Tag: Christianity

She dedicated her life and career to fight for marriages and unborn children — a battle she would pursue with and for Karol Wojtyla. He signed letters to her as “Brother.” She would talk to him daily on the phone when he became Pope John Paul II and was at his deathbed.

Wanda Póltawska, Polish psychiatrist, wife and mother of four, survivor of Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp and St. John Paul II’s friend and soulmate, died at 101 in Krakow Oct. 24.

“I am one and a half years younger than him. I talked to him every day. I read everything he wrote, what he said. Because I was sure he was the smartest man (I’ve ever known),” she told Polish Television in May 2020.

In August she said goodbye to a place that was dearest to her heart, hidden in the mountains by the Wislok River in southeastern Poland. That was the secret getaway her family would have with Bishop (and later Cardinal) Wojtyla.

“They would go there every summer. Only her family and the future pope. When he left for the conclave and never returned, she would still feel his presence there,” Tomasz Krzyzak, author of the biography of Póltawska, told OSV News.

Retired Archbishop Józef Michalik of Przemysl, former president of the Polish bishops’ conference, knew Póltawska for decades and accompanied her during the emotional August trip.

“She would arrange a Mass by the river and then we needed to cross it. She was taken through the river on her wheelchair by a bunch of friends,” he said, recalling the moving scene. “She had a circle of friends, she had a circle of dedicated people who, for her goodness, for her kindness, for her service were willing to join in, to make the sacrifice,” he recalled.

She always had the spirit of service to the cause of truth, life, God and her closest friend.

“Till the end she was fascinated by the teaching of St. John Paul II and was faithful to him, because she had a mission, a goal to extend, as she said, that ‘healthy seed’ is needed by human hearts, and that it will bear fruit till the end,” Archbishop Michalik told OSV News.

“Dusia,” as John Paul would call her, and then-Father Wojtyla, a parish priest, met in 1953. She went to confession and was mesmerized by how he pointed directly to her needs at the time.

“Cardinal (Adam) Sapieha (of Krakow) brought a young priest from Rome and gave him an assignment: the pastoral care of doctors and medical students. It was not I who met him, but he met me, because he invited the doctors immediately the next day. And we were meeting from that day until his death, because we worked on the same topic,” she once said.

At the time, still haunted by the horrors of World War II, she needed spiritual advice and guidance.

Originally from Lublin in eastern Poland, she was a member of the Polish underground that fought the Nazi terror during World War II. She was caught by the Germans, put in a Lublin prison, tortured and moved to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she would become a subject of medical experiments of the Nazis.

Her camp number was 7709. She recalled seeing pure evil in the camp, like newborn babies thrown alive into the furnace. There she promised herself that if she survived, she would defend every human life.

“One day a man came in, cut the barbed wire surrounding this small camp with large scissors, and called out: ‘Girls, you are free!’ At which the other man accompanying him said: ‘You stupid, why are you screaming? This is a corpse house!’ And I (still) lived and lying there with the cold corpse of a gypsy woman, I decided that I would graduate (in) medicine. It sounds paradoxical — at the time when I was starving to death and death was a matter of days or maybe even hours, I was planning my life,” she said in “And I Am Afraid Of My Dreams,” a chilling memoir of the camp.

She married a Polish philosopher, Andrzej Póltawski, in 1947 and graduated with a medical degree in 1951. In October 1962, already the mother of four young girls, she got a devastating diagnosis: colon cancer. She knew she might not survive the operation and was ready to die.

Then-Bishop Wojtyla was in Rome for the Second Vatican Council and wrote in a letter to his “sister” friend: “Dusia, I want to mobilize you, as much as I can, to fight for your health and life.”

He sent another letter — to a famous Capuchin in San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio.

On Nov. 17, 1962, Bishop Wojtyla wrote: “Reverend Father, please pray for the intention of a 40-year-old mother of four daughters from Krakow, Poland (she spent five years in a concentration camp in Germany during the last war), now gravely ill with cancer and in danger of losing her life: that God, through the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin, may show His mercy to herself and her family.”

A friend of Bishop Wojtyla’s, then-Father (later Cardinal) Andrzej Deskur, helped send the letter to Padre Pio’s spiritual son, Angelo Battisti, called Angelino, and the next day the famous monk, later canonized by John Paul, read it with a remark pointing to Bishop Wojtyla: “Angelino, he can’t be refused!” and instructed Angelino to assure the bishop from Poland that he would pray fervently “for this mother.”

Bishop Wojtyla’s letter to Padre Pio was sent the day Póltawska had her first medical screening before surgery. On the day of the planned operation, Nov. 22, shocked doctors informed her there was nothing to operate on.

“There will be no surgery, the stenosis is gone. … I have no pain. … I don’t dare say it’s a miracle, I push that thought away, I’m afraid of it. … I didn’t pray for health, I’m not the one who asked!” she noted as recalled in Krzyzak’s biography.

“Her character was relentless, unavailable and often extremely unpleasant. And what I see here is simply that it stemmed from the tremendous amount of pain she had in her life. She always stuck firmly to her opinion. When it came to issues of defending life, there was no argument at all. There was no room for discussion,” Krzyzak said, recalling that next to John Paul she was the most stubborn defender of life in Poland of the 20th and 21st centuries.

“She was for decades a reference point for the church in Poland,” he said. “And after John Paul died, she was carrying a testament of his vision that she created with him.”

When an abuse scandal broke in Poland with Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan
being accused of abusing seminarians, she personally took documents of the case to John Paul “under her blouse,” Krzyzak said, for which the Italian press called her the pope’s “007,” referring to James Bond. “She never confirmed it personally, but a person that handed documents to Póltawska confirmed that to me along with another reliable source — a victim of Archbishop Paetz — that this was true,” Krzyzak told OSV News.

Póltawska knew that people close to the pope and the Secretariat of State blocked knowledge about the scandal from John Paul II and decided to act “in her own way,” Krzyzak said.

John Paul’s landmark book on sexuality, “Love and Responsibility,” was written with Póltawska by his side.

“She was very helpful in working out his theology of the human body as an integral part, an inalienable part of humanity, that there is no human being only composed of the body and the senses. … Man is also feelings … the will, but it is also the soul — this is a child of God. … Dr. Póltawska collaborated in this work, helping to refine the theological language,” Archbishop Michalik said.

“This book is mine and yours,” Cardinal Wojtyla wrote in one of his letters to Dusia.

She never had time to finish her professorship as she was too busy saving marriages and women after abortion, running an Institute of Theology of the Family at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Krakow. She also had multiple enemies for her fierce battle against the evil of abortion and saving marriages from divorce.

“He always said this: The family can only be God strong,” Póltawska said of John Paul II. “The sacrament of marriage is not a contract between a woman and a man, it is a triangle concluded (with God) and if they are faithful, they are happy,” she said. “As of New Year’s Eve, 72 years of marriage had already passed,” she said in 2020 of her and her husband, Andrzej. “And who is faithful at the moment?” she asked about contemporary marriages.

“Remember, the human body is always subject to the Holy Spirit, or the devil,” she stated.

Póltawska defended children from being aborted but also women forced into abortion by their partners. “In the Bible, the man blames the woman, and it’s the same in life — the woman is often left alone because the man denies paternity,” she once said.

“This love for the church, for Christ, for the truth, for this vision of a happy man, was the driving force for her, making difficult decisions was to help people. She was appreciated by the Holy Father John Paul II, who introduced her to international, churchwide boards,” Archbishop Michalik said of Póltawska, who was a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family and adviser to the Synod of Bishops on the family at the beginning of John Paul’s pontificate, in 1980.

Her message to journalists also was focused on the family:

“Stop clinging to crime,” she appealed. “Show what life is like without crime. Show the values: a large, happy family. People who do not bare their bodies, but respect them. Bear witness to truth and beauty, and not constantly bury yourself in sins.”

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has been calling us to return to the ideal of holiness, our vocation to become, as he says, “the saints next door.”

The universal call to holiness was the core teaching of the Second Vatican Council, and St. Pope John Paul II said the Church’s “urgent pastoral task” in the 21st century is to “re-propose … this high standard of ordinary Christian living.”

Francis has taken this urgent task to heart.

“Do not be afraid of holiness,” he has written. “It will take away none of your energy, vitality, or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the Father had in mind when he created you, and you will be faithful to your deepest self.”

In “C’est la confiance” (“It is confidence”), his new apostolic exhortation, the Holy Father invites us to reflect on the witness of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

It is an inspiring document, written like an ancient catena, like a beautiful “chain” of the saint’s most important spiritual insights. 

As the Holy Father notes, Thérèse is an unlikely saint. She was an ordinary 19th-century French young woman who went from the comfort of her bourgeois home to a cloistered Carmelite convent at age 15, and died there of tuberculosis nine years later.

She was so ordinary in fact, that as she lay dying, one of her fellow Carmelites wondered aloud how the mother superior might find something to say in a eulogy: “This little sister, as likable as she is, has certainly done nothing worth the trouble of being recounted.”

But as Francis reminds us, Thérèse is one the world’s “best known and most beloved saints.”

By her “ordinariness,” Thérèse shows that holiness is within reach for all of us. We can all have a deep friendship with God and we can all live that friendship in simple ways in our everyday lives.

Thérèse teaches us that holiness does not consist of performing grand, heroic deeds in the world. Holiness means simply putting yourself in God’s hands, making Jesus the center of your life, and allowing him to work in you and through you.

Thérèse prayed, “O my God! Most Blessed Trinity, I desire to love you and make you loved … I desire to accomplish your will perfectly. … I desire, in a word, to be a saint.”

Thérèse wanted to be a saint, and she knew that with God’s grace she could be.

As Francis points out, this confidence in God’s love and mercy is the key to Thérèse’s spirituality, especially her “ ‘little way,’ the path of trust and love, also known as the way of spiritual childhood.”

Holiness begins when we come to know and believe in the love that God has for us.

When we realize that we are so precious to God that he sent his only Son to die for us on the cross, then our whole life becomes a response to that love.

Thérèse made her life an offering of love to God and we can, too. As she did, we can do every little thing for love — for the love of Jesus and to make him loved.

Holiness is not a retreat from the world. It is the opposite. As we grow in holiness our lives become more fruitful, more apostolic, more missionary.

When we set out to become saints, we cannot be satisfied to leave others behind. We know that we have found salvation in God’s love, and we cannot rest until every soul knows his saving love. In the end, Thérèse said, love alone is all that counts.

In one prayer, Thérèse imagines herself seated at a table with the Lord and many sinners. She begs his pardon for their sins and promises that she will never rise from this table, never stop praying for their souls, until Jesus calls her home to heaven.

“May all those who were not enlightened by the bright flame of faith one day see it shine,” she prayed.

So often we think of the Church in terms of actions, programs, ministries, and events. Thérèse reminds us of the power of our silent witness, our prayer and intercession. This is how the saints save souls and change the world.

Imagine how different the world could be if we would only love others as Jesus loves them, if we would only see others as he sees them — as souls loved by God, as children of one Father in heaven, as sinners like we are who are called to become saints.

Pray for me, and I will pray for you.

And let us ask holy Mary, Queen of All Saints, to help us to follow the little way of holiness and become saints — loving her Son and making him loved, and through our love, drawing others closer to God.

Bucharest, October 25, 2023

Prodromu Skete on Mt. Athos. Photo: basilica.ro     

The bicameral Romanian Parliament has adopted a draft law stipulating state assistance to a Romanian skete on Mt. Athos and the Metropolis of Bessarabia—the Romanian Orthodox Church’s jurisdiction in Moldova.

The Senate adopted the relevant bill on October 16, and the Chamber of Deputies adopted it on Monday. In particular, the bill provides for the allocation of $2.1 million (2 million euros) to both the Prodromu Skete and the three dioceses of the Metropolis of Bessarabia, reports the Basilica News Agency.

Prodromou Skete, which belongs to the Great Lavra, was founded in 1820, during the time of His Eminence Metropolitan Veniamin (Costachi) of Moldavia. Its foundation was recognized by the royal deeds signed by Grigorie Alexandru Ghica of Moldavia, on July 7, 1853, and by Carol I of Romania, on July 19, 1871. The construction of the monastic ensemble took place pace between 1852 and 1866 under Hieroschemamonk Nifon Ionescu.

Recognizing its importance in Romanian history, the state has been providing funds to the monastic habitation at least since 2009, in increasing amounts. From 2017 to 2019, the state allocated 250,000 euros to the skete, and Romanian state allocates $1 million+ for Athonite Prodromou SketeThe state is indebted to the monastery and must support its restoration and conservation, say the initiators of the bill.

“>in 2020, the amount was raised to 960,000 euros.

The funds, to be paid in an equivalent sum of Romanian lei, will be allocated through the budget of the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs.

Following its adoption by the Chamber of Deputies, the bill will be sent to the president for promulgation. According to the Romanian constitution, the President has the right to return the bill to Parliament for reconsideration one time. Once it is returned to him after reconsideration, he promulgates the law within 10 days.

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One needn’t be a big fan of Kevin McCarthy to see the California Republican’s ouster as Speaker of the House of Representatives as a significant low point in recent American politics.

Unfortunately, there’s apparently more — much more — yet to come.

Consider the painful fact that a year before the election, the presidential race already shows signs of being the nastiest in living memory. Some Democrats talk seriously of using provisions of the 14th Amendment, originally aimed at office-holders of the Confederate States, to keep former president Donald Trump off the ballot. Not to be outdone, House Republicans have begun an impeachment probe with the goal of tarring President Biden.

Do I hear someone saying, “At least it can’t get any worse”? Maybe not, but I wouldn’t bet on it. The bipartisan spirit of vengeance and extremism now animating our politics threatens to turn America into the superpower version of those unhappy places where seeking high office can land you in prison.

However you look at it, our politics stand badly in need of an infusion of decency and idealism. And a help to that can be found in St. Thomas Aquinas and his treatise on kingship. Written in the 1260s at the request of the king of Cyprus, much that it says doesn’t apply to our present situation, but parts of it deserve thoughtful, even prayerful, reflection.

For example, this: “It pertains to the king’s office to promote the good life of the multitude in such a way as to make it suitable for the attainment of heavenly happiness. … [A king] should command those things which lead to the happiness of heaven and, as far as possible, forbid the contrary.”

Can you imagine a candidate saying anything remotely like that in one of the presidential debates? Neither can I. And doesn’t that shed light on our present problem?

How about a platform? Declaring that a king’s “principal concern” should be “the means by which the multitude subject to him may live well,” Aquinas says this has three elements: first, that people be “established in the unity of peace”; second, that they be “directed to acting well”; and third, that they have “a sufficient supply of the things required for proper living.” In other words: peace at home and abroad, laws that serve the common good, and a stable, prosperous economy operating to the benefit of all.

What should a king get for doing a good job? St. Thomas notes that honor and glory are commonly considered the suitable reward for someone who does well in the top job. But not so fast, he adds: “The desire for human glory takes away greatness of soul, which is crucial to greatness in a king.” True, it’s better that a king wants glory rather than money or pleasure. But, granting that, “it is the mark of a virtuous and brave soul to despise glory as he despises life.”

“Therefore,” Aquinas writes, “since worldly honor and human glory are not sufficient reward for royal cares … it is proper that a king look to God for his reward.” Which makes perfect sense, he points out, when you consider that, as Scripture says, “the king is the minister of God in governing the people.”

I wouldn’t expect to hear any of this on MSNBC and Fox. But I can’t help hoping such thinking, appropriately updated, could somehow find its way into the political mainstream during an ugly election year. Would any of our present political leaders like to give it a try?

State College, Pennsylvania, October 25, 2023

Photo: ocadwpa.org     

One parish of the Orthodox Church in America’s Western Pennsylvania Diocese has been busy packing of hundreds of pounds of food for the needy.

The faithful of Holy Trinity Church in State College, Pennsylvania, regularly join Common Food Centre County “to resource the under-served and under-employed elderly, single parent families, and low-income families in western Centre County and the neighboring areas with nutritious food,” reports the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.

Photo: ocadwpa.org     

This month, the faithful packed 192 boxes of food gathered by the volunteers of Common Food. Produce this month included 1,000 pounds of apples, 800 pounds of butternut squash, as well as lettuce, onions, beets, and potatoes.

According to data provided by Common Food, in 2020 the organization distributed 236,913 pounds of food and provided 197,427 meals, helping 4,580 families.

Pennsylvania parish provides overnight shelter in AugustVolunteers from the parish worked to prepare places to sleep, as well as dinner and breakfast.

“>In August, OrthoChristian reported that the same parish opened its doors to house and feed the homeless while a nearby shelter was undergoing renovations.

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Sts. Crispin and Crispinian were twins and martyrs in Rome in the third century. Together, they worked to bring the Word of God to Gaul, preaching in the streets of Soissons during the day, and making shoes at night. The brothers were known for their charity and piety, and many were converted through their example and their renunciation of worldly possessions. 

In 286, Crispin and Crispinian were arrested under the rule of Emperor Maximian Herculeus. They were tortured, and eventually beheaded for their faith. 

In the 6th century, a great church was erected in Soissons and dedicated to the brothers. 

Their feast day is a crucial plot point in Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” The king gives an impassioned speech, “Saint Crispin’s Day,” before the battle of Agincourt, fought in 1415. The outnumbered English army went on to defeat the French. 

Crispin and Crispinian are the patron saints of cobblers, lace makers, glove makers, leather workers, and saddle makers. 

Thessaloniki, October 23, 2023

Photo: Romfea     

Metropolitan Dimitrios of Metra and Athyras of the Patriarchate of Constantinople reposed in the Lord yesterday.

He passed away in a Thessaloniki hospital following a brief illness, having served as a hierarch for 43 years, reports Romfea.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at the Holy Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Thessaloniki. He will then be buried the clerics; cemetery of the Resurrection of the Lord Cemetery in Thessaloniki.

May Met. Dimitrios’ memory be eternal!

***

Met. Dimitrios was born on March 3, 1939, in Ossa, Thessaloniki.

He was ordained to the diaconate in 1961 and served for 8 years at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Gregory Palamas in Thessaloniki. As a deacon, he organized catechetical schools in Lagadas, established the Youth Spiritual Center, and ran the student boarding school in the same city.

In 1969, he graduated from the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki and, with a scholarship from the French state, went on to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Strasbourg.

In July 1970, he was ordained to the priesthood. During his studies, he served in the parish of Strasbourg and in the nearby cities of the Metropolis of Germany.

In 1974, he was appointed as the Hierarchical Commissioner of Bavaria in Munich, where he made a significant contribution, especially with youth. Realizing that the children are the future of the Church in the diaspora, he founded the first spiritual center of the Metropolis of Germay in Munich, and under his supervision, for two years, EU-funded study programs were implemented in collaboration with the Holy Metropolis of Germany.

On November 9, 1980, he was consecrated Bishop of Therma in the Cathedral of Bonn.

He worked zealously and was recognized by the president of Greece when on a visit to Munich. He was also the inspiration behind a great and pioneering social work in the city of Thessaloniki: he founded, built, and operated the first Greek Children’s Village of Northern Greece, where orphaned, abandoned, or children from families with difficulties and problems found care and love.

On August 31, 2020, he was elected Metropolitan of Myra and Athyra in recognition of his many years of comprehensive ministry.

Met. Dimitrios lived his earthly life with simplicity and humility, discreetly helping others in various ways. His passing was in keeping with his quiet life.

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Bachkovo, Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria, October 23, 2023

Photo: istorici.com     

A host of bishops, clergy, and faithful laymen gathered at Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery this weekend to celebrate the glorification of the relics of St. Euthymius of Tarnovo, the last Bulgarian Patriarch of the Middle Ages.

The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church recently established a new feast in honor of the finding of the relics of the 15th-century Patriarch St. Euthymius, which took place in 1905.

Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg     

In its message for the occasion, the Bulgarian Holy Synod recalls:

At the beginning of the last century, towards the end of 1905, a discovery caused an unprecedented revival in our Church life, outbursts of pure joy and enthusiasm, and the universal glorification of God’s name. During excavations in the vestibule of the cathedral of the holy Bachkovo Monastery, carried out at the initiative of the then abbot-hieromonk, and later Archimandrite Paisiy (Pastirev), the grave and relics of the Heavenly patron and prayerful intercessor for the Orthodox Bulgarian family and last Bulgarian patriarch from the Middle Ages—the wondrous and universally revered St. Euthymius of Tarnovo—were discovered and confirmed.

Streams of pilgrims immediately began to flow to the monastery to venerate the newly discovered relics, the Synod writes, and the authenticity of the relics was confirmed by a host of miracles.

Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg     

However, angered by such God-pleasing events, the enemy of mankind sowed seeds of doubt in the authenticity of the relics, using ambitious people who thought only of their own aspirations in the Church, the hierarchs write.

This doubt persists to this day, and because of it, disputes continue regarding the authenticity of the holy relics of St. Euthymius of Tarnovo discovered in 1905. Most likely, these disputes and doubts will continue for a long time, hindering our Orthodox Church from doing what it is obligated to do, namely, to officially and definitively proclaim to God’s people, Sister Orthodox Churches, and the whole world the truth that the holy Bachkovo Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God became, by God’s providence, the final earthly resting place of our last Tarnovo Patriarch, St. Euthymius, and that his holy relics rest there today for the glorification of God’s holy name and the consolation of all those who resort with faith to his holy prayers before God’s throne.

And further:

Therefore, with an awareness of our duty and responsibility before God and before His wondrous saint, St. Euthymius of Tarnovo, as well as before His people entrusted to him by God, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church-Bulgarian Patriarchate,today calls for an end to disputes and disagreements, decreeing the establishment of a new feast: the Glorification of the Holy Relics of St. Euthymius, Patriarch of Tarnovo.

Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg     

“Let this radiant feast be for the spiritual joy of our holy Church,” the Synod writes.

In this spirit, the new feast, which will be annually commemorated on October 22, was solemnly celebrated at Bachkovo Monastery. The Divine Liturgy was preceded by a procession with the relics of St. Euthymius, which are treasured in the monastery’s St. Nicholas Church. The relics were placed inside the Holy Dormition Cathedral, and His Grace Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod, read out the Synodal message on the establishment of the new feast.

The Liturgy was presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Veliko Tarnovo, together with 17 other hierarchs of the Bulgarian Church, including Bachkovo abbot His Grace Bishop Zion of Velichka, and a host of local and visiting clergy.

The service was broadcast live on the Synod’s Facebook page:

***

Photo: johnsanidopoulos.com The life of St. Euthymius of Tarnovo from Britannica reads:

Euthymius of Tarnovo, (c. 1317—c. 1402), Orthodox Patriarch of Tarnovo, near modern Sofia, monastic scholar and linguist whose extensive literary activity spearheaded the late medieval renaissance in Bulgaria and erected the theological and legal bases for the Orthodox Churches of Eastern Europe.

Bulgarian by birth, Euthymius joined the monastery of Kilifarevo, near modern Burgas, Bulgaria, where he became the leading disciple of Theodosius, whom he succeeded as spokesman for hesychasm, the Byzantine movement of contemplative prayer. Characteristic of this school, Euthymius traveled to various monastic communities at Constantinople and Mt. Athos, practicing the ascetic discipline and working in a Greco-Slavic environment as a copyist of manuscripts and a writer. He returned to Bulgaria by 1371 and in 1375 was elected Patriarch of Tarnovo and primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church but was forced into exile after the fall of Tarnovo to the Turks in 1393.

During his patriarchate, Euthymius wrote much, including the translation and revision of the liturgical and legal codes of the Orthodox Church into the formal Old Slavonic language, thus instituting a consistent and structured linguistic program based on specific cultural and theological principles. The Slavonic heritage bequeathed by the 9th-century Greek apostles to the Slavs, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, had grown obsolete. The original, single Slavonic tongue had splintered into distinct languages and dialects. Church Slavonic, however, had retained the grammatical and syntactical structure of the old 9th-century form and, by increasing divergence from the various Slavonic idioms, in effect had become a dead language. The Biblical and liturgical texts, moreover, had grown ambiguous through a series of coarse revisions and had occasioned the spread of heretical sects, principally the dualistic Bogomils, who held that the visible, material world was created by the devil.

Euthymius’ reform followed his conviction that public morality and theological orthodoxy were essentially related to the accuracy and literary qualities of the sacred Scriptures. Thus, he revived an international Old Slavonic with its Cyrillic grammar and written form but more intricately interwoven with the Greek rhetorical and emphatic style. Such a linguistic tool furthered his belief in a Slavic destiny as successor to the Byzantine church, culture, and political heritage.

Applying his hesychast background, Euthymius made this monastic culture the energy source of his theological and literary reform. He emphasized its Byzantine conservatism in ritual and doctrine and prominently portrayed the role of the Holy Spirit in religious experience. Moreover, in hesychast fashion he used the method of dramatic biographies of the leading Orthodox saints and early Fathers as the vehicle for propagating correct doctrine and asceticism by interweaving theological reflections with the narrative. Thus, the Bulgarian monastic centers of Paroria and Kilifarevo and the monk missionaries, both native Slav and Greek refugee scholars, carried the Euthymian reform throughout Eastern Europe.

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Gaza, October 23, 2023

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

The funeral for 18 Orthodox Christians who were killed in a blast at St. Porphyrios Monastery in Gaza on Thursday was served the next day at the monastery that is doubling as a refuge.

The monastery has been sheltering hundreds since the present conflict began on October 7, but two church halls where they were being housed collapsed when the monastery was hit on St. Porphyrios Monastery in Gaza bombed, possibly hundreds dead“They have to bring in bulldozers so we can see how many people were crushed,” said Archbishop Alexios.

“>Thursday night.

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

9 of the 18 victims were children. Many more were injured.

The funeral was served in the monastery courtyard by His Eminence Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias, who has I will not leave my flock, I will die a dignified death if that is my fate—Archbishop in GazaHis Eminence Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem is determined to remain with his flock in Gaza, despite the obvious danger.

“>promised to remain with his flock and to die with them if that be his fate. The bodies of the victims were not placed in coffins, but simply covered, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

“Why did they kill innocent people—children, babies, the elderly, sick people who came to the church to protect themselves?” the Archbishop said in media comments.

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem has also served several memorial services for the victims (see here and here).

“We appeal to you to awaken the longing for a peaceful life in all those who are filled with hatred for their neighbors, especially those now at war or preparing for war,” the Patriarch said during the memorial service on Sunday morning.

Pat. Theophilos and other religious leaders in the Holy Land also issued another statement on Saturday, calling for restraint, the de-escalation of violence, and the protection of civilians:

Photo: jerusalem-patriarchate.b-cdn.net     

The names of the Orthodox victims who have been identified are:

Yara
Viola
Sama’
Abdelnoor
Tareq
Liza
Sohail
Majd
Ghada
Aleaa’
Issa
Julie
George
Elen
Marwan
Nahed
Suliman

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The Diocese of Stockton has issued a warning about a pair of imposters posing as Catholic clergymen in the city of Modesto and charging high fees for blessings and sacraments.

The diocese said that two unidentified men are falsely using the names of actual clergymen from Mexico, namely Archbishop Raúl Gómez González of Toluca and Father José Adán González Estrada, a priest from the same archdiocese.

The imposters are charging high fees for sacramental blessings and for “conducting unauthorized celebrations” of sacraments like baptism, confirmation, and first Communion, the diocese said in its Friday warning.

Diocesan officials worked with the Archdiocese of Toluca in Mexico to verify the deception. Modesto is located 90 miles north of Fresno in California’s Central Valley.

The imposters are also teaching classes and issuing certificates for a fee, the diocese said. The exact details of those classes and certificates are unclear, but Erin Haight, a spokeswoman for the Stockton Diocese, told CNA Monday that photos of the certificates include the words “confirmation” and “Communion.”

The diocese also said that the imposters have demanded birth certificates for individuals participating in the sacraments, “raising concerns about human trafficking and identity theft.”

Additionally, the fraudsters have engaged in intimidation tactics when their identity or authority has been questioned, the diocese said, often resorting to legal threats against individuals.

The diocese has been in touch with individuals who may have been victimized by the incident, but they wish to remain anonymous, Haight said.

Modesto police have been notified of the deception but the diocese said it has been advised that only victims of the fraud can file criminal complaints.

CNA reached out to the Modesto Police Department for comment Monday but did not immediately receive a response.

The diocese is strongly encouraging any victims of the fraud to contact the police.

“It’s imperative to note that the police do not inquire about the caller’s immigration status; their primary concern is combatting criminal activities,” the diocese’s statement said.

Additionally, the diocese said that “with few exceptions, Catholic sacraments are typically administered within Catholic churches.”

“Celebrations of baptism, confirmation, and first Communion in outdoor locations like parks are not aligned with established Catholic practices,” the statement said.

Haight told CNA that the diocese is aware of only two imposters but is actively monitoring the situation.

She also said that the diocese doesn’t know whether any of the baptisms were valid or if real Communion hosts were used but said that “these are clearly ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ and they have not been operating in good faith thus far.”

The real identities of the men remain unknown, she added.

The surrounding dioceses have been made aware of the scam but the Stockton Diocese hasn’t received any reports of similar fraudulence, Haight said. She added that the diocese would stay in communication with neighboring dioceses on the situation.

The first alerts of the scam came to the diocese through “the proactive efforts of our dedicated community members and parishioners,” Haight said.

“Their vigilance and commitment to the well-being of their neighbors played a crucial role in bringing this matter to our attention,” she added.

“We extend our heartfelt kudos and gratitude to those who promptly reported the suspicious activity, allowing us to take swift and appropriate action,” she said.

An earlier warning

Earlier this year, another warning was released by the diocese alerting the faithful about a former Stockton priest who was dismissed from the clerical state celebrating Masses in private homes.

That former priest, Leo Suarez, was dismissed from the clerical state in 2016 after being twice credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor. He self-reported at least one of the abuses to the diocese in 2009. A diocesan document shows that he was credibly accused in 2014 as well.

The statement said at that time that the faithful were not advised to participate in any ministry run by Suarez “because it ruptures their communion with the Catholic Church and may, in some circumstances, result in the invalid administration of the sacrament.

“We have an obligation to educate our parishioners, and in no way would we want them to fall victim to those seeking to take advantage of them and their faith,” Haight told CNA at the time.

“As a diocese, we must protect the administration of the sacraments and our faithful,” she said.