Tag: Christianity

Greece, December 7, 2023

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

Greece’s New Democracy government is finalizing a bill that aims to legalize same-sex marriage and regulate the recognition of same-sex marriages that took place abroad.

The bill, likely to come up early next year, follows on the legalization of gay civil unions Greek Parliament legalizes same-sex civil partnershipsGreece’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation legalizing civil partnerships for gay couples, two years after the country was condemned by a European human rights court for discrimination.

“>in 2015.

Amidst the intense debate surrounding the draft law, hierarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church have been speaking out, proclaiming the Church’s unchanging Tradition about marriage.

Among the first reactions was that of Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos, with his article, “The Two Sexes and ‘Sexual Orientations.’” “In addition to the theological approach to the issue, the hierarch also documented the responsible position that the state should take, as its task is not to legislate the arbitrary choices of everyone,” the Orthodoxia News Agency summarizes.

Met. Hierotheos writes:

The laws that are established should not simply satisfy the arbitrary choices of each individual, but should contribute pedagogically to the development and upgrading of both the social whole and each individual. It is understood, of course, that the state must enact laws with respect for the particularity of the tradition of our country.

Metropolitans Chrysostomos of Messinia and Chrysostomos of Patras both spoke about the issue during the celebration of the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle in Patras last month, in fact in front of a government representative, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras.

The Metropolitan of Messinia spoke about the false idols of our time, including a new form of “relational false idol,” which will have devastating consequences that haven’t yet been realized. The Metropolitan of Patras spoke of “new and foreign customs,” emphasizing that “we are completely opposed to ‘cohabitation’ or the ‘marriage’ of persons contrary to God’s law and human ethics.”

Opposition to gay marriage has also been voiced recently by Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias. He also referred to the related issue of adoption by gay couples, saying it “devalues a woman as a mere tool for childbearing, deprived of her magnificent maternal role.”

Gathered in a clerical conference recently, the clergy of the Metropolis of Chalkida unanimously expressed the need to morally and materially support the sacred institution of the family, referring also to the sad increase in divorce and domestic violence.

The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Bulgarian Synod responds to European Court’s order to legally protect gay couplesThe Bulgarian government must request a review of the European Court of Human Rights’ decision from September 5 obliging the state to create a legal framework to afford legal recognition and protection to gay couples, says the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

“>issued a statement last month rejecting the European Court of Human Rights’ attempt to impose gay marriage on the country. And in Russia, the LGBT movement banned in Russia, recognized as extremistThe Supreme Court of Russia declared the international LGBT movement to be extremist yesterday, banning its activities within the country.”>LGBT movement was banned as an extremist movement.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

Archbishop George Leo Thomas of Las Vegas said he is “holding close” those affected by a mass shooting on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.

Three people were killed and one wounded when a former professor opened fire on the campus Dec. 6 shortly before noon.

The gunman — who was later killed in a shootout with law enforcement — has not yet been named pending notification of kin, but The Associated Press reported him to be an academic who had unsuccessfully sought a position at the university, having previously worked at East Carolina University in North Carolina.

Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a post-attack Dec. 6 press conference that “four additional people” had been “transported to nearby hospitals suffering from panic attacks,” while two officers had sustained minor injuries while searching for the shooter.

The attack, which McMahill denounced as a “heinous, unforgivable crime,” took place at an outdoor gathering where students were “playing games and eating food,” with “tables set up … to build Legos.”

“No student should have to fear pursuing their dreams on a college campus,” he said.

He praised law enforcement and first responders’ “seamless” efforts to contain the shooter, whom he said was “immediately” engaged by a UNLV police officer.

At the press conference, Adam Garcia, UNLV’s director of police services and vice president of public safety services, announced the university would be closed through Dec. 8.

In a statement posted on the Archdiocese of Las Vegas website, Archbishop Thomas said his “thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and the survivors of this tragedy.

“May the embrace of the Lord, compassionately hold and console those who are suffering,” he said. “May his comforting presence bring solace and strength to their hearts, granting them the grace to face their challenges with hope and resilience.”

The university’s St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Newman Center announced on its Facebook page it would partner with the nearby St. Viator Catholic Community for a Taizé candlelit prayer service on the evening of Dec. 7 to honor those affected.

Las Vegas remains the site of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, in which 58 people were slain and 500 injured over the course of 10-minutes in a 2017 attack on concertgoers by high-stakes gambler Stephen Paddock, who then killed himself. Two survivors later died of related injuries in the years after the attack.

Sumy, Sumy Province, Ukraine, December 7, 2023

Photo: portal-pravoslavie.sumy.ua     

The Sumy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has completed another round of its annual charity event, “Sumy Diocese of Ukrainian Church raises $40,000 for children with cancerThe funds, $40,597 (1,074,878 hryvnia) to be used to purchase necessary medicines for the treatment of sick children, were collected throughout Great Lent. Donations are collected at churches, charity concerts, fairs, and by individuals and organizations.

“>Bright Deeds for a Bright Day,” in which it raises funds to purchase necessary medical equipment and supplies for sick children.

In this 12th diocesan charity drive, more than 1 million hryvnia (currently $27,240) were donated and used to purchase medicine and a centrifuge device for cytological studies for the local children’s clinical hospital, the diocese reports.

His Eminence Metropolitan Evlogy of Sumy personally handed over the device on Tuesday, December 5. The donated medicines allow for children with cancer to be treated according to European standards.

Vladyka Evlogy also gave the little patients candy and an icon of the Mother of God.

“Despite the difficulties of wartime, the 2023 campaign was successfully completed. For the Lord God created mercy through the hands of the great family of Sumy philanthropists,” the diocesan report concludes.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

Silvașu de Sus, Hunedoara County, Romania, December 7, 2023

Photo: basilica.ro     

Mother Pavelida (Munteanu), abbess of the Romanian Orthodox Church’s Prislop Monastery and spiritual daughter of the revered Romanian Elder Arsenie (Boca) proposed for canonizationElder Arsenie, who reposed in 1989, was one of the great Romanian spiritual fathers of Communist times, and is revered today as a saint. Thousands go on pilgrimage annually to his grave at Prislop Moanstery in Silvașu de Sus, and images of him are seen as a blessing.

“>Elder Arsenie (Boca), reposed in the Lord on Saturday evening, December 2.

Abbess Pavelida had dedicated 74 years of her life to service to Christ in monasticism, reports the Basilica News Agency.

She spent the last 37 of those years as abbess of the Prislop Monastery.

Mother Pavelida was buried at the monastery on Tuesday. His Grace Bishop Andrei of Covasna spoke about the need for monastics who leave the world to enter a continuous struggle for the acquisition of eternal life, just as Mother Pavelida “toiled for more than 70 years in monastic orders, shining like a lantern through the example of her life.”

His Grace Bishop Nestor of Deva and Hunedoara spoke about “the obedience and fidelity that mother Pavelida showed throughout her life towards Venerable Fr. Arsenie (Boca), whose spirit she kept alive at Prislop Monastery.”

Mother Pavelida was buried near her spiritual father, Elder Arsenie.

***

Photo: basilica.ro     

Mother Pavelida was born on October 17, 1929, in Hârseni, in central Romania. She was a parishioner of the Brâncoveanu-Sâmbăta de Sus Monastery in Braşov county during the time when Elder Arsenie (Boca) was a member and later abbot.

She began her own monastics life at Bistrița Monastery in 1949, and later moved to Horezu Monastery. There she graduated from the 5-year monastic theological seminary in 1956. On May 8 of that year, she was tonsured as a nun, receiving the name Pavelida.

In 1957, she began her studies at the Faculty of Orthodoxy Theology in Bucharest. Then, due to a government decree in 1959, she, together with all monastics, were forced to leave her monastery. She retired to Răşinari near Sibiu with seven others, leading a community life as practiced in monasteries for 16 years until 1976.

In 1976, on the advice of Elder Arsenie, the community moved to the reopened Prislop Monastery in Hunedoara County. After 10 years of toil, Mother Pavelida received the obedience of abbess, again at the proposal of Elder Arsenie.

“Take it both as a canon and as a gift from above. It’s God’s will and I’ll help you,” the Elder told her. “Take care how you carve the material and spiritual beauty of this place.”

Mother Pavelida led the community for 37 years.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

Washington, D.C., December 7, 2023

​The Kyle Seraphin Show screenshot     

In 2020, Aaron Stevenson, then a federal employee of the Department for Homeland Security, started to realize the lies dictating our lives, in February 2021, he blew the whistle on government-sponsored child trafficking, and in June 2022, he was baptized into Christ in the Orthodox Church.

“This is what’s basically saved me,” Stevenson said about his path over the past three years. And although he was fired from his very comfortable job with the DHS for coming forward, he says he would absolutely do it again.

Aaron Stevenson recently joined his fellow whistleblower Tara Rodas on the Kyle Seraphin Show to talk about the horrifying government program that has resulted in thousands of children becoming victims of sex and labor trafficking.

Stevenson recounts how after serving in the marines, he became a federal employee, working for the DHS from 2012 until he was fired in 2023, helping with various programs and various forms of analysis. One program was the International Crime Watchlist, which he worked on from its inception, identifying and tracking transnational organized criminals (cartels, mafias, etc.).

Stevenson recalls how in February 2021, he came across a case where a watchlisted person was trying to sponsor a child who had arrived at the U.S. border illegally and unaccompanied. From there, he noticed a pattern beginning to emerge, with criminals (including many sex traffickers) from countries all across the globe also applying to sponsor children.

When Stevenson tried to track down whose job it was to address this shocking fact, he couldn’t find anyone, so he took it to the media, first anonymously and later openly.

Tara Rodas, a federal employee for decades, explained how she became aware of the child trafficking through first-hand experience. In 2021, the Biden administration knew it had a border crisis on its hands and called on all federal employees to leave their home agencies and go on detail to Health and Human Services (HHS) to help with the mission of taking unaccompanied children into the care of the HSS to be placed with sponsors in the U.S.

Fluent in Spanish, Rodas went to an HHS site near the border to spend time with the children, but she learned that the HSS had been handing children over to unvetted sponsors—traffickers, members of transnational criminal organizations—for more than a decade. After seeing Aaron Stevenson’s initial testimony, Rodas also began to report on the cases she was personally seeing at the HHS site, which eventually got her kicked off the site.

The official purpose of the sponsor program, Rodas explains, is for children to have a place to live and someone to help them through the court process of claiming asylum. However, since many of the sponsors themselves are criminals, of course they have no intention of helping the children become legal.

According to Stevenson, in fact, 90% or more of the sponsors are illegal aliens.

What happens, Stevenson and Rodas explain, is that the children are being forced into labor and/or sex trafficking. Some have died and some have been badly injured working in unsafe conditions. The HHS itself admits that it has lost contact with 85,000 of the children placed in this program.

Essentially, Rodas explains, the criminal sponsors offer to pay for a child’s trip to the U.S. and give them a well-paying job. But after being smuggled into the country, they find themselves in debt bondage/slave labor, working in horrendous conditions. Often, the children agree to come because the criminal organizations sponsoring them threaten their families back home.

Moreover, the children undergo “unspeakable horrors” on the way to the U.S.—some, being so young, are even raped to death, Rodas says.

Asked whether his faith inspired him to blow the whistle on the program, Stevenson explains that, in fact, uncovering the truth of the government program helped lead him to faith:

I was an atheist from 2010 till about 2020. I was full-on don’t believe it, I would argue with people, yadda yadda yadda. I started seeing all the lies in 2020, and I started thinking about things differently, going forward. Come February 2021, I’m still not going to church, I don’t understand things yet. Doing all these things has brought me back. You can see it [points to icons], I’m baptized now, Divine Liturgy every Sunday, I pray every day.

This is what’s basically saved me.

There’s no way I could be doing this without the grace and protection of Christ. It’s all thanks to God. And that’s been my take on it. Without that, there’s no way I’d be where I’m at today, either doing this or being able to mentally or spiritually take it. I’d be depressed, I’d be an alcoholic, who knows? But this right here [points to icons] is the way.

Stevenson told OrthoChristian that he began to question why he was an atheist in 2020 and realized he had no solid reasons. “So I accepted I was wrong and began to search,” he said. Realizing that God is real, he began to look for an explanation of this truth.

“That’s when I learned about Orthodoxy and it’s like it just clicked,” he said.

Speaking with Kyle Seraphin, Stevenson further explained that, rather than cracking down on criminal sponsors of unaccompanied minors, the Biden administration is attempting to deregulate the process even further, doing away with sponsor background checks and home visits, and much more.

In fact, as the Washington Examiner reported on Monday, December 4, a group of 39 Republican Senators “have called on the Biden administration to cancel a Department of Health and Human Services proposal that would allow the government to stop vetting certain adults who apply to take custody of an unaccompanied migrant child.”

“In effect, ORR [the Office of Refuge Resettlement] accepts a sponsor’s representations almost entirely on face value. ORR then delivers the child at taxpayer expense and free-of-cost to the un-vetted sponsor, opening up the possibility that a vulnerable child could fall into the hands of a potentially criminal or drug-addicted sponsor. At this point, ORR considers its work largely done,” the Senators write.

To learn more about the problem of child trafficking and about Aaron Stevenson and Tara Rodas’ efforts against it, visit

And watch their full interview with Kyle Seraphin:

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

What does the first man rocketed into low Earth orbit in 1961 have in common with a recently retired professional soccer player in 2023? 

Not much, until you insert the thoughts of one of the best Christian thinkers of the 20th century.

When Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being in space, the world was in awe, and the United States was in shock. The Russians had beat us with Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, launched in 1957. When Gagarin went into space a mere four years later, it seemed Russia would win the wager of who would reach the moon first. At the time, U.S. rockets still had the propensity of blowing up on the launch pad. But eventually, the U.S. did not just get even with Russia — we got way ahead. 

Upon his celebrated return to Earth, Gagarin was quoted as saying, “I looked and looked, but I didn’t see God.” It is a quote that one can imagine left the Soviet Politburo beaming, and Americans, especially Christian Americans, boiling. 

Much time and scholarship has passed since then, and reliable sources from official biographies and personal acquaintances state that Gagarin never said those words. The research further seems to indicate that, in fact, Gagarin was a believing Christian. He was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church and had his children baptized as well. It is not so hard to imagine the offending quote as the creation of a nameless apparatchik trying to promote a vision of a brave new, and Godless world.

But a few years later, in 1961, that quote got under the skin of the celebrated writer C.S. Lewis. 

Just a few months before he died, Lewis penned an essay titled “The Seeing Eye,” written as a direct response to the misquote from Gagarin. Though Lewis was unaware at the time that the quote was inaccurate, his response was poignant, truthful, and just as applicable today as it was then. 

Like most things Lewis, the essay is filled with a perfect blend of succinct prose and easy- to-digest theological argument. His goal was not so much to make the case for God (he did that so well in many other works), but rather to guide readers, and hopefully Gagarin in particular, on how best to go about seeking him.   

To Lewis, a man thinking they might see God in space is like a man who believes he should see Shakespeare in Hamlet. Shakespeare is on every page of his plays, just as God is everywhere in the universe he created. For Lewis, to believe that God can be “found” in a specific time and space when he exists outside of time and space is folly.

Of course, he does not leave it there. Lewis summed up his essay with: “Space-travel really has nothing to do with the matter. To some, God is discoverable everywhere, to others, nowhere. Those who do not find him on earth are unlikely to find Him in space. (Hang it all, we’re in space already; every year we go on a huge circular tour in space.) But send a saint up in a spaceship and he’ll find God in space as he found God on earth.”

Those words came to mind when a few weeks ago, celebrated professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe played the last game of her career before her planned retirement. Rapinoe hasn’t shied away from immersing herself in off-the-field debates over the years, from pay discrepancies between male and female soccer players, to her advocacy in favor of allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports. Her retirement came sooner than she expected when she tore her Achilles tendon.

It is not the way any professional athlete wants to go out. A disappointed Rapinoe afterward stood before the press and suggested her injury was “proof that there isn’t a God.” She followed up with, “I’m not a religious person or anything and if there was a God, like, this is proof that there isn’t.” 

One can hope that Rapinoe might walk the quote back some day — after all, the muddled syntax could have had something to do with the pain medication she was given due to her serious injury. 

Regardless, both quotes, according to Lewis, contain the same error: to believe one can pursue God in a particular time and space and on a human timetable and human conditions. Lewis knew differently. “Send a saint up in a spaceship and he’ll find God in space as he found God on earth.”

Or maybe on a soccer field. 

St. Petersburg, December 7, 2023

Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru     

On August 30, 1724, according to the order of Emperor Peter I, the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky, previously treasured in the city of Vladimir, were installed in the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

This week, the Russian Orthodox Church kicked off the year-long celebration of the 300th anniversary of the transfer of the relics.

On Tuesday, December 5, on the eve of the feast of St. Alexander, His Grace Bishop Benjamin of Kronstadt, abbot of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra, served a moleben at the precious relics, housed in the monastery’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, reports the Russian Orthodox Church.

An exhibition, “Alexander Nevsky: Warrior and Saint,” was also opened.

Bp. Benjamin preached: “It’s impossible to imagine St. Petersburg without the blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. The entire history of the city on the Neva is connected with this saint. Emperor Peter I founded our city and our monastery, and thanks to the fact that he ordered the transfer of his relics, St. Petersburg found a Heavenly patron.”

His Grace noted that many events will be held throughout 2024, concluding with a religious procession on September 12.

Later that evening, His Eminence Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Bp. Benjamin celebrated the All-Night Vigil for the feast of St. Alexander and an akathist.

The next morning, Met. Barsanuphius, Bp. Benjamin, and His Grace Bishop Mstislav of Tikhvin celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Lavra.

***

St. Alexander Nevsky (Alexei in monasticism) died on his way back from the Horde in Gorodets on November 14, 1263, and was buried on November 23/December 6 in the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir. His veneration began immediately after his burial, as it was marked by a miracle: The saint extended his hand for the prayer of absolution. The incorrupt relics were discovered before the Battle of Kulikovo, in 1380, and then a local celebration was established. The grand prince was glorified for general Church veneration during the reign of Metropolitan Makary, at the Moscow Council in 1547. On August 30, 1721, Emperor Peter I concluded the Treaty of Nystad after the war with the Swedes. This day was decided to be consecrated by transferring the relics of the saint to the new capital—St. Petersburg. Taken from Vladimir on August 11, 1723, the relics arrived in Shlisselburg on September 20, and on August 30, 1724, they were placed in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

St. Ambrose was born around 340. He was trained as a lawyer and highly educated, and he tried to bring Greek and Roman intellectual culture into harmony with Catholic teachings. 

Ambrose became governor of Milan, and used his intellectual gifts to defend Christian doctrine even before he was baptized. During that time, a bishop named Auxentius led the diocese of Milan. He was a forceful speaker, but he followed the heresy of Arius, which denied Christ’s divinity. 

Despite the decrees issued from the Council of Nicea the previous year, many people, including a majority of bishops, thought Arianism was a more sophisticated version of Christianity. Bishop Auxentius was notorious for forcing clergy to accept Arianism in their own parishes. 

When Auxentius died, Ambrose was not yet baptized, but he had already shown the Catholics in Milan how much he knew and embraced the faith. Even though he was a catechumen, they considered him the most logical choice to succeed the heretical bishop. Emperor Valentinian helped the Milanese Catholics force Ambrose to become the bishop. Eight days after his baptism, Ambrose was consecrated on Dec. 7, 374. 

As bishop, Ambrose gave his wealth to the poor and the Church, and taught Church traditions, using the wisdom of Greek theologians. He used pre-Christian philosophy and literature to help his parishioners understand the faith, attracting many followers, including a young professor who went on to become St. Augustine of Hippo. 

Ambrose celebrated the Mass every day, finding time to write and counsel his flock and anyone else who sought him out — public officials, pagans, and sinners. He famously denied communion to Emperor Theodosius, who had ordered a massacre of some 7,000 citizens. The emperor repented after Ambrose’s chastisement, doing penance and reconciling himself to the Church. 

St. Ambrose died in 397, after serving as bishop for 23 years. He was made a Holy Father of the Church at the Fifth Ecumenical Council, and his writings remain a source of authoritative teachings. 

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.

“>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.”>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.”>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…”>Part 1/4: Spiritual Fasting

Photo: inpearls.ru     

On PrayerWhat should someone do who doesn’t know any prayers, but desires to pray, to save his soul?

“>Prayer is the conversation between a Christian’s nous and heart and God, addressed to Him in order to glorify His holy name, or to offer Him thanks, or to entreat of Him everything we need for spiritual and bodily life. Therefore, there are three kinds of prayer: doxology, thanksgiving, and supplication.

The work of prayer is the very first, the most important in the life of a Christian. Prayer is the breath and life of our spirit, such that if we have prayer, then our spirit is alive; and if we have not prayer, then neither is there life in the spirit.

Prayer is very beneficial for the soul, for the body, and for the external well-being of a Christian: Bringing the soul nearer to God, prayer enlightens it, heals its infirmities, and fills it with spiritual joy; prayer strengthens bodily health, heals diseases, and calls God’s blessing down on a man’s labors and all his earthly pursuits.

Prayer is both internal and external: Internal prayer is that which is performed in the soul of a man; external prayer is that which is accompanied by external signs and performed visibly.

We have a multitude of written prayers, both in the word of God and in the works of the Holy Fathers, and especially in the Church’s liturgical books. The highest example of all prayers is the Lord’s Prayer, the “Our Father.”

And we’re not forbidden to pray with short prayers, the main one being: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” It’s even possible for each of us to pray our own prayers, according to our needs, provided these prayers be said with true piety and are imbued with love for God.

All our concern when praying should be that reverent feelings for God arise in our heart one after the other—the feelings of self-abasement, fidelity, gratitude, doxology, supplication, contrition, submission to the will of God, zealously falling at His feet, and so on, so our soul might be filled with these feelings and our heart might not be empty. When we have these feelings, directed towards God, then our prayer rule is prayer, and when we don’t—our prayer rule is not yet prayer. Prayer, or the heart’s desire for God, must be awakened, and once awakened it must be strengthened; or, in other words, we must acquire and cultivate a prayerful spirit.

The method and means of acquiring a prayerful spirit are found in the very prayers that we pray as we should. Read or listen to the prayer rule as appointed, and you will certainly arouse and strengthen the ascent to God in your heart; that is, you will enter into a prayerful spirit. 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. To make our prayer rule a true means for cultivating prayer, we must pray so that both the thought and the heart perceive the content of the prayers that make up our prayer rule, says Bishop [St.] Theophan the Recluse

“>Theophan [the Recluse], a famous, great, and experienced man of prayer.

But such prayer must not be approached lightly, without thinking, haphazardly: Nothing will come of such prayer, save sin alone. No, beloveds, for proper, salvific prayer, we must prepare carefully, with full attention.

Amen.

To be continued…

FBI Director Christopher Wray sparred with Republicans during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Dec. 5 about a leaked and withdrawn memo from the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia, field office about political extremism in some Catholic groups.

During a committee oversight hearing, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., had tense exchanges with Wray about the memo, alleging the bureau targeted Catholics. Wray denied that allegation, arguing they “do not and will not conduct investigations based on anybody’s exercise of their constitutionally protected religious expression.”

Hawley asked Wray if Catholic churches are “breeding grounds for domestic terrorism,” and if there is “systemic bigotry against Catholics in the FBI?”

Wray rejected both claims.

The FBI faced scrutiny earlier in 2023 after a leaked memo suggested some “radical traditionalist” Catholics pose threats of racially or ethnically motivated violence. The memo was later retracted by the bureau, a spokesperson told OSV News at the time.

In the leaked memo dated Jan. 23, an analyst at the FBI’s Richmond Division said “Radical Traditionalist Catholics” are “typically characterized by the rejection of the Second Vatican Council.” The memo said the ideology can amount to an “adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.” The memo also named far-right personality Nick Fuentes, who publicly self-identifies as Catholic, engages in antisemitic and racist rhetoric, and is identified in the memo as having ties to “white Christian nationalism.”

However, the memo distinguished “radical traditionalist” Catholics as “separate and distinct” from “traditionalist Catholics,” Catholics who “simply prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings.” The same FBI memo noted that “conversely, deep-seated anti-Catholicism remains a characteristic of many far-right white nationalists.”

Some of the groups named in the memo are not canonically recognized by the Catholic Church, including the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary located in Richmond, New Hampshire.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee alleged Dec. 4 that the FBI interviewed a priest and choir director affiliated with a Catholic community shepherded by the Society of St. Pius X in Richmond, Virginia, for the memorandum. The SSPX is a traditionalist religious order dedicated to providing the liturgical form of the Roman Rite prior to Vatican II; however, it does not have official canonical recognition by the Catholic Church, and (while not in schism) exists in an irregular state of communion with respect to the pope.

Wray, who was nominated to lead the FBI by then-President Donald Trump in 2017 and later kept in the role by President Joe Biden, has previously condemned the memo in testimony before Congress, and repeated in the Dec. 5 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he was “aghast” at its contents.

The scrutiny of the FBI memo coincides with wider complaints by some Republicans about the “weaponization” of the federal government, sometimes citing other incidents, including criminal charges against Trump. The former president faces charges of mishandling classified materials and illegal conduct in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, among other charges.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the committee, objected to those claims in his opening remarks.

“I’m troubled that the FBI is facing baseless claims that you have been weaponized for political purposes and dangerous calls to defund the agency,” Durbin told Wray.

Elsewhere in the hearing, Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., the former president of the abortion advocacy group EMILY’s List, asked Wray about threats against abortion clinics since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that overturned court precedents establishing abortion as a constitutional right.

Wray replied that “actually we’ve seen a huge uptick in violence against pro-life facilities, not just abortion clinics and so forth.”

“We’ve seen violence on both sides of the issue,” Wray said. “And the reason I bring that up is because it’s important for Americans to understand that I don’t care, we don’t care, what side of the abortion issue you’re on — you don’t get to engage in violence to express your views. That’s where that’s where we (the FBI) get involved and that’s where the line gets crossed.”

Wray also asked lawmakers to renew a surveillance law he argued is a key aid to U.S. intelligence efforts. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, expires Dec. 31. The law grants the U.S. government some ability to review certain digital communications of people outside the country. Some Republicans have alleged it has been weaponized against conservatives. Wray argued that steps to ensure the bureau’s compliance with the parameters of the law have been implemented.

Wray argued the law is “key to our ability to detect a foreign terrorist organization overseas directing an operative here to carry out an attack in our own backyard.”

“Given the critical importance of 702, we’re committed to being good stewards of our authorities,” he said. “To that end, I’ve ordered a whole host of changes to address unacceptable compliance incidents.”