Tag: Christianity

Stradbally, Ireland, November 22, 2024

Photo: wp.com     

The visitation of the wonderworking and myrrh-streaming Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Mother of God to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe concluded on Wednesday, November 20, with a stop in Ireland.

After being carried by its guardian Fr. Nectary Yangson throughout Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium, and England over a three-week period, the icon arrived at the Church of St. Colman in Stradbally in central Ireland, the diocese reports.

Photo: wp.com     

Fr. Nectary and the icon were greeted at the doors of the church by Fr. Robert Williams, and a moleben and akathist were served. The parish was joined by hundreds of faithful from other churches and missions in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and even some from Great Britain.

The faithful were all anointed with the fragrant myrrh that streams from the sacred image and given a smally copy of the icon.

After the services, a meal was offered, during which Fr. Nectary spoke about the history and miracles associated with the icon over the past 17 years.

The following morning, the Fr Nectary departed to return to Hawaii.

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Run, don’t walk, to “Lumen: The Art and Science of Light” at the Getty through Dec. 8. You could easily spend the whole day contemplating this beautifully curated, fascinatingly thought-provoking exhibit.  

“Lumen” is part of the “PST ART: Art and Science Collide” series currently mounted at various sites around LA. Special installations by Pasadena-based Helen Pashgian and Charles Ross, both artists who explore light and space, extend “Lumen” throughout the museum. 

An essay entitled “A Curatorial Perspective on Two Objects” sets the tone:

“To be human is to crave light. We rise and sleep according to the rhythms of the sun, and have long associated light with divinity. Focusing on the arts of western Europe, ‘Lumen’ explores the ways in which the science of light was studied by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers, theologians, and artists during the ‘long Middle Ages’ (800-1600 CE). Natural philosophy (the study of the physical universe) served as the connective thread for diverse cultures across Europe and the Mediterranean, uniting scholars who inherited, translated, and improved upon a common foundation of ancient Greek scholarship.”

In darkened galleries the spot-lit cases — and the objects within, many of them gold or with gold touches — shine like jewels.

In the Middle Ages, both political and religious power depended heavily upon knowledge of the heavens. Baghdad was a center of medieval astronomy in the eighth and ninth centuries. At magnificent observatories in Damascus, Tabriz, and Samarkand, scholars used Indian trigonometry and mathematical knowledge derived from the ancient Greeks to broaden their understanding of the cosmos.

This learning from the Islamic world spread through present-day Spain and Portugal, forming the basis of an exchange that profoundly affected European science.

Astrolabes, the oldest completely geared mechanisms in the world, were intricate, exquisitely crafted objects consisting of interchangeable plates engraved with representations of the curved circumference of the earth and the dome of the heavens. Such instruments enabled astronomers to map the stars, monks to order hours of prayer, and scientists to locate their precise position on the globe (see video). 

The approximately 15-foot-26 “Tapestry of the Astrolabes,” made in Flanders (Belgium) around 1400-1450, was installed at the cathedral in Toledo, Spain, a center of learning and science. God, the mover of the sun and stars, radiates light from within the rete (a pierced movable plate containing the astrolabe’s star map) while an angel turns the rete’s crank.

A volvelle or wheel chart is a paper construction slide chart with rotating parts, again traceable to the Arab world, that is considered an early example of the analog computer. Completely apart from the science, the almost unbelievable detail, attention, and craft render these stand-alone works of art.

A page from Hildegard of Bingen’s “Book of Divine Works” — “On the Construction of the World” — records her vision of the human body as the center of the universe. Enwombed within nested spheres, the human being is in turn “ringed by heavenly bodies, the clouds, and the winds, all encircled by the figure of flaming Caritas, or Divine Love.”

How is the cosmos ordered? medieval scientists and theologians asked. How are we to understand proportion, harmony, and mathematics in the divine creation?

A section called “Light and Vision” reminds us that the medieval world was illuminated solely by oil lamps, fire, and the sun and moon.

Our sense of vision, all-important, was understood to require “prolonged meditation, scrutiny, and ‘attentive eyes.’ ”

Did light come from within us, or without? Because light was believed to travel in lines, geometry became an essential element in these explorations.

You’ll find gorgeous illuminated manuscripts, gilded altarpieces, crystal-encrusted monstrances, and medieval paintings of the Annunciation. Angels, those light-bearing creatures, figure prominently.

Philosophers reflected as well upon the paradox of “divine darkness”: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

A Getty-produced accompanying YouTube video called “Hugh of Fouilloy and William of Conches’ De Natura Avium” gives a flavor of the exhibit’s breadth and depth.

Featured is a text, written and compiled in 1277, by scientist-philosophers Hugh of Fouilloy and William of Conches. The lush manuscript, illuminated with lapis and gold, shows some of the ways medieval thinkers explained the natural world, the movement of the planets, and the general way in which the cosmos works. In several sections, including one on birds and a bestiary, along with Scripture-based moral tales, the author explores the confluence between the human and the divine.    

That’s a confluence we’ll never fully plumb. We can only grope in the dark, knowing — hoping — that God is Light Incarnate. 

As St. Augustine wrote in his “Confessions”:

“It was not ordinary light perceptible to all flesh, nor was it merely something of greater magnitude but still essentially akin, shining more clearly and diffusing itself everywhere by its intensity. No, it was something entirely distinct, something altogether different from all these things; and it did not rest above my mind as oil on the surface of water, nor was it above me as heaven is above earth. This light was above me because it had made me; I was below it because I was created by it. He who has come to know the truth knows this light.”

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova. Photo from the 1900s Cinderellas become princesses in fairy-tales, but in real life a blue-blood princess can become a Cinderella—doing laundry, cooking dinner, and digging vegetable patches. Olga Alexandrovna, the last Grand Duchess of the House of Romanov and the younger sister of the Emperor Nicholas II: Rare Photos from Family AlbumsWe here present rare photographs of the tsar from 1907 to 1915 from six family albums that were taken abroad by the empress’ lady-in-waiting Anna Vyrubova.

“>Holy Martyr Tsar Nicholas II, lived through such a metamorphosis. The life of this wonderful woman is full of amazing adventures, tragic events, leviathan trials, humiliation, slander, and unbearable suffering and sorrow.

On June 1, 1882, the family of Emperor Alexander III and his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna welcomed their sixth and last child, their daughter Olga, their only porphyrogenite child, born during her parents’ reign. Before her, the family welcomed: Nicholas (1868–1918), Alexander (1869–1870), George (1871–1899), Xenia (1875–1960) and Michael (1878–1918). A salvo of salute from the Peter and Paul Fortress greeted the arrival of Princess Olga.

The life of this extraordinary woman is full of incredible adventures, tragic events, leviathan trials, humiliation, slander, and unbearable suffering and sorrow

The Imperial family was constantly under the threat of terrorist attack and therefore they lived in Gatchina, a suburb of St. Petersburg. Little Olga adored her father and he, despite his workload, tried to devote at least half an hour to his children every day. The children’s tutors followed the directive of Alexander III: “I don’t need porcelain, but healthy Russian children”. Thus, Olga and her sister Xenia were brought up in a simple and strict environment. The children slept on hard camp beds with horsehair-stuffed mattresses, rose early and took a cold-water shower daily. They had porridge boiled in water for breakfast. The only luxury they had in their rooms was icons in precious frames.

Olga (in the center) with her father, Alexander III, 1888. Standing behind (from left to right): Grand Duke Michael, Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duke Nicholas (Nicholas II), Grand Duchess Xenia and Grand Duke George The sisters were educated at home. They were taught History, Geography, Russian, English and French, drawing and dancing. Special attention was paid to the children’s religious education.

“All of us were brought up in strict obedience to the canons of religion. Liturgies were served every week, while numerous fasts and every event of national significance was marked by a solemn prayer service; all this was as natural to us as the air we breathed,” recalled Olga Alexandrovna.

Grand Duchess Olga was very modest. Like her father, she was known for her simplicity of tastes, treating social entertainment with indifference, and preferring horseback rides and drawing. The young princess displayed vibrant artistic talents at a very young age. Teachers from the Academy of Fine Arts, such V. Makovsky, S. Zhukovsky and V. Vinogradov were invited to be her painting tutors. She would later recall about this period of her life in her memoirs:

“Even when I had geography and arithmetic lessons, I was allowed to hold a pencil in my hand, because I listened better when I made sketches of corn or wild flowers.”

In St. Petersburg, the Tsarevna founded the aid society for needy artists in memory of Academician K.Y. Kryzhitsky, her teacher. The funds obtained from exhibitions arranged in her palace went to assist struggling artists.

On October 29, 1888, when Olga was six years old, the family was on their way back from the Crimea. But when they reached the Borki station, the Imperial train suffered a dreadful derailment, blamed later on exceedingly high speed. The heavy iron roof caved in. Emperor Alexander III held the mangled roof of the carriage on his shoulders until all members of his family had climbed outside. Olga was thrown out of the window. When she saw how the carriages crumbled down, the horror-stricken Tsarevna took to flight in terror. She was caught and returned to her father, who carried her to the remaining undamaged carriage. This event broke the Emperor’s health: the stress has affected his kidneys, resulting in renal failure and death that followed on November 1, 1894.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (on the right) with her bother Michael and sister Xenia. Around 1887. The death of her beloved father came as a shock to the twelve-year-old Olga. Despite her grief, she tried to support her brother—the young Emperor—and his wife The Atmosphere of Love in the Russian Royal FamilyWhat an ineffable joy it is to read the entries and spend each day of the Tsar’s day-to-day life with him and his family: during his multitudinous receptions, work, and gentle strolls with friends in St. Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo, or in Moscow.

“>Alexandra Feodorovna, of whom she immediately became fond. Olga Alexandrovna and the Empress bonded over their mutual dislike of noisy entertainment and social life. Olga resented the unfair treatment of Alexandra Feodorovna by her relatives and always insisted that Sunny (“Sunny” was the German Princess Alice childhood nickname), brightened the life of her husband, Nicholas II.

During the Russo-Japanese War, popular unrest grew more intense. On the feast of Annunciation in 1905, terrorists opened fire on the Winter Palace. Shards of glass fell on the Dowager Empress and Olga.

When the Grand Duchess turned eighteen, the question arose of her marriage. Her mother found a groom for her. He was Duke (Prince) Peter of Oldenburg, fourteen years older than the bride and allegedly a homosexual, a drunkard and a gambler. On July 27, 1901, Olga Alexandrovna was wed to him. It was an unhappy alliance; offered none of the quiet family happiness she dreamt about.

“For the fifteen years of our marriage, the Duke of Oldenburg and I never had marital relations,” Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna would recall fifty years later.

She gave all her unspent love to her nieces, the daughters of Nicholas II. Beginning from 1906, she would take them to St. Petersburg every Sunday, where she arranged tea, games and dances with young people. She especially loved the youngest of the girls and her goddaughter Holy Princess Anastasia Romanova (1901-1918)“She was so cheerful and so able to drive away frowns from anyone who was out of sorts, that some of those around her called her ‘Sunbeam’, recalling the nickname given to her mother at the English.”

“>Anastasia: “This child was so special to me, like my own daughter.” All her life, Olga Alexandrovna preserved in an old box the small gifts she received from Anastasia Nikolaevna: a silver pencil on a silver chain, a perfume bottle, and a hat brooch.

Among other members of the Imperial Family, Grand Duchess Olga was notable for extraordinary simplicity, accessibility, and democratic nature.

“At her estate in the Voronezh province, her life was even more plain and simple. She’d visit the peasants in their huts and coddle their children, etc.” wrote Protopresbyter George Shavelsky about Olga Alexandrovna.

She wrote as follows about her conversations with peasants in her Olgino estate:

“I saw how kind, generous and unbending they were in their faith in God… So, whenever I was in their midst, I felt truly human.”

Grand Duchess was a patron of many charitable institutions and organizations: orphanages, hospitals, schools, almshouses, and educational courses for women.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna in a Hussar uniform of “her” regiment. Around 1905–1907 In April 1903, during a parade in Pavlovsk, Grand Duchess Olga saw Colonel Nikolai Alexandrovich Kulikovsky, who was in service at the Imperial Guard Cuirassier Regiment. Olga fell in love, and also felt that he was not indifferent toward her. When Olga Alexandrovna began to talk with her husband about divorce, he categorically refused. However, he wasn’t against her having an affair with Colonel Kulikovsky, giving her carte blanche. Such an option wasn’t acceptable to Olga Alexandrovna—she couldn’t afford to have an adulterous relationship. Olga pleaded with the Emperor to dissolve what was essentially a pro forma marriage, but she was met with blank refusal. There had been other morganatic marriages shortly before that in the Imperial family, and Emperor Nicholas II, attempting to avoid yet another family scandal, refused his sister Olga’s request. Moreover, Colonel Kulikovsky was appointed Adjutant to the Prince of Oldenburg. Thus, Olga, her husband, and Nikolai Kulikovsky had to reside in the same palace for many years.

Ольга Александровна, 1915 г. At the outbreak of World War I, Colonel Nikolay Kulikovsky was assigned to command the Akhtyrsky Hussars in Rovno not far from the Polish-Austrian border. As Honorary Commander of the 12th Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment, Duchess Olga followed her beloved to the front line as a sister of mercy. She worked in hospitals in Rovno, Lvov and Kiev. While in Kiev, using her own funds, she furnished the General Hospital. She worked as a rank-and-file nurse, never shrinking from dirty work. She traveled repeatedly to the active army and was awarded the St. George Medal for personal courage. Some of the wounded couldn’t believe that the sister of the Tsar himself was taking care of them. N.V. Sablin, Commander of Naval Guards Crew wrote:

“A delightful, genuinely Russian woman of captivating charm… Olga Alexandrovna is a dear comrade to our officers…”

In the fall of 1915, Olga Alexandrovna visited Petrograd and Tsarskoye Selo for the last time. She and the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wept as they said their last goodbyes.

Some of the wounded couldn’t believe that the sister of the Tsar himself was taking care of them

In November 1916, she met with Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich for the last time when he came to visit his sister in the infirmary she worked. As she saw off her beloved brother to the station, she couldn’t hold back her tears and wept bitterly. At the same time, she met for the last time her older brother—Emperor Nicholas II, who came to inspect her hospital. Olga was shocked to see him looking so pale, thin and haggard. Upon parting, Nicholas II gave his sister a letter where he approved the decision of the Holy Synod that recognized the dissolution of her marriage to the Prince of Oldenburg. On November 4, 1916, Olga and Nikolai Kulikovsky were united in Holy Matrimony at the St. Nicholas Church in Kiev.

After the February Revolution, Olga Alexandrovna with her husband and her mother left for the Crimea. In August 1917, the couple’s firstborn, named Tikhon, was born in the Crimean estate of Ai-Todor. General A.N. Kuropatkin, who met Olga Alexandrovna in the Crimea in 1918, wrote:

For anyone “unfamiliar with her it would be hard to believe that she was Grand Duchess. They occupied a small and very poorly furnished house. She tended her baby, cooked and even washed the laundry herself… She invited me immediately into the house where I was treated to tea with jam and cookies of her own making. The simplicity of the furnishings, bordering on squalor, made her even more lovely and attractive.”

In 1918, terrible disaster struck the Romanovs. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, Olga’s beloved brother, was executed in June 1918 in Perm. A month later, life of the entire family of the last Russian Emperor was The Murder of the Romanovs: Facts and MythsThe expression “sacred murder” is just not only in relation to the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, but first of all to Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, who in fact was the main contender for the Russian throne.

“>extinguished in Ekaterinburg.

    

The tribulations continued. In February 1918, the Imperial family narrowly escaped execution. The Yalta Revolutionary Council sentenced the entire Romanov family to death, and only a miracle of God saved them from the hands of the executioners—under the Brest Treaty, the Germans occupied the Crimea. The Romanov-Kulikovsky family decided to leave the Crimea for the then peaceful Caucasus, but the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna refused to join them. Olga Alexandrovna’s family arrived in Novorossiysk by boat, where General Kutepov helped them to get to Rostov by attaching their private carriage to his train. After they came to Rostov, their hope to find help from A.I. Denikin, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, withered away; he refused to meet her, and through his adjutant announced that “the monarchy had ceased to exist.” Then, the Cossack Timofey Yashchik, Olga Alexandrovna’s bodyguard, offered her to stay in his native Cossack village of Novominskaya, at the Kuban. To avoid being a burden to their hosts there, Nikolai Alexandrovich, an illustrious guards officer, had to labor as farmhand, while Grand Duchess went barefoot and pulled weeds. In the Kuban, Grand Duchess learned how to till the land, to grind corn, to make hay, and to bake bread.

In the Kuban, Grand Duchess learned to till the land and how to grind corn, make hay, and bake bread

Her second son Guriy was born there in 1919. But Olga Alexandrovna soon had to flee from Novominskaya. In the late fall of 1919, the Cossacks reported that Red army detachments were seen in the vicinity. At night, within half an hour, the Kulikovskys hastily wrapped the children in blankets and left the village. They boarded a train only to learn that the next station was already in the hands of the Reds. The loyal Cossacks who accompanied them helped the Grand Duchess and her sons to jump off the train. For two months, the family with two infants made their way toward the Black Sea coast.

In the fall of 1918, the former allies entered the Crimea and in the April of 1919 the Empress Maria Feodorovna with the family of her daughter Xenia emigrated onboard the British cruiser HMS “Marlborough” and settled in Denmark, at her nephew’s, King Christian X.

After the departure of her mother and sister, Olga Alexandrovna stayed in the Kuban for another year hiding with her infant children from their persecutors and experiencing hunger. There was a time when the couple thought that their youngest son Guriy wouldn’t survive. After their wanderings, the Kulikovskys again ended up in Novorossiysk where typhus was rampant. The Grand Duchess found shelter in the Danish consulate. This is where she was found by her childhood friend Vice-Admiral T.W. James. Before him appeared a petite woman in tattered clothes, with a crumpled scarf on her head and a baby in her arms. With his help, the Romanov-Kulikovsky family went into exile in November 1920.

“I couldn’t believe it that I was leaving my homeland forever,” Olga Alexandrovna would write in her memoirs. “I was sure that I would still return… I had a feeling that my flight was a cowardly act, even though I arrived at this decision for the sake of my little children. Yet still, I was constantly tormented by shame…”

Traveling through Turkey, Serbia, and Vienna, the Kulikovsky-Romanov family ended up at their relatives in Denmark and settled with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, first in an annex of the Amalienborg palace and later at Villa Hvidøre.

They had to start their life in Denmark practically from scratch. In 1928, following the death of the Dowager Empress, King Christian expelled his cousin from Hvidøre. Nikolai Alexandrovich had to hire himself out as a stable hand to a local rich man. Four years later, the Grand Duchess succeeded in adjudging the Villa Hvidøre and in 1932, using the money received from its sale, the Kulikovsky family purchased a small farm in Ballerup, twenty-four kilometers from Copenhagen, where they engaged in agriculture.

“It was a modest farmstead, but for us it became our hearth and home. Hard labor awaited us, but I was ready for anything.”

Nikolai Alexandrovich grew crops for sale, while Olga Alexandrovna painted pictures in her spare time—also for sale. Throughout her life, the talented artist painted over two thousand paintings. The funds received from the sale of paintings allowed her to support her family and do charity work.

Her sons grew up, went to serve in the Danish army and married Danish girls, but they always attended a Russian church and celebrated all the Orthodox feasts.

The money received from the sale of paintings allowed her to support her family and do charity work

During World War II, Olga Alexandrovna helped her fellow countrymen with food and clothing. She would give asylum to Russian prisoners of war regardless of their political beliefs. In 1948, the Soviet authorities accused Olga of “aiding the enemies of the people” and demanded her extradition. Then the government of Denmark sent the family of the Grand Duchess to Canada.

The Kulikovsky family settled on a farm in the suburbs of Toronto. They lived very poorly. The reporters who visited them were astonished to find Olga Alexandrovna in shabby clothes and with a shovel in hand. But the Grand Duchess herself took pride in “looking more and more alike a Russian peasant. Papa would have understood me.” For the rest of her life, she would think of her brother—the Emperor Nicholas II—and his selfless deed in the name of Russia. She prayed “not for him—but to him. He is a martyr.” Her heart never stopped aching over the murdered royal family.

In the fall of 1951, when they no longer had strength to work on their farm, the Kulikovskys sold it and moved to a small house with a vegetable patch they could tend. They often visited a local church. The Russian Orthodox parish in Toronto was housed in a small church; its community was small and very poor. Using her meager means, Olga Alexandrovna helped by painting the icons and other paintings and then donating them to her parish. She also helped the Orthodox people in Soviet Russia.

“Olga Alexandrovna stayed in touch with many Russian Orthodox communities… Occasionally, she would send them small gifts, scraping up money from her budget,” wrote Ian Worres.

It should be noted that she sent help from her truly modest budget. One day, Queen Elizabeth visited Canada and invited her relative to meet her on her yacht. Olga Alexandrovna was alarmed, as she had nothing to wear. She had to spend thirty dollars to buy a new dress and a hat.

Queen Elizabeth invited her relative to meet her on her yacht. Olga Alexandrovna was alarmed, as she had nothing to wear

Exiled from her native Russia, Olga Alexandrovna never stopped loving it. If asked, “What was the main thing for her?” she would invariably reply: “The freedom of my dear Motherland.”

Not long before her death, the Grand Duchess began to compile memoirs that were redacted by Ian Worres, a native of Greece. She wrote the following there:

“It is my duty, both to history and to my Family, to speak about the true events connected with the reign of the last representative of the House of Romanov. Fate, so cruel to the members of my family, has probably deliberately spared me for so many years in order to give me a chance to protect my Family from so much slander and malicious gossip directed at them. I am grateful to the Almighty God for granting me this opportunity on the threshold of my grave…”

Grave of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna at the North-York cemetery in Toronto Before death, Bishop John (Shakhovskoy) of San Francisco administered Holy Communion to the Grand Duchess. Olga Alexandrovna died on November 24, 1960 at the age of seventy-eight, seven months after the death of her elder sister Xenia Alexandrovna. Standing guard at her coffin covered with the flag of the Russian Empire, were the officers of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna’s Akhtyrsky Regiment of which she had been made the honorary commander in the distant year of 1901. The last Grand Duchess of the House of Romanov was buried in the North York Russian cemetery in Canada, next to her beloved husband who had died two years earlier.

Like the Royal New Martyrs, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna taught us deep faith in God and deeds of mercy, compassion and service to our neighbor. Her son Tikhon Nikolaevich Kulikovsky wrote:

“She was also an example of unconditional and all-consuming love for Russia and Russians… Memory eternal to Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna!”

Dan. 7:13-14 / Ps. 93:1-2, 5 / Rev. 1:5-8 / Jn. 18:33-37

What’s the truth Jesus comes to bear witness to in this last Gospel of the Church’s year?

It’s the truth that in Jesus, God keeps the promise he made to David — of an everlasting kingdom, of an heir who would be his Son, “the first born, highest of the kings of the earth” (see 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:27-38).

Today’s Second Reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, quotes these promises and celebrates Jesus as “the faithful witness.” The reading hearkens back to Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah would “witness to the peoples” that God is renewing his “everlasting covenant” with David (see Isaiah 55:3-5).

But as Jesus tells Pilate, there’s far more going on here than the restoration of a temporal monarchy. In the Revelation reading, Jesus calls himself “the Alpha and the Omega,” the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. He’s applying to himself a description that God uses to describe himself in the Old Testament — the first and the last, the One who calls forth all generations (see Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12).

“He has made the world,” today’s Psalm cries, and his dominion is over all creation (see also John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17). In the vision of Daniel we hear in today’s First Reading, he comes on “the clouds of heaven” — another sign of his divinity — to be given “glory and kingship” forever over all nations and peoples.

Christ is King and his kingdom, while not of this world, exists in this world in the Church. We are a royal people. We know we have been loved by him and freed by his blood and transformed into “a Kingdom, priests for His God and Father” (see also Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).

As a priestly people, we share in his sacrifice and in his witness to God’s everlasting covenant. We belong to his truth and listen to his voice, waiting for him to come again amid the clouds.

President Joe Biden awarded Cecile Richards, former Planned Parenthood president, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Nov. 20 in a private ceremony, the White House said.

Richards, who is also a progressive activist and the daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, left Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, in 2018 after 12 years at its helm. Earlier this year, Richards said she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and the same type of cancer behind the death of Biden’s son Beau.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Biden said, “Today, I had the honor of awarding Cecile Richards the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

“With absolute courage, she fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are — a nation of freedom,” he said. “Through her work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote, she has carved an inspiring legacy.”

The award is the nation’s highest civilian honor. Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were among the 19 Americans to whom Biden gave the award earlier this year.

Richards replied in her own post, “Such an honor representing abortion rights and the need for health care for all.”

Biden, who was previously the first Catholic vice president, and later became the second Catholic president in U.S. history, has been at odds with the U.S. bishops over his administration’s policies on abortion and gender identity. However, he has won some bishops’ praise on other policy areas, such as those on refugees and climate. His policies on immigration have drawn mixed responses from them.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and therefore opposes direct abortion. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, church officials in the United States have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child. They have called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

Götschendorf, Brandenburg, Germany, November 21, 2024

Photo: otrok.org     

Germans are showing an increasing interest in Orthodoxy and monasticism, says the abbot of the St. George Monastery of the Moscow Patriarchate in Götschendorf near Berlin.

Speaking with RIA-Novosti, Abbot Daniel (Irbits) noted that there are Orthodox communities founded by Germans and that native Germans are becoming clerics.

“We have 3-4 German communities across Germany where the priests are native German-speaking Germans themselves, and they serve for Germans, bring them to Orthodoxy and catechize them,” the abbot said.

“Regarding our region and our federal state of Brandenburg, there is interest from native Germans in Orthodox Christianity. I can speak about this from the example of our monastery in Götschendorf: Local native Germans attend our services, and we even baptized several people this summer. Just the other day, we baptized a young man, a German who lives in Prenzlau,” Fr. Daniel continued.

“A year ago, he approached me asking about Orthodox Christianity, I gave him literature in German and told him to prepare. He prepared thoroughly, and in September of this year, he asked me to baptize him, he chose the name Seraphim himself, with which he was baptized,” said the abbot.

He also noted that buses full of Germans come to visit the monastery. “Moreover, we have now started painting the altar part of the church and are engaged in its construction. Germans are very interested in this Byzantine painting, and therefore more people have started coming now,” Fr. Daniel explained.

At the same time, he noted that there have always been people wanting to join the monastery, but due to its small size, they now have to refuse admissions.

“It’s small. At the moment, there are five of us in the monastery, and this is already the upper limit because we don’t have any free cells anymore. But in summer, pilgrims come, women and men, who simply work in the monastery. They set up tents or come for a day,” the abbot explained.

Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s St. Job of Pochaev Monastery recently began celebrating services at its First service held at new monastery property in GermanyThe brotherhood of the St. Job of Pochaev Monastery, formerly in Munich, held its first prayer service at its new residence in Günzburg, 70 miles to the northwest.

“>new property in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany.

***

In 2006, the Berlin Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate acquired an estate on the shore of Lake Kolpin in Götschendorf, consisting of a villa and a two-story house with 12 one-room apartments, in the Uckermark district, 55 miles from Berlin.

The Brandenburg authorities, considering the importance and usefulness of the project, supported the idea of establishing a monastery and spiritual center of the Russian Church at the Götschendorf estate, which in the future could become a meeting place for Christians in Germany and all those interested in Russian Orthodox spirituality and culture with the Russian Church.

On August 21, 2007, the monastery was established by a Synodal decision.

Due to the financial crisis, construction work at the monastery was suspended for several years. Only in early December 2011 did the construction of the monastery church begin.

Currently, the monastery’s brotherhood building is fully constructed.

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Counsel for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have written to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with concerns about language in a proposed regulation that mandates nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

The proposed HHS regulation states in part: “It is the policy of the HHS that no person otherwise eligible will be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in the administration of HHS programs and services based on non-merit factors such as race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”

The second part of that section of the proposed regulation states that anyone who bids for an HHS contract understands that if they are awarded the contract they agree to comply with the policy requirements, which includes the nondiscrimination clauses outlined above.

Therefore, if this regulation is finalized, it’s likely that many Catholic entities would be out of the running for HHS contracts because of an unwillingness to comply with the nondiscrimination regulation. A religious exemption is absent from this proposed regulation, which Catholic leaders have long advocated for as a must in government rules and regulations of this nature.

The proposed regulation was published by the department on Oct. 3, and comments can be submitted for consideration for the final rule through Dec. 2. In a Nov. 20 letter, counsel for the USCCB highlighted that the proposal “provides no explanation” of how the nondiscrimination agreement will be construed, or work in practice as applied to HHS programs, services, and contracts it enters into.

“In the absence of an explanation, we are concerned that, for health programs and services, the requirement of nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity could be construed to require the provision of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ and the exclusion of all other forms of treatment for gender dysphoria, especially in minors,” USCCB counsel said.

“Simply, the requirement of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation could be construed to require the provision of counseling and other care that affirms same-sex attraction, again to the exclusion of all other forms of counseling and other treatment, especially minors,” they added.

The U.S. bishops letter is one of 12 comments that have been submitted on the proposed regulation, according to the Federal Register. It’s unclear who submitted the other comments and their context. HHS did not immediately respond to a Crux request for comment.

If the proposed regulation becomes final, it will apply to all HHS programs and services, of which there are more than 100 across the department’s different divisions. Because of the nondiscrimination language, USCCB counsel urged the department to reject the proposal.

“Given the ambiguities in the current proposed regulation, and for the reasons stated here and in our previous comments, we urge the Department to reject the proposed requirement of nondiscrimination on the basis of ‘sexual orientation and gender identity,” USCCB counsel said.

“Even if the Department rejects this recommendation, at a minimum it should acknowledge in the final acquisition regulation that it lacks a general police power to regulate the health professions, and that its nondiscrimination requirements do not mandate or bar the provision of any specific type of treatment or care,” USCCB counsel continued.

Binghamton, New York, November 21, 2024

Photo: St. Michael’s Orthodox Church     

Over the weekend of November 16–17, St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in Binghamton, New York, celebrated its 120th anniversary.

Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa of the American Carpatho Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America (Patriarchate of Constantinople) paid a pastoral visit to the parish in honor of the event, the diocese reports.

On Saturday evening, the Metropolitan celebrated Vespers, after which a jubilee dinner was held in the parish hall. The next morning, he celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, assisted by visiting clergy.

After the service, a jubilee brunch was held, with entertainment featuring a “Sing-along with Baba” and a Carpathian Dancer Alumni Presentation.

Watch the Vespers service:

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Watch the Divine Liturgy:

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Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, as the sole administrator for the Vatican’s pension fund, which is currently unable to guarantee future obligations in the medium term.

“We are all fully aware now that urgent structural measures, which can no longer be postponed, are needed to achieve sustainability of the pension fund,” the pope wrote in a letter addressed to the College of Cardinals and the heads of the Roman Curia and other institutions connected to the Holy See.

Given the limited resources available to the Holy See and because appropriate funding will be needed to cover all pension obligations, there is a need for “making decisions that are not easy and will require special sensitivity, generosity and a willingness to sacrifice from everyone,” the pope wrote in the letter dated Nov. 19 and published by the Vatican Nov. 21.

“In light of this and with everything considered, I wish, therefore, to inform you of the decision I made today to appoint His Eminence, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, sole administrator for the pension fund, believing that this choice represents, at this time, an essential step in meeting the challenges facing our pension system in the future,” he wrote.

The letter comes just a few months after the pope wrote to the College of Cardinals Sept. 16 saying, “Additional effort is now needed on everyone’s part so that a ‘zero deficit’” may be an achievable goal.

The pope had already reduced the salary for cardinals living in Rome in previous years and completely eliminated their allowances starting Nov. 1; it was estimated that without the allowances, the cardinals now receive just over 10% less each month.

“Since we have to deal with serious and complex problems that risk worsening if not dealt with in a timely manner,” the pope wrote Nov. 19, it was time to address the management of the Vatican’s pension fund, which has been an issue of concern ever since its establishment.

The latest studies carried out by independent experts, the pope wrote, now point to “a serious prospective imbalance in the fund,” which will only increase over time without any interventions.

“In concrete terms, this means that the current system is unable to guarantee in the medium term the fulfillment of the pension obligation for future generations,” he wrote, emphasizing that “justice and equity” across generations must remain guiding principles.

The pope asked everyone for their “special cooperation in facilitating this new and unavoidable path of change” and thanked all those who have “dealt with this sensitive matter over the years.”

This “new phase” is imperative and fundamental, he explained, for “the stability and well-being of our community, with promptness and unity of vision so that the actions due are expeditiously implemented.”

Cardinal Farrell also is president of the Vatican’s Investment Committee, leads a commission determining confidential contracts and is the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Ireland and served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington from 2002 to 2007 and bishop of Dallas from 2007 to 2016.

London, November 21, 2024

Photo: wp.com     

Over the past three weeks, the wonderworking Hawaiian Iveron Icon traveled throughout Western Europe, with its guardian Fr. Nektary Yangson.

The icon began its first-ever visit to Western Europe with a festive procession of hierarchs, clergy, and Orthodox faithful in Zurich on Zurich: Wonderworking Hawaiian Iveron Icon greeted with festive processionThe icon will travel throughout Western Europe until November 20.

“>November 1. It was then taken to other cities throughout Switzerland, France, Italy, and Belgium, before arriving in England on November 11.

The icon tour was arranged by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russian Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe, but it has Antiochian bishop and faithful greet wonderworking Hawaiian icon in EnglandThe wonderworking Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, which is currently visiting parishes throughout Western Europe, was festively greeted by the local Antiochian hierarch and faithful in Lincoln, England on Wednesday.

“>drawn clergy and faithful Hundreds of Serbian faithful gather to venerate miraculous Hawaiian Icon in BirminghamDespite being a weekday service, the midday gathering drew an extraordinary crowd eager to pray before the revered icon, which was brought to the Serbian parish by agreement of ROCOR Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe and Serbian Orthodox Bishop Dositej of Great Britain.”>from various Orthodox jurisdictions.

Photo: wp.com     

Starting Saturday, November 16, the icon visited ROCOR and Serbian parishes in the Greater London area for four days. On Tuesday, November 19, the final service before the wonderworking icon in London was held at the ROCOR Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God and the Royal Martyrs, reports the ROCOR Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe.

His Grace Bishop Irenei and the cathedral clergy were joined by clergy from the Antiochian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and other dioceses, for an evening moleben and akathist.

“The occasion was especially poignant, as the faithful of Great Britain—to whom this icon has come to hold a special place of reverence—prepared to bid it farewell. Many tears of thanksgiving were shed before the sacred image, as the clergy and faithfully expressed their love for the Mother of God and her Son,” the diocese writes.

The visit to the ROCOR diocese concluded the next day with a moleben and akathist in in Stradbally, Ireland.

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