Transcending Time, Shining Across Ages -- by D. Babu Paul

That was early 1970s. Various events had snowballed into a cumulonimbus cloud in Malankara. One fine evening those days there was a usual get-together in the office of K M Cherian, then Chief Editor of MANORAMA. Fr. V M Geevargese, Fr. Paul Vergis the Principal of the Old Seminary, Mar Theophilos of Alwaye, N M Abraham, Senior Assistant Editor of MANORAMA and me who was admitted into that august crowd by the dignity of the office of the District Collector coupled with the affection of Oonnoonnichayan (KMC). Fr. Paul Vergis said: "There is a young Metropolitan in Baghdad. He is likely to succeed the present Patriarch. If he becomes Patriarch we can expect peace." "You mean that young man, Zakka Severios?" asked Mar Theophilos. None of us in the group except those two could have said anything. What surprised us was that Fr. Paul Vergis, very reluctant to praise any one, was all praise for this young bishop, whom the rest of us had not met. Years went by. Yacoub III passed away. To be succeeded by the man forecast by Paul Vergis. Zakka Mar Severios, Archbishop of Baghdad. At the time of being elected Patriarch of Antioch he was all of forty seven years in age! The Iwas family had migrated from Jessirah on the banks of Tigris to Mosul about three centuries ago. That was an aristocratic family. The word IWAS indicates the position of Diwan (as we understand), a place of respect and authority. Bawa's grandfather was what in Greek is called tekton. Architect, expert in carpentry, furniture designer, confidant of the royal family: that defined the gentleman. King Faisal I had decorated him with medals. He sent his son Bashir to Istanbul for higher studies. Bashir was good at studies. He returned to become a professor in the Military Engineering College. It was the desire of Bashir who remained hundred percent faithful even in the unhelpful circumstances in Istanbul that one of his children should become a priest. Sadly, he did not live to see it, though. Bashir left teaching to set up an industry. He was into furniture business. He established a wood working complex. He was thriving as an industrial magnate when disaster struck in the form of a fire which destroyed the factory and led to the owner being diagnosed with cardiac disease. He died. Soon followed his wife. That was 1945. Poor boy, Zakka was just about twelve years old. About that Bawa told me: "My parents left me, but my God held me close". Bawa joined the Seminary. God had identified a patriarch. All that happened subsequently was preparation for that exalted office. He graduated from the seminary with 97 % marks. Bawa told me a story once. He scored 90 % in Arabic. First in class, of course, but less than for other subjects. The professor of Arabic said, "He deserves cent percent, but is that not reserved for the author of the textbook?" Bawa reminisced, `he was a kind man, a kind man he was', as he perhaps retrieved from memory the face of that teacher. The first assignment of the young monk was to teach. He taught Syriac, Arabic and Peshita Bible. However when he came to the notice of Patriarch, Aprem I, the teacher reached the Patriarchate. Second Secretary, to begin with, and later First Secretary. After the days of Patriarch Aprem he continued with Yacoub III. It was Yacoub Bawa who ordained him priest. That was in 1957. Inside of two years he began to be invited to teach post graduate and doctoral students. And thus at age 26 came the first recognition: the Cross of the Grand Monk. In the meantime he studied journalism. On to the General Seminary in US (General and Union are the commanding heights in theological studies in USA) where for two years he read Oriental Languages and Pastoral Theology. Bawa has told me about an incident from those days. The Driving Instructor noticed that the student was yielding to whoever wanted to overtake him and he told the disciple, "Father, at this rate you will neither learn driving nor reach your destination". As he told me the story he burst out laughing and said in English with a slight touch of French accent, `but what can I do, God made me this way'. I have no intention to list the achievements of Zakka Bawa. Vatican II, Lambeth Conference, Pan Orthodox Meet, Pro Oriente deliberations( he was a mere 34 years in age when Pro Oriente honoured him with their Fellowship), Advisor to the Roman Catholic Church in re the Oriental Canon Law, and finally President of the World Council of Churches. Plus more than twenty works including the one on INCARNATION AND SALVATION. A major event in the Episcopal career of Bawa was the discovery of the St. Thomas relics from the Mosul Cathedral. It is part of that find that Mar Augen brought to Malankara and enshrined at Devalokam. His Proclamation to add the name of Thomas, alongside the names of Peter and Paul, in the Quorbono in Malankara, effective December 21, 1987, also shows the special connection that Zakka Bawa has with the revered memory of St. Thomas. Not to be forgotten is the landmark declaration he made with John Paul II, thus ending a division of fifteen centuries, that the faith was the same and that the three emergent sacraments may be mutually accepted. And that declaration in 1984 was followed by an understanding with the Greek Orthodox Church in West Asia. When Bawa ascended the Throne in 1980 it was my privilege to speak on behalf of the church in India. That marked the beginning of a very special relationship. My hotline to Damascus is still intact. The young bishop whose hair was all black has grown into an invincible shepherd. And yet his fatherly affection for me remains unchanged. Maintaining a relationship like this which provides space both for humorous jokes and serious discussions on church and world affairs is not easy. That a layman located far away in a distant land can enjoy this privilege is a reflection of the greatness of Bawa. source: http://www.socdigest.org/articles/06apr08.html

Bishop Nikolai steps down as ruling hierarch of Alaska

Alaska Russian Orthodox Church bishop is leaving

Associated Press - May 2, 2008 12:54 PM ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The leader of the Alaska Russian Orthodox Church is stepping down. Bishop Nikolai Soraich says he will leave the state within a week. The bishop has been at the center of a growing divide within the Alaska church, and some parishioners had asked church officials for his removal. Yesterday, Bishop Nikolai told KTUU-TV that he is leaving, so the Alaska church may heal, and move forward. The bishop says, despite his departure, he still cares about the Alaska church. He says he now plans to travel the West Coast to visit with family and friends.

Man makes house a Church

Interfax - A Zaporozhye resident makes a church of his own house. He spends his entire pension to equip it. "I promised my mother to build a church, but started doing it only after her death, it was five years ago, just before Easter. I asked Archbishop Vasily (of Zaporozhye and Melitopol - IF) to consecrate the house and he agreed," enthusiast named Vladimir was quoted as saying by Ukrainian edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Wednesday. There are icons on the walls, almost completed altar in the corner and a confessional in the neighboring room. Among recent Vladimir's purchases are zinc-coated sheets for new cupolas and a bell. His collection also includes seven icons from the Laura of the Caves in Kiev. The pensioner believes that next year anyone will have a chance to pray here, to lit a candle and even to confess to a priest as the ruling bishop promised to send one to the church. Vladimir will move to a one-off house set nearby. source: http://www.orthodoxnews.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=WorldNews.one&content_id=16937&CFID=26139589&CFTOKEN=29285412

Understanding Orthodox Monasticism

With the development of monasticism in the Orthodox Church there appeared a peculiar way of life, which however did not proclaim a new morality. The Church does not have one set of moral rules for the laity and another for monks, nor does it divide the faithful into classes according to their obligations towards God. The Christian life is the same for everyone. All Christians have in common that "their being and name is from Christ". This means that the true Christian must ground his life and conduct in Christ, something which is hard to achieve in the world. What is difficult in the world is approached with dedication in the monastic life. In his spiritual life the monk simply tries to do what every Christian should try to do: to live according to God's commandments. The fundamental principles of monasticism are not different from those of the lives of all the faithful. This is especially apparent in the history of the early Church, before monasticism appeared. In the tradition of the Church there is a clear preference for celibacy as opposed to the married state. This stance is not of course hostile to marriage, which is recognized as a Holy Sacrament, but simply indicates the practical obstacles marriage puts in the way of the pursuit of the spiritual life. For this reason, from the earliest days of Christianity many of the faithful chose celibacy. Thus Athenagoras the Confessor in the second century wrote: "You can find many men and women who remain unmarried all their lives in the hope of coming closer to God". From the very beginning the Christian life has been associated with self denial and sacrifice: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me". Christ calls on us to give ourselves totally to him: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me". Finally, fervent and unceasing prayer, obedience to the elders of the Church, brotherly love and humility, as well as all the essential virtues of the monastic life were cultivated by the members of the Church from itsearliest days. One cannot deny that the monk and the married man have different ways of life, but this does not alter their common responsibility towards God and His commandments. Every one of us has his own special gift within the one and indivisible body of Christ's Church. Every way of life, whether married or solitary, is equally subject to God's absolute will. Hence no way of life can be taken as an excuse for ignoring or selectively responding to Christ's call and His commandments. Both paths demand effort and determination. St John Chrysostom is particularly emphatic on this point: "You greatly delude yourself and err, if you think that one thing is demanded from the layman and another from the monk; since the difference between them is in that whether one is married or not, while in everything else they have the same responsibilities... Because all must rise to the same height; and what has turned the world upside down is that we think only the monk must live rigorously, while the rest are allowed to live a life of indolence". Referring to the observance of particular commandments in the Gospels, he says: "Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, regardless of whether he is a layman or a monk, opposes God in the same way. And whoever looks at a woman lustfully, regardless of his status, commits the same sin". In general, he observes that in giving His commandments Christ does not make distinction between people: "A man is not defined by whether he is a layman or a monk, but by the way he thinks". Christ's commandments demand strictness of life that we often expect only from monks. The requirements of decent and sober behavior, the condemnation of wealth and adoption of frugality, the avoidance of idle talk and the call to show selfless love are not given only for monks, but for all the faithful. Therefore, the rejection of worldly thinking is the duty not only of monks, but of all Christians. The faithful must not have a worldly mind, but sojourn as strangers and travelers with their minds fixed on God. Their homeis not on earth, but in the kingdom of heaven: "For here we have no lastingcity, but we seek the city which is to come" The Church can be seen as acommunity in exodus. The world is its temporary home but the Church is bound for the kingdom of God. Just as the Israelites, freed from bondage in Egypt, journeyed towards Jerusalem through many trials and tribulations, so Christians, freed from the bondage of sin, journey through many trials and tribulations towards the kingdom of heaven. The early days this exodus from the world did not involve a change of place but a change of the way of life. A man does not reject God and turn towards the world physically but spiritually, because God was and is everywhere and fulfills everything, so in the same way the rejection of the world and turning towards God was not understood in physical sense but as a change of the way of life. This is especially clear in the lives of the early Christians. Although they lived in the world they were fully aware that they did not come from it nor did they belong to it: "In the world but not of the world". And those who lived in chastity and poverty, which became later fundamental principles of the monastic life, did not abandon the world or take to the mountains. Physical detachment from the world helps the soul to reject the worldly wayof life. Experience shows that human salvation is harder to achieve in the world. As Basil the Great points out, living among men who do not care for the strict observance of God's commandments is harmful. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to answer Christ's call to take up one's cross and follow Him within the bounds of worldly life. Seeing the multitude of sinners, one not only fails to see his own sins but also falls into temptation to believe that he has achieved something, because we tend to compare ourselves with those who are worse than we are. Furthermore, the hustle and bustle of everyday life distracts us from the remembrance of God. It does not only prevent us from feeling the joy of intense communion with God, but leads us to contempt and forgetfulness of the divine will. This does not mean that detachment from the world guarantees salvation, but surely does help us a lot in our spiritual life. When someone devotes himself wholly to God and His will, nothing can stop him from being saved.St. Chrysostom says: "There is no obstacle to a worker striving for virtue,but men in office, and those who have a wife and children to look after, andservants to see to, and those in positions of authority can also take careto be virtuous". Saint Simeon the New Theologian observes: "Living in a city does not prevent us from carrying out God's commandments if we are zealous, and silence and solitude are of no benefit if we are slothful and neglectful". Elsewhere he says that it is possible for all, not only monks but laymen too, to"eternally and continuously repent and weep and pray to God, and by these actions to acquire all the other virtues". Orthodox monasticism has always been associated with stillness or silence, which is seen primarily as an internal rather than an external state. External silence is sought in order to attain inner stillness of mind more easily. This stillness is not a kind of inertia or inaction, but awakening and activation of the spiritual life. It is intense vigilance and total devotion to God. Living in a quiet place the monk succeeds in knowing himself better, fighting his passions more deeply and purifying his heart more fully, so as to be found worthy of beholding God. The father of St Gregory Palamas, Constantine, lived a life of stillness as a senator and member of the imperial court in Constantinople. The essence of this kind of life is detachment from worldly passions and complete devotion to God. This is why St Gregory Palamas says that salvation in Christ is possible for all: "The farmer and the leather worker and the mason and the tailor and the weaver, and in general all those who earn their living with their hands and in the sweat of their brow, who cast out of their souls the desire for wealth, fame and comfort, are indeed blessed" In the same spirit St Nicolas Kavasilas observes that it is not necessary for someone to flee to the desert, eat unusual food, change his dress, ruin his health or attempt some other such thing in order to remain devoted to God. The monastic life, with its physical withdrawal from the world to the desert, began about the middle of the third century. This flight of Christians to the desert was partly caused by the harsh Roman persecutions of the time. The growth of monasticism, however, which began in the time of Constantine the Great, was largely due to the refusal of many Christians to adapt to the more worldly character of the now established Church, and their desire to lead a strictly Christian life. Thus monasticism developed simultaneously in various places in the southeast Mediterranean, Egypt, Palestine, Sinai, Syria and Cyprus, and soon after reached Asia Minor and finally Europe. During the second millennium. however, Mount Athos appeared as the centre of Orthodox monasticism. The commonest form of monastic life is the coenobitic communion. In the coenobitic monastery everything is shared: living quarters, food, work, prayer, common efforts, cares, struggles and achievements. The leader and spiritual father of the coenobium is the abbot. The exhortation to the abbot in the Charter of St Athanasius the Athonite is typical: "Take care that the brethren have everything in common. No one must own as much as a needle. Your body and soul shall be your own, and nothing else. Everything must be shared equally with love between all your spiritual children, brethren and fathers". The coenobium is the ideal Christian community, where no distinction is drawn between mine and yours, but everything is designed to cultivate acommon attitude and a spirit of fraternity. In the coenobium the obedience of every monk to his abbot and his brotherhood, loving kindness, solidarityand hospitality are of the greatest importance. As St Theodore of Studium observes, the whole community of the faithful should in the final analysis be a coenobitc Church. Thus the monastic coenobium is the most consistent attempt to achieve this and an image of Church in small. In its "fuga mundi", monasticism underlines the Church's position as an"anti-community" within the world, and by its intense spiritual asceticism cultivates its eschatological spirit. The monastic life is described as "theangelic state", in other words a state of life that while on earth follows the example of the life in heaven. Virginity and celibacy come within this framework, anticipating the condition of souls in the life to come, where "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels inheaven". Many see celibacy as a defining characteristic of monastic life. This does not mean, however, that celibacy is the most important aspect of the monastic life: it simply gives this distinctiveness to this way of life. All the other obligations, even the other two monastic vows of obedience and poverty, essentially concern all the faithful. Needless to say, all this takes on a special form in the monastic life, but that has no bearing on the essence of the matter. Keeping the Lord's commandments requires effort and sacrifice. Fallen human nature, enslaved by its passions is reluctant to give the effort or make the sacrifice. It seeks pleasure and avoids the pain involved in fighting the passions and selfishness. The monastic life is so arranged as to facilitate this work. On the other hand, the worldly life, particularly in our secular society, makes it harder to be an ascetic. The problem for the Christian in the world is that he is called upon to reach the same goal under adverse conditions. The tonsure, with cutting of hair, is called a "second baptism". Baptism, however, is one and the same for all members of the Church. It is participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. The tonsure does not repeat, but renews and activates the grace of the baptism. The monastic vowsare essentially not different from those taken at baptism, with the exception of the vow of celibacy. Furthermore, hair is also cut during baptism. The monastic life points the way to perfection. However, the whole Church is called to perfection. All the faithful, both laymen and monks, are called to become perfect following the divine example: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" But while the monk affirms the radical nature of the Christian life, the layman is content to regard it conventionally. The conventional morality of the layman on the one hand and the radical morality of the monk on the other create a dialectical differentiation that takes the form of a dialectical antithesis. St Maximus the Confessor, in contrasting the monastic with the worldly life, observes that a layman's successes are a monk's failures, and vice versa: "The achievements of the worldly are failures for monks; and the achievements of monks are failures for the worldly. When the monk is exposed to what the world sees as success- wealth, fame, power, pleasure, good health and many children, he is destroyed. And when a worldly man finds himself in the state desired by monks- poverty, humility, weakness, self restraint, mortifcation and suchlike, he considers it a disaster. Indeed, in such despair many may consider hanging themselves, and some have actually done so". Of course the comparison here is between the perfect monk and the very worldly Christian. However, in more usual circumstances within the Church the same things will naturally function differently, but this difference could never reach diametrical opposition. Thus for example, wealth and fame cannot be seen as equally destructive for monks and laymen. These things are always bad for monks, because they conflict with the way of life the monks have chosen. For laymen, however, wealth and fame may be beneficial, even though they involve grave risks. The existence of the family, and of the wider secular society with its various needs and demands, not only justify but sometimes make it necessary to accumulate wealth or assume office. Those things that may unite in the world divide in the monastic life. The ultimate unifier is Christ Himself. The Christian life does not depend only on human effort but primarily on God's grace. Ascetic exercises in all their forms and degrees aim at nothing more than preparing man to harmonize his will with that of God and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. This harmonization attains its highest expression and perfection in prayer. "In true prayer we enter into and dwell in the Divine Being by the power of the Holy Spirit". This leads man to his archetype and makes him a true person in the likeness of his Creator. The grace of the Christian life is not to be found in its outward forms. It is not found in ascetic exercises, fasts, vigils and mortification of the flesh. Indeed, when these exercises are practiced without discernment they become abhorrent. This repulsiveness is no longer confined to their external form but comes to characterize their inner content. They become abhorrent not only because outwardly they appear as a denial of life, contempt for material things or self-abandonment, but also because they mortify the spirit, encourage pride and cultivate self- justification The Christian life is not a denial but an affirmation. It is not death, but life. And it is not only affirmation and life, but the only true affirmation and true life. It is the true affirmation because it goes beyond all possibility of denial. It is the true life because it conquers death. The negative appearance of the Christian life in its outward forms is due precisely to its attempt to stand beyond all human denial. Since there is no human affirmation that does not end in denial, and no worldly life that does not end in death, the Church takes its stand and reveals its life after accepting every human denial and affirming every form of earthly death. The power of the Christian life lies in the hope of resurrection, and the goal of ascetic striving is to partake in the resurrection. The monastic life, as the angelic and heavenly life lived in time, is the foreknowledge and foretaste of eternal life. Its aim is not to cast off the human element, but clothe oneself with incorruptibility and immortality: "For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (2 Cor 5:4). There are sighing and tears produced by the presence of sin, as well as the suffering to be free of the passions and regain a pure heart. These things demand ascetic struggles, and undoubtedly have a negative form, since they aim at humility. They are exhausting and painful, because they are concerned with states and habits that have become second nature. It is however precisely through this abasement and self-purification that man clears the way for God's grace to appear and to act within his heart. God does not manifest Himself to an impure heart. Monks are the "guardians". They choose to constrain their bodily needs in order to attain the spiritual freedom offered by Christ. They tie themselves down in death's realm in order to experience more intensely the hope of the life to come. They reconcile themselves with space, where man is worn down and annihilated, feel it as their body, transform it into the Church and orientate it towards the kingdom of God. The monk's journey to perfection is gradual and is connected with successive renunciations, which can be summarized in three. The first renunciation involves completely abandoning the world. This is not limited to things, but includes people and parents. The second is renunciation of the individual will, and the third is freedom from pride, which is identified with liberation from the sway of the world. These successive renunciations have a positive, not a negative meaning. They permit a man to fully open up and be perfected "in the image and likeness" of God. When man is freed from the world and from himself, he expands without limits. He becomes a true person, which "encloses" within himself the whole of humanity as Christ himself does. That is why, on the moral plane, the Christian is called upon to love all human beings, even his enemies. Then God Himself comes and dwells within him, and the man arrives to the fullness of his theanthropic being. Here we can see the greatness of the human person, and can understand the superhuman struggles needed for hisperfection. The life of monasticism is a life of perpetual spiritual ascent. While the world goes on its earthbound way, and the faithful with their obligations and distractions of the world try to stay within the institutional limits of the church tradition, monasticism goes to other direction and soars. It rejects any kind of compromise and seeks the absolute. It launches itself from this world and heads for the kingdom of God. This is in essence the goal of the Church itself. In the tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church, this path is pictured as a ladder leading to heaven. Not everyone manages to reach the top of this spiritual ladder. Many are to be found on the first rungs. Others rise higher. There are also those who fall from a higher or a lower rung. The important thing is not the height reached, but the unceasing struggle to rise ever higher. Most important of all, this ascent is achieved through ever increasing humility, that is through ever increasing descent. "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not", was the word of God to Saint Silouan of Mount Athos. When man descends into the hell of his inner struggle having God within him, then he is lifted up and finds the fullness of being. At the top of this spiritual ladder are the "fools for Christ's sake", as the Apostle Paul calls himself and the other apostles, or "the fools for Christ's sake", who "play the madman for the love of Christ and mock the vanity of the world", Seeking after glory among men, says Christ, obstructs belief in God. Only when man rejects pride can he defeat the world and devote himself to God. In the lives of monks the Christian sees examples of men who took their Christian faith seriously and committed themselves to the path which everyone is called by Christ to follow. Not all of them attained perfection, but they all tried, and all rose to a certain height. Not all possessed the same talent, but all strove as good and faithful servants. They are not held up as examples to be imitated, especially by laymen. They are however valuable signposts on the road to perfection, which is common for all and has its climax in the perfectness of God. source: http://www.stirene.org/library/monasticism_understanding.html

2nd Sunday of Pascha

2nd Sunday of Pascha MATINS (I) Matthew 28:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. LITURGY Acts 5:12-20 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. John 20:19-31 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Patriarch: Greek Orthodox Church recovering from crisis

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press Writer

Secretive real estate deals, hostility to priests, fist fights over Christ's tomb, a power struggle between patriarchs - one of the oldest churches in the Holy Land is struggling to get through a moral and financial crisis, its leader says.In a rare interview with The Associated Press, Patriarch Theofilos III says his Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem is in "the position of an acrobat," faced by challenges on all sides.The Orthodox Easter Week, which ends Sunday, was overshadowed again by squabbling. On Palm Sunday, Armenian and Greek Orthodox worshippers exchanged blows over rights of worship at Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site where tradition says Jesus was entombed and resurrected.However, Saturday's holy fire ceremony at the Holy Sepulcher ended without trouble, even though some 10,000 pilgrims from different denominations crowded into the shrine. The patriarch said he had sorted out the dispute with the Armenians ahead of Saturday's ceremony."We don't want to have more problems like this because they damage and destroy the image and the spirit of such events that are really very unique," the 56-year-old patriarch said of last week's fight.In recent years, the church has been shaken by secretive real estate deals with Israelis, by Palestinian laymen angry about domination by Greek priests, and by a power struggle that reached an unusual climax with the ouster of an incumbent patriarch, Irineos I.Theofilos, his rival, succeeded him in 2005. But not until December was he formally recognized by the three governments in the Holy Land - Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. This Easter was the first in which he has led the rites unchallenged.His flock of now 90,000 keeps shrinking, as do the other Christian denominations hit by emigration and relatively low birth rates. The patriarch is struggling to maintain a delicate balance among the church, its Arab congregants and the Israeli government. And he says he is trying to bring fiscal transparency to an institution that is the second largest landowner in the Holy Land after the state of Israel, yet chronically in debt."The crisis that the patriarchate passed through, it was both moral, which was the most important, and of course financial," he said. "There is no doubt about it. Now we are gradually recovering because order has been restored."Irineos was ousted amid allegations that he leased two church-owned hotels in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem to groups trying to expand a Jewish presence there. The deal enraged his predominantly Palestinian flock, because Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.Irineos has denied the allegations, and Theofilos has said he considers the leases invalid because they were never presented to the synod for approval. The dispute has since moved to an Israeli court.The church would closely study all future transactions, he said. "We are not going to accept anymore the patriarchate to be treated as a real estate agency."Israel only recognized Theofilos in December. During more than two years of rival patriarchs, Irineos refused to step down or leave his official residence. He has since been demoted to monk.Theofilos said he would honor all transactions made with the state of Israel earlier, and new land leases would go through the synod."The patriarchate ... emerges as a state within a state, as an entity, a very powerful entity, spiritual entity but it is an entity which lives on the ground and not in the clouds," he said.Theofilos tries to be diplomatic and non-confrontational in dealing with the governments in question, saying only that Israel's long delay in ratifying his appointment was a "grave mistake."The patriarch also has addressed complaints by Palestinian Christians of second-class treatment in the Greek-dominated church. An Arab clergyman has been appointed the spokesman of the patriarchate, a first. Theofilos promoted another Arab priest to archbishop. In the 18-member synod, where the vast majority of members are Greek, he finally filled a long-vacant seat reserved for an Arab.Dimitri Diliani, a church member who was among those pushing to remove the previous patriarch, said Theofilos had walked "a thorny road" in a churchmanlike way, and his reforms had helped.Before that, he said, "People were embarrassed to say they were Orthodox."

The Search for Orthodoxy by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose

A talk given at the 1981 St. Herman Summer Pilgrimage, at the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery, Platina, California. The text has been taken from Fr. Seraphim’s handwritten notes. The section titles have been added by the editors, based on Fr. Seraphim's section divisions.I. INTRODUCTION The number of people here today is a proof that there is a search for Orthodoxy today—those who don’t have it are looking for it, and those who do have it want to go deeper into it. Our times, the second half of the twentieth century, are times of spiritual searching. Many are dissatisfied, whether with various forms of Christianity, with non-Christian religions, or with unbelief and atheism. Many hope against hope that there is more to life, more to spiritual reality, than they have found so far. More and more of these searchers are finding what they are looking for in the Orthodox Church: 1. African peoples of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, and other mission fields are finding Orthodoxy to be the "true old religion" as against the various sects and cults of modern Africa. 2. Young Orthodox Christians of Soviet Russia and other Communist lands are finding in Orthodoxy both fresh air and recontact with their historical past after sixty years of atheist tyranny and suffocation. 3. Young Orthodox idealists of Greece are rediscovering the monastic ideal in the midst of the dead worldliness of contemporary Greece and are flocking to the monasteries of Mount Athos. 4. Americans, both young and old, weary of the rootless and arbitrary teachings of contemporary Protestantism, are discovering the true and profound Christianity of Orthodoxy. 5. Roman Catholics, in the midst of a disintegrating church structure, are finding that Orthodoxy is everything they once thought Roman Catholicism to be. 6. Young Jews, both in the Soviet Union and the free world, are increasingly finding the answer to the present-day spiritual vacuum among their own people in conversion to Orthodoxy. And there are many others who are coming to the Orthodox Faith in these latter days. What does this mean for us who are already Orthodox? We who have already found the end of our search in Orthodox Christianity must be aware of these searchers and of the literal movement towards Orthodoxy that is occurring throughout the world today. It is still small, in some places only a trickle—but it is already becoming one of the signs of our times and is something that should be for us both inspiring and sobering, and can help us to survive as Orthodox Christians in the terrible times through which we are living. Let us look at this movement a little more closely and see what we can learn from it, and more importantly, how we can respond to it positively and help it.II. MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THE SEARCH What is motivating this search for Orthodoxy in so many different parts of the world?1. Roots One factor is the search for roots which has become so much a part of contemporary mankind.In Russia this search is obvious, and is bound up with the recovery of national awareness among the Russian people after some sixty years of atheism and destruction of Russian religious institutions. If one tries to return to what was before the atheist regime, one comes to nothing but Orthodoxy. Something similar is happening on a smaller scale to the Orthodox young people of Greece who are rejecting the modern Westernism that has poisoned Greek society for the past century and more; these young people are finding their roots in the Orthodox past of Greece, and above all in the center of Orthodox life, its monasticism. But what of Africa? What kind of Orthodox roots can Africans find? As surprising as it may seem to us, Orthodoxy—and Christianity in general—is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world, and in a matter of some years Africa will become the leading Christian continent, both in number of believers, and even more in the fervor of their faith. Tertullian, the second-century Christian writer, has said that the human soul by nature is Christian, and this is proving true in the eagerness of the once-pagan African peoples to accept Christianity, which has only been preached below the Sahara in the last one hundred years. Roman Catholicism and various Protestant sects have attracted many followers in Africa, but those who really seek for the roots of Christianity are finding Orthodoxy. Perhaps not all of you know the story of the two Anglican seminarians in Uganda in the 1920s who in their studies came to the conclusion that only Orthodoxy was the "true old religion" from which all the modern sects of the West have deviated. Today the African Orthodox Churches in Uganda, Kenya, and other countries of East Africa are examples of the fruitfulness of the search for Orthodoxy today. With hardly any help from the outside Orthodox world, they have come to the fullness of Orthodoxy, avoiding the pitfalls which many Western converts have fallen into—something I will talk about a little later. In America, the need for roots is obvious: the fragmentation of Christian sects and the diverse understanding of Christian doctrine and practice based upon personal interpretation of Scripture and of Christian life—point to the need to return to the original, undivided Christianity, which is Orthodoxy. Just in the past few years more and more Protestants have been finding their way to the Church. There is even a group, organized as the "Evangelical Orthodox Church" which has come all the way from the Billy Graham-type "Campus Crusade" movement of the 1950s to a deep awareness of the need for sacraments, hierarchy, historical continuity with the ancient Church, and all the rest that Orthodoxy has to offer as the true Apostolic Christianity. This movement has still much to say in contemporary America, and there are ways we Orthodox can help it. This I will talk about later. In many different places and many different ways, people today are searching and finding the roots of Christianity in Orthodoxy. Things which we take for granted are astonishing discoveries for them: the splendor of our Divine services, coming down from ancient times and so suited to the need of the human soul to worship God in spirit and in truth; the depth of the spiritual teaching contained in the writings of the Holy Fathers; simply the continuity with the past of Christianity, since we trace our beginnings not to some more or less recent teacher, but to Christ Himself and His Apostles, and our bishops and priests received their ordinations in a direct line going back to the Apostles. If we ourselves, having these roots, are leading a conscious Christian life, we can be of tremendous help to those who are weary of personal interpretations of Christianity and want with all their heart the "true old Christianity"—Orthodoxy.2. Stability Bound up with the search for roots is the stability of the Orthodox Faith. With the sects of our own day in such ferment, and even the once-monolithic Roman Catholic Church in search of its own identity, the unchangingness of the teaching and practice of Orthodoxy over the centuries is an impressive witness to its Apostolic origin and its uncompromising stand in the truth, not giving in to every new "wind of doctrine."It is true that we Orthodox have a problem with the modernists and ecumenists in our midst; but even with them, such a thing as the "new morality" or "situation ethics" so fashionable today would be unthinkable; and the "jazz masses" and other blasphemies perpetrated in the name of making the Church "up to date" and "relevant" would be rejected by any Orthodox congregation. When the "Living Church" movement began in Russia in the 1920s, and had the full support of the Communist government—with the aim of "adapting" the Church to the "realities" of the times in a way that would be considered very "conservative" by most standards today—it was the people themselves who refused to accept it. The instinct for preserving what is ancient, dignified, generally respected, what has been handed down in the Church from generation to generation—is so strong in Orthodoxy that to lose it is really the same as losing one’s Orthodoxy. This kind of stability and continuity with the past is unheard of elsewhere in the contemporary world, and makes Orthodoxy a rock of refuge in our troubled times. And if one realizes that some of Orthodoxy’s stability is the unchanging truth which it has received and passed on from generation to generation, from the time of Christ and His Apostles to our own day—then it is no wonder that it is attracting souis that are hungry most of all for truth—the truth that comes from God and gives meaning and a point of anchor for all those tossed about on the sea of this life. 3. Love But possibly the deepest and most attractive thing about Orthodoxy today is its message of love. The most discouraging thing about today’s world is that it has become so cold and heartless. In the Gospel our Lord tells us that a leading characteristic of the last times will be that the love of many will grow cold (Matt. 24:12), and the Apostle of love, St. John the Theologian, has said that the chief distinguishing mark of Christians is the love they have one for another. The most influential Orthodox teachers of recent times have been those most filled with love, who attract people to the riches of the Orthodox Faith by their own example of overflowing, self-sacrificing love: St. John of Kronstadt, St. Nektarios of Pentapolis, our own Archbishop John Maximovitch. By being aware of those qualities that attract people to Orthodoxy today, we can better be able to help those who come, at the same time making ourselves better Orthodox Christians. III. PITFALLS Now I would like to say a word of warning to us all: we have our precious Orthodox Faith, we see many searching for it and finding it; but there is nothing automatic about finding and keeping the Orthodox Faith—we can also fall away from it, or we can give such a poor example of it that it is barren and fruitless, inspiring neither ourselves nor others; or a seeker can find the Orthodox Faith and then not really enter into its life. Let us therefore look at some of the mistaken approaches to Orthodoxy which prevent us from being fruitful Orthodox Christians and witnesses to those who are searching. This word is addressed to those who are Orthodox Christians of long standing, to new converts, and to seekers who are coming close to Orthodoxy and perhaps have not yet made up their mind about it.1. Liberalism One big mistake we can make about our Orthodoxy is being too loose, to "liberal" about it. This comes from ignorance. Some Orthodox people think that the Orthodox Church is nothing more than the Russian or Greek equivalent of the Episcopalian Church; with such an idea, of course, one is not going to try very hard to bring anyone to the Orthodox Faith. This is the error of the ecumenical movement, which arranges meetings and conferences with non-Orthodox Churches, not with the aim of bringing them to the true Faith of Orthodoxy, but on a basis of worldly friendship, in order to speak of the secondary things which we have in common with them, and to gloss over the differences which separate us and an awareness of which might make them eager to accept the Orthodox Faith. This is not to say that all meetings between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians, even on an official level, are wrong—but only that as ordinarily practiced these meetings are not an Orthodox witness to the non-Orthodox, as they should be. With all respect to the views of the non-Orthodox, we are not living our Orthodox Faith rightly if we do not make others somehow aware of the differentness of Orthodoxy. This does not need to mean arguments and polemics about aspects of the Faith, although these might arise after others have become interested in Orthodoxy. The very way one leads one’s Orthodox life, if one is serious about fulfilling the commitment of being an Orthodox Christian, is already a witness to others.2. "Crazy Convertism" A related mistake, which also involves a loose view of Orthodoxy, is a common one of Orthodox converts today: this is what one might call weaving fantasies about Orthodoxy and living in them instead of in the real world. Perhaps some of you have heard of the expression: "crazy converts." This is actually an affectionate term, devised by converts to speak about their fellow strugglers, and incidentally it refers not only to Americans and Western Europeans: most of those who are serious Orthodox Christians today are to some degree converts, having discovered or rediscovered Orthodoxy after a period of searching. And the converts in Russia today fall into just the same kinds of mistakes as do Americans or other Western converts. This phrase expresses a definite pitfall we all can easily fall into, trying to lead an Orthodox life with our feet not firmly enough planted on the ground. In the earlier generations of converts in America, twenty or thirty years ago, this sometimes took the form of rather un-Orthodox ideas, or eclectic mixtures of Orthodoxy with other religious ideas. Nowadays we are generally more careful to be Orthodox in our ideas, and our fantasies take the form of exalted ideas about spiritual life, missionary activity; and the like, with very little realization of the humble spiritual state in which are actually located: there are would-be desert-dwellers who can’t pass through a week of obedience in an ordinary monastic community; there are those who dream of the most exalted states of prayer, and who can’t help saying a sharp word at the slightest provocation; there are those who dream of converting whole cities or states when they are barely able to get along with those around them; and so forth. There is nothing wrong with these dreams; such things have indeed inspired Orthodox strugglers throughout the centuries. But they must be combined with the concrete resolve to lead the Orthodox life from day to day in the simplest way—then they can become fruitful. One of our Russian bishops, speaking on the basis of his own sometimes bitter experience, has translated the word "converts" into pidgin-Russian as "konverti"—which means "envelopes" in Russian. He says there is nothing wrong with konverti—it’s just that they come unglued too easily. And there is a grain of truth in this. We converts have to learn more, through experience, of the daily struggle of keeping and developing our Orthodox Faith. Then even our biggest dreams can come into reality and become fruitful for ourselves and others.3. Cold Formalism Another mistake that is made by some who have found Orthodoxy, but which very much puts off and discourages those who are still searching, is what one might call "cold formalism," a clinging to the formal, official side of Orthodoxy, as though our religion was chiefly one of ceremonies, pomp, official meetings and statements. This was the mistake of the chief priests and pharisees at the time of Christ: as long as the church is well organized, as long as nothing is done without official permission from higher authorities, as long as the church services are properly performed and sufficiently impressive—one can forget the teaching of the Gospel and crucify Christ Himself without a qualm. Often this kind of cold formalism is bound up with an idle and indifferent view towards the Orthodox struggle: Why try so hard? Why bother to help others? Why should we put our heart into Orthodox action? This is the kind of Orthodoxy that is often presented at ecumenical gatherings, and it is precisely the kind that does not attract converts to the Faith. I recently met a Protestant, rather fervent in his own faith, whose contacts with the Orthodox for years had been limited to this "official" type of Orthodoxy, and he was astonished and very pleased when he found out that the heart of Orthodoxy is not there, but in its evangelical fervor which may be seen in all our great Saints.4. "Fortress Mentality" Yet another mistake made by contemporary Orthodox is what one might call the "fortress mentality": we have the truth of Orthodoxy; and the times are so bad that our chief activity now is to defend it against the enemies on every side. Often this mentality goes overboard in finding "betrayers" and "heretics" in the midst of Orthodox Christians themselves, and very often it is so concerned with its own "correctness" and the "incorrectness" of others that it has very little strength left to preach the Gospel of salvation even to the Orthodox, let alone to those outside the Church. Now, Orthodoxy is indeed the correct teaching and the correct worship of God, and that is why this temptation is so easy to fall into. But we must remember that Christ Himself was constantly accused of being "incorrect" by the chief priests and pharisees of His time, and we have to remember that correctness in itself is nothing, and can even cause us to lose our soul, if we do not have first of all something much more fundamental and deep—the "one thing needful" for our salvation. This "one thing" might be called "living faith," and it is inseparable from something which is all too lacking in the Church today—evangelical fervor. If we have found the true Faith after our own often arduous search, we cannot help but want others to share it. In America we are in a way fortunate that our Church is so small in numbers, compared to the great majority of non-Orthodox and now non-Christian Americans. This is fortunate because it means that we cannot help but notice how many people are outside the Church, how many are searching for the truth, how many need us to be fervent witnesses of Orthodoxy. This forces us, if we wish to be doing God’s work, to reach out to them and make the message of Orthodoxy understandable to them. In Greece, on the other hand, where the population is almost entirely Orthodox, there are no non-Orthodox seekers to reach out to, and the result is that many of the Orthodox fight among themselves over the definition of Orthodoxy and waste the precious energy that could be devoted to missionary labors.IV. WHAT MUST WE DO? People today are searching for the truth, searching for Christ, searching for Orthodoxy; we who are already Orthodox are in a position to help give it to them. The time is very late. One doesn’t have to be a prophet to recognize our times as being apocalyptic. The economic and political life of even the most stable civilized countries is in a very precarious state, and we might see overnight changes even in our America that would be comparable to the changes that came over Russia after 1917, when a prosperous, God-fearing country was turned into a great prison and an experiment in building a new humanity without the idea of God—a preparation for the coming of Antichrist. Weapons exist which could destroy mankind. The cancer of unbelief has eaten so deeply into contemporary mankind—not only in the Communist countries, but just as much in the free world—that even everyday life becomes dangerous; in any major city one can be attacked on the street; one’s next-door neighbor can be a murderer. No country really tries any more to live by Christian principles; all of politics is heading in the direction of a one-world government which cannot be anything but universal slavery. It the midst of prosperous America thousands of ordinary citizens are storing food and preparing to defend it with guns against the disasters they expect any day now. We Orthodox Christians are not a people without hope; we have a God Who protects us in the midst of the most terrible misfortunes and disasters. We do not need to devote our energy to storing up food for the hard times ahead. But a Christian must be constantly preparing himself, especially in such uncertain times as ours, when overnight we might be deprived—as believers were in Russia—of religious literature and even Bibles. Therefore: what should we be doing, if we really believe that Orthodox Christianity is the Faith revealed by God for our salvation? How can we keep alive in ourselves the Faith which we have found, and how can we make it accessible to the searchers of today—who soon, I can tell you, will be in the thousands even in our Protestant America. Here are a few of the things we can be doing: 1. We must become informed about our Faith. The process of Orthodox education does not end with Baptism—at Baptism it really begins in earnest. St. John Chrysostom has said: "The Christian who is not reading spiritual books cannot save his soul." Attaining the Kingdom of Heaven, by the Grace of God, is a lifelong task. We must be constantly filling ourselves with the word of God, the Holy Scriptures, and other Orthodox literature, so that, as St. Seraphim says, we will be literally "swimming in the law of the Lord"—the science of how to please God and save our souls will become a deep part of ourselves that can’t be taken away from us. The process of Orthodox education begins with infancy, with the simplest Bible stories and Lives of Saints related by one’s parents, and it should not cease this side of the grave. If anyone learning an earthly profession devotes all his energy to studying and gaining practice in it, how much more should Christians be studying and preparing for eternal life, the Kingdom of Heaven which is ours for a short struggle in this life. People in places where the Bible is forbidden and Orthodox literature is almost unheard of—such as the countries behind the Iron Curtain—are shocked when they see how much time and effort we in the free world waste on idle pursuits, when we have such a richness of opportunity to learn about our Orthodox Faith. It is as though we are hypnotized by the good things of this life into a state of not seeing the eternal life which is in front of us. It is long past time for us to wake up and learn. 2. Secondly, once we are learning of the Orthodox Faith, we must be ready, as the Apostle Peter teaches, to give an account of it to those who may ask. Nowadays there is no one who is not asked at some time about his Faith. We must make our Faith something deep, conscious, and serious, so that we ourselves know why we are Orthodox—and this will already be an answer to those outside the Faith. And further, in our times of searching, we should be on the watch for those who are searching. We should be prepared to find them in the most unexpected places. We should be evangelical—and this does not mean just sticking Bible verses into one’s conversation or asking everyone "Are you saved?" It means living by the Gospel, even with all our weaknesses and falls—living the Orthodox Faith. Many outsiders, just seeing that we try to lead a life different from the pagan and semi-pagan society around us, can become interested in the Faith just by this. (Billy Graham is good as far as he goes—we must help lead people deeper.) 3. And third, being filled with the Gospel teaching and trying to live by it, we should have love and compassion for the miserable humanity of our days. Probably never have people been more unhappy than the people of our days, even with all the outward conveniences and gadgets our society provides us with. People are suffering and dying for the lack of God—and we can help give God to them. The love of many has truly grown cold in our days—but let us not be cold. As long as Christ sends us His Grace and warms our hearts, we do not need to be cold. If we are cold and indifferent; if our response to the need for a Christian answer to those who are miserable is only: "Who cares? Let someone else do it; I don’t feel like it" (and I have heard Orthodox people say those very things!)—then we are the salt that has lost its savor and is good for nothing but to be thrown out.V. CONCLUSION Our times are difficult, especially for the preservation of the spark of true Orthodoxy. Ours is (as in fact it has always been) a "suffering Orthodoxy," to use the phrase of St. Gregory the Theologian. In the midst of the sufferings and struggles of preserving and living by our precious Orthodox Faith, and seeing how much more people have to suffer and struggle for their Orthodox Faith in other parts of the world, let us put a resolve in our hearts—that we will be among the strugglers, no matter what the cost. Everything in this life passes away—only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching. Let us take the way of St. Herman and put into our hearts the deep resolve: "From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all." From The Orthodox Word, Vol. 38, No. 5 (226—Sept.-Oct. 2002), pp. 242-254. Copyright 2001 by the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, California. Used with permission. source: http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/search_for_orthodoxy.aspx

Foolishness-for-Christ

By Apr 23, 2007, 14:26

Leroy Bolier, an outstanding French expert on Russia, made a very true observation, that "Russians are one of the few people who love what makes up the very essence of Christianity: the Cross. Russians have not forgotten how to value suffering, they perceive its power, feel the effectiveness of redemption and know the taste of its bitter sweetness." Foolishness-for-Christ (yurodstvo) is none other than one of the forms, one of the manifestations of this love for the Cross, as noted by Leroy Bolier. At the very core of this podvig* (one of the greatest within human powers) is a feeling of terrible guilt before God within the soul, which prevents it from taking advantage of all the earthly comforts and impels it to suffer and be crucified with Christ.

The essence of this exploit is in a voluntary acceptance of humiliation and insults in order to achieve the height of humility, meekness and goodness of heart and by this to cultivate love even for one's enemies and persecutors. It is a life-and-death struggle not only with sin, but with the root of sin - pride in all its secret displays. A fool-for-Christ (yurodivy) is determined to follow the crucified Christ and to live keeping completely away from all earthly comforts. But at the same time he is aware that such behaviour threatens to create for him the reputation of a saint among the people and to strengthen his self-love and increase his pride as being one of God's elect - which is one of the most dangerous rocks in one's struggle for sanctity. So as not to be taken for a saint, a fool-for-Christ rejects the outer aspect of dignity and composure of mind that inspires respect and prefers to appear a miserable, weak creature, deserving mockery and even violence. Deprivations to which they subject themselves, their heroic, almost superhuman ascetic podvigs - all this must seem to be devoid of any value and to evoke nothing but contempt. In other words it is a complete denial of human dignity and even any spiritual value of one's own being - humility raised to a heroic degree and at times, as it may seem on the surface, falling into the extreme. But in the heart of a fool-for-Christ lives the memory of the Cross and the One Crucified, the slaps on His face, the spitting and the flagellation, which encourages them at any moment to endure any reviling and oppression for Christ's sake.* podvig = a spiritual exploit or feat that requires great effort, sometimes one of even superhuman proportions.Thus, for example, some fools-for Christ considered themselves free from even the most elementary commitments to human society, from its manners and morals, in order to challenge it. Not only did they present as evidence of their denial their almost total nakedness and physical filthiness, but even outward appearances of immorality (this happened even to those people, whose sanctity was officially confirmed by canonization.).A fool-for-Christ does not in the least seek esteem or love from people; he even does not care to leave a good memory of himself among people. This main principle was the source of the strength and courage shown by fools-for-Christ, when they took their sorrowful way of exile and opposed evil and injustice, regardless of their source or the respect or social position of those who committed them. Professor Fedotov has provided a certain plan, which helps us better understand the various aspects that make up this seemingly paradoxical podvig:

1. The ascetic defiance of vanity, which is always dangerous for monastic asceticism. In this sense foolishness-for-Christ is a feigned form of madness and immorality for the purpose of being reviled by people.

2. Revealing the contradictions between profound Christian truth and superficial common sense and moral law with the goal of exposing oneself to the mockery of the world. (I Corinthians 1-4)

3. Serving the world through a peculiar kind of preaching, delivered not in words or deeds, but through the power of the Spirit, and the spiritual authority of the person, often invested with the gift of prophecy.The gift of prophecy is ascribed to nearly all fools-for-Christ. Spiritual enlightenment and a higher sense of reason become the rewards for defying the human senses, just as the gift of healing is nearly always connected with asceticism of the body and taking control over one's own flesh.

The first and the third aspects of foolishness-for-Christ are podvig, service, and toil; they have spiritual and practical implications.

The second aspect provides the direct expression of religious needs. There is a living contradiction between the first and the third aspects. Ascetic oppression of one's own pride is achieved at the cost of exposing other people to temptation and the sin of condemnation, or even cruelty. Saint Andrew of Tsaregrad besought God to forgive those whom he had provoked to persecute him. Any act for the salvation of people evokes gratitude, respect, and thus eliminates the ascetic purport of foolishness-for-Christ. That is why the life of a fool-for-Christ is a constant swinging between acts of moral salvation of people and acts of immoral scoffing at them.

In Russia, foolishness-for-Christ was dominated in the beginning by the first, or ascetic side; but by the 16th century it was undoubtedly the third aspect - social service - that was dominant.It is customary to believe that the podvig of foolishness-for-Christ is exclusively a calling of the Russian Church. This opinion, however, contains an exaggeration of the truth.

The Greek Church venerates six fools-for-Christ. The Lives of two of them- St. Simeon (VI cent.) and St. Andrew (IX cent.) were very extensive and interesting and were known in Ancient Russia. Our ancestors especially loved the Life of St. Andrew for the eschatological revelations that it contained. And the beloved Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God made the "Saint from Tsaregrad" close to all those in Holy Russia. Indeed, it was namely St. Andrew who, during Divine Liturgy in Constantinople, had a vision of the Mother of God, covering the world with her mantle - in honor of which the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God is celebrated on October 1st.

On the other hand, it should be pointed out that this variety of ascetics came to Russia not directly from Byzantium, but quite unexpectedly, in a roundabout way through the West and first penetrated in Novgorod. It is interesting to note that the first saint fool-for-Christ in Russia, Prokopy Ustyuzhsky (1302) - according to his Life composed in the 16th century, was of German origin, "from the West, of the Latin tongue, and from the German lands".

The podvig of foolishness-for-Christ was not known in Russian spiritual experience until the 14th century. There had been only temporary, transient forms of ascetics such as, for example, when St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves wore torn garments, or St. Isaac of the Kiev Caves pretended to be a fool in front of his fellow-monks to evoke their mockery.

Only from the 14th century did foolishness-for-Christ become an original form of service to God, for the glory of God, and society too. It reached its zenith in the 16th century. Fools-for-Christ were considered at the time, in line with the saint princes, as fighters for the triumph of Christ's truth in public life.

After the 16th century there began a decline in foolishness-for-Christ, but it never entirely vanished from the pages of the history of Russian spiritual experience. From the 18th century, the Church no longer recognized or blessed this unique form of spiritual podvig.

In the 20th century the Russian Orthodox Church canonized two fools-for-Christ: Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, and Blessed Alexis of Yelnat. (Ed.)It is important to note that the beginning of foolishness-for-Christ correlated to the time when the sanctity of princes as representatives of laymen began to decline. This is not an accidental coincidence. New times required new forms of sanctity from laymen. The fool-for-Christ became the successor of the saint princes in matters of serving the people. Even if foolishness-for-Christ was of western origin, on Russian soil it acquired unprecedented development.

It can be said without exaggeration that this way of serving God tugged at the most profound heartstrings of the Russian soul and perfectly fitted Russian people's views on religious life. Travelers from abroad, visiting Russia in the 16th century reported on fools-for-Christ, describing them as "strange people wandering about the streets with loose hair, a chain around their neck, with no clothes on except linen rags around their waist." And more: "These madmen honoured as prophets could take from the shops whatever they wanted and the tradesmen poured out their thanks to them without demanding any payment". This enables us to conclude that there were a lot of fools-for-Christ in Moscow of the 16th century and they represented a special class of society. Noting that, Fedotov continues:"General respect for them with the exception, of course, of some separate cases of mockery from children or mischief makers, the chains worn for show, completely transformed the meaning of the old Christian foolishness-for-Christ.

Least of all it was an exploit of humility. At that time foolishness-for-Christ was a form of prophetic service combined with an extreme form of asceticism. And it was not the world that was outraging the blessed, but the blessed were outraging the world.""The general decline of spiritual life from the second half of the 16th century could not have bypassed foolishness-for-Christ. In the 17th century there were fewer fools-for-Christ and they were not canonized by the Church.

Foolishness-for-Christ, like monastic sanctity, became localized in the northern part of the country, returning to its Novgorod homeland. Vologda, Totyma, Kargopol, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka - these were the towns of the last saint fools-for-Christ. In Moscow the Church and state authorities started treating fools-for-Christ with suspicion. They noticed among them the presence of pseudo fools-for-Christ, really insane people or just frauds. A belittling took place of Church feasts to already canonized saints (Blessed Basil). The Synod completely stopped canonizing fools-for-Christ.Having lost the support of the Church's intelligentsia, persecuted by the police, foolishness-for-Christ retreated among the common people and underwent a process of degeneration.

However, the common people despite that obvious decline kept looking upon them as genuine representatives of heroism pleasing to God. So "foolishness-for-Christ remained one of the most characteristic phenomena of Russian folk religiousness; it was often outside the Church, blending with sects hostile to the Church. Though in most cases it remained faithful to the Church provided that the Church authorities did not curb its activities or try to arrange its life and podvig in their own way, disregarding any kind of social and Church discipline". So an absolute individualism constitutes one of the most distinguishing features of this paradoxical spiritual trend.

As we saw, the first known fool-for-Christ in Russia was Prokopiy, who had arrived from Germany and spoke in Latin. Whether he was German or just came from the lands of the Holy Roman Empire is unknown. From Novgorod he moved to Ustyg, pretending to be a fool and leading an unbelievably severe way of life: he slept naked on church-porches, through the night he would pray for the city and the people, receive food only from poor people, treat the rich with contempt. He was abused, beaten, but in the end he won respect and after his death he became profoundly venerated. A hundred years later the residents of Ustyg decided even to build a chapel in his honour, but the clergy opposed it and ordered the destruction of the work that had already been started. However, local commemoration finally triumphed and was confirmed by the Moscow Council in 1547.

This first example was followed by others. Though during a long period the breeding grounds of this new type of saints most probably remained the northern Russian areas, which were in direct contact with the west and particularly half-European, commercial Novgorod. It is not possible to innumerate here all the fools-for-Christ, honoured by the Russian people, both canonized and uncanonized. The number of those officially canonized as saints by the Church is comparatively small: 36. The number of uncanonized fools-for-Christ is quite large.

It would be interesting, however, to tell about one case of this podvig, dating to a more recent time in the 18th century. This is Xenia, who became very famous, especially in St Petersburg where her grave turned into a place of popular pilgrimage. People pray to her along with the most distinguished saints and a countless number of miracles are attributed to her intercession.

Xenia was a married woman. Her husband's name was Andrei Petroff and he was a singer in a court choir. She was 26 when her husband, whom she adored, died. Then she became a fool-for- Christ. Wicked tongues kept saying that she simply lost her mind. She gave away her insignificant property, including her dresses, but she left her husband's clothes and started to wear them, claiming that her name was not Xenia but Andrei. She started living in one of the suburbs, but without having a permanent residence, moving from house to house and disappearing at nights. She was often seen leaving the city and praying in the field turning to all four corners of the earth. She was also seen to work furtively at night bringing bricks for the construction of a large church. Some time later, when her husband's clothes turned into rags, Xenia again started wearing women's clothes, but in a very strange fashion. She wore either a green or red skirt and a jacket and at the same time went barefoot or wore torn shoes and no stockings. Gradually she stopped calling herself a man's name and became Xenia again. But never again would she submit to the conditions of normal life, never restored her relationship with her relatives. She claimed she did not need anything.People of the neighborhood she lived in adored her. Mothers gave her their babies to rock or to kiss - and this was considered a blessing. Cabmen entreated her to sit down in their cabs just for a short time and after that they were sure they would earn a lot during that day. Tradesmen tried to thrust their goods into her hands, - if she touched them, the customers were sure to come. Xenia became a great wonderworker in her lifetime. Her predictions were on everybody's lips. For example, on the day before Empress Elizabeth Petrovna reposed (5 January 1761), Xenia was running along the streets of the city shouting: "Make pancakes, tomorrow everybody in Russia is going to be making pancakes!" (In Russia pancakes-bliny- are part of a funeral repast).

After Xenia's death her veneration continued to grow and penetrated high society as well. Tsar Alexander III, while being heir to the throne, fell ill with a recurring typhoid fever, and his wife, the future Empress Maria Feodorovna, was very worried. Then one of the court servants brought her a handful of earth from Xenia's grave and advised her to put it under the sick man's pillow and to pray to the blessed one. The young grand duchess followed the advice and her prayer was fulfilled. After the future tsar's recovery a daughter was born to them and she was called Xenia in honour of this humble fool-for-Christ. And up till the revolution, among the innumerable amount of believers who came to pray at the blessed one's grave, one would often see the Dowager Empress.

A type of fool-for-Christ was also reflected in Russian literature. Pushkin in "Boris Godunov" depicted the blessed Ivan Big Cap, who had lived in Moscow during the rule of Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich, Ivan the Terrible's son. People said about him that he liked " to look at the sun and meditate on the Sun of Truth". Children would mock him, but he never punished them, but would instead smile and foretell their future. Another fool-for-Christ called Grisha is described in Leo Tolstoy's book "Childhood. Boyhood. Youth". The pages describing the wanderer's night prayers are fascinating and are not inferior to the pages devoted to Starets Zosima in Dostoyevsky's book " The Brothers Karamazov".

After all that has been told above, it is probably possible to conclude, that the fool-for-Christ is a type of saint that conveys better than any other the spiritual features peculiar to Russian people. Love for Christ and His Cross, love even unto death, and a willingness to imitate Him, are alive in the heart of every Russian, consciously professing Christianity. In fools-for-Christ this love is taken to an extreme. The means to achieve it are through denial of this world and its wealth, exercised with the help of grace at a supernatural level. Spiritual wandering and freedom amounting to anarchical individualism develop to full extent in the life of a fool-for-Christ. Contempt for any kind of form or reasonable limits, thirst for the absolute in everything, abhorrence for any generally adopted rules, narrow-mindedness in any form - all these things are fully expressed in foolishness-for-Christ. All these things are flouted and mocked at by fools-for-Christ for the sake of Christ and His Truth. Believing in transformation in the life to come, the fool-for-Christ is sanctified by the Cross and infinite sufferings It brings. This is the synthesis of the innermost aspirations of a Russian and the final clue to the almost superhuman podvig of yurodstvo - foolishness for Christ's sake. source: ttp://www.pravmir.com/article_205.html

Christian Divisions complicate Lebanon Politics

BEIRUT, Apr 28 (IPS) - The political crisis gripping Lebanon has chipped away at what has been viewed by most since the 2005 parliamentary elections as an unlikely alignment of two political heavyweights.The recent falling out between Michel Aoun, head of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Michel Murr, the Greek Orthodox former vice-president of parliament, heralds a change that will undoubtedly affect the 2009 electoral landscape in the Lebanese Christian region of the Metn in the north. Inexplicable alliances have long been a tradition of Lebanese politics, defined by short-sighted tactical partnerships rooted in the intense rivalry of opposing parties, communities and political families. Such alliances have played a key role in the struggle for power among the various Christian factions. To strengthen their positions, the Christian Kataeb party (Phalangists) and the Lebanese Forces -- led by Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea respectively -- joined forces in the 2005 elections with the largely Sunni Future Movement (headed by Saad Hariri, son of slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri) and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) headed by Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Comprising the March 14 Movement and holding a total of 67 seats out 128 in parliament, the alliance is considered the majority. At the other end of the spectrum is the opposition, consisting of the surprising 'memorandum of understanding' between the FPM and Hezbollah, the Shia 'Party of God', which is led by Hassan Nasrallah. Also part of the alliance is the Shia Amal party, headed by current House speaker Nabih Berri. Since the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005, the two sides have failed to reach a compromise on the balance of power in government, which has resulted in an ongoing sit-in protest by the opposition in Beirut since December 2006 and an empty presidential seat since the position was vacated by former president Emile Lahoud in November 2007. It is, in fact, the postponement of presidential elections 19 times thus far that has incited Murr to warn Christian MPs who abstained from voting that they might not be re-elected. "Christians should not be lied to; under the false pretence of defending the rights of their community, presidential elections are being blocked," he said. "Murr believes presidential elections should take place as soon as possible, while the FPM links elections to a basket of measures, such as agreement on the future cabinet composition and the replacement of the inequitable 2001 parliamentary law," says Armenian MP Hagop Pakradounian. So, what does the growing rift between Murr and Aoun over the appointment of a president mean for the 2009 elections? The battle for power in the Metn pits the Kataeb party and LF against the FPM, which is joined by a few independents, including Murr. The impact of Murr's defection from the opposition can be measured by his political weight in the area, which affects the outcome of eight parliamentary seats: four Maronite positions, two Greek Orthodox, one Catholic and one Armenian. Research shows that participation of voters has been customarily low in the area, as is the case with the rest of the country. According to statistician Kamal Feghali, 51.2 percent of registered voters participated in the 2005 elections, in which Murr represented 20,000 votes. In the 2007 partial elections (prompted by the assassination of Kataeb MP Pierre Gemayel), 47.2 percent of voters participated, with 15,600 votes influenced by Murr. During both elections, total votes amounted to about 80,000. "There are currently four independent members of parliament, of which three are allied with the FPM -- Hagop Pakradounion, Selim Salhab and Ghassan Moukheiber -- while the fourth is Michel Murr. Four other seats are occupied by FPM deputies," explains Alain Aoun from the FPM. According to Alain Aoun, Murr's new position will be restricted to the Metn and will not affect national elections. "It is too early to measure the exact repercussions of this new realignment on the political landscape. The disagreement between Mr. Murr and the FPM might dissipate before the 2009 elections, as long as the political discourse remains toned down," he points out, adding that the political context in 2009 will ultimately define the outcome of the next parliamentary elections. Another factor that could disrupt the balance of power in the Metn is the Armenian sway. "Armenian voters represent some 12,000 votes in the Metn, of which our party, Tachnag, traditionally garners 80 percent," explains Pakradounian. Some 10,000 people voted for the Tachnag party in the 2005 elections, while this figure came down in 2005 by 1,150 votes, according to statistics provided by Feghali. "Murr's recent change of heart does guarantee his realignment with the majority," says Pakradounian. "I think his main objective is to exert enough pressure to resolve the deadlock and accelerate presidential elections. My belief is that he is still trying to find a common denominator between the opposition and majority. "We maintain excellent relations with both Gen. Aoun and President Murr, who are our allies, and their disagreement may be short-lived," continues Pakradounian. While Tachnag's alliance with Michel Murr is more than 44 years old, Pakradounian states that General Aoun has also frequently proven his loyalty to the Armenian party by refusing to participate in the cabinet in the absence of the Tachnag. With the power to sway votes in one direction or the other, the Tachnag is certainly proving a force to be reckoned with. Their influence could even reach the elections of the eastern Bekaa city of Zahle, where the party holds one of seven seats. (END/2008)

Pascha comes to Moscow, Russia

MOSCOW, April 27 (Itar-Tass)

The main Orthodox religious holiday -- Easter -- has come to Russia. Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has congratulated Christians on the holiday. A religious procession went around the cathedral before the main service. Participants in the procession lit candles from the Holy Fire brought on a special flight from Jerusalem to Russia on Saturday. Putin and Medvedev are present at the Easter service in the cathedral. According to polls, most people in the country celebrate the holiday this year. Easter services are held in all the Russian Orthodox churches numbering 28,000 all over the world

A Village Easter: Memories of Childhood

from: www.pravoslavie.ru

Uncle Milios never spoke a truer word, when he said the good Christians living outside the town might end up having to celebrate Easter that year without a liturgy. In fact no prophecy was ever closer to fulfilment, for it almost came true twice — but happily God made the authorities see the light, and in the end the poor villagers, local shepherd-farmers, were judged worthy to hear the Word of God and eat the festive eggs. The cause of all this was the busy little coaster that (supposedly) linked those unhappy islands to the inhospitable shore opposite, and which twice a year, when the season changed in spring or autumn, would almost invariably sink, and as often as not take the whole crew down with it. They would then put the post of captain up for auction, and each time some poor wretch, undaunted by the fate of his predecessor, was found to undertake this most perilous task. And on this occasion, at the end of March, as winter was taking its leave, the coaster had gone down again. The parish priest, Father Vangelis, who was also the abbot (and only monk) of the small monastic establishment of St Athanasios, had been appointed by the bishop to take charge of the villages on the opposite shore. Though already an old man, he would take the boat across four times a year, during each of the main fasts[1], to hear the confessions of his unfortunate parishioners — the 'hill-people' or 'mountain-scarecrows' as they were called — and give them some spiritual instruction, before he hastened back to his monastery (if it was during Lent) to celebrate Easter there. But that year, as we have said, the coaster had sunk, the islands were cut off for several days, and Father Vangelis was reluctantly obliged to stay and celebrate Easter on the far shore of the billowing, storm-tossed sea. It seemed as though his little flock in Kalivia, whose homes clustered around the monastery of St Athanasios, would end up not having any liturgy at all. Some of them thought they should take their wives and children down into the town, to hear the Resurrection proclaimed and attend the liturgy there, but Uncle Milios, the village elder of Kalivia, wished to celebrate Easter the way he always had; Sevenmonth (so called because he'd been born premature) didn't want his wife being stared at by the townspeople; and Uncle Anagnostis, an old villager who knew the Easter service by heart, but couldn't actually read a word of it, longed to chant Receive the body of Christ himself. All three insisted (and many agreed) that at all costs they must get one of the priests in town to come up to Kalivia and celebrate the liturgy for them there. Everyone felt the best choice would be Father Kyriakos: he wasn't of a particularly good family (he was even related to one or two of the villagers himself) and he didn't look down on them. He was even said to have some Albanian blood in him.