Defeating the New Age Through the Cross of Christ

So if the new age and its endless philosophies of perdition are not the answer to our salvation then what is? Hieromonk Seraphim Rose of Platina said it very well in his defense of the Orthodox Church in more recent times against the assault, resurgence and acceptance of neo-paganism. “Where is the truth to be found in all this, if indeed it is to be found at all in our most misguided times? In only one place is there to be found the fount of true teaching, coming from God Himself, not diminished over the centuries but ever fresh, being one and the same in all those who truly teach it, leading those who follow it to eternal salvation. This place is the Orthodox Church of Christ, the fount is the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, and the true teachers of the Divine doctrine that issues from this fountain are the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church.” Personally I have no doubt that I am a weak man, a sinner, a Christian reaching to my Lord for help. I cannot forsake my Lord for comfort. I make mistakes, I am not a theologian and far from being a saint, but I love Christ. I am not here to change what He truly is, I am here to defend Him, carry His cross and assist my brethren so they to may know who He really is. Remember, the true Christian renounces the world for love of Christ, submitting their self to the Blessed Trinity and to the service of fellow man. Saint Theophan the Recluse stated, “Be encouraged! Take up prayer more readily and continue without interruptions—and you will soon achieve your desired goal. Soon a reverent attention to the One God will be established, and with it, inner peace. I say soon, not now, or in a day or two. Months may be required, sometimes, even years. Ask the Lord and He will help.” Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow the Lord. We will surely be persecuted, will fall and might appear to fail by human standards, but one thing is certain. Christ requires unwavering faith, loyalty and love. He does not require that we be successful by earthly standards. Remember, His kingdom is not of this world!Posted by Fr. Brian McIntyre at 3:48 PM source: http://theorthodoxvoice.blogspot.com/2008/04/defeating-new-age-through-cross-of.html

4th Sunday of Pascha

4th Sunday of Pascha MATINS (IV) Luke 24:1-12 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. LITURGY Acts 9:32-42 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive. And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord. John 5:1-15 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.

Comprehending the Orthodox Faith

by Dr. Paul SamuelShroro

“Beloved while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the FAITH which was ONCE FOR ALL delivered to the saints” Jude 1:3 Many times we hear the term ‘Faith’ in Christian gatherings and preaching sessions and when it comes to our own MOTHER CHURCH, the term more in use would be ORTHODOX FAITH or the The Faith of the Syrian Orthodox Church. What does this mean? Does it simply mean the faith in Jesus Christ, as put forward by the Protestant and Pentecostal fellowships or does it carry a meaning more than that? Set aside the Protestant and Pentecostal definitions, WE, the Syrian Orthodox have a larger, divine and meaningful definition for the faith we call as Orthodox faith. This essay is an attempt to comprehend the Orthodox faith and if possible to define it in a nutshell without omitting any fundamental component of it. The word ORTHODOX means TRUE FAITH. So Orthodox faith is a true faith. It is for this faith that St: Jude exhorts the faithful to contend, because he felt it was more important than to speak of Common Salvation. This Orthodox faith was delivered once and for all to the Saints and because of its sanctity he exhorts us to contend it. So the basic duty of a Syrian Orthodox faithful is to preserve it, practise it and to hand it over to the next generation without any adulteration. So for us to contend it we must know what is the Orthodox faith and what we should do with it. Jesus Christ, the incarnated Holy Son consecrated Our Mother Church upon St: Peter, Chief of all Apostles and this is recorded in the Bible. And it was at Antioch that the first throne was consecrated by St: Peter and it was here Jesus disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). So we can see that the Throne of Antioch was the oldest one and the Church based on this throne, our own Syrian Orthodox Church can rightly be called the MOTHER OF ALL CHURCHES IN THE WORLD. It was from here St: Peter travelled to Rome and other places. So upholding the faith of this ancient Church becomes all the more important since this is the ancient of all faith and purest of all. What constitutes this Orthodox faith? To put it in a nutshell, it constitutes the following things 1. The Holy Trinity2. The Incarnated Holy Son3. The Holy Church, its tradition and its divine rituals4. Holy Sacraments –of which Holy Qurbono the most important5. Prayer and fasting6. Holy Sleebo or Cross7. Saints and Holy Fathers of the Church8. The Faithful Departed9. The Second Coming and the Day of Judgement We will see the salient points regarding each of the above 1. Holy Trinity The worship of the Syrian Orthodox Church is centred on the Holy Trinity. The Trinity that consists of the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit doesn’t have any individual significance as far as the worship is concerned. We worship the Holy Trinity as a whole. Whenever they are considered individually, they are referred together as in the Liturgy of the Day of Pentecost where three separate parts are there for each of them. The methods by which Pentecostal fellowships invoke Holy Spirit are taboo as far as our worship is concerned. In fact some of the prayer groups who claim to be under the SOC have such practices, which should be deemed unorthodox by our faithful. The fact can be ascertained in our prayers like the Basic Koumo, which starts with the praising of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. If we carefully scrutinize we can see this in all our prayers written by the Church’s Holy fathers. One more point worth noting is that the invoking of Holy Spirit as in Holy Qurbono is a right, which a full priest (Kassiso) and clergy above that level should do. It shouldn’t be done by anyone below his rank. If at all anybody attempts it, the evil spirits only be invoked. That’s why the momentary appearance of ‘spirit’ happens in Pentecostal conventions. The cohabitation of Holy Spirit can never be momentary. In fact it is an eternal thing in the life of a faithful, which starts, with the faithful getting Holy Baptism in the Church (not in ‘ponds’) and will be there till he/she upholds the spiritual traditions dictated by the Church. 2. The Incarnated Son Holy Son of the Trinity took flesh from the Holy Virgin for the salvation of mankind. With the exit of Adam, the whole mankind itself were denied the right to enter the Paradise and that’s the reason why God appointed Cherubs with the revolving swords as guards to paradise. The Holy Son as per the will of the Holy Father came to earth to make us re-enter the forbidden paradise. And this is effected through the Holy Church by partaking in the Holy Sacraments. The fruit which Adam couldn’t taste in the Paradise is available to the faithful members of the Church and this is the Holy Qurbono (quoted from the songs of Pesaho Thursday).Adam and Eve took the fruit of only one of the two trees which were forbidden. God banned them from the Paradise lest they will take the fruit of the other one i.e. Tree of Life also. So the members of the Church by partaking the flesh and blood of Christ is partaking the fruit of life also. This became possible because of the incarnation of the Holy Son. Jesus Christ was God and human at the same time. There were divinity and humanity in him at the same time. It never mixed up or one lessened because of the other. Many people both Christian and non-Christian try to portray our Lord just as a historical figure, a man of good virtues, an emancipator of the oppressed, a true socialist, a miracle man and what more. But for a true faithful he is more than a historical figure because he is GOD. This aspect even the Protestant, Pentecost and to some extent our own Church’s preachers omit carelessly. Jesus is GOD, and he is the Holy Son. This is the Orthodox faith. Along with it one more point needs emphasis. There is no JESUS worship, only WORSHIP of the TRINITY as a whole is our Church’s worship. 3. The Holy Church, its tradition and its divine rituals The Holy Church is the bride of the incarnated Son. She is our Spiritual mother. The place of Church in the life of a faithful is very important. St: Kuprianose, the noted theologian says, ‘For those without Church as mother, God cannot be their father’. Just as father is needed for a person so too is mother. So Holy Church should be deemed as our own mother. Whenever she is in trouble the sons and daughters should protect her, uphold her and preserve her. That’s why all the martyrs of the Church died fearlessly and courageously. Because they fought for the Church and shed their blood to nurture the Church. The Holy Son respected them by giving them the crowns of glory and that’s why Church remembers them in her prayers. So the true faithful should be the guardians of the Church. They shouldn’t watch with folded hands when the Church is in trouble or complain that the Church is not in a path of peace. All the struggles we fought till now were for the Church and we were in the path of peace till now. We should defend our Church at any cost, rather than standing dumbfolded. Because the reward for doing it is not in this earth,it will be there in the heaven above. We should not only be the guardians of its property but also to the rich tradition and divine rituals of our Church. This we should uphold and without modification should hand it over to the next generation. The tradition and rituals of our Church is one of the oldest in the world dating back to the Apostolic times. The rituals and practices also date back to those times. Many of these were taught by our Lord himself and through visions to Apostles and Holy Fathers. In fact in this aspect our mother Church is well ahead of other sister Churches. Even the Catholic Church is far way behind when our rich theology is taken into account. So what we are practicing inside the Church is not simply man-made but all are divine and divinity is hidden in it. Alas, the modern so called ‘neo-theologians’ and neo-preachers fail to recognize and they consider many of them as foolish and unchristian. The Holy Bible is part of the Church’s tradition. The Church has many books and Bible is only one of them. It doesn’t contain everything because in Bible itself is written even all the teachings and acts of our Lord is beyond the scope of a single book. But it contains many spiritually vital things .The rest of the things you get from Church’s teachings. Also Bible should never be interpreted by a faithful himself. It should be studied with the help of the Church. The Holy Church gave us the Bible and so she will teach us how to read it. If not, fallacies will creep in sinking the spiritual ship. That is what created all the heresies and originated the so-called Pentecostal fellowships. This can be understood crystal clear by the fact that along with the advent of printing media and more literacy came the origin of umpteen numbers of Pentecostal fellowships at the beginning of the last century.Holy Church is a community also and we are the members of it. Not only we the earthly mortal faithful, but all the Saints, Holy Fathers and all faithful departed are also members of it. It is with them that we pray to God at Church. 4. Holy Sacraments –of which Holy Qurbono the most important Of the divine rituals in the Holy Church the Holy Sacraments hold a very significant place. Of the Holy Sacraments, Holy Qurbono holds the place of the QUEEN. Holy Sacraments are the divine acts through which the salvation reaches the faithful from the God through the Church. The process of getting the salvation begins with Holy Baptism where in the individual is born again, thereby becoming the son/daughter of Church. The salvation in us needs to be rejuvenated as time passes, by partaking in the other sacraments also till the end of life. So all Holy Sacraments are essential and necessary except Holy Priesthood and Holy Matrimony which the Church has given it’s faithful the right to choose or not.So Partaking in the Holy Qurbono is more important than participating. The effect of attending a Holy Mass is fulfilled only by partaking the blood and body of Christ 5. Prayer and fasting The spiritual life should be enriched by prayers and fasting. The faithful should pray the way the Church teaches him/her to pray. It shouldn’t be the way in which one desire himself. The Church has dictated the time, the way and the manner in which its faithful should pray. It shouldn’t be emotional or verbal blabbering. The Church teaches its faithful to pray at the level of spirit. It shouldn’t be in the bodily level like the gentiles and Pentecostal do clapping hands and dancing and shaking their bodies as if possessed of spirits (‘evil’).The faithful should face East, stand up, fold his hands, keep it close to his body and should meditate about divine things and only his lips and tongue should move to chant the prayers and sing the hymns. His/her mind shouldn’t hover around worldly things and nothing should distract him/her from his meditation including the musical instruments or anything of that sort. This is the way in which the Holy Fathers of the Church has asked us to pray. Self-prayers should be kept after the prescribed prayers. Fasting is another important thing and a vital aspect of praying. The Holy Fathers say ‘A fast in the flesh is a feast in the soul’. Our Lord fasted for forty days and he conquered Satan. The songs of Mid-Lent says “to conquer the evil, Lord gave us Holy Sleebo and Fast”. So to combat evil both is a must, without which we cannot fight with evil. So, just think about the people who doesn’t have both of these and who still call themselves as Christians. The Church has strict rules regarding the number of Lents and the way in which it should be observed. Thus prayers and Lent are vital things in the Orthodox faith 6. Holy Sleebo or Holy Cross Worship, adoration, veneration and respect are all different terms and have different meaning but are different degrees of the same sentiment. We worship God and God only. We adore Saints and intercede to them, but don’t worship them. We venerate Holy Cross but do not worship it. We respect and honour our elders. So Holy Cross is not a matter for worship but a matter of veneration and respect. We keep the photo of our loved ones but don’t love the photo, which is a paper only. Likewise, Holy Cross is a ‘photo’ or a matter of remembrance of our Lord. Because when we see a Cross we remember Our Lord who was hung on it and we remember that our Lord rose from it defeating death. When we sign the Cross on ourselves we are keeping him close to us and as said above we keep the evil spirits away from us. Just think about the people who say Cross is part of idol worship and shun away from it.They themselves shun away and keep other people in their fold also away from it. By this they are keeping the faithful away from remembering our Lord and are doing the job of Satan. Only your enemy will persuade to keep away the gun from you so that he shouldn’t be harmed. 7. Saints and Holy Fathers of the Church.ShroroSaints and other Holy Fathers of the Church are important to us. For us they are not dead, but they are living and continue to pray to Lord just as they did when they were in earth. They have Paradise as their abode. Of all the Saints Holy Mother of God, St: Mary holds the position of Queen of the Saints. All the Saints are part of our Church and they are present with us in the Church in all the sacraments we celebrate. This is magnificiently depicted in the song of Morning Prayers of Sunday Mass. The Church respects and pleads intercession to all of them because God is more pleased with the prayers of His Beloved. So we should also respect and venerate the Saints. We respect them in the following ways · Praying at their tombs and places where their relics are kept· Conducting feasts in their names· Intercessory prayers 8. Faithful departed As already mentioned, faithful departed clergy and laity are also members of our Church. They praise God. It is just to conduct prayers for them. They are waiting for the day of the Judgement which happens on the day of our Lord’s Second coming. Church instructs us to conduct Holy Qurbono and charity in memory of those who are departed. In the song before Kukiliyon in the Sunday mass we sing that we should remember our fathers who taught us faith, in Holy Qurbono and in our prayers. The faithful departed traverse a realm called “Oyar” on their way to the Bosom of Abraham.Oyar is a dark place and it is at this place Satan hides and aims his sharp arrows.We should pray for the departed souls so that they get light to traverse the Oyar and also since they too are ‘living’ we are bound to pray for them. 9. Our Lord’s Second coming Last of all, our Lord’s second coming is the hope on which our whole spiritual life is based on. The Pentecostal groups convey a sense of fear about the Lord’s second coming and say that he will come today or tomorrow like that and advertise in the media and add people to their fold. In Bible itself it written, the time at which our Lord comes, God alone knows. Then how come the news leaked only to the Pentecostal groups. We are hopefully waiting for that day and that day Judgement will happen. Our Lord comes from the East and that is one of the reasons why we pray facing the East. We should be worthy of our deeds in this earth. Not only good deeds are worthy, but upholding the true faith also be done. If your ‘dinoro’ was hidden under earth like the servant in the Jesus parable, you will be cast out into darkness. So these constitute the Orthodox faith in a nutshell. Each part needs explanation in a larger way, which I fear is beyond the scope of this essay. How should we approach this Orthodox faith? We should have a COMPREHENSIVE approach, not a CAFETERIA approach. Cafeteria approach is the one you do when you go to a cafeteria. You order and eat only the things you need. But for the above said Orthodox faith, it should never be done. You cannot choose from the above said faith like you need the Trinity not the Saints and departed or you need the Church to pray not its Sacraments etc. like that. You must have a comprehensive approach and should uphold all the true values of our faith. Lets contend our Orthodox faith like the Saints and Martyrs of our Church did. Lets uphold it just as the Apostles and Holy Fathers put it without adultering it. Lets not lend our ears to the neo-preachers who claim to know everything rather lets turn to Church to learn the faith matters. Lets pass on this everlasting flame to the next generation so that they also come to this way of true light, which our Lord has shown to us. source: http://www.socdigest.org/05dec05.html

St. Mary the Mother of God

The Concept of St. Mary in the Malankara Orthodox Church

Among all the saints of the Church, St. Mary occupies a preeminent position. This prominence is the consequence of her role as the Mother of God (Theotokos), a title that was underscored by the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) and firmly establishing it in the spirituality of the Church. St. Mary thus appears not only as the person who was favoured to bear the Son of God, but because of her acquiescence to God’s offer, she represents the pinnacle of synergy, the process by which human beings cooperate with God for the advancement of the salvific plan. Thus, she represents the reversal of the fatal fall of Eve in the Garden of Eden, and so is also given the designation “the second Eve.” The concept and role of St. Mary in the Malankara Orthodox Church can be appreciated only in the connection with its Christology and ecclesiology. While the Holy Scriptures do not contain this information, the Church tradition names St.Mary’s parents as Joachim and Anna, information contained in the Protevangelium of St.James. Her early years are shrouded in silence, except for the generalized picture that she was resident in the Jerusalem Temple. From this point the New Testament informs us that she received the annunciation of the birth of the Son of God (Lk 1: 2ff ), a point obliquely stated in St. Matthew’s infancy narrative (Mt.1:20) St.Luke very succinctly suggests that many of St.Mary’s experiences went past her comprehension, and it was only the passage of time that unpacked their significance for her (Lk 2:19, 50-51). Both St.Matthew and St.Luke record that she was affianced to Joseph who belonged to David’s family. It is in this way that Jesus’ ancestry is ultimately traced to the Davidic line. St.Matthew’s narrative St.Mt 2:1ff) has King Herod making an attempt on the life of the young Jesus, occasioned by the arrival and query of the Wise Men. Operating through a divine revelation, St.Joseph takes the mother Mary and the little Jesus and flees to Egypt. A revelation in a dream at a later stage conveys the death of those who sought the life of Jesus and so St.Joseph returns with St.Mary and the child to their native country and opt to settle in Nazareth for fear of Herod’s son who now controlled Judea. St.Luke alone records the event of St.Joseph and St.Mary taking the young Jesus to Jerusalem to attend the Passover and is somehow lost. After three days the parents return to find Jesus discussing with the teachers. We do not glimpse too many occasions when St.Mary is sighted during Jesus’ public ministry. There is the anecdote of how she, accompanied by other family members, attempt to obtain a meeting with him, which Jesus supposedly does not acquiesce to. St.John, however, has the narrative of Jesus, along with his disciples and St.Mary attending a marriage feast at Cana and during the course of which the wine runs out. St. Mary intercedes with her Son Jesus, the consequence of which leads to the transformation of the water held in six stone jars into the most qualitatively superlative wine. We then find references to St.Mary only during the last hours of Jesus when she is numbered among the women who watch his crucifixion. St.John has the poignant story of committing her to the care of his Beloved Disciple, an indication that by this time she had no family to look after her. A very different picture of St.Mary emerges in the Acts of the Apostles. The post-resurrection phase presents us with a St.Mary who by now is a confirmed believer in Jesus and active in the early Christian community. And along with the Apostles and other disciples, she experiences the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of the Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11). After this episode she fades from the accounts of the Acts of the Apostles. Her end is not narrated in the New Testament and is found only in the annals of the Church’s traditions. According to the main substance of this account, all the Apostles, with the exception of St.Thomas, were summoned to St.Mary’s bedside in anticipation of her death. In the blessed company of the Apostles, St.Mary breathed her last. One Church tradition has it that her body was taken up into heaven and St.Thomas managed to catch a glimpse of her as she was taken up. In proof of this encounter, St.Thomas was given the girdle and kerchief that St.Mary was using. The other disciples were astounded that the tomb where St.Mary had been interred was found to be empty. It was left to St.Thomas to end their consternation with the news of her body being taken up into Paradise, in proof of which he displayed her kerchief and girdle. The increase in the respect and reverence to St.Mary in consequence of her developing faith, which is seen in Acts of the Apostles, is continued in the early Church. And it is on the basis of the popular devotion to her that the Second Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in A.D. 431 declared that St.Mary be addressed as the “Mother of God” (theotokos). It must be borne in mind that St.Cyril of Alexandria’s opposition to Nestorius’ advocacy for the use Mother of Christ (christotokos), the controversy that consitututes the background for this ecumenical council was based not only on this popular piety, but also on the sound theological principle that what was in question was more than a mere use of a term. What was at stake was the very foundation of the belief that God had become man. In pursuing the belief that Christ was fully God and fully man, the Alexandrian Church father stressed that to address St.Mary as merely the Mother of Christ alone sundered this unitive concept. This high reverence for St.Mary forms the underpinnings for the Orthodox Church’s hymns which extol her as the Second Eve and a second heaven. Many of the hymns use the events of the Old Testament to interpret the mystery of how God could have become a human through the agency of St.Mary. For instance, a favourite event is to interpret the appearance of God to Moses in the burning bush as a type of how Christ was incarnated; just as God appeared as a fire in the bush, but the bush was not consumed, so also Christ was born of St.Mary without consuming her. And since Christ is borne by the Cherubim in heaven, so also St.Mary is figured as a second heaven because she bore the Son of God. In all these instances, what is stressed is St.Mary’s obedience and submission to the will of God, thus reversing the disobedience and self-oriented character of the first Eve which paved for humankind’s fall into sin. The Orthodox Church holds it as part of its faith article that St.Mary continued to be a virgin all her life, addressing her as the Virgin Mary or the Virgin Mother. It believes that the Holy Scriptures do not contradict this belief and interprets the statements in the New Testament to the brothers and sisters of Jesus as either referring to brothers and sisters born to Joseph through a previous marriage or his cousins. Indeed, the New Testament could be seen as very supportive of affirming the continued virginity of St.Mary. When Joseph and Mary go up to Jerusalem and inadvertently leave Jesus behind in the Temple, there is no mention in the gospel to any of his siblings who accompanied them. And in the Gospel of St.John, Jeus hands over charge of his mother Mary to his Beloved Disciple, a situation which would have been unwarranted if Jesus had other brothers or sisters. However, it must be also stated that in the devotion of the Orthodox Church to St.Mary no role or description is made other than her being the Mother of God. In the iconographic tradition of the Church, St.Mary is usually presented as holding in her arms the child Jesus. Similarly, in the hymns which focus on St. Mary, she is asked to intercede to her Son, affirming the biblical principle that there is only one Mediator between God the Father and humankind. In fact, constant stress of the Church is on the fact that there is only one person, Jesus Christ, who has been exempt from the taint of humankind’s sin. It can, therefore, be inferred that the Orthodox Church does not believe that St.Mary was immaculately conceived or that she has a special mediatory role alongside Jesus Christ in the salvation of humankind. In thus developing a devotion to St.Mary the Orthodox Church extols her who exemplifies what it means to be transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. No doubt St.Mary symbolizes what it means to find favour with God. And in so praising her, the Church recognizes that it fulfills St.Mary’s prediction given in the Magnificat: “For, behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed ” (Lk 1:48). Fr. Dr. John Mathews Professor, Orthodox Theological Seminary Kottayam source: http://malankaraorthodoxchurch.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117&Itemid=149

Virtual pilgrimage

Certainly nothing can substitute for a real visit to a holy place, but sometimes it is impossible to make such a pilgrimage, especially to a place far away from one's home. Intensive pace of life, strong work and family obligations and perpetual busy condition do not allow many to make long pilgrimages. Financial problem is another obstacle for making pilgrimages, which are expensive nowadays, while salaries are low. However, even the well-off or those who have sufficient time cannot visit all the places where famous Orthodox shrines are found.

But to know more about these places is perhaps the wish of every Orthodox believer. There is the so-called virtual pilgrimage which can help to do it. The term "virtual" in this case means "not real but close to a real result". This term has become popular in recent years with the development of computer technologies in which it is used to simulate real objects and processes.

Though the term "virtual" has begun to be used with regard to pilgrimages only recently, the very method of discovering shrines through their description has a long history. As far back as the 12th century Hegumen Daniel wrote his famous book on pilgrimage from his experience of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In it he described everything he saw from Constantinople to Jerusalem. This book entitled Palomnik (pilgrim) was very popular among pious Russian people for several centuries. This book and a lot of later descriptions of pilgrimages helped the Orthodox to learn about holy places, to visit them mentally and to come in touch with them spiritually.

The tradition of "book" pilgrimage continued to develop. In 1885, the Russki palomnik (Russian pilgrim) magazine was established. In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries it was read throughout Russia. Remarkably, along with descriptions and pictures this magazine published a wide range of materials on spirituality. This shows that the word "pilgrimage" was understood in a broader sense, as a way of religious education and spiritual growth.

It is interesting that the publishing of this magazine, interrupted with the Bolshevik take-over, was resumed in the early 90s by the Valamo Society in America. As it was before the primary purpose of the magazine is to give knowledge about Russian monasteries and other shrines to people who have no opportunity for visiting them. "Few of us have been given by the Lord the opportunity to make pilgrimages to Holy Russia… Through Palonmik one can make pilgrimages without leaving home and lift up prayers in one's home cell for the reviving monasteries", one of the magazine's issues said. The same idea is expressed in the letter of one of its readers:

"Unfortunately, I have no opportunity to visit Holy Places and will hardly ever have it. But I have my own way to make pilgrimages. For many years I have collected press-clippings with pictures and descriptions of Holy Places and icons. With their help I "have been" to Palestine and Mount Athos, to Egypt and Sinai, to the Kiev Lavra of the Caves and the Optina Hermitage and many other places. Recently, with the help of Russki palomnik, I have been to the place in California where Father Seraphim Rose with his associates founded a monastery. I thank the magazine for it".

A similar opportunity for pilgrimage is given by television and video-films. In the church shops it is possible nowadays to find many video-cassettes with films about Orthodox shrines. The recent years have also seen the appearance of CD-ROMs which make it possible to visit, among other places, Orthodox monasteries. Loading such a disk to your computer, you can not only read a history of a monastery and see its picture but also make a tour of the monastery with a guide, enter its churches and attend a divine service - all this of course in the virtual space. New opportunities for virtual pilgrimage have opened with the appearance of the Internet. Properly speaking, it is with reference to the Internet that the term "virtual pilgrimage" began to be used. Here you really can make a virtual trip when searching the site you need among many others, entering it, moving through its pages and then going to the next one. Where then may the itineraries of such trips run? As in the history of real pilgrimages, one should start perhaps with a visit to the Holy Land. To do it, one can go to the site http://kcm.co.kr/HolyLand/index_e.html. Its texts are given only in English, but its main contents are pictures of the biblical places. Choosing the place you are interested in on the main page, you get to the section with its pictures and a brief description. Every picture can be zoomed in.

Along with the Holy Land, Russian Orthodox people used to go on pilgrimage to Mount Athos. There is a beautiful site devoted to it. Upon entering it, you find a map of Athos peninsula with the signs of monasteries. Choosing the monastery you need from the list of hyperlinks, we can load in a lot of its pictures. There are also articles on the history and geography of Athos and monastic life and many other interesting materials. In the Internet there is also a Russian site devoted to Athos. For the time present it offers information about only three monasteries, but then the texts are detailed enough.

The next virtual itinerary can go through Russian monasteries. One can make an exciting pilgrimage to Valamo. Entering the site of the Valamo monastery, you are offered to load in a map of Valamo island. Very convenient, the map is equipped with a decoder of all the conditional signs, a layout of the routes and an indicator of distances from the center of the monastery to its every hermitage. The monasteries and hermitages are marked with hyperlinks leading to their stories with pictures which can be zoomed in. The site also gives the chronicle of the Valamo monastery and pictures its most venerated icons.

On your virtual trip to the Konovets island, which is close to Valamo, you will be helped by several excellent maps in various scales. With their help you can determine the location of the Konovets village, find the monastery itself with its hermitages and chapels and see the three-dimensional layout of the monastery in a bird's-eye view. The site also has pictures of the monastery buildings and gives information about the charitable work of the monastery. Those who wish to make a real pilgrimage can find useful information in a special section for pilgrims.

The main page of the site of St. Daniel's monastery in Moscow welcomes you with an old print of the monastery and a list of its main sections. Moving through them, you can see modern pictures of the monastery, read its history, find out the schedule of the divine services and see the displays of its museum of church history.

The site of the Ipatyevsky Monastery of the Holy Trinity contains the chronicle of this famous "Imperial monastery" and the story of its revival in our time. There are illustrations of the monastery's shrines and significant events in its history.

If you wish to continue your virtual pilgrimage, you can find the web addresses of other monasteries, for instance, here.

We wish you happy virtual journey! We hope that the virtual pilgrimage will not only help you to learn more about church shrines, but also become an additional incentive for you to visit at least some of them in a real pilgrimage.

Christians Face Extinction in Northern Iraq April 26th, 2008

By Kenneth R. Timmerman /NewsMax.com Thousands of Christians fleeing persecution in other parts of Iraqhave returned since 2004 to ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plain, justnorth and east of Mosul. While they have escaped the Islamic militias who slaughtered familymembers and burned down their houses and churches in Baghdad andMosul, now they face a new battle. Today's enemies are poverty,joblessness, and despair. Jamal Dinha, mayor of Bartella, a large Christian village east ofMosul, painted a dire picture of the life these persecuted Christiansnow face in this Kurdish-controlled safe haven. "The situation in our region is critical. Our young people areunemployed. We have IDPs [internally-displaced people] fromeverywhere. Our infrastructure is bad. Our cultural and scientificinstitutions don't exist. We have no electricity, bad water, brokenstreets." The despair is driving many families to emigrate a second time toSyria and Jordan. "Many families leave after they have stayed here for awhile and seethere are no jobs and they give up hope," echoed Bassam Ballo, mayorof Tel Kaif, the largest city in the Nineveh Plain. "At least inJordan and Syria, there is electricity and water." The plight of these Assyrian/Chaldean Christians has been aggravatedby the collapse of any central government authority in the Ninevehprovince, to which they officially belong, and by the actions of theKurdish Regional Government (KRG), which is seeking to annex thisfertile land where Christians have lived for two thousand yearsbecause it is believed to contain rich oil resources. While the Kurds are providing much-needed security and emergencyrefugee housing, they also are seeking to manipulate the Christiansfor political gain though a sophisticated system of patronage, localofficials, refugees, and international aid, organizations told Newsmax. "The goal of the KRG is clearly to get this land under Kurdishcontrol," said Dr. John Eibner, CEO of Christian SolidarityInternational. "As Christians are driven out of the Nineveh plain,this place will become a great museum of churches and cemeteries. Andultimately, the churches will end up as mosques. The Christiancommunity in Iraq is on the verge of extinction." To stem the exodus of Christians from Iraq, Eiber and his organizationteamed up with William Warda and the Hamurabi Human RightsOrganization, an Assyrian group, to distribute food parcels last weekto 100 of the neediest families in the ancient village of Karamlesh. By coincidence, the day of the food distribution began with a somberchurch service to commemorate the 40-day anniversary of the murder ofChaldean Archbishop Paulos (Paul) Faraj Rahho, who was abducted onFebruary 29 after celebrating mass at the Holy Spirit Church in nearbyMosul. Bishop Rahho is buried in the local church, recently refurbished withfunds from KRG Finance Minister, Sarkis Aghajan. As she was waiting to get her food parcel, 74-year old Noneh Toma cameup to Dr. Eibner and grabbed him by the arms. "I cannot see because I have been crying for so long," she said. "Theyburned my house in Baghdad, so I have come here. I have nothing.Please help me. Please help me," she pleaded. Once home to the palace of the Assyrian emperor, Sargon, many parts ofKaramlesh today are little more than a glorified slum. Aid money fromBaghdad that was supposed to go to the IDPs has been returned unspentby the Kurdish government, in part because the Nineveh plain liesoutside its administrative boundaries. "This crisis is the fault of the government of Iraq," Dr. HekmatHakim, one of the drafters of the Iraqi constitution and a supporterof Aghajan, told Newsmax. "They have $30 billion in cash just sittingthere that has not been used." But the State Department has singled out the KRG Finance Ministry as asource of the "considerable hardship" faced by Christians in theNineveh plain. In a congressionally-mandated report last November, the StateDepartment noted that aid specifically earmarked to help displacedChristians in the Nineveh plain was being distributed unevenly by theKRG Ministry of Finance, and that Kurdish security forces hadcommitted "human rights abuses" against Christians. Ban Noor Shaba, 28, fled Baghdad in 2006 after her brother waskidnapped by the Mahdi Army of Iranian-backed cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He worked for a foreign contractor; she worked in the Green Zone. Theyfled when the Mahdi army told them they planned to blow up thebuilding where they were living, and came to join family membersliving in Karamlesh. Like most of the refugees here, Ms. Shaba and her husband have beenunable to find work, even in the booming Kurdish capital, Erbil, a90-minute drive away. "They told my husband that unless you know somebody, there is nowork," she said. Other refugees said that they were told to join the Kurdish DemocraticParty of KRG President Massoud Barzani if they wanted to find a job.Most refused, and joblessness remains high. "What you see is political patronage. That is what's going on," a U.S.official in the Kurdish capital told Newsmax. Asked if she was receiving any aid from the government, Ms. Shabalaughed. "Are you kidding? [Iraqi prime minister] Maliki is for theShia. [Iraqi president Jalal] Talabani is for the Kurds. But nobody isfor the Christians." Kurdish officials acknowledge that discrimination against Christiansexists, but insist that it is not official government policy. "Those people are our citizens, and when they are coming to Kurdistanthey are most welcome and we will provide them with all possibleassistance," Kurdish Deputy Premier Omar Fattah told Newsmax. The aid, while welcome, has not helped these refugees to find jobs. "Iwill do anything," Shaba says. "But I want to stay here." Kurdish Finance Minister Sarkis Aghajan has put his name on anextensive refugee housing program throughout the Christian areas. InKaramlesh, he purchased land from the local Chaldean church and builtprefab housing blocks at the outskirts of town, where turkeys peck forfood in piles of sewage waste as children drive by on their bicycles. Sheep graze through trash and scrub in a dusty field just beyond therutted dirt road at the rear of the tenements. Although the concrete and cinder-block buildings were recentlyerected, already they are falling apart, many refugees complain. "Weare grateful to Mr. Sarkis for these houses," says Petros YounanIshaq, 48, who fled Baghdad in July 2006 with nothing but the shirt onhis back after his factory was bombed by terrorists and his familythreatened. "But we have problems. Even the water is bad," Ishaq said."For several weeks now, the [drinking] water has been mixed with salt." Juliette Hanani, 41, and her 13-year old daughter rent an apartment inthe refugee complex for 75,000 dinars per month — the equivalent ofaround $50. "We used to get $35 per month in aid from Mr. Sarkis tooffset the rent," she said. "But since July, we have gotten nothing." Refugees pay the rent for the tenements to the local "ChristianAffairs Committee" established by Sarkis, while receiving aid from thesame committee. No one knows where Sarkis is getting the money that he distributes torefugees through local churches, and repeated attempts to contact himfor an interview at his office and at his home in the Hay al Hediabdistrict in Ainkowa were politely rebuffed. Much of the money has been spent with great ostentation buildinggigantic modern churches of sandstone and marble, and lavish Christiancemeteries. "We have asked Mr. Sarkis to build schools, not churchesand cemeteries," said Jamal Dinha. "We see that he pays attention tothe dead, but not to the living." Kurdish officials in Erbil boasted in interviews with Newsmax of theaid they were providing to Christian refugees who have come to the KRGfleeing persecution. But here in the Nineveh plain, the message fromlocal Christian officials as well as refugees is quite different. "Sarkis gives the money to the priests and the bishops, and they giveit to the followers of his policies," said independent journalistJohnny Koshaba, 34, who has written extensively about Mr. Sarkis. Mr. Koshaba was arrested and beaten by Kurdish security forces inJanuary because of his writings, and threatened that if he talkedabout his treatment at the hands of the authorities they would kill him. "Our people are leaving Iraq," said Father Sabri al-Maqdessy, of St.Joseph's Chaldean church in Ainkawa. "Arabs scream about Palestinianrights, but we have nobody who talks about our rights. Without that,in 10 more years, you not see a Christian left living here." source: http://www.ankawa.com/english/?p=1080

Orthodox Women and Pastoral Praxis

Observations and Concerns for the Church in AmericaIcon: Jesus Healing the Woman with an Issue of Blood Jesus Healing the Woman with an Issue of Blood

Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald

This article was published in the St. Nina Quarterly, Volume 3, No. 2. It was excerpted and adapted from a paper given at the Intra-Orthodox Conference on Pastoral Praxis (24-25 September 1985) and subsequently published in Orthodox Perspectives on Pastoral Praxis (Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1988). Reprinted by permission. The ministry of men and women is a topic that is being discussed in many circles today. It is my intention to identify some of the significant issues related to women and to Church praxis (practice) that need to be addressed. American-born Orthodox Christians, especially the generation of post-World War II, have been deeply influenced by the attitudes of contemporary society. These attitudes at times may or may not coincide or complement the fundamental affirmations of the Orthodox Christian faith. Much of our sense of self and perceived identity, like that of many Americans, has been significantly shaped by the "teachings" of the surrounding Western culture and society. To analyze these factors lies outside the scope of this paper. It is, however, very important that we recognize that every believer is susceptible to the influence of the diverse values of our society. Women are equally affected. Orthodox women are all too frequently forced to choose between what is often called the "traditional" or the "contemporary" understanding of women. Orthodox women often prematurely assess their position and role in the Church from either one of these two perspectives, long before they can reflect upon the entire theological, historical, and pastoral tradition of our Church. This takes place simply because they have had precious little exposure to this tradition.1Women and the Diaconate There has been growing interest in recent years among Orthodox in the historic position of the female deacon and in the possibility of reviving this ministry. Clearly, there has been a very remarkable development in this area of theological investigation. It is now common to find many Orthodox theologians openly discussing this issue. For the most part, they find no doctrinal reason against the rejuvenation of a genuine order of women deacons. Because these theologians see no doctrinal reason to keep the Church from reactivating the diaconate of women, this is a recognition which is, in itself, highly significant.2 The most extensive and fundamental research by an Orthodox scholar on the topic of the order of the deaconess has been done by Professor Evangelos Theodorou of the University of Athens. Through his analysis of Byzantine liturgical texts, Theodorou has clearly demonstrated that the female deacons were actually ordained at the altar and within the context of the Eucharist. While this question was once debated among Orthodox theologians, Theodorou has forcefully shown that the female deacon did not simply receive a blessing (cheirothesia) but received the laying on of hands (cheirotonia) as was the case of the male deacon.3 According to the Byzantine liturgical texts, the ordination of the woman deacon occurred as any other ordination to major orders. It took place during the celebration of the Eucharist and at the same point in the service that the male deacon was ordained. She was ordained at the altar by the bishop and, later in the service, received Holy Communion at the altar with the other clergy.4 Depending upon the need, location, and situation in history, the deaconess ministered primarily to the women in the community in much the same way that the male deacon ministered to men.5 While the expression of the deaconess’ work varied in both form and content throughout the life of the Church, it is important to note that the hallmark of this ministry had always been loving service to others. This is because the female deacon, like the male deacon, was ordained to diakonia or ministry.6 And, as was the case with her male counterpart, she was ordained to unconditional service to the Lord and His Church. The woman deacon had always to be receptive to the many changing needs of the Church and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. There is no clear evidence to explain why the order of the deaconess was gradually deemphasized sometime after the twelfth century. It should be noted, however, that there does not exist any canon or Church regulation that opposes or suppresses the order. Writing in 1954 Professor Evangelos Theodorou noted that one could find at that time convents of the Church of Greece in which there were ordained deaconesses. This observation is certainly an important one.7 Before going any further in our discussion, it is important to emphasize here that we must not misunderstand the diaconate to be merely a stepping stone to the ordained priesthood. This is still a fairly common, yet mistaken, assumption expressed by many within the Church. This kind of thinking is essentially alien to the proper Orthodox Christian understanding of ordination. The diaconate is a genuine and full order in and of itself. It has its own particular justification for existence and its own unique ministry within the life of the Church. While we know that certain male deacons may be called to pass from the order of deacon to the order of presbyter and bishop, the nature and vocation of the ministry of the ordained deacon is permanent, complete, and unique. Yet, the ministry of the deacon does not entail presiding at the celebration of the Eucharist as the father of a community of believers. Thus, it was quite possible for both women and men to be ordained to the order of the diaconate.8 The ordained diaconate is the only ministry of higher orders that has been open to women in the Orthodox Church. Although women have in fact been ordained deacons in the Orthodox Church, they have never been ordained to the orders of priesthood and episcopacy. Those persons who presently believe that there is no need for the diaconate in general and, more particularly, for women deacons, would find the prayers of the Orthodox Church of special interest. In the Orthodox ordination service of the deaconess, the following prayer is offered by the ordaining bishop. O God, the Holy and Almighty, You have blessed woman through the birth in the flesh of Your only-begotten Son and our God from the Virgin, and You have given the grace and visitation of the Holy Spirit not to men only, but to women as well; Lord, look now upon this Your servant and call her to the work of Your ministry (es to ergon tis diakonia sou). Send down upon her the rich gift of Your Holy Spirit. Preserve her in the Orthodox faith, that she may fulfill her ministry in blameless conduct according to what is well pleasing to You. For to You are due all honor, glory and worship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. And, as the ordination service continues, the bishop offers this prayer prior to vesting of the deaconess with the diaconal stole. O Lord and Master, You do not reject women who are willing to offer themselves, in so far as it is fitting, to minister in Your holy houses, but rather You accept them into the rank of ministers (en taxei leitourgon). Grant the grace of Your Holy Spirit also to this Your servant who desires to offer herself to You and fulfill the grace of Your ministry, just as You gave the grace of Your ministry (charin tis diakonias sou) to Phoebe, whom You called to the work of ministry (ergon tis leitourgias).9 While a full analysis of the service of ordination of the woman deacon is beyond the scope of this paper, studies of these and other prayers clearly indicate that the witness of the liturgical life of the Church does not limit this particular visitation of the Holy Spirit to men only, nor to certain privileged women who lived during a certain time in history, never again to be repeated. There are no constraints imposed upon the Holy Spirit in these prayers! These prayers tell us that the Lord accepts women "into the rank of ministers" with no restrictions as to time and place.Decorative First Woman DeaconsThe first Deaconesses-Iounia, Lydia, PriskillaTrifena, Fivi, Tavitha Certainly, there are a number of issues related to the order of the woman deacon that must be studied. Among these are the disciplinary canons that set various ages and conditions of life for the prospective deacon. Yet, these studies should not prevent us from seeing the great good that the rejuvenation of the order of the woman deacon would be for the Church today. We need only look around us and see the spiritual needs that exist within the parishes and in the larger society. Even with the assistance of the most devoted laypersons, our priests cannot be expected to meet the many demands of parish life. Therefore, it can be argued that the present situation requires that we also consider rejuvenating this special ministry for qualified women who, following a genuine discernment of their call, would be willing to make a permanent commitment to the ordained ministry of the Church. A decision by the Church to rejuvenate the order of the women deacons would certainly not be an action contrary to Scripture and Tradition. Rather, such an action would be in complete harmony with the Scripture and Tradition of the Church. Those who have discussed the possible rejuvenation of the order of the woman deacon do not appear to have a clear perception with regard to how this might take place. Would it be possible, for example, for a particular diocesan bishop to simply begin to ordain women as deacons? This appears to be precisely what St. Nektarios did. He ordained at least two deaconesses for the convent on the island of Aegina for which he was the spiritual father.10 Or, some may argue, it may be necessary for a particular local church, rather than the pastoral initiative of an individual bishop, to make the decision to rejuvenate the order of the deaconess.11 Indeed, some may argue that the decision would have to be made by the entire Orthodox Church. Clearly, the issue is related to an even deeper one regarding the manner in which the Orthodox Church, either locally or internationally, is to act upon important questions that affect her life in the twentieth century.Women and "Uncleanness" This issue is probably the most difficult and sensitive topic to be discussed. This is so because of two basic reasons. First, the issue of the pastoral understanding of menstruation is one that personally affects every Orthodox woman during part of her life. And second, it is an issue of pastoral theology that has not been fully explored by Orthodox theologians. Because of this, it is an issue that is little understood and often associated with a form of superstition that frequently passes for Church teaching. Contemporary Orthodox women who are knowledgeable about the functions of their bodies understand the menstrual cycle to be a normal and natural part of their biological identity. These same women, however, are often taught by persons in the Church that the menstrual period is essentially evil and, therefore, unnatural. These women are prohibited by some from receiving Holy Communion during their period of menstruation. There are even those who claim that women during their menstrual period should not attend church, should not receive the blessed bread (antidoron), and should not even venerate icons. As we have already said, this topic is one that certainly deserves greater examination. However, it is clear that even a cursory examination of the historical evidence indicates that there are divergences of opinion with regard to this issue. Central to this issue, however, appears to be the question of the proper Orthodox interpretation of the Old Testament view that regarded the menstruous woman to be ritually "unclean" because of her loss of blood. There are two rather obscure canons that deal directly with this topic. These canons were not directly promulgated at an ecumenical synod. Rather, they belong to a collection introduced into the broader canonical corpus through canon 2 of the Council in Trullo in 692. The first is canon 2 of Archbishop Dionysios of Alexandria, a pupil of Origen, who lived during the mid-third century. Apparently answering the question asked of him, Dionysios states in his canon: "Menstruous women ought not to come to the Holy Table, or touch the Holy of Holies, nor come to churches, but pray elsewhere."12 He gives no explanation for his observation. The second canon is also a response to a question put to Archbishop Timothy of Alexandria who lived during the end of the fourth century. In response to the question, "Can a menstruous woman communicate?" Timothy responds, "Not until she is clean."13 Again, as in the first response, there is no reason given for the opinion. Subsequent Orthodox commentators, however, have related these responses to the practices of the ancient Israelites as expressed in the Old Testament.14 Let us compare these canons with other authoritative Church documents. In his commentary on Titus, focusing on the apostolic words "to the pure all things are pure" (Tit. 1:15), St. John Chrysostom condemns those who propagate a superstitious adherence to the uncleanness taboo that would include the restrictions directed against women during their period of menstruation. He goes so far as to accuse these persons of being supporters of myths. In this third homily on Titus, St. John Chrysostom compares many examples of the uncleanness taboo that the Church, under the new, or rather, the fulfillment of the law in Christ, need not follow anymore because, "things . . . are not clean or unclean from their own nature, but from the disposition of him who partakes of them." Further on in this discussion, St. John states that for the Christian: all things are pure. God made nothing unclean, for nothing is unclean except for sin only. For [sin] reaches the soul and defiles it. . . . [And] when the soul is unclean, it thinks all things unclean. Therefore, scrupulous observances are no mark of purity, but it is the part of purity to be bold in all things. . . moral. What is unclean? Sin, malice, covetousness, wickedness. While his discussion on this issue is a general one and does not specifically call attention to a woman’s period of menstruation, St. John Chrysostom’s teaching, nevertheless, seeks to address all of the practices associated with the uncleanness taboo. He affirms that all such observances from the Old Testament period are inappropriate for Christians to follow. With regard to these, St. John relates that, "many forms of uncleanness would be found, if it were necessary to recount them all. But these things are not now required of us." Even more noteworthy, St. John Chrysostom makes no exceptions in this discussion, not even for a woman’s period of menstruation. He even goes so far as to discuss the uncleanness taboo as related to the female birth cycle, that concerns both the generation of life as well as the loss of blood. Referring to the Old Testament practices, he states: You see how many forms of uncleanness there are. The woman in child bed is unclean. Yet God made childbirth and the seed of copulation. Why then is the woman unclean, unless something further is intimated? He intended to produce piety in the soul, and to deter it from fornication. . . . But these things now are not required of us. But all [concern] is transferred to the soul.15 This discussion is intimately tied to the Orthodox understanding of natural body functions. If a woman’s period of menstruation is ultimately a good andnecessary aspect of human physiology, then the canonical Epistle of St. Athanasios to the Monk Ammos (Epistle 48) may offer us a more appropriate approach to this issue. It states that natural body functions are not sinful. To this, the text continues with the following discussion on bodily emissions: For what sin or uncleanness can any natural excrement have in itself? Think of the absurdity of making a sin of the wax which comes from the ears or of the spittle from the mouth. Moreover, we might add many things and explain how the excretions from the belly are necessary to animal life. But if we believe that man is the work of God’s hand, as we are taught in Holy Scripture, how can it be supposed necessary that we perform anything impure? And if we are the children of God, as the holy Acts of the Apostles teaches, we have nothing in us unclean.16 This fundamental principle related to us by St. Athanasios, that for Christians, "we have nothing in us unclean," may actually prove to be a more solid guideline for us; for if involuntary nocturnal pollutions are not considered sinful or unclean, neither should menstruation be considered unclean. It would seem that admonitions concerning all bodily emissions must be applied evenhandedly to both men and women.17Women and the Sanctuary Another issue that is often discussed but seldom reflected upon theologically is that of the apparent restriction of women from the sanctuary. There are those who fervently believe that women are not allowed in the sanctuary merely because they are women and "unclean." And conversely, there are those who with equal ardor believe that men, simply because they are men (sometimes even if they are not Orthodox believers), may enter the sanctuary virtually at will. Both views, of course, are incorrect. The appropriate restriction placed upon women and men from entering the sanctuary area is actually directed to the laity in general. This is based upon two canons; the first comes to us from a local council held in the fourth century at Laodicea of which Canon 44 relates that, "The altar must not be approached by women." A second canon comes from the Sixth Ecumenical Synod and states that, "No layman except the emperor shall go up to the altar" (Canon 69).18 While some have related this prohibition expressed toward women to reasons of biological uncleanness,19 the more accurate practice applies these restrictions to all those who had no appropriate liturgical or practical business for being in the altar area. This particularly pertains to the offering of the holy gifts during the Divine Liturgy. Because "all lay persons are forbidden such action as lay persons."20 Those men and women who have both ecclesial approval and appropriate reason (e.g. for assisting the clergy with the services or for preparing the sanctuary for worship) are not prohibited from entering the altar area. What was originally intended as a practice to maintain good order and promote piety within the whole worshipping congregation, has all too often been used by some as a way of encouraging attitudes that devalue the vocation of women and their equality before God, merely because they are women. As with every issue that we have mentioned, it is also necessary for us to consider this concern with full appreciation for the Tradition of the Church as a whole and not simply with an eye upon relatively recent local practices. Thus, we will find that there is more at stake than may have been at first anticipated. As we have already discussed in this study, we have the tradition of women deacons. They were not only ordained at the altar, but also received Holy Communion as members of the clergy within the sanctuary. Also, we have the striking example of St. Gorgonia, the sister of St. Gregory of Constantinople. She was praised by her brother for her courage and faith in God. St. Gregory notes also that when she was "dangerously ill of a malignant disease," she clutched the holy altar and prayed for God to deliver her from her illness. In telling this story, St. Gregory remembers her "declaring that she would not loosen her hold until she was made whole."21 While the story of St. Gorgonia may be somewhat unusual, the very fact that St. Gregory records the incident is a vivid reminder that we must be willing to broaden our appreciation of the various elements of the tradition of the Church that may enable us to see contemporary issues in a better light. There are some very significant pastoral as well as liturgical concerns that center upon this issue. The first has to do with the Service of the Forty Days at which the newborn child is formally brought to the church. Why in the churching rite of infants, do most priests customarily take male infants into the sanctuary and circle the altar and only bring female infants as far as the royal doors? While some may claim that this is the "traditional" practice, it is necessary to raise the question of whether there is a valid doctrinal reason for the practice. Or is the practice simply conditioned by a cultural view that exalted the male child and devalued the female child? Some may have heard clergy justify these actions by stating that there is always a chance that the male infant could one day serve at the holy altar as a priest. Others may state that the practice is in accord with the canon that prohibits women from entering the sanctuary. Upon closer investigation, however, both of these arguments have little merit. First, as we have already noted, is the canon that prohibits all laypersons (except the emperor) from entering the sanctuary. Thus, it would appear that even the practice of bringing a male child into the sanctuary violates the letter of the canon. And second, with regard to the "future" of the child, who is to say that perhaps the female infant could one day serve within the holy altar as a deaconess? Such argumentation both for the male infant and for the female infant, however, leaves much to be desired. Simply stated, the arguments generally put forward in this regard appear to reflect an attitude that is culturally determined and not doctrinally based. The practice of prohibiting female infants from being brought into the sanctuary at the time of their presentation may well be an act of discrimination. Since we view both the female and the male infants as being equally valuable and equally treasured by God, then it would appear that our liturgical practices must reflect this reality. This leads us to the issue of young girls serving as acolytes. The issue has already been boldly faced by Metropolitan Emilianos of Silybria. He recommends that more women "be admitted to the minor orders such as lectors and acolytes."22 Based upon what has already been said in this paper, especially with regard to the tradition of female deacons, there does not seem to be any doctrinal reason that would prevent girls from serving as acolytes and women as serving as lectors. Indeed, the present custom may be contrary to the Church’s teaching on the dignity of the human person, and the fundamental equality of the male and female persons. Certain members of the Church’s leadership may consider the issue of altar girls as unimportant. It is a topic, however, that is discussed by many mothers and their young daughters. This issue is very important to them. Since it is a serious matter for them, so it also must be treated as an important topic by us as well. Some of the other significant questions we will have to ask regarding this include: how necessary is it for young girls to feel just as much a part of the liturgical life as young boys? How much would an increase in the ways young girls could participate in ecclesial worship affect their future life in the Church? How would this affect the rest of their lives? This is indeed a very important pastoral challenge that we as the Church militant must face.Conclusions I have identified in this paper a number of issues that relate directly to the position and the ministry of women in the Orthodox Church today.* Each of them is an issue of great importance and pastoral concern that cannot be ignored. While this paper in no way assumes to be a complete investigation or analysis of these topics, it has been my intention to introduce some of the more important issues. I would like briefly to conclude these observations by stating that the concern for orthopraxia [right practice] is at the heart of this discussion. Is our praxis as fully Christian as it can be? Do our present actions begin to reflect the full reality of who we are as the body of Christ? Do our current liturgical practices totally correspond to the full Orthodox understanding of masculine and feminine persons? We may need to reflect upon these questions very carefully. If women saw the Lord and ministered to Him, if they were the first witnesses of the crucifixion and resurrection, if they were equally visible in the life of the apostolic Church, then our present constraints on women may reflect a theology very much bound to the assumptions of past cultures. We must be able to reach a point where we can recognize the difference between culturally bound assumptions and those convictions based upon Christian doctrine.Notes. 1. For an interesting sidelight on this topic, see Stephen B. Clark, Man and Woman in Christ (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Books, 1980), pp. 467-506. 2. Elizabeth Behr-Sigel, "The Meaning of the Participation of Women in the Life of the Church," Orthodox Women: Their Role and Participation in the Orthodox Church, edited by Constance Tarasar and Irma Kirillova (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1977), pp. 26-27; Bishop Chrysostomos, "Women in the Orthodox Church: Brief Comments from a Spiritual Perspective," The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 26:2 (1989); Metropolitan Emilianos Timiadis, "The Concern for Women in the Orthodox Tradition," Diakonia 12:1 (1977); Alexander Golubov, "On Deacons and the Diaconate: A Response," One Church 5 (1986), pp. 194-200; Sergei Hackel, "Mother Maria Skobtsova: Deaconess Manqué?" Eastern Churches Review 1:3 (1967), pp. 264-266; Bishop Kallistos Ware, "Man, Woman, and the Priesthood of Christ," pp. 32-34; Constance Tarasar and Irma Kirillova, eds., Orthodox Women: Their Role and Participation in the Orthodox Church, p. 50; Evangelos Theodorou, Heroines of Christian Love (in Greek) (Athens, 1949); idem, The ‘Ordination’ of ‘Appointment’ of Deaconesses (in Greek) (Athens, 1954); Militsa Zernov, "Women’s Ministry in the Church," Eastern Churches Review 7 (1975), pp. 34-39. See also my study on this topic in "The Characteristics and Nature of the Order of the Deaconess," Women and the Priesthood, edited by Thomas Hopko (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1983), pp. 75-96. Appreciation for research assistance is expressed to Protodeacon Michael Roshak and Hierodeacon Peter of New Skete Monastery. 3. His highly significant work, The ‘Ordination’ or ‘Appointment’ of Deaconesses (in Greek), and an earlier study, Heroines of Christian Love (in Greek), have become standard texts concerning the study of this issue. 4. Theodorou, The ‘Ordination’ (in Greek), pp. 40-65. 5. E.g. Didascalia Apostolorum (Syriac Version), edited and translated by Richard Connolly (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1929) 4.3.12, p.146, and 4.3.13, p.148. 6. Theodorou, The ‘Ordination’ (in Greek), pp. 55-56. 7. Ibid., pp. 37, 95-96. 8. Tarasar and Kirillova, Orthodox Women, p.50. For an interesting discussion on the nature of the diaconate, see Louis Bouyer, Women in the Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1979), pp. 82-87. 9. See "The Ordination Rite of the Byzantine Deaconess," in Theodorou, The ‘Ordination’ (in Greek), pp. 55-56. This service dates from the eighth to the tenth centuries and is taken from the Barberion Codex and the Bessarionos Codex. I have offered a translation of this service in "Characteristics," pp. 93-95. 10. Theodorou, The ‘Ordination’ (in Greek), p. 96. 11. In this case, we note the example of the Armenian Apostolic Church in America, more specifically, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, that recently accepted to authorize the ordination of women deacons: "Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Seeks Ordination of Women to the Diaconate," The Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, News Release, July 7, 1986. Cf. "Restoring Women to Their Proper Role in the Armenian Church," Yedvard Gulbekian, Outreach 8 (October 6, 1985). 12. Canonical Letter of Dionysios of Alexandria in The Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers (henceforth NPNF) (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmanns, 1956), p. 600. However, in Canon 4 he leaves it up to the discretion of the man whether or not to commune, after he had experienced "involuntary nocturnal pollutions." 13. Canonical Answers of Timothy of Alexandria, in NPNF, 14, p.613. I have slightly adapted this and subsequent texts to a more readable style that conforms more readily with the spirit of the original Greek texts. 14. E.g. Leviticus 12:1-5 and 15:19-30. 15. St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Epistle to Titus, Homily 2, NPNF, 13, pp. 529-531. Cf. Women and Men in the Church (New York, 1983), pp. 40-46. 16. Canonical Epistle of St. Athanasios to the Monk Ammos, NPNF,14, pp. 602-603; cf. Leviticus 15. 17. Constance Tarasar, "Woman, Handmaid to the Lord: The Role of Woman in the Church Viewed in Dogmatic and Historical Perspective" (M.Div. thesis, St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary), p. 262. 18. NPNF, 14, pp. 153 and 396 respectively. 19. E.g. Zonaras’ comment regarding Canon 44 of the Council of Laodicea, NPNF, 14, p. 153. 20. Women and Men in the Church, p. 45. 21. Gregory the Theologian, On His Sister Gorgonia, NPNF, 7, p. 243. 22. Timiadis, "The Concern for Women," p. 19. *Editors' note: Some of the other issues that were covered in the original paper included: Orthodox women and administrative life; women in theology; and theology of the priesthood. source: http://www.stnina.org/journal/art/3.2.2

Rappers spread gospel, but is it hypocritical?

Hip-hop stars talk about God, but some feel rappers are wrong messengers

The Associated Pressupdated 2:42 p.m. ET, Tues., April. 22, 2008

ATLANTA - Yung Joc appears on stage for a performance as an assembly of youth swarms toward his direction, screaming at the top of their lungs. Only this time, the rapper delivers a message nothing like his raucous songs “I Know You See It,” “Dope Boy Magic,” or his smash hit “It’s Goin’ Down.” “I’m not trying to be a preacher, but God is real in my life,” he says, while his 2-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter stand near him at an event called Exodus, a soulful revival for youths. After Joc’s testimony, the host of the event, Corey “CoCo Brother” Condrey, asks everyone to pray for the rapper. Many in attendance drop to their knees or stand place, tossing their hands toward the sky. ‘Spirit of Hip-Hop’This is a scene Condrey, who created the event, has longed to see. He has set up a platform to marry hip-hop and gospel together through his nationally syndicated radio show, “The Spirit of Hip-Hop” and the yearly event Exodus. Condrey is using well-known rappers for their celebrity status, putting them in the forefront to spread the gospel to youth. “We’re trying to instill Jesus into them,” the Atlanta-based disc jockey said. “We’re making it cool, fly and showing them how they can go to their schools among their friends and love the Lord. And, it’s coming from people who they can relate to.” On his radio show, Condrey has held interviews and prayer sessions with rappers such as 50 Cent, Ludacris, Kanye West and Young Jeezy. The show has also featured guest appearances from gospel stars such as Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams and Smokie Norful. “I’ve been through a lot of different things,” 50 Cent said on the show. “I feel like God is the only reason why I’m strong enough to get through those situations.” Exodus, a free event, has grown over the past three years, drawing between 3,000 to 7,000 fans. Condrey has changed the venue of the event each time, holding it once at a nightclub, a church and recently a skating rink. After all, it’s also an opportunity for fans to see their favorite artists. “That’s how we reach them,” says Bone Crusher, who performed a rock-infused version of gospel. He is also known for his controversial hit “Never Scared,” which drew attention for its vulgar lyrics at an Atlanta Falcons home game a few years ago. “To reach those type of kids, you have to go into the gutter and get them out of (difficulty). Yes, some of it is unorthodox and derogatory. But it’s something I have to do to get the people out.” Under scrutinyCertainly, hip-hop could use the good publicity, especially since the genre has been under increased scrutiny for its sometimes misogynist and violent lyrics. LL Cool J believes the hip-hop industry can benefit from rappers offering their spiritual testimonies to their fans. He hopes if that does happen, mainstream radio will embrace it. “For popular artists to go down and speak to kids about God, righteousness and love for God is great,” rapper LL Cool J said. He recorded a the rap gospel-type track “We’re Gonna Make It” featuring gospel duo Mary Mary off his 2006 album, “Todd Smith.” “Especially, when the kids actually respect the artist and maybe seeing a topic in different aspect,” he adds. But minister Orlando Bethel calls Condrey and the rappers’ actions hypocritical. He thinks youth shouldn’t be taught about God by rappers such as Joc, who is currently facing a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in December last year. “There are people who say they’re saved, and they’re living in sin and think it’s OK,” said Bethel, who protested the event along with 15 others. “Then there is another category of people that are not saved. That’s not right.” ‘It could be their only church’Some from the gospel industry think otherwise. Dr. Bobby Jones, host of the long-running BET gospel show bearing his name, says he has mixed thoughts about how non-churchgoers receive the message but is open to mainstream rappers speaking more about their relationship with God. “I think it’s very narrow-minded for someone to categorize an other one’s relationship with their spirituality,” says Jones. “Who are we to say what’s right or wrong about what somebody develops? It doesn’t matter if five minutes ago someone sang about the love of their life in a very intimate position, then the next five their talking about their love of Jesus Christ.” Gospel singer J Moss says a rapper’s testimony may be the only one someone gets. “It could be their only church,” he said. “God is for everybody.” Condrey would know. He switched from hosting a popular radio show where he only played secular music to a hip-hop gospel platform in 2005. (The show is in 15 markets and syndicated by Radio One.) He changed his format after persuading a homeless caller not to commit suicide while on air, saying he “began to hear God telling him to shift into a different arena.” Since then, Condrey said he quit drinking alcohol and vowed to be celibate until marriage, trying to lead by example. After speaking at Exodus, Joc was inspired to record a track with R&B gospel singer Justin Clark. “It was one of the defining moments in my life,” Joc said. “Somebody might say, ’How can you talk to kids when you have a gun charge?’ But accidents happen and people make mistakes. With young men and women looking up to me, I have to let them know that I’m a man of God.”© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24259102/

New monasticism

An article I recently contributed to Christian History & Biography:

Re-Monking the Church Many Catholics and Protestants are looking back to Benedict for the community and spiritual intensity they can't find in modern culture.

Chris Armstrong January 1, 2007

Christians struggling for sanctity in a too-comfortable world should pay attention to this observation by Mark Noll: "For over a millennium, in the centuries between the reign of Constantine and the Protestant Reformation, almost everything in the church that approached the highest, noblest, and truest ideals of the gospel was done either by those who had chosen the monastic way or by those who had been inspired in their Christian life by the monks." Can Western monasticism's "father," Benedict, still give us an antidote to cultural compromise? At first blush, this might seem unlikely, at least in the Western church. Between 1978 and 2004—nearly the entire span of John Paul II's pontificate—the number of men in monastic and religious orders (not including priests) decreased by 46% in Europe and 30% in the Americas, while the number of women decreased by 39% and 27%, respectively. Compare this to the trend in the global South: During the same period, men in monastic and religious orders increased by 48% in Africa and 39% in Asia, with women increasing on those two continents by 62% and 64%. A number of the Catholic writers in the 2006 volume A Monastic Vision for the 21st Century frankly wonder if "monasticism as we know it" is, in God's providential plan, destined for obsolescence in the West. Yet most suggest that new and powerful forms of the monastic impulse may even now be arising. This is certainly the impression given by the 21st annual Monastic Institute, held in July 2006 at St. John's Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota. There, Catholic Benedictines and members of established communities such as L'Arche and the Catholic Worker Movement joined with leaders of new Protestant communities with names like the Simple Way (Pennsylvania), Rutba House (North Carolina), and the Church of the Servant King (Oregon) to mine the riches of Benedict's Rule. This strikingly diverse group—50% Catholic, 50% Protestant—discussed the topic of "new communities" with high hopes that, indeed, God is still in the monastic impulse.The Lure of Tradition Many signs buoy this hope. Even in the midst of declining numbers, Benedictine monasticism is still thriving on a wide spectrum from the modernized (seen at places like St. John's) to the traditional. In 2000, American monks reestablished a Benedictine monastic community in Benedict's Italian hometown of Nursia, now called Norcia. American Catholic monasticism has seen new life from an unexpected quarter: young men committing themselves to a very traditional form of Benedictine monasticism at the recently founded Clear Creek Monastery near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Clear Creek's monks celebrate the Latin Mass, cultivate Gregorian chant, and practice not only the gospel demands of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but also the distinctly Benedictine gift of hospitality. Many Americans, struck anew with the yearning for holy community rooted deep in the church's history, have come to visit—and a few to stay. But what if someone does not desire—or does not sense God's call—to make the lifelong vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience required of monastics? Do the spiritual resources of the monastic tradition have anything to offer to the person who has made commitments to spouse and family, or is pursuing a secular vocation? History gives a resounding "yes." After all, monasticism was never intended to encompass a different set of spiritual values than those followed by all Christians. It offered a means of living the Christian life with more single-minded intensity. For nearly a millennium, there have been people (one might call them "monastic groupies") who have connected themselves to a monastery in a less formal way, committing to certain spiritual disciplines while remaining in the world. The option of becoming a monastic associate or oblate has enjoyed a recent surge of popularity as both Catholics and Protestants have sought in monastic spirituality something they feel is missing in their own lives.The Longing for Connectedness Also more numerous within the Catholic fold—and arguably no less in the spirit of Benedict himself—are members of a cornucopia of mission-driven ecclesial communities, such as the Christian Life Movement, Chemin Neuf (A New Way), and the Emmanuel Community. In June 2006, the same month that the Monastic Institute met in Minnesota, Pope Benedict XVI met with over 100 new ecclesial groups in St. Peter's Square. Each is committed to following a disciplined pattern of life—some communally and some in the regular spheres of family and work—and to serving the world in its own way. Many include married couples along with priests and individuals who have taken vows of celibacy and poverty. Though the ecclesial communities are not deliberately "monastic," they are meeting needs that in previous centuries could only have been met by joining a monastery. Many of us yearn to be deeply rooted in Christ in a way that reflects his holiness, and to share this rooted, holy life with a community, but we find this hard to do in the modern West. Our culture pushes us to strive for individual fulfillment, to consume more and more, and to spend much of our lives working to pay for that consumption. The result has been a world of constant mobility, alienation, and loneliness. Quasi-monastic movements like the Catholic ecclesial communities reveal a deep desire for connectedness—a sense that we need to live a regular, disciplined life of devotion to God, and that we can't do it alone.Protestant "Monks"? In Protestant circles, this monastic impulse can be seen especially in the phenomenon of intentional communities. Among these, the self-described "new monastics" have taken their cue from philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. In his influential 1981 book After Virtue, MacIntyre compared the state of the West to the decadence of the late Roman Empire, and called for "another—doubtless very different—St. Benedict." In 1998 Jonathan R. Wilson picked up MacIntyre's ideas and put them into more explicitly Christian form in Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World. He fleshed out a call for a "new monasticism" that would allow the church to truly be the church in this troubling, fragmented age. In a time when, it seems to Wilson and the new monastics, "many parts of the church are sinking with the culture and doing so without any resistance," Benedict's wisdom has again become a fount of inspiration and guidance. In School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism (which emerged from a 2004 meeting of "new monastic" communities) leaders concluded that at least some Christians must engage in some form of separation—not only from the "culture at large," but also from the increasingly compromised church—to model a life of true devotion and obedience to Christ. But historically, of course, monastics have not stopped at separation—nor do these "new monastics." Benedict founded a monastic way in which hospitality to the stranger and the needy is a prophetic witness to the world. Thus these new quasi-monastic communities have dedicated themselves not only to contemplative disciplines and submission to a communal rule, but also to solidarity with the poor, racial reconciliation, and peacemaking. One Protestant who attended the St. John meeting, Bethel Seminary graduate Jan Bros, was driven by the difficulty she experienced pursuing true spiritual formation in her old megachurch to start a new monastic community in Minneapolis called Abbey Way, founded on Benedictine principles. When Bros asked a Benedictine sister what she thought of Protestants seeking to start such communities, to her delight the nun replied, "Benedict would approve."Passing Fad or Promising Future? Even in the midst of such celebration, members of new communities, both Catholic and Protestant, are aware that the current love affair with monastic forms of worship and life can amount to another unhelpful "fad" as people run after books and retreats. A few candles and a few chanted prayers do not a prophetic community make. Church of the Servant King's Jon Stock says, "It's awful hard for us Westerners not to approach Benedict as another technique, another consumable, another path to self-actualization." Stock also admits that the new monasticism, focused as it often is on social activism, can lose its connection to the larger church and to worship practices anchored in the church—a concern shared by the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Asbury Seminary's Christine Pohl admits that Benedict's four pillars—"life under a rule, life lived in commitment to a particular people and place, obedience, and ongoing conversion"—present a challenge to modern Western Christians, with our "wariness of vows and commitments, and our individualistic and mobile lifestyles." Time will tell whether the "new monastic" communities will survive, whether the traditional Benedictine monasteries will continue to thrive, and what new forms of counter-cultural, prayerful, prophetic community will arise to inspire Christians and shake the culture. But for now, the future of Benedict seems as bright as his past. Chris Armstrong is associat