O LORD, SAVE CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY FROM THE SATANIC JUDEO WEST AND ISLAMOPHOBIA! Part 2
The Worship of Mammon
Evelyn de Morgan
1909
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“During Cheesefare Week,
the Russian Embassy lets us use their hall and we hold a high-end event
attended by wealthy people”… isn’t that SO special… so, let’s all suck
up to the moneybags today!
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A Note for Orthodox in the American Diaspora:
For American Orthodox, it’s sad to relate that two prominent clergymen in DC support the Radical Rightwing
pro-Ayn Rand assault on all working people everywhere. One is Jonas
Paffhausen, the so-called “Metropolitan of all America and Canada” (his
anaemic group has about 10 percent of all US Orthodox in it). Paffhausen’s father was a “real estate developer”… yes, that noisome brood that brought us “planned communities”, exurban sprawl, and anonymous suburban estates. JP himself worked as a salesman for his father… never forget that… he picked up “closing” skills that enable him to gull the unwary doing that. Just as Slobberin’ Ronnie was an actor who fooled the American public with his PR shtick (Val Zorin of VOR
said, “I never forgot that he was an actor”), Fathausen’s a salesman
with a line of bullshit a mile long, married with a knack of telling
people exactly what they want to hear (which means that he says one
thing to this one and quite another to that one).
On the other hand, Potapov sucks up to the wealthy:
During Cheesefare Week, the Russian Embassy lets us use their hall and we hold a high-end event attended by wealthy people.
That was a very poor choice of words. However, Potapov’s an extreme rightwinger who’s indifferentist to the Moonie kooks who own the Washington Times, and he introduced Paffhausen to all his rightwing pals “inside the Beltway” (like the warmongering neocons at the American Enterprise Institute). Potapov is or was a high-level Pooh-Bah at VOA/RFE (the holder of a “red” official US passport), which means that he’s got Langley connections. Don’t forget, Potapov attacked His Holiness Patriarch Aleksei Rediger when the latter was in Georgetown in the ‘90s to receive an honorary degree (he called him a known KGB agent).
Ergo, his worship of the rich shouldn’t surprise one. His choice of
secular profession indicates a violent attachment to vacuous rightwing
fairy tales, and, bear in mind, the rightwing worships money and the
rich who possess it. He should have said:
During Cheesefare Week, the Russian Embassy lets us use their hall and we hold an event celebrating Maslenitsa.
That’s unobjectionable; the other’s
sucking up to the powers-that-be. The first illustrates the obsequious
attitude towards the rich amongst so many clergy that led to the Great Persecution of 1918-41; the second is mere reportage.
Let’s not be coy. Our recent history
tells us that we’ll pay a dear price if we suck up to the insatiable
rich and to their greedy political enablers. The Black Hundreds (and those of like ilk) made the massacre of the Butovo Polygon
inevitable… never forget that. If we don’t demand that some of our
clergy sever their attachment to the Radical Rightwing and its
self-centred money-grubbing lunacies, God will spew us out (as He
promised in the Book of the Apocalypse),
for the Lord told us that the Church shall endure all the tumults of
Hell, but He never promised that it would persist everywhere. If we wish
to follow Ayn Rand, to embrace her objectively-blasphemous ideology (as
is done in the contemporary GOP)… He’ll let us. WE HAVE FREE WILL. If we will to spit in God’s face through the advocacy of godless amoral human constructs like Neoliberal Laissez-faire Capitalism, He’ll let us. However… need I continue?
We can follow Patriarch Kirill, Archbishop Ieronymos, Fr Vsevolod, and Abba Ephrem…
or, we can follow Potapov and Paffhausen. It’s quite that simple. We
can follow Christ and His True Church, like the Sons and Daughters of
God that the Almighty intended us to be, or, we can bow down low before
the ideology of Ayn Rand, in cringing worship of Almighty Mammon and the
Powers-that-Be in service of the Prince of This World (you KNOW who I
mean)… you can be the one or you can choose the other. You can’t “square
the circle”, and that’s that.
BMD
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Sunday, 8 January 2012
8 January 2011. Video. Let’s Celebrate the Svyatki (Holy Days) Between Christmas and Epiphany! The Volynsky Folk choir from the Ukraine
Happy revellers in Byelorussia… the Svyatki live… ENJOY THEM! Pass the jug and SMILE! Make mine Bushmills, if you please…
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This last spiritual song’s in honour of St Varvara, my patron saint… I couldn’t resist, could I?******
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Friday, 6 January 2012
Tim Tebow God-Talk Could Be Elevated by Troy Polamalu
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If Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu gets
to tackle the Bronco’s QB in the first round of the playoffs, he won’t
“Tebow”, but he might cross himself. If he does so, he’ll go
right-to-left like other Eastern Orthodox Christians. Next to Roman Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy’s the second largest official Christian Church in the
world, but for many people in North America, it’s shrouded in mystery.
How interesting, then, that an icon for Head and Shoulders, who believes
in honouring pictures of Jesus and the religious saints his tradition
calls icons, will face off against a QB who is an icon for jockey
underwear, sports drinks and an evangelical faith that normally rejects
veneration of religious icons, such as statues or images.
If this sounds confusing and convoluted
but you still want to read on, then, you’ve joined others in an
encouraging display of thoughtfulness… I’ve received plenty of reader
feedback that would indicate there are a number of people who like a
splash of nuance in their drinks by the religion-and-sports water
cooler. Sadly, though, others just want to spit their uninformed
thoughts all over the place. Tim Tebow has
provoked plenty of discussion about religion and sports this year, but
some of it, to be frank, is facile drivel. Some writers just use the
discussion as a springboard for an anti-religious screed. On the
opposite end, other people seem to think criticism of Tebow’s throwing
arm is an attack on the faith. Even if they dress their tantrums up with
rhetorical flare, the underlying sentiment of such polarised arguments
sounds like baby babble… “Wahhhh, religion sucks!” Or, conversely,
“Wahhhh, why are you always persecuting me?!”
To these simple cries, I’d say the
interplay between religion and sports is complicated. I certainly don’t
have it figured out, but perhaps there are times when we can shut the
hell up for heaven’s sake, and look for opportunities to grow in
knowledge so that we can increase in understanding and love of our
neighbours. So, in classical Trinitarian fashion (both Eastern Orthodox
Christians and Evangelicals believe in a divine Trinity
of three persons in one substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), here
are three considerations of Troy Polamalu’s mix of religion and sports
that could elevate the discussion beyond the ”I-say”… “God-says”
impasse.
People sick of the collusion of religion
and football would prefer that athletes “get a room” to pray. A lot of
people are disgusted by a public display of divine human intimacy; it
gets in the way of them watching muscular men embrace in tight combative
struggle. Religion, though, doesn’t just exist in the private realm of
ideas. Ritual practises in any religion call people to worship the
divine with more than just lip service. Polamalu will sometimes cross
himself on the field. Roman Catholics cross themselves from left to
right, but Eastern Orthodox Christians do it in the other direction. In
either case, this act can be a wordless prayer for help, thanks, focus,
or any other reverent thought on a safety’s mind.
You may also see him mouth a classical
prayer on the field called the “Jesus prayer”, which is anything but
boastful. It’s simple and humble, “Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”. Eastern Orthodox Christians are
enjoined to use this prayer as a means of “praying without ceasing”, an
admonition that comes from the Apostle Paul in the New Testament
portion of the Christian Bible. Tebow, for his part, has famously taken a
prayerful knee after touchdowns, during field-goal kicks (for both the
opponents and Bronco Matt Prater’s) and after losses, which tell us that
he believes that his divine football mission transcends any trivial
calculation of wins and losses. He, like Polamalu, sometimes worships
without words.
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The above video is part of a project from
the Orthodox Church to address the myriad stresses that grinding
poverty brings to so many Americans. People who recruit charitable
donors through this campaign can get signed posters from Polamalu, and
even signed jerseys. By the way, Polamalu came in third for top-selling NFL jerseys of 2011, right behind some guy for the Broncos.
The logic of this mix of religion, sports, and charity is that God
isn’t just in heaven thinking deep thoughts, but working through
compassionate people who serve the poor in this life.
Some people can’t get over how ridiculous
the idea is that, if there is a God, God might get involved in
sports. “Oh yeah, like God has time to get into football when there are
all kinds of sick kids dying from cancer!” To such seemingly
unassailable logic, you might respond, “Dude, do you know what Tebow
does before and after the games?” If your interlocutor says, “Yes, he’s
endlessly visiting sick kids with cancer”, then you can take
that person off the boneheaded list, and you can also point them to
Polamalu’s efforts on behalf of the poor and sick. That’s not to say, of
course, that there’s a God who looks down from heaven every time
someone gets in the red zone, but if we grant the possibility
that there’s some kind of caring celestial being, it isn’t unreasonable
to assume this God would use prominent football players for higher
purposes than success on the field. In other words, arguing that
football is trivial doesn’t preclude divine tasks for its players.
If you get into a discussion about
religion and sports in which a friend starts bringing up all the
millions of dollars these football players make on endorsements, and the
fact that all their hocking of underwear (Tebow) and shampoo (Polamalu)
makes their religious devotion sound like they’re selling Jesus as
well, I’d recommend putting your fist to your chin in that classical
proto-Tebow pose, “The Thinker”. Because when it comes right down to it,
the sometimes messy mix of religion and sports gets downright grimy
when you throw it into the economic marketplace. That doesn’t mean it
shouldn’t be there, necessarily, but it certainly means that those of us
who want to do more than play a game of “nah nah nah nah-nah” when
discussing religion and sports have a whole lot more to think and talk
about.
5 January 2012
Sean S O’Neill
Bleacher Report
Editor’s Note:
For something from a non-Orthodox
sportswriter… this is good, a 3.5 out of 4.0, actually. He gets a detail
or two wrong… but he’s no historian, theologian, or religious scholar.
He’s an ordinary guy looking at what he sees and hearing what he hears.
He got the “Jesus Prayer” slightly wrong… but the loudmouthed
semi-converts have so muddied the waters that I want to give Sean the
benefit of the doubt. He’s not aware of the Imiaslavie and their heresy (or of the Blunder’s snarky approval of it)… give him a break.
Good on you, Sean… will you let my Nicky pour you a shot of Bushmills? It’s the Russian Orthodox Christmas season after all.
BMD
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Monday, 5 December 2011
5 December 2011. Video. DISGUSTING Vid… Pencil-Necked Geeks in DC Mock a Muslim at Prayer
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Just think, these Teabagger nutters are forever screaming about “freedom”. FREEDOM means that you don’t mock a fellow citizen at prayer. For instance, Jesus Jumpers aren’t the most well-wrapped folks around, but I’m not going to go out of my way to mock them personally. Only bezkulturny
louts do that. These people made a comment about themselves by their
spectacle. THIS is why I utterly refuse to vote for ANY Republican. Bear
in mind… the Republican Party eggs on such people… it abets hatred, bigotry, and violence. If you’re a Christian, you must refuse to vote for such slimers.
Orthodox people should bear in mind that there are those who wish to ally us with the godless “Religious Right“. Oppose them… they’re not only wrong, they spit in the face of Our Lord Christ. That’s the way it is.
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Monday 5 December 2011
Albany NY
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Tuesday, 29 November 2011
29 November 2011. Video. JOHNNY CASH… Socialist and Fighter for Justice… The Left Isn’t Just for “Pointy-Headed Intellectuals”… It’s for Ordinary God-Fearin’ Folk, Too!
Johnny Cash (1932-2003), the “Man in Black”… committed socialist (member of the Socialist Party of America), opponent of capital punishment, advocate of prison reform, and fighter for Social Justice… he was a follower of Norman Thomas, not Rush Limbaugh and Slobberin’ Ronnie… do think on that…
Norman Thomas said, “After I
asked him [a student] what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted
of the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what
the cost to others, to win advancement. No decent society can tolerate
that definition”. Johnny lived that in his life… and that made our world
a bit better…
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Johnny with his wife June Carter Cash (1929-2003)
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“Image from radical protest to defend the honour of Johnny Cash, who the Republicans… surprise, surprise… are trying to exploit… same as they claim that Jesus
is their Saviour. They better hope that they’re gone shoppin’ when
Jesus and Johnny come knockin’”. (I gleefully stole that one from Portland Independent Media… it was just TOO good)
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Tuesday, 6 September 2011
“Eyes”… A Poem, by Vincent van Buren
The Eyes of the Saviour
Pavel Korin
1932_______________________________
Eyes
I stand behind the table of brassin front of the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God
where they can light one, or more, of five candles
which I will extinguish for others to light them again.
and everyone of them, as they light and pray.
They look up to the flame
and I look into their eyes and see the silent prayer
only known to the Holy Virgin and them:
of the old woman dressed in black
with the parchment skin tanned by the sun,
of the mother with tears in her eyes
making the sign of the cross,
of the muscular athlete from Russia
who prays with tenderness and awe,
of the child on his mothers arm
with eyes like an angel, radiating enchantment,
of the old man with the walking stick
who’s trembling hand I have to hold to light the candle,
of the woman who came to the icon
all the way on her knees.
And as behind me a young man falls down on his knees before the icon
and bursts out in tears.
I can only stammer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
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2011Vincent van Buren
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Monday, 29 August 2011
29 August 2011. “The Third Spas”… A Poem…
Третий Спас
Георгины склонились у паперти,Словно молятся молча за нас,
Россыпь темных орехов на скатерти…
Вот и третий – ореховый Спас…
Тихо осень ступает хозяйкою,
Скоро скроется лето от глаз.
И последние ласточки стайкою
Улетают … Ореховый Спас…
По утрам над кустами болотными
Вьют туманы белесый атлас…
Облака над крестами полотнами –
Полотняный ореховый Спас…
Преклоняем колени, как водится.
Не остави, Пречистая, нас!
Спит в мерцанье свечей Богородица –
Тихий самый, ореховый Спас…
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The Third Spas
Dahlias bowing on the porch,As if in silent prayer,
Dark nuts scattered on the table…
That’s Third Spas, Walnut Spas…
The Master ushers in autumn’s calm,
Soon, summer’ll flee from our sight.
The last swallows are flying away…
It’s Walnut Spas…
Over the morning’s boggy bushes,Wrapped in white satiny fog,
Clouds over the cross’ shadow…
Portend the Walnut Spas…
We’ve knelt down, as we should.
We won’t forget what the Most Pure did for us!
Resting by Our Lady’s twinkling candles…
Utter stillness… it’s Walnut Spas…
Author Unknown
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Saturday, 20 August 2011
20 August 2011. A Point of Unity. August: The Month of Feasts, Part Six. 29 August, The Feast of the Wonderworking Icon of Christ “Not Made by Hands” “Walnut Spas”
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Editor’s Foreword:
Can you forgive me? I FORGOT the last feast of the Lord in August, on 29 August, the Feast of the Wonderworking Icon of Christ “Not Made by Hands”. Here are some images from that feast…
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Editor’s Afterword:
Peasants called the Church holiday on 29
August “Third Spas”, “Walnut Spas”, “Canvas Spas”, or Bread Spas”. It’s
easy to figure out that this was the Third Feast of the Lord in August,
that nuts appeared to be ripened by this day, and that much of the
harvest was in by then. However, it’s a bit harder to explain the
“canvas” bit. On 29 August, the Church celebrates the transfer of a
wonderworking icon of the Saviour from Edessa to Constantinople in 944, a piece of cloth on which, according to the Gospel story, was imprinted an image of the face of Jesus Christ. “By
Third Spas, we’ll make our kvass”… after this day, according to
folklore, the last swallow leaves and winter starts its entrance. It’s
the first full day of feast after the end of the Assumption Lent;
it’s the unofficial “end of summer” holiday (it’s the Russian analogue
of Labour Day). The beginning of September brings “The Day of Knowledge”
(the first day of school), the first autumn chills… time to clean out
the stove and to check the caulking for leaks… winter does come EARLY in
this part of the world…
BMD
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Friday, 19 August 2011
VOR Presents… Apples Had Nowhere to Fall in Orthodox Churches
On 19 August, Orthodox Christians celebrate one of the biggest church holidays… the Transfiguration of Our Lord,
which has the popular nickname “Apple Spas”. On this day, parishes
serve liturgy, and, after services end, the priests bless the
first-fruits of the harvest. According to custom, after the priest
blesses the fruit, the people eat some of it before having a normal
lunch. Blessed fruit is supposed to be shared generously with others;
hence, the old proverb, “On the second Saviour’s day {Transfiguration:
editor}, the beggars will eat apples” («На второй Спас и нищий яблочко
съест»).
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The Transfiguration of Our Lord
St Andrei Rublyov
15th century
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The Church commemorates an occurrence on Mount Tabor associated with the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
According to the Gospel, on the day that Jesus Christ was transfigured,
three of His three disciples, John, James, and Peter were witnesses. Christ’s face shone like the sun, and His clothes glowed with a white light. Two of the Old Testament prophets, Ss Moses
and Ilya, appeared and talked with the Lord. A cloud came down, and a
voice came from it, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well-pleased; hear Him”.
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The historical event occurred in February, forty days before Easter, but the church moved the celebration to August, as marking the actual date would fall within the Great Lent.
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Through its celebration of the
Transfiguration of Our Lord, the Church solemnly professes and glorifies
the connection between the Divine and Human
Natures in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Lord used His
Transfiguration to protect His apostles from discouragement, to keep up
their spirits through the coming disappointments that He knew that they
would have to face.
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The Transfiguration in Russia is known as
the “second” or the “Apple” Spas, as we bless new ripe apples at this
time. Of the three “Spas” holidays… “Honey” (Procession of the
Honourable Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, 14 August),
“Apple” (Transfiguration of Our Lord, 19 August), and “Walnut” (the Wonderworking Icon of Christ “Not Made by Hands”, 29 August)… the Three August Feasts of the Lord, this is the most important one.
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On this day, believers bring fruit to the services to be blessed.
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According to the Orthodox calendar,
Apple Spas comes during the Assumption Lent, but believers can eat the
apples and other fruits blessed after the end of services on 19 August.
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Traditionally, for Apple Spas, people bake apple pies
and cook up batches of apple preserves, and they share these with one
another. The old peasant belief is that Apple Spas is the end of summer
heat, and that autumn coolness starts soon afterwards.
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The Transfiguration is ever joyful, always peaceful, and full of bright hope; the clergy wear white vestments on this day.
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19 August 2011
Voice of Russia World Servicehttp://rus.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/54883649/
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“Contemporary Mankind Needs Transfiguration No Less than the Apostles on Mount Tabor Did”: Patriarch Kirill
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On Friday, the Feast of the Transfiguration, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias wished that people would find a sense of God’s presence
in their lives. “To believe, you don’t need prodigious miracles; all
you need is to see God in the world around you”, the Patriarch said
after serving Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
In his view, if a person needs to see great miracles to believe,
they’ll have a smaller chance of seeing God’s real miracles. “If their
mother were to rise from the grave, they wouldn’t really believe in it…
even if they fancied themselves believers. God doesn’t stun us with
wonders that would compel us to believe in Him. If God were to use
miracles in such a way, He’d deprive us of our freedom of choice”,
Vladyki Kirill said.
He thinks that contemporary mankind no
longer sees God in the world around them because “modern godless
civilisation denies people the opportunity to see God, it conjures up an
imaginary vision of human strength and supremacy. How many people are
unbelievers because everything in their surrounding milieu tells them
that there’s no God? Everywhere that modern man looks, he sees mankind’s
works. We marvel at what the human mind’s produced, the inventions of
our technological development astound us… all of our wonder, all of the
things that strike our mind today are due to human activity “, His
Holiness stated.
Meanwhile, he pointed up, the feast of
Transfiguration of Our Lord teaches us, “The eternal and
incomprehensible God is ever-present among us, even though our human
limitations mean that we can’t always apprehend that. The Lord gave a
vision of His immanence on Mount Tabor.
The Transfiguration of the Saviour was not by chance; He revealed His
divine nature to His disciples to orient them in anticipation of His
Passion, to show them that He was the Son of God. This was so that they
would feel that closeness to God themselves”, His Holiness said. He went
on to say, “Contemporary mankind needs transfiguration no less than the
apostles on Mount Tabor did; God isn’t just something that we dust off
once a week, He’s the centre of our lives. If we realise that, we come
to terms with the great miracle of the Transfiguration. Then, we won’t
need flamboyant miracles… we’ll see God in every facet of our lives, in
everything that we do. Moreover, we’ll see God’s presence in history,
which means that we’ll understand the signs of historical events; we’ll
not have to rely on history as modern commentators relate it. These
people all offer us clashing interpretations, based on their individual
fancies and political ideology, to try to explain historical events”.
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According to tradition, on 19 August, the Feast of the Transfiguration, popularly known as Apple Spas {Yablochny Spas
is literally “untranslatable”, being “Apple-ly Saviour”; the closest we
can come is “Apple Day of the Saviour”: editor}, Patriarch Kirill
Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias blessed the fruits of the new
harvest. On Friday morning, the blessing of fruit brought by the
faithful occurred at Christ the Savior
Cathedral, after Patriarch Kirill served liturgy for the feastday of
the Transfiguration. As the official MP website noted, today was the
15th anniversary of the lower church at the Cathedral of Christ the
Savior, dedicated to the feast of the Transfiguration.
The feastday of the Transfiguration
commemorates when Christ took three of His disciples, John, James, and
Peter, to Mount Tabor, and was transfigured before them… His face shone
like the sun, and clothes became as white as snow. In this action, forty
days before His crucifixion, Christ revealed His glory to His apostles,
so that they wouldn’t despair when they saw His Passion on the cross.
The Gospel text makes it clear that the Saviour was transfigured before
his disciples in February, forty days before Easter, but the church
moved this celebration to August so that it wouldn’t fall during the
time of the Great Lent.
Tradition places the venue of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor in
Galilee in northern Israel. In the Fourth Century AD, Empress Helena
built a church there in honour of the Transfiguration, and introduced
the custom of celebrating this event. The custom of blessing the
first-fruits of the harvest on this day dates back to the Eighth Century
AD. The Church aligned this with the feastday of the Transfiguration
because the first stage of the harvest in the New Roman world was coming
in, the most important of which were wheat and grapes, as Christians
used them for the Eucharist. In Russia, in August, the grapes aren’t
ripe in all places; therefore, apples replaced them, hence, the popular
name for this holiday in Russian, Яблочный Спас (Yablochny Spas: “Apple Spas”).
19 August 2011
Interfax-Religion
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Tuesday, 9 August 2011
9 August 2011. Some Vox Pop Reaction to JP’s Pompous “Pronouncements”
ZOUNDS! Shades of JP and Dickie…
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A friend sent me this… have a cleansing laugh…
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Rumour has it this was another DC resolution, but Jonah squashed it… 
SANCTITY OF THE BODY SUNDAY
WHEREAS the Orthodox Christian teaching on the Sanctity of the Body, firmly grounded in Holy Scripture, 2,000 years of Church tradition, and canon law, holds that “…your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you… (I Corinthians
6.19) and warns against those who hold that “… their god is their
belly…” (Philippians 3.18-19), and rails against those whose excesses
include “…banquetings…” (I Peter 4.3 ), BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT the Sixteenth All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America
strongly commends the efforts of Orthodox bishops, clergy, and laity to
bear witness to the Sanctity of the Body in the public arena; commits
the Orthodox Church in America to continued witness and defence of the
elimination of obesity amongst our faithful; strongly reaffirms the
Orthodox Church’s opposition to raising overweight children who mature
to overweight adults who place a burden on our ability to sustain the
medical needs of population, particularly the poor and aged, who have
serious illness, and that it does so on theological and moral grounds;
and stresses God’s will that we abstain from all activities which demean
the body.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Sunday in July falling on or after the celebration of the Fourth of July
holiday, traditionally, the start of the summer barbecue season, will
be called Sanctity of Body Sunday and on this Sunday, an annual letter
from our Metropolitan will be read in all OCA Parishes during the Divine Liturgy
affirming the Orthodox understanding of Sanctity of Body; and each
parish priest will declare his availability to counsel overweight
individuals, children or couples desiring to lose weight; and that His
Holy Church establish a fund to provide for medical and psychological
treatment for our overweight clergy and episcopate.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Orthodox
Church stresses that all persons tempted to act contrary to the Orthodox
Church’s teaching on Sanctity of Body, and all those who succumb to
such temptations of gluttony, are to be offered pastoral guidance and
cared for with the same mercy and love that is bestowed by our Lord Jesus Christ upon all of humanity and that all persons are called by God to grow spiritually and morally toward holiness.
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I don’t need to comment… ‘nuff said!
Don’t forget, Paffhausen and Dickie are obese, practically morbidly so. A
bow to my nameless friend!
BMD
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Saturday, 23 July 2011
Condolences of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias to His Majesty King Harald V of Norway on the Occasion of the Terrorist Attack on Oslo and Utøya Island
Light a candle for them tomorrow, if you would… it’s the least that you can do…
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Your Majesty!
It was with great sorrow that I learned of the terrible terrorist
attacks in the capital of Norway, as well as on Utøya Island. Please,
accept my sincere condolences on behalf of all the faithful of the Patriarchate of Moscow and all the Russias, which, in these tragic days, prayerfully share the suffering of the Norwegian people. I ask you to convey our words of sympathy and support to all the subjects of the Kingdom of Norway,
with whom we are bound by a centuries-long tradition of
good-neighbourliness. For the first time, Norway became a victim of the
terror that has overwhelmed the whole world. I’m convinced that this
trial won’t disconcert Norwegians, but it’ll only unite them in a
resolve to confront this new challenge of evil. The terrorists managed
to carry out their monstrous plan, which resulted in the deaths of
innocent people. Whatever motivated the murderer, it’s a shameful crime
without any justification. These perpetrators of iniquity went against
the Will of God and Man’s Law. I pray to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life (the Gospel according to St John 11.25), that he might grant rest in the Kingdom of Heaven
to the souls of those who died, and give solace to you, the families of
the victims of the terrorist attacks, and the entire Norwegian people.
With deepest sympathy,Kirill
Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias23 July 2011
Patriarchia.ru
Official MP Website
http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1583619.html
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Thursday, 1 April 2010
It’s Good Friday for Both Catholics and Orthodox This Year
The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
Vasili Golinsky
undated (1890s-1900s)
______________________________
This year, Orthodox and Roman Catholics mark Good Friday
on the same day; it’s the most mournful day of the church calendar,
when we make processions to recall the suffering and death of the
Saviour. It’s no surprise that this day of Holy Week
has a particularly severe rule of abstinence, according to the canons,
we’re not supposed to take anything but bread and water. In accordance
with ancient tradition, on Good Friday, we venerate the shroud in
the church, we place it in the middle of the church, surrounded by
white flowers, as we read the gospel and sing funereal hymns. On Friday
afternoon, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias shall serve Vespers at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,
during which there shall be a procession with the shroud. The faithful
shall venerate the shroud for two days until late Saturday night; it
shall not be removed to the altar until it is time for the Easter procession. During the Good Friday matins service, we read 12 passages from the Gospels, which narrate the Passion of Jesus.
Believers hold lit candles in their hands for the duration of this
service, which symbolises both the great suffering of the Saviour and
the spiritual awakening of Christians. On this solemn day, we do not
serve the liturgy, but we celebrate Vespers at the third hour (09.00),
during which we meditate on the death of Christ.
2 April 2010Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=dujour&div=304
Editor’s Note:
This is my last post until Saturday
morning. We should all be in church tomorrow, at one time or another.
Our car is still on the crank (we’re awaiting a part on order), so, if
we can’t get things put right tomorrow, we’ll go to the Greek church here in Albany…
it’s only a short drive. Remember, only fast tomorrow if your health
permits it… my Nicky, for instance, is a diabetic, so, he can’t follow
this rule. Show good sense… the Lord doesn’t wish you to harm your
health. Be good… and do keep in mind that Easter IS on it’s way… in more
ways than one, dear friends.
BMD
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NEITHER JOHNNY CASH NOR ANYBODY is coming from heaven to kick anybody's behind. The job is up to us all who claim to be on the side of TRUTH, FREEDOM and JUSTICE!
ReplyDeleteAs for Christ, how do Hindus manage with their scores of deities? Do we really believe that Elephant God Ganesh or Monkey God Hanuman is REALLY GOD?
JESUS is obviously not God, because EVEN AS GOD Christians did a lousy job pretending to believe in him proving that their God is kind of IMPOTENT!!
This can mean only one thing: NO MATTER WHICH OR WHOSE GOD WE WORSHIP, if we do not stand and FIGHT with all the means at our disposal - for truth, freedom, justice and a moral way of life - we can have only ourselves to blame!
CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY IS BEAUTIFUL AND CAN STILL MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE ONLY IF ITS FOLLOWERS LEARN HOW TO LOVE ALL GOOD PEOPLE (including Muslims) AND NOT PRETEND TO LOVE THE SINNER (SATAN) AND HATE THE SIN!