post, the official account for Statistics Canada — Canada’s national statistical agency — responded to a query from a user about why euthanasia and assisted suicide deaths were not listed among the top 10 official causes of death in the agency’s 2022 statistics, despite accounting for more than 13,000 deaths that year. (In Canada, euthanasia and assisted suicide are commonly referred to as medical aid in dying, or MAID.)

“MAID deaths are coded to the underlying condition for which MAID was requested,” the agency account wrote, saying it uses World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines to code the deaths. As of November, the WHO guidelines do not include a coding standard for assisted suicide and euthanasia.

“In the case of a disability or mental health condition, deaths are coded to the underlying disability or mental health issue that MAID was granted for,” the agency continued, answering a question from a user about how assisted suicide deaths for people suffering from non-terminal mental illness will be coded when Canada expands the practice to the mentally ill in 2024.

As a result of this framework for counting MAID deaths, a Canadian person who avails himself or herself of assisted suicide because of a cancer diagnosis is listed as officially dying of cancer and not of the lethal drugs they were prescribed and ingested.

The agency’s response drew consternation and confusion from some social media users, in part because the counting mechanism means that MAID does not appear in a top 10 list of causes of death in Canada that Statistics Canada shared, despite comprising the sixth leading cause of death according to separate government statistics. Those statistics show that there were 13,241 “MAID provisions” reported in Canada in 2022 — accounting for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada.

Assisted suicide is not the same as euthanasia, although the two phrases are often used interchangeably. Assisted suicide is the act of making the means of suicide — such as a lethal dose of medication — available to the patient, who subsequently acts on his or her own. Euthanasia, in contrast, refers to the practice of a medical professional or other person directly acting to end the life of a patient, a practice that remains illegal across the entire U.S. despite nearly a quarter of U.S. states legalizing assisted suicide. 

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, an international organization with headquarters in Ontario, told CNA that in practice, assisted suicide deaths are counted the same way in each of the 10 U.S. states that offer it. On a patient’s death certificate, assisted suicide is not listed as the cause of death but rather the medical condition that the patient was suffering with.

All but two states — Oregon and Vermont — explicitly require by law that assisted suicide deaths be counted this way. In Oregon, the state “recommends” recording deaths this way on the patient’s death certificate in order to “balance the confidentiality of patients and their families, while ensuring that we have complete information for statistical purposes” by, according to the Oregon Health Authority website, later doing a follow-up report to find out how the patient actually died.

Schadenberg said his organization has for years highlighted the importance of death certificate accuracy, especially when it pertains to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

“It’s important, as a culture, that we know how someone died… It’s important to know that assisted suicide and euthanasia is the sixth cause of death in Canada [in 2022], and probably in 2023 it’ll be the fifth cause of death in Canada. It’s very important to know that,” Schadenberg told CNA.

Canada legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia in 2016 and originally included an eligibility criterion that there be a “reasonable foreseeability of natural death.” After that portion of the law was struck down by the country’s Supreme Court, the current law allows any consenting adult with “a serious and incurable illness, disease, or disability” in an “advanced state of irreversible decline in capability” to request assisted suicide.

Schadenberg noted that counting assisted suicide deaths using the WHO standard — in addition to obfuscating the person’s true cause of death — inflates the death rates from certain diseases, such as cancer, if more and more people are choosing to end their own lives prematurely after being diagnosed and cancer is subsequently listed as their cause of death. That throws off the data when doctors later attempt to determine a prognosis for future patients if the data show so many people apparently dying of cancer prematurely, he noted.

This reporting procedure causes further difficulty because, in the U.S., the doctor prescribing the lethal medication is rarely present at the point of the patient’s death, Schadenberg pointed out. The patient takes the drug on his or her own, usually at home.

Therefore, Schadenberg asserted, in states where assisted suicide is legal such as Oregon, the state often has no way to prove that a patient died from assisted suicide. The Oregon Department of Health has no authority nor budget given to them under law to investigate these cases. As a result, he said, assisted suicide is “mixed in” with all other causes of death.

“Transparency has been intentionally removed from the equation,” Schadenberg commented.

Schadenberg said he believes the decision to count MAID deaths this way is part of an effort to “normalize the concept of killing someone.”

This counting method leads to further problems in both the U.S. and Canada, including a skewing of overall suicide statistics, another advocate said.

Wesley J. Smith, a lawyer and a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Discovery Institute, told CNA that because of the way assisted suicides are counted in the states, the countrywide total number of suicides reported each year is likely an undercount — which is significant, given the fact that deaths by suicide grew to “the highest number ever recorded in U.S. history” in 2022.

“When states turn in their suicide statistics to the federal government, they don’t include assisted suicides as suicides,” Smith explained, noting that the states are reliant on doctors self-reporting how the patient died.

As a result, he said, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention almost certainly does not have a full, complete picture of how many people have committed suicide in the U.S. Echoing Schadenberg, Smith said he believes this counting practice is part of an effort by some pro-assisted suicide activists to redefine the practice as “not suicide,” and thus as more culturally acceptable.

He said because assisted suicide is a state issue in the U.S., the only way to undo this method of counting deaths is through the passing of state legislation, which he said is “incredibly unlikely.” That said, Smith said he believes disability rights activists in the U.S. have thus far managed to keep the worst practices of Canada’s MAID system from arriving in the States.

‘Morally unacceptable’

Amid an expansion of the practice in 2021 that included the removal of several safeguards, the Canadian government said it would wait two years to extend assisted suicide and euthanasia to mentally ill citizens to study how it could be “safely” provided. The government earlier this year extended that delay by another year, meaning Canadians suffering from mental illnesses will be able to apply for assisted suicide by mid-March 2024. Numerous groups in Canada have expressed concern about the change.

Instead of assisted suicide or euthanasia the Catholic Church supports palliative care, which means accompanying patients toward the end of their lives with methods such as pain management and emotional and spiritual support, while not accelerating the process of death.

The Catholic bishops of Canada reiterated Nov. 28 that Catholic medical institutions cannot offer medical aid in dying (MAID) and promoted instead the expansion of palliative care practices.

“Euthanasia and assisted suicide (MAID) have always been, and will always be, morally unacceptable because they are affronts to human dignity and violations of natural and divine law. Catholic health care affirms that every person, made in the image of God (cf. Gn 1:26), has intrinsic value, regardless of ability or health,” the bishops wrote.

“For these reasons, we, the members of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, unanimously and unequivocally oppose the performance of either euthanasia or assisted suicide (MAID) within health organizations with a Catholic identity. We oppose any efforts by governments or others to compel such facilities to perform MAID in violation of Catholic teachings. Anything to the contrary would deeply betray the identity of these institutions as Catholic and would not be in keeping with the Church’s moral teachings on the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person.”

Addressing the push to offer MAID to the mentally ill in Canada, the bishops urged the country to better invest in mental health care services.

“With the threat of MAID becoming available to Canadians whose sole medical condition is mental illness, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is for public health care to invest more in mental health resources,” the bishops wrote.

“This investment is urgently needed not only because of the present mental health crisis in which needs far exceed resources, but because discouragement and despair can also result from this very scarcity of reachable, reliable, and robust support.”

When patients choose an option that cannot be offered within a Catholic health care institution, the bishops said, they are “assured of a safe and timely discharge and transfer of care.” The bishops noted that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) developed an online toolkit consisting of four modules that can be used by individuals, groups, parishes, health care facilities, and other institutions as a source of learning on the issue.

The bishops concluded by reaffirming Catholics’ commitment, “as Christians, to accompany the sick with care and love until natural death.”

“We continue to pray for the sick, for all caregivers, and for lawmakers whose role it is to help shape a society that does not harm or endanger the lives of its citizens,” they concluded.

All Canadian provinces except Manitoba and the Yukon experienced a steady year-over-year growth in assisted suicides in 2022, with a country-wide growth rate of 31.2% over 2021, government statistics show.

Saratov, Saratov Province, Russia, December 12, 2023

Photo: eparhia-saratov.ru     

On Sunday December 10, a joyous event was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Saratov, Russia, when the remains of the 20th-century Saratov hierarchs were laid to rest in the church.

The event was timed to the 30th anniversary of the repose of Archbishop Pimen (Khmelevsky) of Saratov. The day began with a memorial litiya celebrated at his grave by the current Saratov hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatius, the diocese reports.

Then the Divine Liturgy was concelebrated by Met. Ignatius and four other hierarchs and a host of local and visiting clergy. The church was filled with parishioners and Saratov seminarians.

During the Liturgy, the litany for the reposed was read for Archbishop Dosithei (Protopopov), Bishop Benjamin (Milov), and the aforementioned Abp. Pimen—all Saratov hierarchs of the 20th century.

Photo: eparhia-saratov.ru     

Though they are not formally canonized, the article repeatedly refers to Abp. Dosithei and Bp. Benjamin as “Holy Hierarchs.” The homily before Communion covered the life of the Holy Hierarchs, their confession, and their popular veneration. After the service, a panikhida was served for Abp. Dosithei and Bp. Benjamin.

In the Soviet years, it was not allowed to bury the hierarchs within the church yard, thus they were buried at the Resurrection Cemetery in Saratov. In September of this year, the remains were unearthed and placed in the Holy Cross Church at the diocesan administration for several months as they were being prepared for burial. Panikhidas and memorial litiyas were regularly served. Their bodies were then placed in the Holy Protection Cathedral, where the faithful could come to venerate round-the-clock. They were then moved to the Holy Trinity Cathedral, with clergy continually reading the Gospel over the bodies of the hierarchs.

After the memorial service, accompanied by the chanting of the irmosi of Holy Saturday and the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, the Holy Hierarchs were carried around the cathedral and finally laid to rest in the tomb located in the lower Holy Dormition church.

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Met. Ignatius emphasized that the Holy Hierarchs will always be with the faithful now and encouraged the flock to pray and repent and contemplate the coming General Resurrection.

Abp. Dosithei and Bp. Benjamin are both venerated as confessors of the Soviet times and have posthumous miracles attributed to their intercessions.

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Piraeus, Attica, Greece, December 12, 2023

Photo: imp.gr     

His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus of the Greek Orthodox Church celebrated an ancient Western Liturgy this weekend.

On Sunday, at the Holy Church of Panagia Myrtidiotissa in Piraeus, the hierarch served the Liturgy of St. Ambrose of Milan, “who worked for the Gospel with great knowledge, love, and dedication in the fourth century,” reports the Metropolis of Piraeus.

The Ambrosian Rite is a Latin liturgical rite that is today celebrated mostly in the Archdiocese of Milan in Italy.

The Metropolitan stated in his homily that St. Ambrose “emerged as a great Father of the Church who fought against heresies, even Arianism.” He continued:

A great Shepherd of the Church, St. Ambrose left us a wonderful Liturgical text, a Divine Liturgy, which demonstrates the unity of the Church, which for ten centuries, a thousand years, both in the East and in the West, proclaimed the new thing that the world awaits amidst the daily failure of history and which is nothing other than the invitation of the All-Holy God to sit down at the supper of His love and in the communion of His Holiness with fidelity to the Evangelical preaching and the Apostolic and martyric succession of our Holy Church, which is the Body of Christ with Him as the head…

We feel the blessing of the Holy Spirit who inspired all the saints towards the same liturgical direction, towards the same experience, and we understand how blessed we Orthodox are to maintain in the second and third millennia the same faith of the Apostles and the God-bearing Fathers, who did not innovate, who did not betray, who did not destroy this unity of faith.

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Movies can be a combination of archaeology and anthropology. They tell us what a culture at a particular point in time valued and what it did not. Once a film is in the “can” and off to the theaters — or now, to the streaming platform of your choice — what it wanted to say about life, love, good, and evil is forever locked in time, like a prehistoric mosquito trapped in amber.

Movies and television are rarely reliable history. With completely fictional characters and plot lines often come with the present-day cultural preferences and prejudices of the artists making the films. Films based on historical people and events are not immune from this same phenomena either.

That is not to say that literary license does not have a place in creating entertainment, even when the subject matter deals with real people and real events. Ridley Scott’s epic film “Napoleon” has ruffled some historians’ feathers for taking liberties with the historical record. The filmmaker placed Bonaparte on the streets of Paris so he could witness the execution of Marie Antoinette. Maybe not good history, but probably good art.

Sometimes, though, filmmakers go too far and literary license turns into cultural propaganda. In the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde,” which is still considered a watershed moment in film history, two cold-blooded killers from the 1930s were transformed into free spirit tragic hero prototypes of the time’s cultural upheaval.

Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” should win some Oscars. It is an excellent film but sadly contains gratuitous nudity, which renders it not friendly for family viewing. The unnecessary and crude exploitive nature of that aside, the film is fairly good history … until it is not. 

The real Dr. Oppenheimer, the man responsible for shepherding the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb, was by all historical research, a complex and contradictory soul. He was a serious man of science, but he was also a self-promoter. But in a movie like this, every character, whether the general in charge of the Manhattan Project or the legion of noted scientists who brought the project to fruition, can certainly blur the lines between fact and artifice.

In general, the film’s historical accuracy seems pretty tight, and the known fact that Oppenheimer flirted with Communism and other socialist celebs of the time is the hub upon which the film is centered. It is also the focal point where the truth gets blurry, especially as it pertains to how the Spanish Civil War is framed. The film obviously believes support of the so-called republican forces in that conflict was the right side of history. Those in the film who do not think so are portrayed as either too conservative or, worse, reactionary.

Hollywood has had a long infatuation with the Spanish Civil War. As far back as the classic film “Casablanca,” a film the Vatican holds rightly in high esteem, that terrible conflict from the 1930s has been used as a kind of litmus test. Before Humphrey Bogart’s Rick winds up in a “joint” in French Morocco, his bona fides for being one of the good guys is established by his  involvement in that conflict on the side that lost.

Support for the Communist side was even more overt in examples like the film adaptation of Hemmingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

A historian once quipped that the Spanish Civil War was the only war where the losers got to write the history and Hollywood’s long-standing romanticizing of that war is proof to that hypothesis. It is also a good reminder that the “winners” write most of the history and control narratives. That is why the Spanish were always the “bad” guys with sinister inquisitors lurking around them in swashbuckling movies of that golden era, while English pirates were seen as patriots and heroic bastions of freedom and justice.

Whenever we watch films with or without historical premises, we should always see them first as entertainment and never take what is being presented as a demonstrable fact. History is never, ever that simple or exact. This is especially true when a film has anything to do with the Church and its history where misrepresentations, half-truths, and objective lies warrant their own category at the Academy Awards.

It might be best to watch any film that presents something as the “truth” with generous heaps of  skepticism. When in doubt, I would suggest taking the advice of a real-life person who used to star in motion pictures during the industry’s golden age and who went on to more than a modicum of success in the world of politics: “Trust but verify.”

Photo: kyuk.org     

Atrakun Aatam, cali Qetunraam, cali Tanqiliriim Anernerem. Amin. Saint Paul once wrote to the Thessalonians, “You are our glory and our joy,”¹ words that so aptly describe the newly-departed Archpriest Michael in his apostolic service to the first peoples of this land, for those peoples were and will ever be his glory and his joy. He approached the first peoples as Ruth did Naomi: “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”² And he became one with the people, one of the people, an elder among the people, a yuk, a real human being. He did this by rejoicing with them that rejoice and weeping with them that weep, but especially rejoicing with that joy³ of Christ’s resurrection that so animated Father Michael in everything he said and in everything he did.  Unguillra Kristusam tangerrluku.

Father Michael was many things to many people. For some, he was a loving father in the village and parish; for others he was an exceptional speaker or engaging teacher; for others still, he was a vocal advocate for Alaska’s clergy and peoples. In every situation, Father Michael’s voice could draw in a listener from any background and open that person’s heart to hear a word about the Russian Orthodox faith, or about Alaska and her peoples. Walking faithfully in the footsteps of the missionaries and saints who came before him, Father Michael lived his entire life for the Orthodox faith and for those whom he served.

In giving his life for the service of others, Father Michael did so with an enthusiasm and vitality reminiscent of the missionary labors of our own Saint Innokenty and Saint Yakov. He would serve in a village for a weekend, fly out for an event or talk and then return to that village to resume his priestly duties—all done seamlessly, effortlessly, and joyfully. This is because Father Michael took to heart the words of the Holy Apostle Paul, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”⁴ But not only did he have such vitality in continuing the tireless labors of the saints, but perhaps more importantly he approached the people as did Saint Herman and Saint Innokenty with a humble spirit and a desire to learn from them: their culture, their wisdom, their way of life and then he made them completely his own.

His life was the story of falling in love with a people and humbly becoming one of them. Like a little child, he learned from them, before presuming to teach as an elder. And then with great love for them, he taught what he had learned to the entire world. His heart embraced their struggles, their trials, and their often all too traumatic history. And then he wisely used this knowledge in his heart to confront the issues, which they and we face today as a Church and as a people. Most of these issues afflicting the Alaskan peoples are not unfamiliar to us; but in an age where secular solutions are offered for spiritual problems, Father Michael always understood that Christ is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”⁵ in Whom every problem can be solved, in Whom every trial can be overcome, and in Whom every tear can be wiped from the eyes of the sorrowing by the hand of God.⁶

The Holy Apostles were known for speaking “the word of God with boldness.”⁷ And Father Michael, he followed their example. During the most difficult times in the Diocese, Father Michael was not afraid to speak up for those who could not speak and to fight for those who were unable to fight for themselves. As a skilled historian, Father Michael never forgot that it was once the Russian Orthodox Church who stood strong for the people against all attacks and harm. Just as Apa Herman defended the Supiak people of Kodiak against the exploitation of the Russian American Company, so Father Michael would stand up for the people of Bristol Bay and advocate for their land and their traditional way of life. Just as Saint Yakov would easily journey between the diverse nations and peoples of Alaska, so would Father Michael journey, be accepted, and be loved wherever he would go. This was most evident when the Alaska Federation of Natives adopted him as an elder, something which demonstrates without any doubt his authenticity as a man of the Alaskan peoples. How could this man from immigrant stock, originally a native of Pennsylvania, come to Alaska and become adopted as an esteemed elder? The humility of our Christ and the love of our Christ. That is the way that led not only to such acceptance on earth, but also his acceptance by the Saints themselves in heaven.

In following this path, Father Michael did not hide the teachings of the Alaskan elders and the lives of native peoples under a bushel basket, but rather he put it on a candlestand so that their light could be seen throughout the entire world.⁸ Thus, he shared with the wider world and even further enlightened that wider world with the story of the first peoples as they understand themselves. He told of their honorable way of life, their deep philosophy of being a real person, their struggles and their joys. This he did, not from the perspective of an academic who interviewed elders and simply relayed their stories, but rather as a disciple and a friend, reporting that “which he has heard, that which he has seen with his eyes, that which he has looked upon, and his hands have handled.”⁹

When we choose to think of the man, this great man that lies before us, let us cherish the precious legacy that he is passing onto us, the people of God, a legacy of selfless love for every single person, no matter their condition spiritually or physically, a legacy of fighting every single day for our faith, our way of life and the values and teaching of the elders who understood how to please the Creator, Christ our God.

My dear, dear father, your earthly presence, your wisdom, your love, your smile, your good cheer will be sorely missed. You have earned your rest as a good and faithful servant. Know that you are honored by your family, your Matushka Xenia and your children who stood with you every day, fighting the good fight. Look around at the Church gathered and know that your life will be remembered for the good work you did among the people and for the people. Father, your work will not end here; Father, your impact will not end on this day. As bishop of this Alaskan flock, I will not allow the torch you carried in your life to be extinguished, nor will I permit any harm to the people you loved and the people I love by those who do not try to understand them. Father, you were a partner in my labors. Father, you were a teacher in Christ instructing me in the same way as you were taught by those before. From you, dear father, I learned the true history of what would become my people. From you, dear father, I learned the importance of holding onto the traditions of the elders and the culture of our peoples. From you, dear father, I have learned the importance of honoring what the people treasure as part of their identity that distinguishes them from the rest of contemporary culture: their native languages, their native customs, and their Church Slavonic. I will not forget your teachings, but I will honor them by making them my own. That is my promise, dear Father Michael.

Thank you, wise and humble teacher. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter now into the joy of your Lord. Through the prayers of the Saints, you loved so much, Saint Herman, Saint Peter the Aleut, Saint Juvenaly and his companion, Saint Innokenty, Saint Yakov, and the soon to be glorified Saint whom you in your writings made known to the world, the Blessed Matushka Olga, through their prayers, may you, dear, dear Father Michael, now find rest from your labors with all the saints in the never-setting day of the Kingdom of heaven. Yuucimun Iquilngurmun. Вечная Память. Memory Eternal. Amen.

Advent reminds us that there are still two dimensions to our salvation: “already” and “not yet.”

In Advent we sing the ancient songs of longing and expectation. The great hymn of the season is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which contains the “O Antiphons.”

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,

unto your own and rescue them!

From depths of hell your people save,

and give them victory o’er the grave.

We sing this way because we have unfinished business with our God. Yes, he has sent salvation in Jesus Christ, but still we await the Savior’s coming in fullness, his “plenary parousia,” as the

theologians call it.

When he comes at the end of time, he will have no more glory than he has now in the Eucharist, but then we’ll see him as he is. The difference will be not with him, but with us: “we know that when he appears … we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Thus we hope for that day, and we pray through Advent, because, as we read in the very next line of St. John’s letter: “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

A blessed Advent, then, is the only true key to a merry Christmas. Christians should never be like the segments of affluent society that a social critic called “souls without longing.” We should know longing habitually, because we have practiced longing at least annually, during Advent.

Advent is a time of vigilance, alertness, expectation. We are eager for the arrival of Christ, so we pay close attention to our life of prayer, our moral life, the way we treat others, and the way we express our love for God. We should not allow ourselves to experience “Xmas fatigue” long before Dec. 25 rolls around.

We should, if necessary, fast from the radio so that we don’t hear an endless round of misplaced seasonal carols beginning the day after Thanksgiving, or fast from TV programming that anticipates Christmas fulfillment during Advent’s waiting. We should also show others that it is possible to buy for Christmas without bowing idolatrously to commercialism.

The Church is a refuge from a premature nativity. Catholic churches feel different during Advent. In the Mass, we eliminate the Gloria, because that is a Christmas song, the chant of the angels at the birth in Bethlehem (Luke 2:14). In fact, choirs and musicians are supposed to refrain from using any Christmas music during Advent liturgies.

Hope is the reason for the season, and Jesus Christ is certainly worth the wait. We could not reasonably expect a better Christmas present than Simeon and Anna received during that first octave of Christmas (Luke 2:25–38). They had waited long lives, not merely four weeks. Think, too, of the Magi, who had scanned the skies in hope, looking for a sign.

We know him “already,” but still “not yet.” So let’s keep our days as we should, looking for signs and then rejoicing in the mystery of the Incarnation.

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.”>Part 2/4: What to Do After Prayer?

Photo: novyjcheck.ru     

Every true Christian must always remember and never forget that he needs to be united with the Lord and Savior with his whole being—we must allow Him (the Lord) to dwell in our hearts and minds; we must learn to live His all-holy life. He received our flesh, and we must receive His flesh and All-Holy Spirit—receive and keep them forever. Only such a union with our Lord will bring us that peace and favor, that light and life that we lost in the first Adam and is now being returned to us in the face of the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. And for such a union with the Lord, after the Communion of His Body and Blood, the best and most reliable means is the noetic Jesus Prayer, which is as follows: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!”

Many Holy Fathers teach us this prayer in various ways. St. John of the Ladder (Climacus)It is known from St. John’s life that he ate what was allowed by the rule of fasting, but within measure. He did not go without sleep at night, although he never slept more than was needed to support his strength for ceaseless vigilance, and so as not to negatively affect his mind. ”I did not fast beyond measure,” he said of himself, ”and I did not conduct intensified night vigil, nor did I sleep on the ground; but I humbled myself…, and the Lord speedily saved me.

“>St. John Climacus says:

Strive to enclose your mind in the words of the Jesus Prayer—pray aloud and with your mind, and attentively: The heart cannot but participate in attentive prayer. Thus, whoever prays in this way will pray with his mouth, mind, and heart. And succeeding in prayer, he will acquire the prayer of the heart and nous [or mind], drawing Divine grace to himself.

This method of St. John of Climacus is the simplest, the most comprehensible, and the best.

Among our Russian ascetics, Repose of the Venerable Nilus the Abbot of SoraSaint Nilus of Sora, a great ascetic of the Russian Church, was descended from the Maikov nobility. He accepted monasticism at the monastery of Saint Cyril of White Lake (June 9).

“>St. Nilus of Sora counsels silence of thought—not thinking about anything during prayer, be it good or bad. Instead of any thought, he directs us to constantly gaze into the depths of the heart and say: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” You can pray, according to the teaching of St. Nil of Sora, whether standing, sitting, or lying down, without constraining the body so the spirit might freely act in it, only holding your breath so that you breathe quietly and infrequently.¹

St. Seraphim of Sarov

“>Fr. Seraphim of Sarov advises beginners to continually practice the Jesus Prayer. When praying, he says, take heed to yourself, that is, gather the mind and unite it with the soul. At first, for a day or two or more, say this prayer only with the mind, separately, paying special attention to every word. When the Lord warms your heart with the warmth of His grace and unites you into one spirit, then this prayer will unceasingly flow within you and will ever be with you, delighting and nourishing you. At first you should say the Jesus Prayer with your voice, that is, with your mouth, tongue, and speech—audible to yourself. When the mouth, tongue, and senses are sated with prayer pronounced aloud, then audible prayer ceases and it begins to be pronounced in a whisper.

“Then,” says the holy Russian Monk Dorotheos,² “the prayer of the heart and mind will begin to move of its own accord, to work unceasingly, circulating and acting, at any time, during any work, in any place.”

In 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. So, whether you’re standing, sitting, walking, or lying down, train your thoughts to detach from everything, silence your mind (St. Nilus of Sora); take heed to yourself, gather the mind and unite it with the soul. At first, for a day or two or more, say this prayer only with the mind, separately, paying special attention to every word (St. Seraphim of Sarov); strive to enclose your mind in the words of the Jesus Prayer—pray aloud and with your mind, and attentively, with the participation of the heart (St. John Climacus); first say the prayer aloud to yourself, then in a whisper, and learn to say it with your mind (Dorotheos).

Based on all that has been said about the Jesus Prayer, we can form an idea of its praxis. “When you inhale, say: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,’ and thus mentally bring the Lord into your heart; and when you exhale, continue: ‘have mercy on me, a sinner!’ and thus mentally expel your sinfulness by the name of the Savior.” This method of reciting the Jesus Prayer is the easiest to learn, and it can be prayed day and night.

What is the prayer rope? What does it mean? The prayer rope we carry reminds us of our duty to pray the Jesus Prayer without ceasing; but it also serves as an aid in counting prayers, especially when reading the rule of St. Pachomius the Great,³ which calls for 1,200 Jesus Prayers during the day and 1,200 at night—2,400 in total, with 100 prayers an hour.

Is the Jesus Prayer necessary for the laity as well—not just for monastics? It is absolutely necessary, because every Christian, as was said at the beginning of this teaching, must be united with the Lord in his heart: And the best means for this connection is the Jesus Prayer.

Amen.

To be continued…

A Nebraska priest has died after being attacked in the rectory of his parish in the early morning before he was to celebrate Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent.

Father Stephen Gutgsell was found “suffering from injuries sustained during an assault” on Dec. 10 at the rectory of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, where he served as pastoral administrator.

According to a Dec. 10 press release from Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson, the county’s 911 emergency dispatch received an emergency call on Dec. 10 at approximately 5:05 a.m. reporting an attempted break-in at the rectory. According to the statement, deputies arrived within six minutes and found a Black male inside the residence with the injured priest.

Father Gutgsell was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, where he later died.

The man suspected in the break-in, identified by police as Kierre L. Williams, 43, was arrested and booked on suspicion of homicide and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

In 2007, Father Gutgsell pleaded guilty to embezzling at least $125,000 from St. Patrick Church in Omaha. He was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay back the funds. After completing a residential treatment program, the Archdiocese of Omaha then assigned him to assist with Blessed Sacrament Parish, now part of St. Philip Neri Parish, in Omaha, with the pastor of St. Philip Neri placed in charge of parish finances.

In June, Father Gutgsell’s brother, Father Michael Gutgsell — who served as chancellor of the Archdiocese of Omaha from 1994 to 2003, and as pastor of several parishes thereafter — pleaded guilty to stealing $155,000 from Father Ted Richling, an elderly priest for whom he served as power of attorney. He was placed on two years of probation. Father Michael Gutgsell was also charged with stealing more than $96,000 from St. Joseph Parish in Springfield, Nebraska, of which he had been pastor. Those charges were dropped in return for repaying the funds.

Robinson told local media that he did not believe Father Stephen Gutgsell’s death was related to the priest’s prior offense.

In a statement posted to its website, the Archdiocese of Omaha said it is “praying for Father Stephen Gutgsell” and that with the investigation in progress “there are no further details at this time.

“Please join Archbishop George Lucas in prayer for the repose of Father Gutgsell, for his family and for the St. John the Baptist parish community in this tragic time.”

According to the archdiocesan website, Father Gutgsell served as both St. John the Baptist’s pastoral administrator and chaplain of the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska, which provide care for brain and spinal cord injuries as well as complex medical conditions.

Father Stephen Gutgsell’s final message in the bulletin to his flock concerned the patron saint of their parish, noting the Second Sunday of Advent — the Mass he was supposed to celebrate that day — could be called “St. John the Baptist Sunday” with its theme “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

The priest noted the prophet who told others about “Jesus as Lamb of God” himself was “a great man whose life was cut short by the spite of (a) non-queen and the drunken promise of a non-king” after the dance of a young woman “who was not a princess.”

“John is ‘the Voice of one crying out … Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ As the Fathers of the Church described him, he is the Voice who announces the coming of the Word, who was God from the beginning and has now become Flesh in order to dwell among us,” the priest wrote. “As Christmas draws near, the voice of John the Baptist is meant to remind us of what we all should be preparing to receive in the Advent Season. God bless you and your Family in this Wonderful Season of Grace.”