Tag: Christianity

The fresh devastation from the recent Los Angeles wildfires took center stage at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ second annual Ethical Leadership Lunch, where local Catholic business leaders raised thousands for Catholic school students affected by the fires. 

Scheduled to coincide with National Catholic Schools Week, the Jan. 29 event drew almost 400 business leaders, entrepreneurs, civic officials, and Catholic high school students to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels’ conference center. A panel originally set to discuss ethics in sports and entertainment at the lunch ended up spending more time reflecting on the deeper meaning of the tragedy.

“At times like this, I’m not asking, ‘what started the fire?’ ” said panelist Anne Sweeney, a former Disney executive who now sits on the boards of Netflix and Lego. “I have very little time for who’s to blame. But I have all the time in the world for: ‘What can we do? How can we help? How can we restore people’s faith?’ ”

Following a video message and remarks from the leaders of the event’s lead sponsor, Farmers & Merchants Bank, school superintendent Paul Escala reported to the crowd that at least 915 students across 76 of the archdiocese’s schools had been displaced by the fires, leaving a need of more than $7 million in tuition relief.  

To address the need, Catholic Education Foundation executive director Doug Cooper announced that proceeds from the lunch would go toward the newly created “Wildfire Catholic School Tuition Relief Fund.”

“As families are addressing housing and other basic necessities, there must not be a concern for our students to remain in our Catholic schools in our archdiocese,” Cooper said. 

As of Feb. 2, the fund had received more than $31,000 in donations, according to CEF. 

Later, the event’s panelists discussed the deeper questions posed by LA’s recent wildfire catastrophe.

“What does our faith require? What do we owe others? And is it still possible to lead with love in these uncertain times?” asked panel moderator and former CNN anchor Carol Costello. “Is all this happening for a reason?”

The event’s four panelists agreed that despite the unanswered existential questions posed by the fires, they had fostered a newfound sense of community.

“There are times when you may feel like you’re lapsing, but it’s your community that carries you forward,” said Sweeney, a parishioner of St. Monica Church in Santa Monica. “The community never really leaves you.”

Joe Davis, the TV broadcaster who calls games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fox Sports, said he was struck by how quickly friends and fellow parishioners at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena moved to offer support to victims of the fires. 

“There’s zero good about it, but when you can focus on the galvanizing nature of it and the good that comes out of it, the way people are responding to help, that’s at least some meaning,” said Davis. 

Another panelist, Renata Simril, noted that the two communities virtually destroyed in the fires, Pacific Palisades and Altadena, were particularly close-knit by LA standards. 

“They did have a sense of community, their town square, Palisades Park, the library … the Fourth of July and Christmas parties in both communities. They’re similar that way,” remarked Simril, an alumnus of Loyola Marymount University who is now the president and CEO of the LA84 Foundation, which promotes youth sports in Southern California. 

By contrast, Simril said, “I’ve lived in my neighborhood for seven years and I don’t even know my neighbor.”

Panelist Alessandro DiSanto, co-founder of the wildly popular Catholic prayer app Hallow, said that in the face of tragedy and Jesus Christ’s teaching in the beatitudes, “you are completely dependent on your very existence on God.”

“We have to recognize that nothing we have, we deserve,” said DiSanto. “Whether it’s our relationships, our families, our communities, our physical things. None of that is ours. Everything is a gift.”

“I think that’s the necessary posture with which we need to approach all things in life,” he added. 

As the conversation moved to ethics in sports and entertainment, Sweeney was asked about Netflix’s recent film “Mary,” a dramatized account of the Blessed Mother’s journey to give birth to Jesus that has been criticized for departing sharply from the biblical narrative. 

Costello, who said the film portrayed Mary as a “beautiful rebel,” asked Sweeney whether it’s “a good thing or a bad thing to embellish stories from the Bible to sell the show.”

Sweeney answered by suggesting that “Mary” was not so different from past productions about obscure figures in the Bible.

“Storytellers embellish, storytellers add the detail,” said Sweeney, who attends St. Monica. ”So I was heartened to see ‘Mary.’ We knew she was a brave woman, but no one ever said it in those terms.”

Legendary films like Charlton Heston’s “The Ten Commandments” are embellished as well, Sweeney said, “and sometimes that helps people connect with the story, with their faith.”

Turning to the theme of sports, Costello praised Davis for his memorable line “Gibby, meet Freddie!” while working as the commentator during Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam for the Dodgers during Game 1 of the World Series last October. 

“How do you do that? Because that’s a God-given talent,” Costello told Davis about the call, which referenced the obvious echoes of Kirk Gibson’s game-winning home run for the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series. 

Davis acknowledged that the comparison was hard to miss during the postseason, given that Freeman was struggling through an injury similar to Gibson’s. 

“So now it’s Game 1, we’ve watched Freddie be hobbled the entire postseason, chance to win it,” said Davis, a Catholic who attends Holy Family Church in South Pasadena. “So it’s all these things coming together and in these big moments … you have to be at your best.”

As the ball launched off Freeman’s bat, Davis said he noticed that even the flight of the ball was “identical” to Gibson’s home run.

“I guess that’s a way that God kind of works through me,” said Davis. “It’s all those things, all the work that I’ve done and everything … but then in the moment, you have to just sort of let it happen.”

Springfield, Virginia, February 3, 2025

Met. Tikhon (right) and Bp. Matthew (left) issued statements of condolences. Photo: orthodoxyinamerica.org     

The primate of the Orthodox Church in America issued a statement of condolences concerning the mid-air collision in Washington, D.C. on January 29, in which 67 people lost their lives.

Among the victims were active Orthodox Christians.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada writes:

With great sorrow we have learned of the tragic plane crash that took place over the Potomac River on the night of Wednesday, January 29, 2025, claiming the lives of all on board. Among the departed were Aleksandra Ter and her daughter Olivia, two long-time parishioners of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC.

On behalf of the clergy and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America, I extend my deepest condolences to all their family and friends, and to the family and friends of all who perished in this disaster. I urge the faithful to pray for the families of all the victims and all those affected by the tragedy, and especially for the Ter family and all their friends and loved ones. I also ask you to join me in beseeching the Lord on behalf of the newly-departed handmaidens of God Aleksandra and Olivia.

May the Lord grant them rest with the righteous departed, and may their memory be eternal!

His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Interim Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA & Canada, also sent his condolences to President Trump:

The clergy and laity of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA with great sorrow received news of the plane crash in Washington, DC. Please accept our deepest and most sincere condolences in connection with the tragedy that claimed the lives of many people.

We pray to the God Who lovest mankind, for the repose of the victims and the consolation of all those grieving over the untimely death of their loved ones, as well as for the granting of spiritual and physical strength to all participants in the search and rescue operation.

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Belgrade, February 3, 2025

Photo: spc.rs     

Thousands of Orthodox faithful in Serbia came out to venerate the wonderworking Softener of Evil Hearts Icon of the Mother of God this weekend.

The miraculous icon was festively welcomed on Saturday morning at the Russian Holy Trinity Church in Belgrade and remained through Sunday, the Serbian Orthodox Church reports.

People waited in line throughout the day to venerate the icon, which constantly streams myrrh and has also been known to Wonderworking Softener of Evil Hearts Icon sheds blood-like tears on Pascha and TheophanyA story recently circulated on Facebook that the guardian of the icon had reported that the icon bled on February 21.

“>shed blood-like tears.

The icon has its home in the village of Bachurino in the Sosenskoe Municipality outside of Moscow, where a chapel was built for it with the blessing of Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin), a respected Optina elder, though it has also been taken throughout the world (Myrrh-Streaming Mother of God Icon ”Softener of Evil Hearts” Visits throughout Diocese’s Southernmost StatesAs part of her ongoing visitation to the parishes and monasteries of the Eastern American Diocese, the myrrh-streaming Icon of the Mother of God ”Softener of Evil Hearts” has been traveling through the Diocese’s southernmost states.

“>including the U.S.) for the benefit of the Orthodox faithful.

The icon’s visit to Belgrade was timed to the 16th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Kirill as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

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A few weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed our third child into the world. She is a little girl. We named her StellaMaris in honor of the Blessed Mother.

This was an unusual pregnancy. We are both 44. We also have two teenage children. We were five years away from the coveted “empty nest.” We both have relatively flexible, well-paying jobs. I am even employed by a university, which means that I do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition costs hanging over my head, if my children choose to go to college. We were on the cusp of vacations and brunches.

People who heard of our pregnancy and considered our age (and the ages of our two children) often ask me if the baby was the consequence of an “oops.” Although certainly a surprise, the pregnancy was quite intentional.

We made a conscious choice at 44 years old to have another child with teenagers in the house. This is surely quite strange. But, even ignoring our age and family structure, there is something fundamentally strange in 2024 about having a third child at all.

Fertility rates are crashing around the world. The rate in the United States has dropped to 1.6, the lowest in our history. This is far below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 births per woman necessary to simply replace one’s population. The situation is much worse in other countries, like South Korea, where that number is down to 0.7. This has grave implications if you think the existence of South Korea is, on the whole, a good thing.

People disagree about whether we should be concerned about these rates. Many argue that fewer births is a net positive, especially those worried about global warming and resource depletion. Others argue that having collapsing fertility rates is catastrophic for modern welfare states.

While I tend to be on the “fertility decline bad” side, as a good personalist, I get squeamish with the idea of procreating for the sake of the economy or the Social Security system. However, at the very least, a basic function of a healthy society is to ensure its continued existence.

I am no expert on fertility rates, but I do read a lot about the subject. The most common explanation for the drop tends to mix economic and educational arguments: Birth rates are going down because we are getting richer and better educated. Basically, children are for lower-class people.

Taken at face value, this explanation works. Fertility is negatively correlated with women’s income and education. Likewise, as countries get richer and more educated, fertility rates go down.

But my favorite demographer of fertility, Lyman Stone, recently questioned this economics/education explanation. His research shows that the correlation between income, education, and fertility is not some immutable fact.

Standard analyses of income, education, and fertility do not consider pregnancy timing and instead focus too much on women’s earnings as opposed to family incomes. Stone points out the obvious fact that women tend to have kids when they are young, when earnings are at their nadir. Likewise, highly educated women with higher earning potential tend to delay pregnancies and generally do not have as many children later in life for various reasons (including simple biology).

In fact, Stone found that when you consider male earnings and overall family income, income is positively associated with fertility rates.

To make things more complicated, this varies a lot across racial and religious groups. For example, for Whites and Asian Americans, the highest fertility rates are found among the highest and lowest earners. But for Hispanic and Black women, fertility rates consistently get lower as women get wealthier.

Stone believes that culture, not income and education, is driving the decline in fertility rates. For example, he observes that fertility rates among the most religiously observant Americans are nearly three times higher than their secular neighbors.

While Stone doesn’t get into the cultural factors that might lead to lower fertility rates, others have certainly weighed in.

Johann Kurtz, known best for his excellent Substack “Becoming Noble,” recently argued in an essay titled “It’s embarrassing to be a stay-at-home Mom” that the problem comes down to “status.”

The value systems of liberal societies, Kurtz points out, confer low status on childbearing and mothering. While pre-Enlightenment status systems supported, or at least did not oppose, childbearing and mothering (thanks largely to the influence of Christianity, both were associated with virtue), post-Enlightenment liberal culture changed the game, emphasizing success over virtue.

It was only a matter of time, writes Kurtz, that women would demand “access to and participation within success games” like education, commerce, politics, and even sport.

“Unfortunately, accruing status through success games is time-intensive, and unlike virtue games, trades off directly with fertility,” he writes.

I agree with Kurtz’s assessment, but I would go even further and argue that we are no longer having children primarily because we are too bored to do so.

Boredom, as I argued in a recent Substack post, is a uniquely modern experience, a functional emotion that alerts us to a deeper despair, which is a psychological state marked by a lack of meaning, purpose, and hope. We ultimately cannot come up with any particular reason to do something rather than to do nothing.

In a report that surveyed adults who did not have children and adults who were not planning on having any, the most common response to “why?” was “I just didn’t want them” or “I wanted to focus on other things.” That seems consistent with boredom to me.

Any parent knows that raising children, despite the joys, is exceptionally difficult. To actively choose children, one must really believe that it is something that is worth doing, that there is a deep purpose and meaning in the act itself.

This is especially true in a consumer economy that bombards us with advertisements for various desirable products and experiences. Without a deeper sense of purpose and meaning to guide childbearing, children are merely another good that can be obtained to satisfy our novel appetites.

Ultimately, choosing to have children is an act of hope: You really have to be hopeful that there is something worth passing on to those spawned.

Stanley Hauerwas, the great philosopher, theologian, and curmudgeon whose work helped form my vision of the world in my younger years, put it this way: “For Christians do not place their hope in their children, but rather their children are a sign of their hope … that God has not abandoned this world.”

Without that kind of hope, you’d likely find me choosing the most pleasurable and expedient thing in front of me, like vacations and brunches. A child is certainly not that thing.

My two teenagers are excellent kids. But I often feel hopeless about the future. I shudder to think about one potential future that my son faces: one where the robots have taken his job prospects, and he is left with porn, weed, and loneliness. 

I believe my wife and I have given him enough of a substructure of hope: purpose, and meaning that he will be able to navigate this dystopian future. But if this is all we can hope for, why have kids?

Of course, hope is a virtue. It must be practiced, and the hopeful action must be actively chosen.

Acts of hope, as Wendell Berry illustrates in his poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” simply do not compute within the logic of our modern society and economy:

“So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. … Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.”

In November 2021, my wife and I did something that does not compute. We drove our family 600 miles from Pittsburgh to St. Louis to have a vasectomy reversed. We reopened ourselves to life, a decision made possible through the intervention of Our Lady of Lourdes (a story for a future essay).

Clearly, our act to bring new life into the world at 44 is not for everyone. But, to truly create a culture that can live hopefully toward the future, we all must make our own little incomputable acts.

Kalamata, Greece, February 3, 2025

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

Thousands of Greek Orthodox faithful came out yesterday, February 2, to celebrate the patron of the city of Kalamata, the 7th-century Panagia Ypapanti Icon.

The celebrations at the Metropolitan Presentation of the Savior (Ypapanti tou Sotiros) Cathedral were led by 10 hierarchs of the Orthodox Church of Greece, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

The Orthros and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy were presided over by Metropolitan Ephraim of Hyrda. The sermon was delivered by Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu, who spoke of the symbolism of the great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord and to the holy person of the Theotokos, emphasizing that in our difficult times we are in need of her intercession.

Following the Divine Liturgy, a grand procession of the miraculous Panagia Ypapanti Icon took place through the central streets of the city, for the blessing and sanctification of residents and pilgrims.

The Metropolitan of Messinia, addressing the faithful, thanked the invited hierarchs who participated in the celebration, the officials present, and the faithful who participated by the thousands in the feast, wishing that the Most Holy Theotokos would protect the Greek homeland and its people from every danger and difficulty.

***

Orthodox Christianity Then and Now tells the story of the icon:

Photo: johnsanidopoulos.com The Metropolitan Cathedral of Kalamata is known by the name Ypapanti tou Sotiros, or Presentation of the Savior. It is one of the largest Cathedrals of Messinia and was built in 1839 and consecrated in 1873. The layout is a traditional Byzantine style and it houses within the ancient and miraculous icon of the Panagia. It celebrates annually on February 2, which is the feast of the Presentation of the Lord into the Temple. It also celebrates on the Apodosis of Pascha, which is a movable feast day celebrated the day prior to the Holy Ascension. It was on the Apodosis of Pascha that the wonderworking icon was discovered. The Panagia Ypapanti is the Protectress of the City of Kalamata.

The icon of the Theotokos, dated to 672 AD, was found in a stable of an Ottoman during the Turkish occupation, after a stable-man had a vision. Even though the back of the icon board was entirely burned, the front was perfectly intact. It bore the name Ypapanti, and probably belonged to a Church of the Presentation of the Savior which had been in Kalamata centuries before the Turkish occupation. The church must have burned down, which is why the icon was burned in the back. The front must have been preserved by the protection of the Holy Virgin. On the land in which the icon was discovered, a small church was initially built to honor the Presentation of the Lord and to house this icon. It was figured also that the stable had been the church that had once burned, which is why they chose the same spot to rebuild the church. The Metropolitan Cathedral was not built until Greece became free of Ottoman domination, and on 19 August 1873 it was consecrated.

The icon of Panagia Ypapanti is not only venerated by the residents of Kalamata, but extends throughout all of Greece, and thousands flock to this Cathedral for its feast day and receive miraculous intervention through the Theotokos and her wonderworking icon. One example of its miraculous powers dates to 1841 when the entire population of Kalamata was saved from certain annihilation. In the initial months of Autumn that year, a mysterious illness befell what seemed the entire population of Kalamata. Even the doctors sent to treat the ill caught the disease. Death became such a regular sight in the city that the bells of the churches were ringing hourly informing everyone of the death of another victim. Daily there were burials as well, and sadness permeated throughout Kalamata. When all hope was lost, the people placed their hope in the Panagia and decided to hold a litany throughout the city led by the Panagia Ypapanti icon. It was hoped that the Panagia would lift this plague from the people and save them from certain death. Those who oversaw the governance of the city then ordered all the residents to undertake a three-day fast, after which they were to attend a Paraklisi (Supplication) Service to the Panagia as well as the litany which was to follow. To the glory of God and the Holy Virgin, during the litany itself the plague began to lift from Kalamata and the city was saved from certain annihilation.

During the earthquakes of 1886 and 1986 the center dome of the church was destroyed, but reconstructed according to the original plans.

Pilgrims can visit the church during the day any day. Also, every evening the bells of the Cathedral ring calling everyone to the local cemetery to light the oil-lamps over the graves of their loved ones, leaving the cemetery bright throughout the night.

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Sofia, February 3, 2025

Photo: bta.bg   

The Bulgarian Patriarchate, currently led by His Holiness Patriarch Daniil, is and will remain the sole representative of the country’s traditional Orthodox faith, according to the country’s Parliament.

The legislative body approved relevant amendments to the Religious Denominations Act on second reading on January 31. The text was supported by 186 out of 240 MPs from all parliamentary groups, reports the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

The issue arose after the Supreme Court of Cassation Bulgarian Church protests legal recognition of Old Calendar groupCreating parallel “orthodox churches” undermines both Church unity and the faith of Bulgarian Orthodox believers, the Synod warns.

“>ruled in December that the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church is to be legally registered, which provoked strong political and public response. The Bulgarian court’s decision was related to a 2021 European Court of Human Rights ruling in the case “Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church and Others v. Bulgaria.”

After the December ruling, Pat. Daniil and members of the Holy Synod met with various institutions seeking state protection against a potential new schism, and it was agreed that the bill would include a prohibition on any organization besides the Patriarchate using the word “Orthodox” in its legally registered name (MPs adopted a series of relevant bills on first reading in Bulgarian Parliament moves to protect Patriarchate’s legal status against registration of schismaticsThis is the first case in Bulgarian legislation where reference to Church canonical law would be explicitly included in a legal text with binding force.

“>mid-January).

Within two months of these provisions taking effect, registered denominations and applicants with pending initial registration proceedings must change their names and statutes in accordance with the amendments and submit the changes for entry in the register of religious denominations with legal entity status at the Sofia City Court, the deputies finally approved.

Registered denominations that fail to fulfill the above obligation and don’t have pending proceedings for recording changes will be terminated. A subsequent procedure for liquidation and court deletion from the register is also outlined.

Toma Bikov from Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria-Union of Democratic Forces commented that at first glance, the issue doesn’t threaten the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as hardly anyone thinks the Old Calendar Church poses a threat to the Church’s foundations. However, he noted that the matter is important and carries not only political but social tension because “in the early 90s, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church experienced a very difficult schism that began with political arguments.”

Yordan Tsonev (Movement for Rights and Freedoms-New Beginning) commented that it’s not about any denomination threatening the BOC and its unity, least of all the Old Calendar church. “It’s about the fact that the real threat to BOC is the court, and not the entire court, but Soros’ court,” he said. He noted that he’s not the one calling the European Court of Human Rights “Soros’ court”—many politicians, lawyers, and legal experts in Europe do, and our participants in this court are pure products of [Soros’] Open Society.

He pointed out that some highly respected theologians from the so-called urban right constantly attack Orthodoxy with the argument that it’s a Moscow branch. “But Orthodoxy isn’t Moscow’s, it’s Orthodoxy. They can’t attack the Bulgarian Orthodox Church with this argument,” he stated, adding that Parliament is closing the door to such attacks.

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On MercyChristian mercy is the heartfelt feeling of a kind man awakened and strengthened by faith.

“>On Mercy

St. Gabriel, Bishop of ImeretiBishop Gabriel (Kikodze) was born November 15, 1825, in the village of Bachvi, in the western Georgian district of Ozurgeti in Guria. His father was the priest Maxime Kikodze.

“>St. Gabriel of Imereti was a nineteenth-century Holy Hierarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He generously distributed alms to widows, orphans, and all in need; he clothed the naked and buried beggars, having mercy upon the least of the brethren. St. Gabriel was born on November 15, 1825, and reposed in the Lord on January 25, 1896.

Photo: redbull.com     

The Apostle Paul teaches: Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men [be courageous], be strong (1 Cor. 16:13). Watchful is the man who is always active, who labors much, and exerts his spiritual and physical strength. But a watchful man can also direct his activity towards doing bad things. The Apostle Paul demands that we be vigilant for doing good deeds, serving the Lord, and professing the faith.

Nothing requires vigilance so much as the works of faith, first of all because by them we protect ourselves from evil thoughts and temptations that can shake our faith, and secondly, because in being vigilant, we can acquire everything that will contribute to the strengthening of our faith and our desire to seek the Kingdom of God. At that time, when the Apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthians, Christians were suffering from the persecution and oppression of the Gentiles. True, we’re not in danger now because of our faith, but we still have to be watchful, because the enemies of the faith, of whom there have always been many, have especially multiplied today. Consequently, if a Christian becomes complacent, he can easily fall into temptation and lose the treasure of his soul—his faith.

Fortitude is an even more significant and important quality than vigilance. Fortitude is firmness and strength of spirit. Fortitude is shown by a man who does any deed, especially of a spiritual nature, no matter how difficult it may be, with zeal and hope, striving to bring what he has begun to an end. The fortitude of man and the strength of his spirit are best manifested in the face of obstacles and resistance. Where the weak and fainthearted man throws up his hands and falls into despondency, unsure what to do, the steadfast and vigilant man grows yet stronger, and every new obstacle only gives him extra strength, and no setbacks can stop him. And guided by faith, he’ll bring his good deed to its end and will necessarily emerge victorious from this struggle with difficulties.

Fortitude, just like vigilance, is most necessary for a Christian. Fulfilling Christ’s commandments demands incessant labor and unwavering resilience from us, because we have to withstand not only external obstacles, but also ourselves. It’s not hard to imagine what fortitude, firmness, and determination are needed to suppress our desires and give up our long-established and deep-rooted habits, and to constantly struggle with ourselves as with an enemy and with the vice and passions that creep into our soul. Of course, a weak man devoid of fortitude and firmness of spirit won’t be able to withstand this. Often a man is good but because of his lack of fortitude, his goodness is fruitless, and all because the first obstacle will perplex and stop him and make him give up. A man must wholeheartedly desire to acquire fortitude, and the All-Merciful God will support him in this by the mystical working of His grace.

To be continued…

Sri Lanka, January 31, 2025

Photo: sinmis.ru     

From January 11 to 26, a missionary expedition of the Russian Orthodox Church took place on the island of Sri Lanka. The expedition’s purpose was to support the spiritual heritage and strengthen ties between Orthodox communities in Sri Lanka and the Russian Orthodox Church.

During the trip, seven Divine Liturgies, an All-Night Vigil, two Baptismal services, and numerous individual services and molebens were celebrated, reports the Synodal Missionary Department.

The expedition members visited Russian-speaking communities in Colombo, Galle, Unawatuna, Hikkaduwa, as well as Orthodox local communities baptized during previous missionary trips in the cities of Kegalle, Kurunegala, and the Melsiripura and Maspota settlements.

They also visited local communities in Dambulla and the remote settlements of Nagollagama and Araula, who are undergoing catechism to join the Church and show interest in the Orthodox faith. During the services, 75 compatriots and 110 local residents, totaling 185 believers, participated in the Sacraments of Confession and Communion.

Further, 18 people were baptized in two services, including a former pastor of the Eastern Believers Church, who voluntarily agreed to be received into the Church as a layman and continue serving as an Orthodox missionary in Dambulla.

During missionary visits to settlements where missionary work is conducted among the local population, meetings were organized with catechumens and local communities interested in the Orthodox faith. About 90 people participated in such meetings, of whom approximately 50 people have already expressed desire to join the Church after completing the catechism course.

During the trip, they managed to publish in Sinhalese a second edition of a brief Orthodox prayer book, a wall calendar with daily Orthodox prayers, and an Akathist to the Sweetest Jesus. Preparation also began for republishing the Typika service for local lay missionaries to perform.

Photo: sinmis.ru     

Additionally, the missionaries commissioned the translation of A Brief Church History for Orthodox Believers by Fr. Aidan Keller from English to Sinhalese. The editing of the translation of the Divine Liturgy into Sinhalese also continued.

Pavel Yesin, a graduate student at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies, continued church singing lessons with the youth group of the Orthodox parish in Kurunegala. The young people learned the chants of the litanies and the Trisagion. Musical notation was also composed for “As Many as Have Been Baptized into Christ” in Sinhalese.

Background:

In 2023, the Synodal Missionary Department received an appeal from a group of Orthodox Sri Lankans requesting regular spiritual guidance from Russian Orthodox clergy. Previously, 52 local Orthodox residents were baptized by Fr. Kirill Shkarbul, rector of parishes in Taiwan.

On January 13, 2024, the first SMD missionary expedition to Ceylon took place. Throughout 2024, four missionary trips were organized, including a 1.5-month expedition during which systematic catechization and Orthodox lectures were organized for newly baptized local residents.

In 2024, ten Divine Liturgies and three Baptismal services were celebrated.

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After the tragic plane crash in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night, a local priest made his way to the scene “to be present” with the grieving families.

Father Frederick Edlefsen, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Arlington, Virginia, shared about how he was able to be present to the families that night in an interview with Colm Flynn on “EWTN News Nightly.”

Edlefsen was heading to bed after a long day when he checked his phone and saw the news — a passenger plane had collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport and sunk into the Potomac River.

With the airport a mile away from his parish, it was close to home for Edlefsen.

“I felt it was really my duty. I felt an impulse — call it the gifts of the Holy Spirit or guardian angel,” he recalled. “But the airport is within the boundaries of my parish; we have a lot of travelers from Reagan Airport, airline personnel come to our Masses, and so on. So I felt: I need to be there.”

Edlefsen coordinated with a parishioner and Knight of Columbus who had a background in law enforcement. The parishioner escorted the priest to the airport and the Admirals Lounge of American Airlines.

“We were able to be present, not only to the grieving families but also to the personnel who, when they went to work this morning, they didn’t know this was going to hit them,” Edlefsen said.

Edlefsen remained with the families, listening to them and praying with them as they awaited news about their loved ones in the crash. It wasn’t until past 1 in the morning that the families learned there were no survivors.

“At around 1 or 1:30 more or less — that’s when some law enforcement from Washington, D.C., came in and told the families that no, there are no survivors,” Edlefsen recalled. “Going from search and rescue to recovery and it can take some time also to identify the bodies and the remains of the deceased. So that was a hard hit for those families.”

The crash was the first major U.S. commercial air crash in almost 16 years.

Edlefsen emphasized how important it is to respect the privacy of families who are grieving and “who are still trying to grasp what happened.”

“A tragedy like this not only provokes grief, but it’s a very intimate grief,” he reflected. “It was probably one of the most intense grief moments and situations I’ve ever seen in my own almost 24 years of priesthood.”

The tragedy is especially devastating because of its magnitude. The plane had been carrying 60 passengers and four crew, while the helicopter had three soldiers aboard. The effects reverberated across the nation as those aboard the passenger plane were from all across the U.S., including Wichita, Kansas; Boston; and Washington, D.C.

“Because usually these happen within families, or one or two at a time,” Edlefson said. “But this was multiple families. Several people have lost several loved ones. Everybody is in total shock. They don’t know what to say or how to react. And they’re waiting for the best news.”

When asked how he responded as a minister, Edlefsen said he focused on simply being present.

“The backstop here and the presumption is you don’t say anything,” he said. “You’re just present. You listen.”

Amid the grief, it’s essential to be present and listening, Edlefsen explained.

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s more often than not OK to say ‘Can we pray together?’ And it has to be simple and short,” he said. “But right now the best thing is to say nothing. Presence is what’s important and reassurance of your presence. But also at the same time, maybe, a willingness to pray, maybe give someone a blessing if they ask for it. But to have the Church visibly present is absolutely key.”

Edlefsen is set to offer a vigil Mass at 5:30 Saturday for the victims of the crash and their families as well as others involved — American Airlines personnel, Reagan Airport personnel, first responders, and all the people working in the background.

Veliky Novgorod, Russia, January 31, 2025

Photo: Russian Ministry of Culture     

The extensive and meticulous restoration of the 12th-century Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God at the Antoniev Monastery in Veliky Novgorod has been completed.

Soon the church, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, will be presented to Novgorod residents and city visitors in its renewed form, reports the Russian Ministry of Culture.

Specialists from the Novgorod Museum-Preserve were in charge of the restoration, who over two years “carried out painstaking work: strengthened the ancient foundations, restored the brickwork, plastered and whitewashed the church walls, replaced the roofing, repaired the porch, and built a ramp for people with limited mobility.

Restored to its to proper condition, the cathedral will soon be reincluded in the museum-preserve’s excursion routes.

The Antoniev Monastery was founded in 1106 by St. Anthony the Roman. Shortly after its founding, from 1117 to 1119, a stone church was built in the monastery. In 1125, it was painted with frescoes.

For many centuries, the Antoniev Monastery was not only a spiritual but also a cultural center. In 1740, a theological seminary was established at the monastery, which operated until 1918.

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