The Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Spain and Portugal is launching a charitable project to help Romanian orphans.
The “Father’s Heart: Love for Abandoned Children” project will run from March 2025 to March 2026, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Timotei of Spain and Portugal. The aim is to gather monthly donations and create a fund to ensure a better life for abandoned children from Romanian orphanages, the diocese reports.
An appeal will be made to the faithful in every parish of the diocese. There are currently 14 Romanian Orthodox churches in Spain and 11 churches and one monastery in Portugal.
Believers who wish to support the project are invited to contribute 25 euros per family per month for one year, thus helping to create a stable and sustainable fund for children.
The diocese will collaborate with the poorest dioceses in Romania that administer orphanages, ensuring the use of funds for improving living conditions, educational support, and access to medical services.
“Through this project, the Orthodox community in Spain and Portugal will contribute to improving the living conditions of abandoned children in Romania, offering them a chance for a better future, through constant material and moral support,” the diocese writes.
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French Prime Minister François Bayrou wants to split an “end of life” bill to separate the issue of “active assistance in dying” from that of palliative care — a proposal seen as a smart attempt to give a pro-life approach to the legislation without antagonizing rival political sides.
“Those are two subjects that need to be examined separately by parliament,” Bayrou said Jan. 27 on the French television channel LCI. “We need to be able to vote on these subjects differently if we feel like it.”
Launched at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, the current “end of life” bill provides for the authorization of “medical aid in dying,” which is presented as a continuation of palliative care.
The French National Assembly was set to vote on the bill on June 18, 2024. But a few days earlier, on June 9, Macron surprised everyone by announcing the dissolution of the French Parliament, following the victory of France’s far-right Rassemblement National, or National Rally party, in the European Parliament elections. All legislative work in progress was halted.
Since then, the new National Assembly has been extremely divided between the various political parties, among which the extreme right and left have a strong influence, to the point of paralyzing the country’s political life.
It was against this backdrop, and after the failure of a first government, that Macron appointed Bayrou as prime minister on Dec. 13. Bayrou is known as a practicing and devout Catholic who combines his faith with a view to strictly separate political and religious spheres.
In recent weeks, he has received urgent requests from left-wing members of Parliament and Macron’s Renaissance party to put the “end of life” bill back on the agenda.
But Bayrou made a surprise move Jan. 21, announcing his intention to split the bill in two. He stated that he wanted to dissociate the reinforcement of palliative care, the need for which is unanimous, from “active assistance in dying,” which is much more controversial. On Jan. 22, the president of the French bishops’ conference, Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, hailed this decision as “a wise measure,” speaking on France’s Info radio station.
“We are placing a lot of emphasis on palliative care and the development of palliative care in France as in all countries,” the archbishop said. “It’s not just about opening a few extra beds, but about inserting a culture of palliative care into the training of doctors and caregivers in general, from the very beginning of their training.”
Archbishop Moulins-Beaufort stressed that what makes people want euthanasia is the fear of pain at the end of life and that with proper training, financing and access to palliative care “the question of the fear of the end of life that inhabits everyone would be posed in very different terms if we really had the pain management that we are capable of today.”
Supporters of “active aid in dying” said they fear that a vote on this could fail if it is separated from palliative care. On Jan. 26, nearly 200 MPs and former ministers from the left and Macron’s party called on Bayrou not to split the bill.
“Active medical aid in dying is an ultimate form of palliative care, in continuity with the care already provided,” they wrote in an open letter published in the daily newspaper “Le Parisien” on Jan. 27.
“I am absolutely determined that the two questions can be examined,” Bayrou replied on Jan. 27. “What I am saying is that they are not the same questions,” the prime minister said in the LCI station interview.
In France, palliative care is currently accessible to only half the patients who need it, due to a lack of competent staff and adequate hospital structures. The nursing staff concerned had expressed fears that the adoption of a law on “active assistance in dying” would jeopardize their funding.
“For me, palliative care is not a matter of ‘right’ but of an imprescriptible ‘duty,’” Bayrou said. “Our whole society, our whole health care system, has a duty to offer assistance to all those who are so ill,” he said of the first part of legislation concerning palliative care.
The second part of the bill, which talks about assisted suicide, “gives rise to extremely strong debates of conscience on both sides,” Bayrou continued, referring explicitly to “euthanasia” and “assisted suicide,” which are currently legally possible in Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, but not in France. “Should our society organize this?” Bayrou asked.
Bayrou referred to the “deeply moving” testimony, aired on French television Jan. 26, of a famous French sports journalist, Charles Biétry, who suffers from an incurable disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, which causes nerve damage.
“There are people suffering from this disease who consider that this ‘right to die’ should be favored,” Bayrou pointed out. “But others, suffering from the same disease, do not share this view. And many consider that they do not know where they stand.”
“Since I announced my plan to split this bill in two, a very large number of people have told me that they agree with me, from one end of the political spectrum to the other,” Bayrou pointed out.
Asked about the impact of his Christian convictions on the issue of euthanasia, which he is personally not in favor of, the new prime minister pointed out that “you cannot uproot what you believe from what you are, it is impossible.”
France’s prime minister concluded: “What influences the citizen in me on this subject? It is the family man that I am, and perhaps also the son that I was. We are touching on life, and the meaning of life.”
Representatives of Russian and foreign NGOs signed an International Declaration on Family Protection in Moscow this week, with the document open for signing by all interested parties.
The solemn signing ceremony took place on Monday at Christ the Savior Cathedral during the Christmas Educational Readings. An international council for family protection was also created to coordinate the efforts of declaration participants, reports Pro-Life Belarus.
The document was signed by international organization representatives, charitable foundation leaders, women’s organization leaders, family protection organizations, and cultural representatives.
According to the document, family values “must be reliably protected by society and state.”
Family values are defined as marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman, “mutual love, respect and care on which family life is built, marriage, parenthood, fatherhood, motherhood, childhood, having many children, child care, priority of raising a child in their native (blood) family, care for parents, generational continuity, protection of child’s life and health both before and after birth.”
The authors note that propaganda of anti-family ideas and values, including the promotion of the concept of “gender” and ideas of so-called “gender diversity,” “should be legally prohibited both at national and international levels.”
“Every child should know their biological sex and the biological sex of their parents, and be raised in accordance with the physiological, psychological and sociocultural characteristics of their biological sex,” the declaration states.
State Duma Deputy Speaker Anna Kuznetsova noted that the signing of the declaration is a unique event. According to her, “the values and goals designated by Russia are attracting an increasing number of states” because such values are “signs of a healthy society and world order, they guarantee security for the world as a whole and for each family in particular.”
In turn, Fr. Feodor Lukyanov (ROC), chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, said the path to signing the document took four years, “from the moment when Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia made an appeal to the international community about consolidating efforts around protecting the family and the life of the child before birth.”
Earlier on Monday, a number of prominent Russian scientists and medical professionals proposed an initiative to ban abortions in private clinics and explained why human life should be legally protected from the moment of conception.
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Pope Francis has expressed his “spiritual closeness to all those affected” by the midair collision of a passenger plane and military helicopter at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington D.C. on Jan. 29.
“In commending the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of almighty God, I offer my deepest sympathies to the families who are now mourning the loss of a loved one,” Pope Francis said in a Jan. 30 telegram addressed to President Donald Trump.
“I likewise pray for those involved in the recovery efforts and invoke upon all in the nation the divine blessings of consolation and strength,” he continued.
Around 9 p.m. local time on Jan. 29, an American Airlines flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members from Wichita, Kansas, collided with an army helicopter as it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport. There were three soldiers aboard the helicopter.
As of 8 a.m. on Jan. 30, local officials in Washington said that 28 bodies had been recovered from the Potomac River.
“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident,” D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said during a Jan. 30 news conference. If that holds true, it would be the deadliest air crash in the United States in nearly 24 years. The cause of the collision is still unknown.
Passengers on the plane included a group of figure skaters, coaches, and family members returning from a training camp following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, according to U.S. Figure Skating.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington called for prayers for all those impacted by the tragedy.
“May we be united in prayer for all those tragically impacted by the accident near Reagan Airport,” Burbidge said in a statement. “We ask God to embrace them in his love, to grant strength to their families, and to watch over all first responders.”
Similarly, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore urged people to pray.
“Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the tragic collision at Reagan National Airport,” Lori said in a statement. “Let us pray for them and for their loved ones who mourn them. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the first responders during this very difficult time.”
Late on Jan. 29, Trump said he had been briefed on the situation.
“May God Bless their souls,” Trump said, referring to the victims of the crash. “Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
John Lavenburg is an American journalist and the national correspondent for Crux. Before joining Crux, John worked for a weekly newspaper in Massachusetts covering education and religion.
The funeral for the newly reposed primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, His Eminence Archbishop Anastasios, was served today in the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Tirana, in the presence of thousands of Orthodox clergy and faithful and various state representatives from throughout the world.
The Archbishop reposed in the Lord on January 25 at the age of 95. He spent more than 30 years raising the Albanian Church up from the ruins of the 20th century and was greatly loved throughout the Orthodox world.
The funeral was led by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, with the concelebration of His Eminence Metropolitan John of Korçë, the Locum Tenens of the primatial throne, and the other Albanian hierarchs, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
Several other Orthodox primates were also present: Patriarchs Theodoros of Alexandria, Theophilos of Jerusalem, Daniil of Bulgaria, and Archbishops George of Cyprus, and Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, as well as delegations from the Patriarchates of Antioch, Moscow, Serbia, Romania, and Georgia, and the Polish, Czech-Slovak, and Macedonian-Ohrid Archbishopric Churches.
The service was celebrated in Albanian and Greek.
The first eulogy was delivered by Met. John of Korçë. He spoke about the decisive work of the Archbishop in rebuilding the Church of Albania. “He made no distinctions. He loved everyone,” he emphasized. “Love was the foundation of his work, a foundation that contributed to a just society. He showed light where darkness prevailed,” he added.
“Our country needed the spirit and work of the Archbishop based on the foundations he laid. He taught the importance of dialogue,” he said. Met. John particularly emphasized the Archbishop’s unshakeable faith in God, remaining steadfast in every difficulty with the hope that God would not abandon us. “I thank God for this gift He gave us by bringing us Archbishop Anastasios. His work will be a living example of inspiration for future generations. Despite our human sorrow, he hasn’t abandoned us. Our hearts ache today because we lost a rare chief shepherd.”
Photo: Radio Ngjalla
Thousands of Albanians, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, and people from every corner of the earth have come to the cathedral to receive the Archbishop’s blessing for the last time, with the public veneration that began Tuesday afternoon continuing until the funeral service. The attendance of faithful until the early morning hours was moving, as they came with tears in their eyes to bid farewell, the rainfall in the Albanian capital not deterring them from coming.
A giant screen was set up outside the cathedral to accommodate the overflow of attendees.
Following the funeral, Abp. Anastasios was buried beneath the altar of the cathedral, in a special crypt that he himself had prepared.
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If Father Michael Ume learned anything from leading his flock during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the need to stay active — and united — during times of turmoil.
With that in mind, the pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Pasadena has kept the lights on, the doors open, and the coffee and donuts flowing in the last few weeks, even as nearby wildfires claimed the homes of at least 17 parishioners and one employee.
“In a time of crisis people are trying to reach out, people are trying to figure out where to go, what to do, who to talk to,” Ume said. “And this provided that opportunity for them. Maybe they lost their home, or maybe they were evacuated, or maybe they just wanted to talk about the whole experience, and that is what we did.”
Ume’s parish is one of many churches and schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that rallied their communities as wind-driven wildfires ravaged parts of Southern California, mobilizing to provide the afflicted with emergency supplies, money, and moral support. And they have no plans to slow down as parishioners figure out how to rebuild their lives and abodes in the coming months and years.
Those who work, worship, and volunteer in or near burn and evacuation zones said the fires and their aftermath have upended their day-to-day activities.
Steve Mets looks on as a volunteer assists Gloria Cisneros, center, in finding donated clothing for her daughter in the gymnasium of Assumption of the Virgin Mary School in Pasadena Jan. 14. (OSV News/Bob Roller)
At St. Elizabeth Church in Altadena, at least half of its parishioners — including school parents — lost their homes to the Eaton Fire, according to pastor Father Modesto Perez.
Although evacuation orders were recently lifted and power has been restored, Perez said it could take weeks of sanitizing and deep cleaning before services can resume at the church campus.
In the meantime, the parish is doling out everything from toiletry kits to rental assistance while informing fire victims about various resources available to them, including counseling.
The parish’s Knights of Columbus council also recently organized a daylong “Live-Away” event that provided more than 1,000 attendees with food, toiletries, clothes, and resources to help them find short- and long-term housing.
In addition, several parishioners have taken fire victims into their homes, said Frank Ferguson, who leads the Knights, and one person even made a seven-figure donation to help the displaced get back into housing.
“We are not just a group of people who go to church together on Sunday,” Perez said in an email. “We are a community united by faith, love, and boundless generosity. Though fire ravaged our community, faith has flourished.”
A statue of Mary rests nearly untouched in the rubble of a destroyed home in Altadena Jan. 17. (OSV News/Bob Roller)
At Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary School — located about a half-mile away from the Eaton Fire footprint — four school families lost their homes, and many more students and staff members are still displaced, said Principal Robert Bringas Jr.
To help, the school and church held an “Operation Gators Strong” donation drive. For two weeks, people dropped off pet food, socks, laundry detergent, and other essentials while the World Central Kitchen served hot meals. In addition, an “army of angels” filled fire victims’ requests for air mattresses, phone chargers, pots and pans, and more, Bringas said.
“It was really the true example of people really caring for each other,” he said.
Jennifer Ramirez, principal of St. Philip the Apostle School in Pasadena — located about four blocks from the Eaton Fire evacuation zone — said the disaster has taken a heavy toll on students and staff, with 10 school families losing their homes and another 60 evacuated. Four staff members and many families are still displaced, she added.
As a result, the school started a fire relief fund for families and staff. It’s also providing free lunch and uniforms for displaced students, Ramirez said, and each grade level has “adopted” students and families that have lost their homes.
In March, the school is planning to host an event to provide homeowners with the latest information they’ll need to reconstruct their dwellings.
The church has also held multiple donation drives, Ramirez said, and plans to host a six-week fire survivor support group starting in February.
“It’s a good feeling to be in a community where people take care of each other,” she said.
People wait for meals during a food distribution sponsored by World Central Kitchen for displaced people outside La Salle College Preparatory High School in Pasadena Jan. 16. (OSV News/Bob Roller)
Nearby schools and churches further removed from the fire zone are also stepping up.
Holy Angels Church in Arcadia — a few miles away from the Eaton Fire burn zone — recently collected clothing, canned goods, personal hygiene items, and more for fire victims, said Business Manager Enrique Reyes.
The parish has also provided financial help to fire victims. As of the weekend of Jan. 26, it had distributed 215 individual $1,000 relief grants from the archdiocese’s wildfire emergency relief fund to victims with urgent needs. Most are from Altadena, Reyes said, though some are from other fire-impacted communities like Pasadena, Pacific Palisades, and parts of the San Fernando Valley.
Checks have been used to cover hotel stays, help stabilize home-based businesses, and purchase medications for children with special needs, Reyes said. A core group of volunteers, staff members, and the church pastor are working long hours to assist about 50 people a day.
“This is a project of angels that is worth doing, and it lifts the dignity of the people who lost everything,” he said.
As those ministering to the fire victims begin to move from emergency mode to recovery mode, many say they intend to keep helping.
Bringas — who called ABVM’s donation drive a “long haul project” — said organizers are storing the items they’ve received so they can distribute them in a few months.
Ferguson said his parish community will keep assisting the displaced for the next four years or so, as they’ll need furniture and other resources as they transition into permanent housing.
Father Kevin Rettig, pastor at Holy Angels Church in Arcadia, with volunteers who provided sandwiches and coffee for wildfire victims. (Enrique Reyes)
At Holy Angels, Reyes said the parish will continue gathering donations for local shelters and giving more grants to those in need.
“Seeing the outpouring of support from different people, from not only our parish, but also from other cities, it gives you hope in humanity,” Reyes said. “It gives you hope that together we can rebuild.”
Many who’ve spent the last month aiding fire victims said they’re compelled to do so out of love for the suffering.
For Ferguson, whose home was spared from the flames, it’s a way to answer God’s call to help his neighbors.
“Jesus encourages us in Matthew to give food to the hungry and clothing to those in need of clothes,” he said. “When we do this for the least of our brothers, we do it for Jesus. It is that simple.”
Those who wish to donate to help fire victims can visit angelusnews.com/howtohelp.
Theresa Cisneros is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years of experience in the news industry. She is a fourth-generation Southern California resident and lives in Orange County with her husband and four children.
The Russian Orthodox Church has created a platform for inmates to take a 3-month course on Orthodox fundamentals, Scripture, and Church history.
The project is a joint venture of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University in Moscow, and the I’m With You organization. The pilot project is intended to be implemented in three prisons in the Vladimir, Ryazan, and Tver Provinces, the Synodal Department reports.
The head of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry, Fr. Kirill Markovsky, and the director of I’m With You, Marina Kalacheva, have been involved in prison ministry for many years, visiting penitentiary institutions and helping inmates by delivering gifts and food. Fr. Kirill frequently serves in churches at detention centers and colonies, hearing confessions and giving communion to those in places of confinement, and knows how much they need spiritual help and support.
The Department writes about spirituality in prison:
Imprisonment is one of the most difficult trials for a person, but at the same time, it’s a crucial life stage that helps realize true values, rethink your past, learn to value every moment, come to faith in God, and try to find strength to fight against passions and vices. Paradoxically, it’s in prison that many first come to God, begin attending Church services, and reading religious literature. As the convict themselves admit in their numerous letters, without the Lord and His help, enduring the trial of prison would be very difficult.
The course costs $2,000 (200,000 rubles) per inmate. The I’m With You organization is working to raise funds for as many inmates as possible.
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From the days of Moses when God made a covenant through him with Israel to come and dwell in their midst, Israel has offered sacrifice to Yahweh their God. The detailed instructions for offering sacrifices and for the shrine centre built to receive them are found in the Pentateuch. Originally this shrine was portable, meant to be disassembled and reassembled throughout Israel’s journeying. It was reassembled in Shiloh which then served as the liturgical and spiritual focal point of Israel’s worship and the center of national unity. David moved the Ark into his new capital of Jerusalem, and his son Solomon built a (very immovable and permanent) Temple to house the Ark. Thereafter all the sacrifices to Yahweh (all the legitimately-sanctioned ones anyway) were offered in that Temple in Jerusalem.
This came to a horrific and crashing end in 586 B.C. when the invading Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem, conquered it, utterly destroyed the Temple, and took many of its citizens into long exile. Soon after this Cyrus the Great (the Persian who conquered Babylon) allowed some Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple, which they did, though on a much smaller scale—a return and a rebuilding prophesied by many of the prophets (e.g. Isaiah 60:1-11, Jeremiah 33:14-18).
This structure is often referred to as the “Second Temple”. It was dramatically enlarged by King Herod the Great throughout the course of decades, and it was this enlarged and enlarging Temple that Jesus visited and His apostles frequented. It was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Since that time, Israel has been without a Temple or an altar on which to offer sacrifice. This means that the sacrificial religion prescribed by God in the Law could not be carried out as prescribed. Sacrifice is at the heart of the Law, and Israelite religion without sacrifice is dramatically (some would say “fatally”) deficient.
Our Lord predicted this destruction of the Temple by the Romans. His words (the so-called “Olivet Discourse” because He delivered it to His disciples on the Mount of Olives) can be found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. There He predicted that “the abomination would stand in the holy place” and that when His disciples saw this, they should take warning and urgently flee from Judea to the mountains (Matthew 24:15-18). Soon after that there would be “a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever shall” (Matthew 24:21).
In Luke’s Gospel we find a version of this paraphrased for clarity for Gentile readers: “When you see Jerusalem surround by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people and they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:20-24).
This was abundantly fulfilled. In 66 A.D. the Roman armies stood in the holy place around Jerusalem. Then unexpectedly the siege was lifted. The Christians, remembering the Lord’s words, fled from Judea to the mountain city of Pella, thereby saving their lives. The Romans soon returned to lay siege again in 70 A.D. and did not cease until the city fell and the Temple was destroyed and its citizens led captive into all nations.
The doom was final. There is no hint in our Lord’s parables or teaching that the Temple would be rebuilt. The “times of the Gentiles” were the times when Gentiles ruled the earth—a time to be brought to an end by the Second Coming (see Revelation 11:15). There was no divinely-sanctioned recovery of the Temple foretold in our Lord teaching. His words of prophesied doom for the Temple found in Luke 13:7-9 or Mark 11:12-14, 20-23 admit of no recovery. The fig tree, an image of Jerusalem, was cut down and withered with no hopeful word of eventual reversal added.
Why then are some groups (often whacky Evangelical Christians groups, such as the “Temple Institute”) hoping and calling for and even taking steps rebuild the Temple?—and one might add, in its original place, now famously occupied by the Islamic Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam? As Christians, they presumably believe that Christ’s death on the cross has rendered the sacrifices of the Old Covenant superfluous, outdated, and obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Why would they embrace this part of Mosaic Judaism and strive to have the obsolete ordinances restored? Ah, therein lies the tale.
St. Paul spoke of the coming of the final antichrist at the end of the age, the one he called “the man of sin”. This one would exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship “so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself a being God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the only place in the New Testament which suggests that the Jewish Temple might be standing at the end of the age. But does this text really prove that the Temple must be rebuilt?
A literal interpretation of “the temple of God” is not the only one on the exegetical market. Irenaeus seems to have entertained a more literal view when he wrote that the man of sin would sit “in the sanctuary in Jerusalem” (Against Heresies, 5.25.2). Chrysostom opined that he “will be seated in the sanctuary of God, not only the one in Jerusalem [which in Chrysostom’s day meant the Church in Jerusalem] but also in every church” (Homily 3 on 2 Thessalonians). Augustine mentioned a number of different interpretations and said “there is some uncertainty about the ‘sanctuary’ in which he is to take his seat. Is it in the ruins of the Temple built by King Solomon or actually in a church?…Some people suppose it would be more correct to say that he takes his seat ‘as the sanctuary of God’ instead of ‘in the sanctuary of God’, purporting to be himself God’s sanctuary” (City of God, Book 20, chapter 19). Note here that Augustine did not foresee the Temple sanctuary being rebuilt, but that the Antichrist would sit in the ruins of the old Temple.
What then did Paul mean by this phrase? Perhaps some clue may be found in events contemporary with Paul. In 40 A.D. the Emperor Caligula was determined to have his image set up in the Jewish Temple—a plan which sent waves of horror through the Jewish world. Caligula was possibly just mad and megalomaniacal to attempt such a blasphemous stunt. Happily for all concerned, he died in 41 A.D., assassinated in Rome by those who had enough of him. I suggest that this daring act of blasphemy associated with the Temple was in Paul’s mind when he wrote this, so that Caligula’s intended self-deification in the Temple provided the metaphor for the man of sin’s blasphemous self-exaltation. If this is so, there is no need to presuppose that the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt.
Such a rebuilding would bring up other questions, the first of which is whether any of the responsible nations of the world would support or tolerate the razing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (sometimes called “the Dome of the Rock”) as a preparation for rebuilding a Temple for the Jews. Such an act would undoubtedly provoke riots worldwide from the Muslim population and serve to radicalize Muslims who were otherwise comparatively moderate. And to what end? Most Jews have gotten along fine without the Temple after Judaism reconfigured itself in the years after 70 A.D.
Indeed, Orthodox Jews are insistent that the Temple could only be rebuilt by the Messiah, not by a contingent of fanatics. Most people in power—including the Israelis—have a practical sense of Realpolitik which would exclude razing a Muslim site to build a Jewish Temple not regarded as necessary by most Jews.
Another question is theological and psychological one regarding the place of animal sacrifice in modern religion. In all ancient religions, animal sacrifice was central. The pagans of Mesopotamia, the Israelites in Canaan, and the pagans of the Greco-Roman culture all regarded the killing and slaughter of animals and the pouring of their blood upon an altar as central to their religion. The gods demanded sacrifice in the same way humans needed food, and gods and men were united in a great symbiosis in which men fed the gods and the gods protected men.
In Israel this was altered somewhat, because the God of Israel had no needs and did not require to be fed by sacrifice. Nonetheless, animal sacrifice was still demanded by God and was central to the Old Covenant. The first real dissenting note suggesting that animal sacrifice had no real place in religion came from the Christians. For them, animal sacrifice was vain, for “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The sacrifices mandated by God under the Old Covenant were but promises, pledges, and prophecies of the sacrificial death of Christ, which alone can take away sins and fulfill that which was adumbrated under the Old Covenant.
When the Christians came to power under Constantine and his Imperial successors, animal sacrifice was eventually banned, and vanished along with the pagans who practiced it. The Jews could no longer offer animal sacrifice since their Temple had been destroyed, and Islam, being a heretical offshoot of Christianity, inherited from the Christians an absence of animal sacrifice. For these reasons, much of the world no longer practises animal sacrifice and most people regard such a practice as a vestige of a more primitive time and a more primitive religion. Which of course it is.
Given this, how much credibility can the restoration of Jewish Temple have with its restoration of animal sacrifice? Will hundreds of lambs, goats, and bulls again be offered in Jerusalem and be regarded by modern people, heir as they are to the Christian (and Rabbinical Jewish) revolution, as a sensible option? Will this redound the credit of Jews in general and of Israelis in particular? The fact is that the civilized world has outgrown the notion of animal sacrifice as central to religion. The fundamentalist fanaticism of a few intent on restoring the Temple, cannot overthrow this consensus. It is better to regard the plan to rebuild the Temple as a fundamentalist fantasy.
Amid tragic escalation of violence in Congo, Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele of Goma has assured the people of the church’s closeness and compassion, as rebels entered the eastern city of Goma, forcing thousands to flee and triggering wave of looting and deaths.
On Jan. 27, the rebels claimed they had seized the city, the humanitarian base of the eastern Congo provinces of North and South Kivu, but Congolese authorities have disputed the claim.
The rebels led by members of the Tutsi ethnic group and allegedly backed by Rwanda had advanced on the city for weeks. As it gained ground, the group left behind a trail of death, destruction and displacement, which saw tens of thousands of displaced people pour into Goma.
Bishop Ngumbi said in a Jan. 27 statement that he’s especially close to “the wounded and the families of victims” and urged “clergy and the consecrated, as well as the faithful and any person of good will to kindly lend the necessary assistance to anyone in need.”
Bishop Ngumbi said he was horrified and “disgusted” by the bombing of Charity maternity hospital, where several newborns died.
He also deplored “the looting of some businesses and warehouses by the population and sometimes by the military,” as he called on the parties in the conflict and ordinary people to respect human life and public structure, because of both human dignity and international law.
“In particular, I ask everyone to guarantee the protection of life, and access to all basic services and to avoid sexual violence,”Bishop Ngumbi said.
Goma — a city of more than 2 million people — sits on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, just on the border between Rwanda and Congo. Apart from being a base of humanitarian response, the city is a gateway to mining regions in eastern Congo.
Since entering the city on Jan. 26, the rebels and the Congolese army have engaged in fierce fighting, which according to reports have left at least 25 people dead. As the rebels marched into the city, Congolese and troops across the border exchanged fire, leaving relief agencies fearing more violence and a humanitarian crisis.
“The fighting is raging. We are under the beds,” Georgette Kahongya, a Catholic in Katoyi, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Goma, told OSV News. “We have no water or food. I fear many of us may die if this does not stop.”
The international Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision, said an estimated 400,000 people had fled the eastern Congo violence this year alone, with many pouring into Goma.
The whole region has been in turmoil in recent weeks, according to the organization, with camps of internally displaced persons being shelled and hundreds killed. Many of those injured or killed in the violence are children, according to the charity.
David Munkley, World Vision’s director of operations in eastern Congo, said in a news statement sent to OSV News that “the situation is terrible.”
“There are not only thousands of people caught in the middle or fleeing this violent conflict but now we can’t reach the tens of thousands of people who were previously relying on us for food and other vital support,” he said. “Key roads surrounding Goma are blocked, and the city’s airport can no longer be used for evacuation and humanitarian efforts. Power and water have reportedly been cut to many areas of the city.”
The rebels’ M23, or March 23 movement, that took Goma was formed in 2012 by about 300 members of the National Congress for the Defense of the People, a Tutsi-led military organization in eastern Congo known by its French initials as CNDD.
The movement got its name from the date in 2009 when CNDD and the Congolese government signed a pact to end a rebellion by the Tutsi ethnic community in eastern Congo. The pact required the integration of CNDD fighters into the army, protection of minorities and equitable distribution of resources, among others.
After remaining dormant for over a decade, the rebel group launched fresh attacks in 2022, claiming that the pact had been broken. Since then, M23 has quickly seized towns and more territory in eastern Congo.
On Jan. 27, African political leaders were trying to dialogue to end the Goma violence and halt any further advance by the rebels.
Kenya President William Ruto, the chairman of the East African Community, of which Rwanda and Congo are members, has called for an emergency summit on Jan. 29 to discuss the violence.
Olga Alexandrovna Kharabarova at work as an accountant
One summer day in 2009, I was called to meet some pilgrims passing through. A man and a bent-over old woman were waiting for me on the porch. Getting acquainted, it turned out that it was Schemanun Vassa (Kharabarova), ninety-five years old, who had come from Perm to live with us. This was completely unexpected, as there had been no prior agreement. But the schemanun authoritatively declared: “I’m not leaving here! I came here to work and pray!” And she repeated it several times for greater emphasis. So she remained in our monastery.
The life of this eldress turned out to be quite complicated: She was born into a religious family before the revolution, in 1914. It was already a communist country when she was growing up, but she didn’t lose her faith. She got married before the war, and they had a daughter. In the first half of World War II, Olga (Mother Vassa’s name in the world) had to bury her husband. After the war, she got married again, and this marriage produced a second daughter. But her family life didn’t go well, and Olga had to raise her daughters alone. They always had icons in their home. Olga went to the Holy Trinity Cathedral on Sludskaya Hill in Perm. She always took her daughters with her and put them closer to the altar so they could see how the services go, and she regularly received Communion.
Olga and her daughters
At first, Olga lived in Perm, working as an accountant, then she moved to a timber enterprise in Talitsa. During breaks, she would visit holy places, but her main place of pilgrimage was the Pskov Caves Monastery, where she received spiritual guidance from the elders.
By the age of fifty, Olga had the irresistible desire to enter a monastery. There were only two convents in the Soviet Union: The Amazing and Beautiful Holy Dormition-Pukhtitsa MonasteryPukhtitsa Monastery in Estonia is a special place of pilgrimage not only for Orthodox Christians from Russia and the Baltic States, but from many other countries as well.
“>Holy Dormition Pukhtitsa Monastery in Estonia, and the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery in Riga. Then during her pilgrimages, Olga learned about the existence of an Orthodox women’s community in Georgia. It was from the Orthodox convent in Khujabi, founded in 1905 and closed in 1935. The sisters who were driven out settled in the neighboring village of Akhkerpi, in the private sector. They had Divine services in the prayer house where Abbess Maria lived, celebrated by the community’s spiritual father who lived near the sisters (his name has not been preserved). Olga’s heart was drawn to this secret monastery.
Archimandrite Miron (Pepelyaev)
As soon as she retired in the late 1960s, despite her daughters’ pleas, she left for Akhkerpi. She bought a small house and lived next to the nuns, laboring in obediences and prayer. And if we consider that Khruschev’s persecution of the Church had only just ended, this can be considered the asceticism of confession.
At her house in AkhkerpiIn 1970, Olga was tonsured a nun in Akhkerpi with the name Onuphria, and she spent twenty years there. In the late 1980s, most of the nuns of the community reposed due to old age, and the Divine services stopped. Mother Onuphria tried to go to church in Tbilisi, but it became hard to get there, as she was already over seventy by then. So she had to return to Perm. But the draw of monasteries didn’t stop. As before, the eldress quenched her thirst for spiritual guidance at the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos at Pskov Caves Monastery8,000 people traveled to the Pskov Caves Monastery on its patronal feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God.
“>Pskov Caves Monastery, where she mainly spoke with Archimandrite Miron (Pepelyaev) and would go see him every summer.
The Lord didn’t leave her without His help and sent His saints to strengthen her monastic spirit. Fr. Miron was an experienced spiritual father, full of grace. Additionally, Archimandrite Miron himself was from the Perm Province. He grew spiritually there, and at the age of twenty he left for the Glinsk Hermitage, then he lived on the Holy Mountain; he was tonsured and labored ascetically in the Pskov Caves Monastery, and at the end of his life, the great abbot of the Pskov Caves Monastery Archimandrite Alypy (Voronov)Alypy (Voronov), Archimandrite
“>Archimandrite Alipy (Voronov) blessed him for the heavy labor of foolishness for Christ. In 1991, Mother Onuphria was tonsured into the great schema in honor of St. Vassa of the Pskov Caves.
Schemanun Savva was chosen as her spiritual mother. Archimandrite Miron respected his spiritual daughter. He signed one photo : “To my beloved eldress Schemanun Vassa, in prayerful memory.”
In 2000, with the blessing of her spiritual father, the eldress moved to Pechory for good, because she could no longer live outside a monastery.
Schemanun Vassa is second from the right in the back row
But the eldress’ wanderings didn’t end there. Soon her spiritual father Archimandrite Miron got very sick and left for Moscow, where he continued receiving his spiritual children, and there were a great many of them—bishops, priests, and monastics. Schemanun Vassa didn’t want to remain alone without spiritual care, and it wasn’t possible to move to Moscow, but her soul was still drawn to a monastery, so she returned to Perm and continued her search for a monastery. Her attempts to enter one weren’t immediately crowned with success.
Mother VassaThe monasteries needed young hands; there were many and mostly difficult obediences, and the eldress wasn’t accepted. Then she went to her spiritual father in Moscow, and he gave her a written blessing to move to a monastery in the Perm Region. Many of Fr. Miron’s spiritual children living in Perm came to her aid. And the choice fell to the Kazan-St. Tryphon Hermitage in Verkhnechusovskie Gorodki, as there had previously been an almshouse there.
Mother Vassa lived with us for a little more than three years. Her main obedience was reading the Psalter. And we were amazed that the eldress, who was already more than ninety-five years old, read without glasses! We assigned an energetic cell attendant to her—a young novice named Elena. Some time after Schemanun Vassa reposed, Lena left the monastery some time later and got married. The sisters asked many times if she regretted leaving the monastery, and Lena would say that Schemanun Vassa had foretold her entire bitter life in advance, and all her predictions came true.
Schemanun Vassa reposed “full of years,” at ninety-eight. She labored as a monastic for forty-two years. Memory eternal!
The Amazing and Beautiful Holy Dormition-Pukhtitsa MonasteryPukhtitsa Monastery in Estonia is a special place of pilgrimage not only for Orthodox Christians from Russia and the Baltic States, but from many other countries as well.
Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos at Pskov Caves Monastery8,000 people traveled to the Pskov Caves Monastery on its patronal feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. 
