IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN NEED

Registration no: 1119427 June 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Another Surge Needed Support the Christians in Iraq. By Robin Harris In Iraq the "surge" is working, but at the same time the Iraqi Christian community is dying. Hardly anyone seems to know, and those who know don't seem to care. In former times, the violent persecution of Christians in a country effectively under the rule of a Western, Christian power would have been unthinkable. But not, it seems, in the enlightened 21st century. The names may be complicated. The facts are not. The Chaldo-Assyrians constitute what remains of the original, non-Arab, population of the area. Iraq's principal Christian communities today belong to the Chaldean (Catholic) Church, Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East. All use Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ. Despite successive persecutions and constant pressures, Christianity has continued in Iraq since, according to tradition, it was brought there by St. Thomas the Apostle. But Christianity now faces extinction. The 1987 census recorded 1.4 million Christians in Iraq. Numbers began to drop as conditions deteriorated after the first Gulf War. There were, though, around 800,000 at the time of the U.S-led invasion of 2003. Of these, about half have now left the country altogether, while more than 100,000 are internally displaced persons. There is no mystery as to why. With other (still smaller) religious minorities, such as Yazidis and Mandaeans, Iraq's Christians are suffering sustained persecution. While constituting less than 4 percent of the population of Iraq, Christians constitute 40 percent of the refugees leaving the country. Most of these have found refuge in Syria and Jordan, where they are living in utterly degrading conditions. The current rate of Christian exodus is estimated at about 2,000 a day. Members of all religions have been affected by the violence since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. But Christians are in a worse position since they suffer directly because of their Christian faith. Targeted by Islamist extremists, they are confronted by demands to convert, death threats, looting of their homes and businesses, systematic intimidation, abductions for ransom, bombings, and frequently murder. Because Christians are known to be weak they and their property are also prey to gangsterism. Churches and church leaders are particular targets for Islamists. The 65-year-old Chaldean archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul was abducted and murdered in March. Numerous priests and deacons have been tortured and shot or beheaded. At least 40 churches have been burnt. The Iraqi Christian community has disappeared altogether from many areas of the country. Baghdad is rapidly emptying of its once flourishing Christian community, whose members have fled north to the traditional Christian homeland in the towns and villages of the plains of Nineveh. But here too they are hugely vulnerable. The regionally dominant Kurds, with whom relations have historically been bad and occasionally bloody, have little interest in offering protection. The Shia-dominated government in Baghdad is distant, unsympathetic, and has its own interests and problems. Even the relative success of the U.S. surge strategy has brought difficulties for the Christians, because the struggle with al-Qaeda is now focused on the regional centre Mosul, where Christians had hoped to find security. The Christian population itself is unused to bearing arms. It has no militia to defend it. It has no regional protectors. It is subject to pressures of illegal land confiscation and annexation, aimed at pushing it out of its last refuge. And an immediate humanitarian crisis threatens. It is estimated that 6,000 Christian families (30,000 people) in towns and villages of the Nineveh plains lack ration books. The aid which comes to the region is channeled through the Kurdish authorities so, naturally enough, is directed to the Kurds, at the expense of the less powerful Christians. NGOs are almost entirely absent. Open sewage flows through streets separating ruined or makeshift structures, where families live in fear and squalor. There is little work, less education, and no hope. The situation can thus correctly and without exaggeration be described as desperate. The best long-term hope for the Christians is the success of America's and the Iraqi government's war against al-Qaeda. Stability is what all Iraqis need — and the Christians, as the weakest, need it more than most. But under current conditions, the Christian community will simply not survive to see the benefits. Immediate, focused action is required to offer effective protection and aid. Giving Christians their own police force and local autonomy as well as guaranteeing humanitarian relief — both for the internally displaced population and the refugees — must be the priorities. Unfortunately, until now there has been a conspiracy of near-silence. Some in the U.S. administration have been unwilling to have public attention drawn to the problem, for fear it would undermine support for the surge strategy. Other countries — with the notable exception of Germany — do not wish to do so either, for fear that they will be expected to take in more refugees. (Britain has a particularly shameful record in this respect). Meanwhile, diplomatic circles have a politically correct repugnance against any initiative directed towards helping a particular religious group — especially, of course, a Christian one. At an international level, only the pope has called for urgent action to avert the tragedy. America and her allies have now to decide whether they are prepared to see the imminent extinction of Iraq's nearly-2,000-year-old Christian community. Such an outcome is not inevitable, but it would certainly be irreversible. If ever there were a test for the West's — and America's — Christian conscience, this is it. — Robin Harris is consultant director of the London-based Politeia think tank and a former adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. source: http://www.icin.org.uk/pages/Another_Surge_Needed.html IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN NEED Registration no: 1119427 Christianity became rooted in Iraq from the first Christian centuries. The Christian community of Iraq has been an important part of the fabric of Iraqi society at all times. They made substantial contributions to the emergence of the Abbasid civilization that flourished on Iraqi soil as well as the building of modern Iraq. They have always been proud of their country in which they lived from ancient times and to which they are attached by bonds of history that go back to the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Recent attacks on the Christians of Iraq, their churches and their religious leaders The recent attacks on the Christians of Iraq, their churches and their religious leaders and the resulting displacement are heartbreaking. It is estimated that more than half of the Christian population has fled the country and a lot more displaced within the country to safer areas. UNHCR have reported that 44% of asylum seekers reaching Syria since their register started in 2003 are Christians, despite the fact that Christians form only 4% of the Iraqi population. While neighbouring countries have been generous in receiving the displaced people, resources are limited and many are reduced to dependence on relatives who live in more prosperous countries. Those who do not have any such help need immediate support and it is those people that ICIN intends to reach for. As Christians we continue to pray asking our Benevolent Creator to protect his creation in Iraq both Christian and Muslim, and while we pray for all world leaders that they may be enlightened to take the right decisions in steering our beloved country to safety, we feel we want to make some contribution towards the sufferings of those displaced people who do not have the privilege of somebody to protect them. It is the suffering of those vulnerable displaced people that our charity tries to address by giving financial help through our churches. Meanwhile, the tragedy of the Iraqi Christians continues.

The Future Unity of the Russian Orthodox Church

THE UNITY OF THE TRUE ORTHODOX CHURCH Vladimir Moss There can be no doubt that the main problem facing the True Orthodox Church today is the establishment of unity in prayer between its various jurisdictions. In view of the urgency of the problem it is surprising that it is so little discussed in print. One reason for this is probably the sheer intractability of the problem; another – the opinion that the solution is actually is very simple: everybody must submit to such-and-such a leader or jurisdiction. However, where angels fear to tread Fr. Gregory Lourié has boldly stepped forward in a four-part report for portal-credo.ru[1]. Of course, it is ironical that this sower of heresy and schism should now be discussing ways of achieving unity in the truth. But this should not prevent us from examining his arguments, which, even if flawed, can perhaps help us to come to a clearer assessment of the way forward. Lourié does not look at the whole Church, nor even the whole of its Russian part, but only those jurisdictions - some only in the process of being formed - which derive their origin from the Russian Church Abroad: ROAC (under Metropolitan Valentine), RTOC (under Metropolitan Tikhon), ROCOR (V) (Bishops Vladimir, Bartholomew, Anthony and Anastasy), ROCOR (V-A) (Bishops Victor and Anthony) and ROCOR (A) (Bishop Agathangelus). I. Dogmatic Differences. First he looks at dogmatic differences, and concludes, somewhat optimistically, that while there is a dogmatic abyss separating True Orthodoxy from “World Orthodoxy”, there are no serious dogmatic differences among the True Orthodox jurisdictions. (a) Cyprianism. With regard to Cyprianism, Lourié notes that while ROCOR in 1994 officially accepted the Cyprianite ecclesiology, and while there is still some sympathy for it in RTOC and ROCOR (A), “in the True Orthodox Churches of the Russian tradition Cyprianism has not found firm and consistent supporters”. So that’s alright then… Or is it? Certainly, the general rejection of Cyprianism in this group of Churches is to be welcomed. But it is worth noting that the assumption that Cyprianism is a heresy in the full sense of the word creates problems for Lourié’s approach to unity. For if ROCOR officially accepted a heresy that is called Cyprianism in 1994, then according to the strict, anti-Cyprianite ecclesiology, all those Churches that consider ROCOR to have remained Orthodox after 1994 and to have derived their own existence from the post-1994 ROCOR trunk – that is, all of the Churches under consideration except ROAC - fell away into heresy with ROCOR at that time! In fact, the further consequence follows that if one considers a Church which officially accepts the heresy of Cyprianism to be still Orthodox, one is oneself – a Cyprianite! For then one is forced to accept that there can be heretics who are still members of the True Church. They may be “sick” in the faith through their acceptance of heresy, but they are still in communion with the “healthy” members, and therefore still in the Church – which is precisely the doctrine of Cyprianism! As far as I know no bishop – with the single exception of the maverick “Archbishop” Gregory of Colorado, USA – believes that ROCOR fell away from the Church in 1994 as a result of its acceptance of Cyprianism. It follows either that Cyprianism is not a heresy in the strict sense of the word but only a “leftist deviation”, or that the label of “Cyprianism” has been used unscrupulously as a stick with which to beat others by those whose own ecclesiology is only a little to the right of Metropolitan Cyprian’s. In either case, the issue needs to be studied more closely and honestly than Lourié has done here… (b) The Gracelessness of World Orthodoxy. The second dogmatic difference considered by Lourié is closely related to the first: the recognition of the gracelessness of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Churches of World Orthodoxy. Lourié first congratulates the Russian True Orthodox that, unlike the Greek True Orthodox, they have not adopted the so-called “switch off” theory, “that is, as if by certain actions of Church authorities the grace of sacraments could be ‘switched off’ suddenly. Glory to God, in the Russian Church environment there dominates the understanding that the loss of grace in heretical and schismatic communities is a process, and not a moment. If we don’t have to discuss this, it will be simple enough to understand each other in all the rest.” Such a sharp contrast between the Greeks and the Russians on this question is, I think, highly debatable. Moreover, the difference between the “process” and “switch-off” theories, as we shall see, is not that simple. However, let us continue with his argument. “If we do not dispute that ecumenism is a heresy, nor that all the church organizations of World Orthodoxy that confess ecumenism are heretical communities, then we are all agreed that this leads to the loss by these communities of the grace of church sacraments. There can be disagreements only about whether to consider the process of this loss to be already completed by such-and-such a period of time. At the same time, none of us will dispute that it is impossible for the Church to produce a formula to calculate the ‘half-life’ of grace. The gracelessness of this or that community that has fallen away from the Church is established only by ‘the expert path’ – through the consensus of the Fathers, that is, the agreed opinion of the saints. I think that none of these principles can elicit objections on the part of any of the True Orthodox Churches of the Russian tradition. “If that is so, then the difference in views regarding the presence of the grace of sacraments in the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and in World Orthodoxy as a whole lies in the domain of economy, and not dogmatics (where there can be no economy of any kind). In other words, if anybody admits the presence of the grace of sacraments in the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and this opinion is unjust, it does not follow that this person is a heretic with whom there must not be any ecclesiastical communion…” On this basis Lourié suggests: “It is sufficient only to anathematize ecumenism and define all the ecclesiastical organizations of World Orthodoxy as heretical communities, ecclesiastical communion with whom is not possible in any circumstances. As regards the question of the grace or lack of grace of the sacraments of the ecumenists, this can be left to time to decide. In a peaceful atmosphere undisturbed by unneeded polemics, the overwhelming majority of the believers will themselves come to the correct conclusion.” But what about the anathema against ecumenism of 1983? Is that not valid? Why introduce a new anathema when the old one – passed under a leader, Metropolitan Philaret, of undisputed authority – stands? And if the old anathema stands, does it not anathematize those very people who consider that there is the grace of sacraments among the heretics, since they “do not distinguish the priesthood and mysteries of the Church from those of the heretics, but say that the baptism and eucharist of heretics is effectual for salvation”? So would not the new anathema proposed by Lourié have the effect of contradicting the old anathema, or at any rate of weakening it? Lourié anticipates this objection in part when he writes: “The anathema against the heresy of ecumenism produced by the ROCOR Council in 1983 turned out to be powerless to guard against this Church from falling into ecumenism because at that time, in 1983, the Council described the sickness, but did not indicate who were the sick – which left an open door to unscrupulous re-interpretations that began immediately after the death of the holy First-Hierarch Metropolitan Philaret (1985).” Fair enough: but what is Lourié’s conclusion: that the anathema of 1983 did in fact fall upon the heretics of World Orthodoxy, or not? If it did, then the need for a new – and weaker – anathema falls away: in fact it becomes harmful as casting a shadow on the validity and sufficiency of the 1983 anathema. If, on the other hand, it did not, then is not Lourié a “crypto-Cyprianite” in that, like the Cyprianites, those “crypto-ecumenists”, as Lourié calls them, he considers the heretics to be “as yet uncondemned”? The fact that no specific heretics were named does not entail that no specific heretics were anathematized, both because there have been many “anonymous” anathemas in Church history, and because, as “I.M.” writes: “There is no heresy without heretics and their practical activity. The WCC in its declarations says: The Church confesses, the Church teaches, the Church does this, the Church does that. In this way the WCC witnesses that it does not recognize itself to be simply a council of churches, but the one church. And all who are members of the WCC are members of this one false church, this synagogue of Satan. And by this participation in the WCC all the local Orthodox churches fall under the ROCOR anathema of 1983 and fall away from the True Church. In their number is the Moscow Patriarchate…”[2] The above, “strong” statement, relying on the conciliar definition of ROCOR’s 1983 anathema, and on the consensus of the great majority of the hierarch-confessors of the Catacomb Church, is a sounder basis on which dogmatic unity among the True Orthodox of Russia can be attained than Lourié’s weaker statement, which while “walling off” the True Orthodox from the heretics of World Orthodoxy, and while anathematizing them precisely as heretics (and presumably by name), nevertheless refuses to say whether they have grace or not. Lourié’s proposed anathema might indeed have been useful if there had not already been an anathema against ecumenism, and if Cyprianism were now, as in the period 1986-2001, the de facto (and, from 1994, the de jure) ecclesiology of the Russian Church Abroad. But now the Russian Cyprianites (unlike the Greek Cyprianites, who have proved firmer in the faith) have either died or signed the Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate; so there is no good reason why there should not be a substantial consensus for the stronger statement among the hierarchs of the True Orthodox Church. Instead of bringing to an end arguments about the faith, Lourié’s anathema might give an excuse for their renewal. For if the question of grace is deliberately fudged, and left, in effect, to the discretion of individual hierarchs, then Hierarch X will receive penitents from the Moscow Patriarchate in a strict manner, as not only heretics, but also graceless heretics, while Hierarch Y will be more lenient, arguing á la Lourié that “the loss of grace is a process, and we cannot be sure that it has been completed” - which will give the supporters of Hierarch X the excuse to call Hierarch Y and his supporters “crypto-ecumenists” or worse. In other words, the scenario of the Greek Old Calendarist Church after 1937 will be repeated in Russia – but with much less reason, because the leaders of World Orthodoxy are much more obviously and deeply heretical now than then. The important point is that, however we understand the process of the loss of grace in a Church, it is not possible that the imposition of an anathema on the Church, if it is accepted as valid and canonical, can be understood in any other way than that the Church in question has lost the grace of sacraments. Before the imposition of the anathema, there is room for argument, for a diversity of opinions: after the anathema, there can be no more arguing, the Church has spoken, the candlestick has been removed (Revelation 2.5), for that which the Church binds on earth is bound also in heaven. Dissenters may argue that the anathema is not valid for one reason or another – for example, because the hierarchs have not understood the essence of the question, or because they are too few in number, or because only Ecumenical Councils have the authority to anathematize. What they cannot deny is that if the anathema is valid, then those anathematized are outside the Church and therefore deprived of the grace of sacraments; for there are no sacraments outside the Church. For the zealots of True Russian Orthodoxy, the question in relation to the Moscow Patriarchate has already been decided, for the Church has already spoken with sufficient clarity and authority: first in the early Catacomb Councils that anathematized it because of sergianism (it was on the basis of these anathemas that Metropolitan Philaret declared that the Moscow Patriarchate was graceless already in 1980), and then in ROCOR’s 1983 Council, which anathematized it because of ecumenism. What is needed now is not a new anathema that denies for itself the force of an anathema, but the signatures of the new generation of hierarchs under the old anathemas. And if further clarification is needed, that clarification should come only in the form of specifying precisely those patriarchs who fall under the anathemas. (c) Sergianism. Lourié says nothing directly about Sergianism as a possible source of dogmatic differences. The reason for that is simple: it is because Lourié himself is a Sergianist. (And a Stalinist: we remember his famous “thank you to Soviet power” and his statements: “I respect Stalin” and “Comrade Stalin was completely correct in his treatment of the intelligentsia”.) Lourié’s Sergianism is obvious from many of his articles, in which he describes even the pre-revolutionary Church as “Sergianist”, thereby depriving the term of its real force, and also from his Live Journal, where he writes most recently: “It is necessary to recognize in general any authority whatever. It is wrong only to allow it [to enter] within Church affairs.”[3] With such a statement not even “Patriarch” Sergius would have disagreed, and it differs not at all from the “Social Doctrine” of the Sergianist Moscow Patriarchate as approved in their Jubilee 2000 Council. But it was rejected by all the confessing hierarchs of the Catacomb Church and ROCOR. For those hierarchs refused to recognize Soviet power, considering it to be that “authority” which is established, not by God, but by Satan (Revelation 13.2). It was in recognition of this fact that the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which Lourié rejects as “a tragic-comic farce” (!), anathematized Soviet power in 1918. And so Sergianism is not, as Lourié implies, simply one historical, rather extreme instance of “caesaropapism”, but the recognition of, and submission to, the power of the Antichrist. In essence, the power of the Antichrist is both political and religious; for, like the Pope, he combines in himself both political and religious authority. Therefore one cannot recognize his power on the grounds that it is “merely” political, and that “all [political] power is from God”; one cannot say to the Antichrist: “I recognize you, but please stay out of my internal affairs.” One has to anathematize it and treat it as an enemy to be resisted in every way and to the limit of one’s strength. But is this relevant now, after the fall of communism, the Soviet Antichrist? Yes, for several reasons. First, Church life must be built on a correct evaluation of her past history, otherwise those past conflicts will come back to haunt us again. Secondly, the Soviet Antichrist is not dead, but only wounded: since the year 2000, Putin’s regime has been turning the clock back to the Soviet Union in many ways, making it more and more a “neo-Soviet” regime that considers itself, and is, the “lawful” successor to the Soviet Antichrist. Therefore the True Church will sooner or later again have to define its attitude to the regime, and probably reject it as the Local Council of 1917-18 rejected it. And thirdly, since 1917 the Church has entered the era of the Antichrist, and can expect only temporary relief from the struggle against it until the Second Coming of Christ. The Antichrist appeared openly for the first time in 1917 in a relatively crude form. His next appearance will be more subtle, and probably still more lethal. Sergianism is therefore only the first appearance of what is likely to be the dominant phenomenon of Church life in the last days: the attempt, in ever more subtle and “reasonable” ways, to make the Church make its peace with the enemy of God, forgetting that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4.4). II. Canonical Differences. Lourié goes on to consider the canonical differences between the True Orthodox jurisdictions, which, he says, constitute 99% of their mutual accusations. He divides these into two kinds: those that relate to injustices of one kind or another, and those which involve schisms, the break-up one group of bishops into two or more sub-groups. The latter kind is the more important, in his view, and therefore he concentrates on that. He begins by pointing out that, apart from the Holy Canons of the Universal Orthodox Church as published in The Rudder, there is only one Church decree generally accepted by all that is relevant to determining the guilty party in a schism – the famous ukaz N 362 of November, 1920 issued by Patriarch Tikhon and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was on the basis of this ukaz that the Russian Church Abroad based its autonomous existence in the 1920s (although the ukaz almost certainly did not envisage the creation of an extra-territorial Church on the global scale of ROCOR), as did ROAC in the 1990s and RTOC in the 2000s. The problem is that not only does the ukaz not provide any sanctions against schismatics: it also fails to provide a criterion for determining who is schismatical - for the simple reason that it in effect decentralizes the Church on the presupposition that a central Church authority, in relation to which alone a church body could be defined and judged as schismatical, no longer exists or cannot be contacted. In 1990s the Synod of ROCOR in New York briefly tried to set itself up as the central authority for the whole of the Russian Church, inside as well as outside of Russia. But this attempt had a firm basis neither in the Holy Canons of the Universal Church nor in the ukaz N 362, and therefore only succeeded in creating schisms and weakening its own, already shaky authority. In view of this, Lourié comes to the conclusion that “no decrees of ecclestiastical authorities issued specially in order to regulate the life of the True Orthodox Church of the Russian tradition can include any special rules that the hierarchs are obliged to carry out. The only thing that is obligatory is all that is decreed by the Canons of the Universal Church.” With this conclusion (to his surprise) the present writer is in broad agreement. (It is an interesting question whether a similar conclusion can be drawn with respect to the Greek Old Calendarist Church. But that question goes beyond the bounds of this article.) De jure, there has been no central authority in the Russian Church since the death of Metropolitan Peter in 1937. De facto, depending on one’s opinions, there has been no such authority since 1986, 1994, 2001 or 2006 – and that only if we allow that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia had the right to regulate Church life within Russia. Now, with the fall of the New York Synod into heresy and the death of Metropolitan Vitaly, no Church grouping or Synod can claim, whether de jure or de facto, to be that unique Church centre in relation to which all other independent groupings and Synods are schismatical. This is not to say that no grouping or Synod has acted in a schismatic spirit or been guilty of the sin of dividing the flock of Christ. What it does mean that there is at present no grouping or Synod that can claim to be the judge of that, and impose sanctions for it, from a strictly canonical point of view. This might appear to be a dispiriting conclusion that can only lead to chaos. However, chaos has existed in Russian Church life since at least 1937, if not 1927 or even 1922; and it can be argued that ukaz N 362 was composed in anticipation of that chaos and in order to mimimize its effects – to control it, as it were, and stop it spreading and deepening. The tragedy of the last twenty years has consisted not so much in the presence of chaos, which has already existed for many decades, but in the misguided attempts to restore order by unlawful means, by creating a Church centre that did not have the sanction of a lawfully convened Church Council. The result, as pointed out earlier, has been the creation of further chaos, as this artificial Church centre, ignoring not only the Holy Canons of the Universal Church, but also ukaz N 362 and even its own “Statute”, has expelled large groups of bishops and parishes without even a trial or summons to a trial. This unlawful usurpation of Church power has now received its just reward, as, suddenly feeling that its own authority rested on sand, it surrendered itself and the flock that still remained loyal to it to what it perceived to be the “real” Church centre – the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. But there is a silver lining to this cloud: there has never been a more opportune time in recent history to convene that lawful Church Council which alone can create a lawful Church centre having the power finally to resolve the chaos within the True Orthodox Church. On this, at any rate, we can agree with Lourié. The question is: is there the will to adopt this, the only way? III. Politico-Economic Differences. Lourié points out that the economic interests which have played such an important part in the MP-ROCOR unia have played very little part in the differences between the True Orthodox Churches – for the simple reason that the True Orthodox Churches have very little money or property. The only real difference has consisted in the fact that, early in the 1990s, the Suzdal diocese under Bishop Valentine tried to obtain a number of churches, mainly in the Suzdal region, by legal representations to the authorities, whereas the dioceses under Bishops Lazarus and Benjamin chose to continue to serve, catacomb-style, in flats. Valentine had considerable success early on in his drive, which was reflected in his larger number of priests and parishes; but the cost, in terms of hassle and money, has been great; and in recent years the MP has taken back several of the churches (the latest was the church of St. Olga in Zheleznovodsk). In some minds this difference between the “possessors” and “non-possessors” is connected with a more sinister political difference, the inference being that Bishop Valentine was continuing to use his continuing links with the (post-) Soviet authorities for base material ends, whereas Bishop Lazarus was free of such contaminating links. Not surprisingly (in view of his possession of an above-ground church), Lourié backs the possessors in this argument. He makes the valid point that it is not “dirty” to try to acquire church property, and that many confessors have died in defending the property of the Church (e.g. the thousands who were imprisoned or killed in 1922 for resisting the Bolshevik campaign of requisitioning church valuables). Many people who might otherwise be drawn to the True Orthodox Church are put off by having to worship in flats, so the Church’s material possessions and buildings have a direct spiritual value in the gathering and saving of souls. Lourié ascribes the ROCOR-ROAC schism of 1995 to analogously “spiritual” economic motives, that is, the need to defend the property of the Church inside Russia against the threat to it posed by the “Act” of the 1994 Lesna Sobor, which proposed redrawing the boundaries of the Russian bishops’ dioceses in such a way as would have necessitated re-registering hundreds of parishes and church buildings, which in turn would almost certainly have led to the loss of most of those buildings to the Moscow Patriarchate. So the insistence – by most of the Russian clergy – that certain changes be made to the Act was completely natural and right. Of course, the motives of this “economic warfare” on the part of the New York Synod led by Laurus and Mark were purely political: to give them an excuse to expel the Russian bishops, who, as they well knew, having burned their bridges with the MP, would never have agreed to the Synod’s plan to unite with it. IV. Psychological Differences. Under this seemingly innocuous heading are concealed all the most intractable differences lying in the path of the unification of the True Orthodox Church. Lourié calls them “psychological” because he wants to emphasize that they are not fundamental, and can be overcome if only the leaders of the Churches would, if not dismiss their suspicions with regard to the other leaders, at any rate take a more strictly pragmatic view of the profit to be gained by communion with them – if they would demonstrate, in short, more Christian love. For one who, like the present writer, knows Lourié’s complete ruthlessness and lack of Christian love towards his ecclesiastical opponents, this lengthy sermon is somewhat nauseating. However, suppressing such feelings, and trying to do justice to the basic thought within it, we have to agree: if all the leaders of the Churches, and all of us True Orthodox Christians in general, were to make a determined effort to display more love towards our opponents, then all these problems would probably vanish overnight. Provided that this love is not sentimental and self-serving, and that justice and truth are not lost along the way… But the suspicion remains that Lourié’s concept of love does not conform with such a proviso… We noted, in the section on canonical differences, that Lourié divides the canonical differences between the True Orthodox jurisdictions, - which, he says, constitute 99% of their mutual accusations - into two kinds: those that relate to injustices of one kind or another, and those which involve schisms, the break-up one group of bishops into two or more sub-groups. In that section he dismissed the first kind as unimportant, but did not explain why they could be so easily dismissed. In this section, it seems, he is obliquely returning to these “unimportant” canonical grievances and trying to bury them on the grounds that it would be “unloving” to bring them up. But, of course, many of these accusations are important. Is it not important whether Bishop X was, or was not, a KGB agent - or a Mason? Or whether Bishop Y is, or is not, a homosexual – or a thief? Or whether Bishop Z did, nor did not, ordain a divorced man for personal advantage - or drove out another priest because he was a witness to his crimes? However, if bishops were allowed to raise accusations of this kind against each other, the Sobor would probably not last more than one, extremely bad-tempered hour – if it started at all. The question, then, is: is the attainment of unity among the True Orthodox so great a prize that we are prepared to sweep all such accusations under the carpet? Lourié would probably reply: yes, for that is what love demands. Let us examine the arguments for and against. V. Arguments For and Against. There can be no question that the attainment of unity is a very great prize – probably the greatest that could be given to us in the present ecclesiastical situation. Not the least of its blessings would be the creation of a Church court that would be competent to judge just such accusations as we have mentioned above and to make its verdicts stick – that is, be accepted by the Church as a whole. The first problem with Church courts in small jurisdictions is that it is difficult to find a sufficient number of judges to meet the requirements laid down by the holy canons. Thus according to the canons a priest must be tried by six bishops, and a bishop by twelve. And yet how many trials conforming to this requirement have been carried out in the True Orthodox Church? Only one instance springs to the mind of the present writer: the trial of Archbishop Auxentius (Pastras) of Athens in 1985, in which thirteen bishops delivered their guilty verdict. The second problem is that it is virtually impossible to bring a first-hierarch to trial in a small jurisdiction, because to the other bishops – especially those who owe their promotion to him - that would be like putting themselves on trial. The example of Archbishop Auxentius in 1985 again appears to be the only significant exception. And yet even there a minority of bishops refused to admit the right of the majority to bring their first-hierarch to trial. A third problem is that those brought to trial in a small jurisdiction will often refuse to stand before such a court, but will cite all kinds of procedural irregularities and then “jump ship” and join another jurisdiction. Thus the leaders of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston left ROCOR even before the trial against them began in December, 1986. Then, having joined the (tiny) jurisdiction of a bishop whom they knew beforehand was on their side – the already-defrocked Archbishop Auxentius again – they graciously allowed themselves to be tried by a court set up by him – with the entirely predictable verdict: “not guilty”. All these problems could be avoided in a united True Orthodox Church with a comparatively large number of bishops, few of whom owe their position to the patronage of the first-hierarch, and from whose judgements there is no escape in this life – except by fleeing to manifest heretics. A great prize indeed… But let us now look at the other side of the coin. That is, let us see the possible negative consequences of the convening of a Sobor of all the True Orthodox bishops in the present situation. A hypothetical Bishop A: “At present I know my flock, and my flock knows me. There is mutual trust and love among us. If I suppress my suspicions about Bishops X, Y and Z, this situation will change – and almost certainly for the worse. Several members of my flock joined me from the jurisdictions of X, Y and Z. When they see me concelebrating with them, they will be dismayed, and perhaps leave me. Nor will I be able to convince them by saying that Bishops X, Y and Z, whatever their personal sins, are not heretics. They did not leave the jurisdictions of Bishops X, Y and Z because they were heretics but because their personal sins were so serious and so blatant that to remain in communion with them would have been equivalent to becoming accomplices in their sins. But now I, and they through me, am becoming complicit in the sins of these bishops, in defiance of the apostle’s word: ‘Do not partake in other men’s sins: keep yourself pure’ (I Timothy 5.22). They will feel betrayed, and I will feel that I am betraying them, however much I argue with them, and with myself, about the need for unity. In other words, the small-scale but real unity that already exists will be undermined for the sake of a larger-scale, but weaker, and even chimerical, unity. “It is no consolation to me to argue that after the union, a spiritual court binding on all the bishops will be in existence, and I will be able to bring Bishops X, Y and Z to trial before this court. How can I rejoice in union with them around the Lord’s Table on one day, and then accuse them of the direst sins on the next? They will feel deceived, and perhaps with reason. They will say: ‘If you fostered such suspicions against us, it was your duty to express them, honestly and openly, during, and not after, the union negotiations.’ Moreover, they will refuse to allow me to be one of their judges. And the same will apply to others of my colleagues who share the same suspicions about them. “Let us recall what happened with our brother bishops in the Greek Old Calendarist Church. In 1986, for the sake of a greater Church unity, Archbishop Chrysostom (Kiousis) of Athens agreed to enter into communion with Metropolitan Euthymius of Thessalonica. But his flock in Thessalonica never accepted Euthymius, having a multitude of accusations against him. Nor was Chrysostom able to bring him to court, because a coterie of bishops consistently opposed him. Finally, in 1995, Euthymius fled, taking other bishops with him into schism. So the union proved to be illusory and even harmful… “Our Russian Church, after priding ourselves on being more stable than the Greeks for many years, now have as many, if not more divisions than they. This should be a reason for humility – and for caution. Let us learn from the mistakes of our brothers and not repeat them out of a misguided feeling that we are better than they…” Conclusion: The Path to True Unity. The arguments for and against seem finely balanced. On the one hand, the commandment of love and the great prize of unity requires, as Lourié rightly says, that for the sake of this goal we abandon personal prejudices, dislikes and grudges, swallow pride and ambition, and give practical, visible expression to the fact that we are indeed united in the dogmas of the Orthodox Faith (although that dogmatic unity cannot include Lourié himself unless he abandons the heresies of his that the True Orthodox are united in rejecting). On the other hand, we must be realistic and accept that unity in the truth but not in justice is an illusory unity which will fall apart immediately a serious attempt to correct injustice is made. For what value can a union of bishops have in God’s eyes if it is used by some to cover up the most glaring iniquities? How can we say that “righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 84.10) if we win peace at the cost of perpetuating unrighteousness? The present writer has no ready solution to this dilemma. However, some historical parallels may provide some hope. First, the last True Council of the whole Russian Church, the Moscow Council of 1917-18, was also preceded by quarrels and disputes of all kinds, both dogmatic and non-dogmatic. Nor did the first two months that the Council was in session provide any relief. Paradoxically, it was the October revolution that triggered a change. One of the delegates, Metropolitan Eulogius of Paris and Western Europe, described the change thus: “Russian life in those days was like a sea tossed by the storm of revolution. Church life had fallen into a state of disorganization. The external appearance of the Council, because of the diversity of its composition, its irreconcilability and the mutual hostility of its different tendencies and states of mind, was at first matter for anxiety and sadness and even seemed to constitute a cause for apprehension… Some members of the Council had already been carried away by the wave of revolution. The intelligentsia, peasants, workers and professors all tended irresistibly to the left. Among the clergy there were also different elements. Some of them proved to be ‘leftist’ participants of the previous revolutionary Moscow Diocesan Congress, who stood for a thorough and many-sided reform of church life. Disunion, disorder, dissatisfaction, even mutual distrust… – such was the state of the Council at first. But – O miracle of God! – everything began gradually to change… The disorderly assembly, moved by the revolution and in contact with its sombre elements, began to change into something like a harmonious whole, showing external order and internal solidarity. People became peaceable and serious in their tasks and began to feel differently and to look on things in a different way. This process of prayerful regeneration was evident to every observant eye and perceptible to every participant in the Council. A spirit of peace, renewal and unanimity inspired us all…”[4] So the Grace of God is able to work miracles even in the most unpromising and intractable of situations so long as a critical mass of people is present who want the miracle and believe in its possibility and are prepared to take the preliminary steps to make it possible. Secondly, there is the example of the First Ecumenical Council. The 318 bishops who were ordered to appear at Nicaea were far from being at peace with each other, even in non-dogmatical questions. But the emperor was not going to allow their mutual accusations to stop the attainment of the unity he so longed for, and so, before the dogmatic discussions began, he ordered all the mutual accusations to be placed in an urn in front of him, and burned… Although the idea of hoping in the appearance of a True Orthodox emperor to solve the problem of True Orthodox unity is anathema to the anti-monarchist Lourié, there can be no doubt that such a figure would greatly help the achievement of that unity for which he argues. For history shows that emperors have more than once provided the focus of unity for the Church when the quarrels of bishops have threatened to tear it asunder. Thus at the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council St. Isidore of Pelusium declared that some “interference” by the emperors (Marcian and Pulcheria) was necessary in view of the sorry state of the priesthood: “The present hierarchs, by not acting in the same way as their predecessors, do not receive the same as they; but undertaking the opposite to them, they themselves experience the opposite. It would be surprising if, while doing nothing similar to their ancestors, they enjoyed the same honour as they. In those days, when the kings fell into sin they became chaste again, but now this does not happen even with laymen. In ancient times the priesthood corrected the royal power when it sinned, but now it awaits instructions from it; not because it has lost its own dignity, but because that dignity has been entrusted to those who are not similar to those who lived in the time of our ancestors. Formerly, when those who had lived an evangelical and apostolic life were crowned with the priesthood, the priesthood was fearful by right for the royal power; but now the royal power is fearful to the priesthood. However, it is better to say, not ‘priesthood’, but those who have the appearance of doing the priestly work, while by their actions they insult the priesthood. That is why it seems to me that the royal power is acting justly…”[5] Such “interference” was justified, in St. Isidore’s view, because “although there is a very great difference between the priesthood and the kingdom (the former is the soul, the latter – the body), nevertheless they strive for one and the same goal, that is, the salvation of citizens”.[6] So the dream of a True Orthodox tsar – not a dream only, but a future directly prophesied by several prophecies – is not only one more factor uniting the True Orthodox, but the one that may be decisive in making that unity visible in one Church jurisdiction. This is not to say that we can simply fold our hands and wait for the tsar. Rather we must raise our hands and plead for his coming – and later, perhaps, set about electing him ourselves. For, as Archbishop Theophan of Poltava said: “The Lord will have mercy on Russia for the sake of the small remnant of true believers. In Russia, the elders said, in accordance with the will of the people, the Monarchy, Autocratic power, will be re-established…” Through this tsar, continues the prophecy, the heretical hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate will be removed and a united Russian Church will be re-established. For, as St. John of Kronstadt said: “I foresee the restoration of a powerful Russia, still stronger and mightier than before. On the bones of these martyrs, remember, as on a strong foundation, will the new Russia we built - according to the old model; strong in her faith in Christ God and in the Holy Trinity! And there will be, in accordance with the covenant of the holy Prince Vladimir, a single Church!... The Church will remain unshaken to the end of the age, and a Monarch of Russia, if he remains faithful to the Orthodox Church, will be established on the Throne of Russia until the end of the age.” And so our present disunity will be overcome, difficult as it is to see the path to that end now. As St. Anatolius the Younger of Optina said: “A great miracle of God will be revealed. And all the splinters and wreckage will, by the will of God and His might, be gathered together and united, and the ship will be recreated in its beauty and will go along the path foreordained for it by God. That's how it will be, a miracle manifest to all...” Let us remind ourselves, finally, that we are talking about a true unity on the basis of the True Orthodox faith, not the false ecumenist unity offered by the Moscow Patriarchate. As Fr. Basil Redechkin writes: “In these 70 years there have been a large quantity of people who have been devoted in mind and heart to Russia, but we can still not call them the regeneration of Russia. For such a regeneration a real unity into a society is necessary. .Such a unity in fulfilment of the prophecies is possible only on the basis of true Orthodoxy. Otherwise it is in no way a regeneration. Thus even if a tsar is elected, he must unfailingly belong to the true Orthodox Church. And to this Church must belong all the people constituting a regenerated Russia…”[7] October 4/17, 2006. Hieromartyr Hierotheus, Bishop of Athens. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] http://portal-credo.ru/site/print.php?act=news&id=47905, 47947, 48065, October 12, 2006. [2] “Iskazhenie dogmata 'O edinstve Tserkvi' v ispovedaniakh very Sinodom i Soborom Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi Zagranitsej “ (Distortion of the Dogma ‘On the Unity of the Church’ in the Confessions of Faith of the Synod and Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad) (MS) ®. [3] http://hgr.livejournal.com/1147523.html, October 13, 2006. [4] Translated in Nicholas Zernov, “The 1917 Council of the Russian Orthodox Church”, Religion in Communist Lands, vol. 6, № 1, 1978, p. 21. [5] St. Isidore, Tvorenia (Works), Moscow, 1860, vol. 3, pp. 400, 410 (in Russian). [6] St. Isidore, quoted in M.V. Zyzykin, Patriarkh Nikon, Warsaw, 1931, vol. I, p. 244 (in Russian). [7] Redechkin, “Rossia voskresnet” (“Russia will be resurrected”), Pravoslavnaia Rus' (Orthodox Russia), № 18 (1495), September 15/28, 1993, p. 11 (in Russian).

Assyrians, the Indigenous People of the Middle East, Leave Home

7/7/2008 23:22:00 By Salim Abraham GroundReport.com

On a sizzling summer afternoon in 1974, my mother was trailing behind me, running hastily home to escape one of the stone battles that raged between neighbourhoods in Syria’s northeastern city of Qamishli. Once we crossed the sand bridge that separated the Assyrian quarter from the rest of the city, we were out of the slingshots’ range. This one was the last battle youngsters from the Assyrian quarter fought against Khanika, a neighboring Kurdish quarter, as the government soon tightened its policing of neighborhoods. The weapons in the battle were giant slingshots (called stone canons) and ghee can lids; the ammunition was stones. It was like a real war with trenches dug along the frontlines of the fighting neighbourhoods. At the time, I was seven years old. I didn't understand what was going on; why such wars broke out. The only thing my mother told me was: "It's a fight between us and the Kurds." I don’t remember the logic behind those fights and how they were planned or started. But I do recall that the Assyrian quarter was vibrant and buzzing with life and robust youngsters ready to defend it and shut it off to intruders. "It was the most active period of my life," recalls Ashour Ileya, 47, an Assyrian plumber who lives in the Assyrian quarter. "It was like we were doing something big, like defending our community." Then, more than 400 Assyrian Christian families lived in the neighbourhood’s mud houses, which sprawl into the eastern part of the city. Now, only 30 Assyrian families live there and only two churches are still standing. Almost all Ileya’s friends and most of his relatives have left for the U.S and Europe. He is waiting for his American visa to be issued as well. The overall population of Qamishli was around 90,000 in the mid 1970s, according to official statistics. Assyrians were estimated to represent more than half the city’s population. Today, Christian Assyrians represent slightly more than 20% of the city’s 300,000 people. Christians represented 13-15% of Syria’s seven million people in the mid 1970s. Today they represent less than 10%, or about 1.7 million people, according to a U.S State Department report. The country’s Assyrians are concentrated in the al-Jazeera region, about 400 miles northeast of Damascus. The region, the largest among Syria’s 14 provinces, includes Hasaka, al-Malikeya and Qamishli. They also exist in Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran in varying numbers. The Assyrians once dominated the Middle East. In the seventh century B.C, their empire stretched from today’s Iraq through southern Turkey to the Mediterranean. They were among the first converts to Christianity and are divided into several churches, including the Catholic Chaldean, the Syriac Orthodox and Catholic and the Church of the East. The Christian exodus from the Middle East came to light after the news of Iraqi Assyrians escaping the violence in their war-torn country following Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003 made it onto the international news agenda. Almost half their population fled Iraq, leaving behind only around 700,000. But the Arab leaders remained silent to their plight. The most recent Arab summit in Damascus, in March 2008, took no notice of their dilemma. The final communiqué did not make any mention of the plight of either the Assyrians or the Arab Christians despite growing evidence that their very existence in the Middle East is targeted. In Lebanon, once a majority Christian country, Christians represent only 34% of its population of four million people, according to the World Christian Database. The database, which bases its work on church estimates, says Arab Christians’ percentage in the Palestinian territories has also dropped from 5.3% in 1970 to 2.5% of 3.7 million Palestinians today. In Jordan, a country of 5.4 million people, the Christian population dropped from 5% in 1970s to about 3% now, according to a U.S State Department report. But, in Egypt, the number of Copts - Egyptian Christians - range from 5.6 million, according to Egyptian government estimates, to 11 million people, according to Coptic Church estimates. Nonetheless, they complain of discrimination in the most populated Arab country of 80 million people. One example of this is that the government still restricts the building of churches in Egypt. The Christian flight from Syria occurred in part for economic reasons. In the mid-1980s, the U.S and the European nations imposed crippling 12-year-long economic sanctions on the country after a British court accused Syrian officials of being involved in an attempt to plant a bomb aboard an Israeli El Al plane. Syrians stood in long lines in front of government-run retail stores to get bread, vegetables, fruits and even napkins and grease. At the time, the Assyrian quarter was changing face. The stream of water that used to flow from Jagjag, the river which splits Qamishli into two parts, ran permanently dry. And the neighbourhood’s Assyrian population was dwindling, too. It was losing a few families to the West each year, where they hoped to find a more prosperous life. Many of them were selling their homes to pay smugglers to get them out of the country. Yet, the neighbourhood still kept its livelihood, with about 250 families living there and a football team named after Faris al-Khouri, the only Christian prime minister in Syria’s history who held the post for one year until October 1945. But gloomier days for the Assyrians of Syria were yet to unravel. In October 1986, 22 members of the Assyrian Democratic Organisation - founded in 1957 in Qamishli to promote Assyrian rights in Syria - were arrested for opposing the government’s official policy of Arabization. They were released after six months in detention. The clampdown prompted many more Assyrians to leave the country. A former ADO official, wishing to remain anonymous and now living in Canada, who was detained during the crackdown on his party’s leadership, said: "The impact was immense on us. We were tortured physically and psychologically. I was a pioneer against our people’s immigration from the country. The detention experience has turned me into immigration promoter." An agricultural engineer, he owned a vast farm with hundreds of trees, apple, apricot and vine, in a village thriving on the banks of Khabour River, several miles northwest of Hasaka city. He blagged his way out of the country only months after he was released in 1987. Had he stayed, he would have been turned into an informant for the security apparatus, the Mukhabarat, he said. In Syria, freedom of worship is maintained and Syriac, the language of Assyrians believed to have been spoken by Jesus Christ, is allowed to be taught in church schools. Yet, the government does not recognize their ethnic identity as Assyrians. It refers to them only as Christian Arabs. The Assyrians exodus from the entire Middle East also has psychological reasons deeply rooted in history. Their communities in the Middle East have been oppressed by rulers in both the distant and recent past. In 1914, the Ottomans slaughtered about 1.5 million Armenians, 750,000 Assyrians and 350,000 Pontiac Greeks and drove hundreds of thousands of Christians out of their homelands. The religious and ethnic tensions in the predominantly Muslim region continued for decades. In 1933, the massacre of 3,000 Assyrians at the hands of the then-Iraqi government in Simile, a small Assyrian town near Mosul, prompted the displacement of about 34,000. Colonel Bakker Sedqi, a Kurd, led the campaign. Survivors of those massacres helped build Qamishli and Hasaka in 1925 and about 36 villages, purely ethnic Assyrian, along the Khabour River, in 1936. As I grew older, I learned that those stone battles witnessed as a seven-year-old, between the Assyrian quarter and Khanika, were a reflection of old grudges. Assyrians have suffered throughout history at the hands of Kurds, as well as Turks, Iranians and, sometimes, Arabs. But the construction of Qamishli marked the end of their suffering. It became a safe heaven for them and a place to maintain their culture and way of life. However, government policies of Arabization and discrimination against ethnic minorities, including Kurds, as well as economic crises are pushing these minorities - especially Assyrians - to abandon their homes they built brick by brick. Looking at the four-story building rising above his home with new inhabitants, Ileya, the plumber, wondered why his community has dwindled so quickly. "Nothing is left for us," Ileya has said over a glass of beer in his home in the Assyrian quarter, "not even those stones we fought with."

The Beginnings of an Online Dictionary of Orthodoxy

A DICTIONARY OF THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH Thank you to St Luke the Evangalist Orthodox church for posting this on their website A DICTIONARY OF THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH Names and words with their pronunciations and application to the Orthodox faith A ABBOT (ab'ût) -- The head of a monastery of monks ABSOLUTION (ab'so lu'shun) -- The declaration of God's forgiveness of sins pronounced by the priest after the confession of sins in the Sacrament of Penance (Confession). ABSTINENCE (ab'sti nens) -- Self-denial. Refraining from gratification of appetite. Days of abstinence are the Fast Days when the eating of meat is not permitted. ADVENT (ad'.vent) -- The forty day fast before Christmas beginning November 28, new calendar. AER (âr) -- A large veil used to cover the chalice and paten during the Divine Liturgy. Usually made of the same material as the priest's vestments. AFFINITY (a fin' i ti) -- A spiritual relationship becoming an impediment to marriage. Godparents contract a spiritual affinity with the child through Baptism. In Matrimony, blood relatives of the husband to the second degree of kindred, inclusive, contract this relationship of affinity with the wife. The same applies to blood relatives of the wife in relation to the husband. Between such relatives, dispensation is necessary to permit marriage. AGNETS (ag' nets) -- The sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament. In the New Testament Jesus was symbolically called the Lamb; accordingly, Orthodox churches attribute the name Agnets,.to Christ in the Sacrament of Eucharist and the portion of the holy bread taken from the prosphora for the mystic transubstantiation is called Agnets. AKATHIST (ak' a thist) -- A service consisting of many hymns of praise to the Savior, the Virgin Mary or some Saint, sung in church or at home. The word is from the Greek word meaning "not to sit." ALB (alb) -- A full-length vestment reaching to the feet is worn by the priest under the chasuble during celebration of the Divine Liturgy. ALLELUIA (al' e loo' ya) -- Derived from the Hebrew, meaning "Praise the Lord." It is sung after the reading of the Epistle at the Liturgy and at the end of the Psalms. ALPHA and OMEGA (al' fa) (o me' ga) -- First and last letters of the Greek alphabet; symbolize the beginning and the end. ALTAR (al' tar) -- Derived from the Latin, meaning "a place of sacrifice." In the Eastern Church it is the elevated area (Sanctuary) separated from the nave by the Iconostas. The Prestol upon which the sacrifice of the Eucharist is brought is located here. ALTAR BREAD (al' tar) (bred) -- Round loaves of bread made from pure wheat flour, used in the Divine Liturgy. Also known as Prosphora. AMEN (a men') or (ah' men) -- From the Hebrew, meaning "so be it"; a response sung or said at the end of prayers, signifying approval of what has preceded. AMVON (am' von) -- The elevated area, also known as Ambo, directly in front of the Royal Doors, used as the pulpit. ANALOY (an' a loi) -- A high table, usually having a sloped top which is used as a Gospel stand or an icon stand. ANAPHORA (ã naf' o ra) -- The portion of the Liturgy of the Faithful beginning with, "Let us stand aright, let us stand with fear. . . ." ANATHEMA (a nath' e ma) -- Solemn excommunication from the Church. In Orthodox Cathedrals on the first Sunday of the Great lent the anathema upon all heretics and apostates is proclaimed. ANCHORITE (an' ko rite) also ANCHORET (ang' ko ret) -- A hermit confined to a solitary cell. ANGEL (an' jel) -- A pure bodiless spirit created by God before man. There are nine degrees of angels. Each Monday of the year is dedicated to the angels. ANDREW'S CROSS (kr?s) -- an "X" shaped cross named from St. Andrew as he was crucified on such a cross. The lower slanting bar on the Orthodox cross is sometimes interpreted as St. Andrew's as he was the first to preach the Gospel to the Slavs. ANOINTMENT (a noynt' ment) -- Anointing the sick with oil is one of the Sacraments and is accompanied with prayers for the healing of the body and soul. ANNUNCIATION (a nun' si a' shun) -- Feast celebrated in commemoration of the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to announce to her that she was to be the Mother of the Son of God. ANTICHRIST (an' ti Krist) -- The great personal opponent of Christ who is to appear before the end of the world and who will be overthrown by Christ at His second coming. ANTIDOR (an' ti dor) -- The name given to the pieces of holy bread from the prosphora which are distributed to worshipers after the Divine Liturgy. From the Greek, it means "instead of a reward." ANTIMINS (an' ti mins) -- Also known as Corporal, an antimins is a silk cloth with a sketch of the entombment of Christ inscribed on it and a part of a relic sewed into it. A combined Greek-Latin word meaning "in place of a table," the antimins is absolutely necessary in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. ANTIPHON (an' ti fon) -- Verses from the Psalms, each followed by anthems, sung on Great Holy Days at the Divine Liturgy after each of the first three litanies. APOCALYPSE (a pok' a lips) -- Prophetic New Testament book written by the Apostle John. The final book of the Bible, also known as Revelations. APOCRYPHA (a pok' ri f a) -- Certain Old Testament books not considered Canonical but included in Orthodox and Roman Catholic Bibles. APOSTLE (a pos'1) -- From the Greek, meaning "one who is sent." The name given by Christ to the Twelve Disciples. The Orthodox Church applies this name also to the Seventy Disciples of Christ who preached the Gospel. Some outstanding Christian workers have also become known as Equal-to-the-Apostles. ARCHBISHOP (ärch' bish' up) -- Chief of the bishops in a church province. ARCHDEACON (ärch' de' kn) -- The chief deacon. If married, the title is protodeacon. The Martyr Stephen was the first archdeacon. ARCHIMANDRITE (är' ki man' drit) -- A monastic rank next below the bishop in the church hierarchy. From the Greek, meaning "the head of a monastery." ARCHPRIEST (ärch' prest) -- Priest honored with special dignity or assigned special duties. ARTOS (är' tos) -- Easter bread representing the Bread of Eternal Life. The Artos is kept on the lectern during Easter week and is broken up and given to the worshipers the eighth day after Easter. ASCENSION DAY (a sen' shun Day) -- Movable feast day observed forty days after Easter to commemorate the Ascension of Christ into Heaven. ASSUMPTION (a sump' shun) -- Feast day celebrating the falling asleep of the Virgin Mary. ASTERISK (a s' ter isk) -- The asterisk, also called the star, is a sacred vessel placed over the paten to keep the holy bread and particles disposed around it in a prescribed order. Also serves to support the aer and veil covering the chalice and paten. B BANNER (ban' er) -- Metallic or brocade cloth inscribed with sacred icons, carried at the head of processionals on long poles. BANNS (banz) -- Proclamation announced in church of .an intended marriage. Banns are repeated three times. BAPTISM (bap' tizm) -- Sacrament washing away original sin and joins person baptized to the church. Baptism, usually performed by a priest, may be administered by a layman in cases of emergency. BEATITUDES (be at' i tudz) -- The nine blessings given by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount. They are sung at the time of the Little Entrance in the Divine Liturgy. BELFRY (bel' fri) -- Part of the church where the church bells are hung, usually a tower above the front of the church. BELLS (bels) -- Used to summon the faithful to worship. They are rung at certain progressive points in the service, while the Holy Gifts are being consecrated, during processionals and are tolled in mourning for the dead. BENEDICTION (ben' e dik' shun) -- Blessing given by the priest at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy. BETROTHAL (be troth al) or (be tr?th al) -- First part of the Marriage ceremony in which a formal and binding promise is made and rings are placed on the fingers of the bride and groom. BIBLE (bi' bl) -- Sacred Books including the Old and New Testaments. Holy Writings of men inspired by God. BISHOP (bish' up) -- One of the chief orders of Orthodox clergy, endowed with the right of laying on of hands to ordain priests and deacons. A bishop is usually in charge of a diocese. BOWING (bou' ing) - Attitude of the body in Divine Worship to express reverence. BYZANTINE (bi zan' tin) - Style of architecture popular with Orthodox churches, developed in Byzantinum, now called Istanbul. C CALENDAR (kal' en dår) -- Orderly arrangement of the days, weeks and months of the year. The Orthodox Church uses the old Julian calendar in reckoning church days. CALVARY (kal' vå ri) -- Golgotha, the Mount where Christ was crucified. CANDELABRUM (kan' de la' brum) -- Large, branched candlestick, usually designed for seven candles to symbolize the seven sacraments, the seven great Orthodox holidays connected with Christ, the seven Ecumenical Councils, and the seven days of creation. CANDLES (kan' dls) -- Used profusely in Orthodox churches to express the warmth of devotion and as symbols of the light of Christ. CANON (kan' un) -- From the Greek, meaning rule. Applies to a rule given by a priest to a worshiper after confession for spiritual healing and strength and is also applied to the collection of hymns sung at Matins. CANON LAW (kan' un lô) -- Rules or laws relating to faith, morals and discipline as prescribed by the Ecumenical and Provincial Councils and the Holy Fathers. CANONIZATION (kan' un' i za' shun) -- Proclamation by church authorities on the sanctity and glory of a faithful departed. Through this public testimony the person canonized is inscribed in the list of Saints. CANON OF SCRIPTURE (kan' un skrip' tur) -- The list of inspired books accepted on church authority as the Word of God -- the Bible. CASSOCK (kas' uk) -- A long black garment, the ordinary dress of priests. Although they are usually black, blue, purple and maroon are also common. CATECHISM (kat'e kizm) -- Elementary Christian doctrine instruction in question and answer form. CATHEDRA (kå the' drå) -- Bishop's throne in back of the Altar. The Amvon is also sometimes given this name. CATHEDRAL (kå the' dral) -- Main church of a Diocese where the bishop has his throne. CAROL (kar' ul) -- A joyous, festive hymn, simple in tune, sung at Christmas. CATECHUMEN (kat' a ku' men) -- A person preparing for Baptism. In former times, catechumens were permitted to remain in church for only the first two portions of the Divine Liturgy. CATHOLIC (kath' o lik) -- In literal meaning, denotes universal or all-embracing. Signifies that the Church of Christ is for all ages, for all nations, for all races and is the Ark of Salvation for all mankind. CELEBRATION (sel' e bra' shun) -- Sacred performance of the Divine Liturgy and specifically, the Holy Communion. CELEBRANT (sel' e brant) -- Person performing Holy Communion -- a bishop or priest. A deacon may not celebrate the Holy Eucharist but may assist. CELIBACY -- (sel' i bå si) or (se lib' å si) -- In the Roman Church, a rule forbidding marriage in the clergy. In the Orthodox Church, those entering the priesthood cannot marry after being ordained. Orthodox bishops are chosen from celibates or widowers who have taken monastic vows. CENSER (sen' sor) -- Vessel used for burning incense in church ceremonies. CENSOR (sen' sor) or (sen' ser) -- Theologian appointed to examine books for ecclesiastical approval prior to publication. The censor ascertains that publications contain nothing contrary to the Orthodox doctrine. CHALICE (chal' is) -- A sacred vessel, in the form of a cup, made of precious metal and consecrated to contain the wine which be-comes the Blood of Christ during the Divine Liturgy. CHANCEL (chån' sul) -- The area around the altar, also called the Sanctuary, separated from the body of the church by the Iconostas. CHAPEL (chap' el) -- A small house of worship where there is no parish. CHAPLAIN (chap' lin) -- A priest in the armed services or authorized to officiate in military chapels. Also denotes a priest ministering to the religious needs of a school, fraternity or public institution. CHAPTER (chap' ter) -- A division of a book of the Bible. CHASUBLE (chaz' u bl) -- A large garment without sleeves, also called a Felon, short in front and with an opening for the head which is worn as the principal vestment by a priest in celebrating the Divine Liturgy. CHRISM (krizm) -- Holy Oil, also called Myrrh, used in the Sacrament of Chrismation. Chrism is mixed and blessed by a group of bishops on Thursday of Holy Week. CHRISMATION (kriz ma' shun) -- Also called Confirmation, is the Sacrament by which believers receive the Holy Spirit. In the Orthodox Church, it is administered immediately after Baptism. CHRISTAN (kris' n) -- To name an infant at Baptism; to receive into the Church by Baptism. Baptism is often called Christening. CHRISTIAN (kris' chan) -- One baptized into the Church to become a follower of Christ. Followers of Christ were first called Christians at Antioch. CHRISTIAN NAME (kris' chan nam) -- The name given and received in the Sacrament of Baptism. CHRISTMAS (kris' mås) -- The Feast of the Nativity or the Birthday of our Lord. Observed on December 25, old calendar, which is January 7th on the new Gregorian calendar. CHURCH (chûrch) -- A divinely instituted community of believers. Members of the Orthodox Church are united by the Orthodox faith, the laws of God, the hierarchy and the Sacraments. CHURCH MILITANT (chûrch mil' i tant) -- Members of the church on earth in warfare against sin and evil as distinguished from the Church Triumphant in Heaven. CHURCHING OF WOMEN (chûrch ing) -- The blessing of women after childbirth. In the life of a Christian mother corresponds to the Feast of Purification of the Virgin Mary. CLERGY (klûr' ji) -- Those ordained to the threefold ministry of the Church -- bishops, priests and deacons, as distinguished from laymen. COMMUNION, HOLY (ko mun' yun) -- The Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. After proper confession and absolution, the worshiper receives sanctifying grace through the true Body and Blood of Christ. Those who are to receive Communion must fast from midnight previous to the hour of receiving this sacrament. COMMUNION OF SAINTS (ko mun' yun santz) -- All members of the Church, in heaven and on earth are in communion with each other, as being one Body in Christ. COMPLINE, GRAND (kom' plin, grand) -- A service of worship said after nightfall in monasteries. In church parishes it is combined with Matins to form the All-Night Vigil Service. CONFESSION (kon fesh' un) -- Acknowledgement of sin before God in the presence of a priest, the Sacrament of Penance. CONFESSOR (kon fes' er) -- Person who hears confession or one who has suffered persecution for his faith. CONFIRMATION (kon' f?r ma' shun) -- The Sacrament of Chrismation. CONSECRATION (kon' se kra' shun) -- The dedication of anything to Divine Service or elevation of a member of- the clergy to the rank of bishop. CONVENT (kon' vent) -- The dwelling of religious women living under monastic rules. CORPORAL (kôr' pô ral) -- The cloth on the Altar on which the Holy Eucharist is consecrated. Also called Antimins. CREED (kred) -- Articles of faith formulated by the Ecumenical Councils (Nicene Creed) or by the Holy Fathers (Athanasian Creed). CROSIER (kro' zher) -- Staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of authority by which he rules his flock. CROSS, ORTHODOX (krôs, ôr' thô doks) -- The Orthodox cross has three bars. The top bar represents the title nailed above Jesus and the short slanting lower bar rep-resents the footrest which points upward to remind believers that Christ points the way to Heaven. CROSS, SIGN OF (krôs) -- The external representation of the Cross of Christ; the mark of Christians since the earliest days of the Christian faith. The Orthodox Church uses the sign of the Cross for all blessings. CRUETS (kroo' ets) -- The two bottles on the Oblation Table used for holding the water and wine used in the preparation of the elements for the Holy Eucharist. CUFFS (kufs) -- Worn as part of the vestments by deacons and priests. Cuffs remind deacons to put their strength in the right hand of the Lord. Worn by priests, the cuffs are symbolic of the bonds tying the hands of Christ and also symbolize that the priest's hands are tied against sin. CUPOLA (ku' pô lå) -- The steeple domes found on most Orthodox churches. A church may have a single cupola or as many as thirteen. One dome predominates and signifies Christ as the head of the Church. D DALMATIC (dal mat' ik) -- The outer vestment worn by deacons during the service. DEACON (de' kn) -- First of the three orders of Priesthood. Deacons assist priests at Di-vine Liturgies and other services. DEAN (den) -- The elected or appointed supervisor of a district; the senior priest at a Cathedral; the faculty head of a Theological Seminary. DIKIRI (di ke' re) -- Double candleholder used by a bishop in blessing worshipers at a Divine Service. It represents, the two natures of Christ, human and divine. DIOCESE (di' o ses) -- Territory under the jurisdiction of one bishop. DISPENSATION (dis' pen sa' shun) -- Permission granted by ecclesiastical authority for something not usually permitted by the Canon Law. DOGMA (dôg' må) -- A truth contained in Scripture or Holy Tradition formulated by the Ecumenical Councils and Fathers of the Church. DOORS (dorz) -- Most common association is with the three doors of the Iconostas. The north door leads to the Offertory-chapel, the south door to the Sacristy and the center doors are the Royal Doors, which have a curtain behind them. DOXOLOGY (dok sol' ô ji) -- A prayer glorifying God. E EASTER (es' ter) -- Festival commemorating the Resurrection of Christ, known as the Feast of Feasts, greatest church day of the Orthodox year. The Orthodox Easter is celebrated the Sunday following the first full moon of spring. All movable feasts depend upon Easter. ECTENIA (ek' ten eâ) -- Also known as Litany; a series of petitions chanted by the priest or deacon with responses by the choir. ECUMENICAL COUNCIL (ek' u men' i kal koun' sil) -- An assembly of representatives of the Church legally convoked for the settlement of ecclesiastical affairs, formulating dogmas and making rules of faith and morals. Seven Ecumenical Councils are recognized by the Orthodox Church. EMINENCE (em' i nens) -- Title of a Metropolitan. ENTRANCE (en' trans) -- Solemn procession of the celebrants of Divine Liturgy. The Little Entrance is a procession of the Holy Gospel and the Great Entrance a procession bringing the Holy Gifts from the Oblation Table to the Altar. EPIGONATION (ê pig' u na shun) -- An oblong piece of vestment ornament suspended upon the right hip as a symbol of the sword of the spirit. Indicates outstanding service. EPIPHANY (e pif' å ni) -- Feast commemorating the manifestation of Christ -- the Baptism of Christ and the manifestation of God in the Holy Trinity through the descent of the Holy Spirit. This holy day is also known as Theophany. EPISCOPATE (e pis' ko påt) -- Collectively, the entire body of bishops. EPISTLE (e pis' l) -- A portion of the Scriptures read before the reading of the Gospel at Divine Liturgy. EUCHARIST, HOLY (u' kå rist) -- The Sacrament under which bread and wine be-come the true Body and Blood of Christ with transubstantiation taking place during the Divine Liturgy. EVANGELISTS (e van' jel ist) -- Inspired writers of the four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. EVANGELIYE (e van je le' å) -- From the Greek, meaning good news; the book of the Gospels used in Divine Services. F FAITH (fath) -- The power bestowed by God which enables us to believe what God has revealed. FASTING (fåst' ing) -- Abstaining from certain foods, particularly meat foods. FASTING DAYS (fåst' ing) -- Days and seasons appointed by the Church during which the faithful abstain from meat. FATHERS of the CHURCH (fä' thers) -- Early Christian writers and defenders of the faith. FEAST (fest) -- A holy day commemorating some saint, some event in the life of Christ or in the life of the Virgin Mary. Easter is the Feast of Feasts and there are twelve other great feasts. FILIOQUE (fil' i o'kwe) -- Words inserted in the Nicene Creed by the Roman Church regarding the Holy Spirit. FRESCOS (fres' kos) -- Wall and ceiling murals, painted on 'the plaster, that adorn the church. FRUITS of the HOLY SPIRIT (froots -- ho' li spir' it) -- Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. G GOD (god) -- The Supreme, Eternal Almighty Spirit, infinite in all perfections, the creator and governor of all things. GODFATHER and GODMOTHER (god' fäth' er) (god' muth' er) -- Sponsors at Holy Baptism they promise that the godchild is taught the truths of Christian faith. GOOD FRIDAY (good fri' da) -- The Friday preceding Easter, commemorating Christ's death on the Cross. GOSPEL (gos' pel) -- Portion of the scriptures read by the priest during Divine Services. GRACE(gras) -- The supernatural gift of God enabling us to attain salvation and obtained mainly by prayer and Sacraments. GRADUAL (grad' u al) -- Verses from the Psalms or other portions of the Scripture which are sung before the reading of the Epistle. GUARDIAN ANGELS (gär' di an) -- Angels divinely appointed at the time of Baptism to guide and protect each individual soul throughout life. GLORIOUS WEEK (glo' ri us wek) -- The week which follows Easter Sunday. H HAGIOGRAPHY (hag' i og' rå fi) -- Lives of the Saints. HEAVEN (hev' n) -- The place and state of perfect blessedness where those who are saved shall be in the full light of God's presence forever. HELL (hel) -- The place and state of condemnation where lost souls are tormented eternally. HERESY (her' e si) -- Denial or rejection of a revealed truth by one who has professed Christianity. HERMIT (hur' mit) -- One retiring into a solitary life from religious motives. HIERARCHY (hi' er är' ki) -- The higher clergy; the rulers in spiritual matters. HOLY SPIRIT (ho' li spir' it) -- Third Person of the Divine Trinity. HOLY WATER (ho'li wôter) -- Water blessed by the priest on the Day of Theophany and on other special occasions. Used to bless persons and things and to drive away evil spirits. HOLY WEEK (ho' li wek) -- The week preceding Easter, commemorating the sufferings of Christ. HOPE (hop) -- A supernatural gift of God which enables believers to trust that God will grant eternal life and the means necessary to obtain salvation. HOSANNA (ho zan' å) -- From the Hebrew, meaning "O Lord, save, we pray.'' HOURS (ours) -- Simplest form of Orthodox service, performed during the different hours of the day. I INCARNATION (in' 'kär na' shun) -- The Christian doctrine that God the Son took to Himself the nature of man. ICON or IKON (i' kon) -- Sacred picture. ICONOSTAS (i' kon' o stas) - Image-screen. The high wall covered with sacred pictures that divides the Sanctuary from the Nave of the church. INCENSE (in sens') -- Aromatic gum substance burnt in the censer; used during the Divine Services. INFUSION (in fu' shun) -- Baptism by pouring water on the head instead of by immersion. INCLINATION (in kli na' shun) -- Bowing the head -- usually accompanied by crossing -- as an unspoken Amen to a prayer. J JESUS CHRIST (je' zus krist) -- God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He is one person with two natures, God and man. JUDGMENT, GENERAL (juj' ment jen' er al) -- Judgment of all mankind at the end of the world with the second coming of Christ. K KONDAKION (kon dåk'e on) -- Short hymn sung at the Divine Service. There is a different Kondakion for each of the eight tones with special ones for the feast days. L LAMB (lam) -- The Host, also known as Agnets. The portion of the bread adhering to the Seal cut from the first prosphora and intended for Consecration. LANCE (låns) -- The double-edged, pointed lancet used to cut the Lamb and particles from the prosphora. Also called the Spear. LENT (lent) -- Period of fasting. The Orthodox Church observes four lenten periods during the year with the greatest of these the fasting period before Easter. LITANY (lit' å ni) -- Petitions recited by the deacon or priest with responses by the choir. LITURGY, DIVINE (lit' ur ji di vin') -- Church services celebrating the Holy Eucharist. There are three Liturgies used in Orthodox churches. LAMPADA (lam' pad å) -- Lamps burning be-fore icons as a mark of honor and as a reminder that the Light of Christ shines through His Saints. M MAGNIFICAT (mag nif' i kat) -- Hymn sung in honor of the Virgin Mary after the eighth ode of the Canon at Matins. MANTIA (man' te a) -- Bishop's mantle, often of purple but may be of some other color, with a long train. Adorned with ribbons, usually red and white, and small bells. MARTYR (mär' ter) -- One voluntarily enduring death for the faith. MASS (mås) -- In the Orthodox Church, the Divine Liturgy. In the Western Church it is the service of the Eucharist. MATRIMONY (mat' ri mo ni) -- Sacrament blessing and sanctifying Christian marriage. METROPOLITAN (met' ro pol' i tan) -- Head archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. MAUNDY THURSDAY (môn' di) -- Thursday of Holy Week, marked by the reading of the Twelve Gospels at evening services. MATINS (mat' ins) -- Morning Divine Service preceding the Divine Liturgy. Sometimes held on the eve of a church holiday or Sunday. MITER (mi' ter) -- Headdress worn by bishops. Archimandrites and some other clergy are also privileged to wear it. MONASTERY (mon' as ter i) -- Dwelling-place of men leading a life of prayer under vows. MONASTIC VOWS (mo nas' tik vous) -- Obedience, poverty and celibacy. MONK (mungk) -- One renouncing the world to lead a religious life under monastic vows. MOTHER OF GOD (muth' er of god) -- The Virgin Mary; Jesus, born of her as man, is also truly God. MYSTERY (mis' ter i) -- A Sacrament, the outward sign of inward grace. MYRRH (mûr) -- Sacred oil used for anointing in the Sacrament of Chrismation. N NARTHEX (när' theks) -- Vestibule area of church leading to the nave. NATIVITY, FEAST OF (nå tiv' i ti fest) -- Christmas, commemorating the birth of the Savior. Observed December 25, New Calendar -- January 7, Old Calendar. Nativity of the Virgin Mary observed September 8; Nativity of John the Baptist observed June 24. NAVE (nav) -- Center part of the church occupied by worshipers. NICENE CREED (ni' sen kred) -- Twelve articles encompassing the Orthodox beliefs. NUN (nun) -- Woman who has taken monastic vows. NUNC DIMITIS (nungk di mit'is) -- Latin words beginning the Song of Simeon sung at Vespers. N-I-K-A -- Initials of the Greek words meaning "By this thou conquer." These initials are stamped on the prosphora. O OBLATION (ob la' shun) -- The preparation of the elements of bread and wine before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy. OBLATION TABLE (ob la' shun tabl) -- Table placed against the wall on the left side of the altar where the elements are prepared for the Holy Eucharist before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy. OFFERTORY (of'er to ri) -- Provision, preparation and setting forth on the Altar of the bread, wine and water for Consecration. ORDINAL (ôr' di nal) -- Book containing all the prayers and ceremonies in use at Pontifical services; also the Order of Ordination and Consecration for all grades and dignities of the Church. ORDINATION (ôr' di na' shun) -- Sacrament under which bishops, through the laying on of hands, bestow priesthood on qualified candidates. ORLETZ (ôr' letz) -- The Eagle. A small rug that a bishop stands on during Divine Service. Use is accorded to bishops alone. OMOFOR (o' mo for) -- Bishop's stole which is very broad and which hangs down in front and behind over other vestments. Also called the Pall. ORAR (o rar') -- The deacon's stole, a long wide band of material worn over the left shoulder, sometimes crossed upon the breast and back. OKTOICH (ôk' toik) -- Service book containing the Canons and hymns of the Eight Tones used during the Short and Great Vespers and Matins. P PALL (pôl) -- Stole worn by a bishop. Also called Omofor. PANAGIA (på na' gi å) -- Round or oval image of Christ or the Virgin Mary, richly decorated, worn on the chest by bishops. Means the All-Holy. PARISH (par' ish) -- Group of faithful united under a properly ordained priest to form a unit of a Diocese and adhering to the tenets of the Church. PARISH REGISTER (par' ish re j'is ter) -- Book recording all baptisms, marriages and deaths occurring in a parish. PASCHAL CANON (pas' kal kan' un) -- Rule for determining the dates of Easter and other movable feasts. PASCHAL WEEK (pas' kal wek) -- The week following Easter. PASSION WEEK (pash' un wek) -- Week pre-ceding Easter, commemorating the sufferings and death on the Cross of Christ. PATEN (pat' en) -- Round, flat plate, usually made of silver, upon which the Holy Bread is placed and consecrated. PATRIARCH (pa' tri ärk) -- Originally one of the bishops of the four ancient centers of Christianity -- Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria. Now, the highest dignitary in the church hierarchy. PECTORAL CROSS (pek' to ral krôs) -- Cross worn on the chest of priests and bishops as a mark of their office. PENANCE (pen' ans) -- The Sacrament through which the sins committed after Baptism are forgiven through confession. PENITENTIAL PSALM (pen' i ten' shål säm) -- The 50th Psalm of David (the 51st Psalm in English Bibles). PENTECOST (pen' te kost) -- Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples on the fiftieth day after Easter. PERSECUTIONS (pûr' se ku' shuns) -- Periods of ill treatment and oppression inflicted because of religious beliefs. In the first three centuries of Christianity there were ten great persecutions. PONTIFICAL (pon tif' i kal) -- Relating to the bishops, as Pontifical Services. PSALTER (sôl' ter) -- Book of Psalms in the Old Testament used in all Divine Services. PRESTOL (pres' tol) -- The Altar, representing the throne of God in heaven with God him-self on it. Also represents the tomb of Christ since His body is placed thereon. PRIMATE (pri' mat) -- Term applied to the ruling archbishop. PROKIMENON (pro ki' me non) -- Verse and refrain which is read and sung before the reading of the Epistle. Also called Gradual. PROSKOMIDE (prôs ko mi' de) -- From the Greek, meaning to bring offering. The first part of the Divine Liturgy consisting of the preparation of bread and wine used in the communion. PROSPHORA (prôs fôr' å) -- Altar Breads used for the Sacrament of Eucharist. R READER (red' er) -- One reading the Psalms, verses and the lesson from the Epistle. REQUIEM (re' kwi em) -- Service for the re-pose of the souls of the faithful departed. RESURRECTION OF CHRIST (rez' u rek' shun of krist) -- Christ's rising from the dead. RITUAL (rit' u al) -- Approved order of a ceremony. RUBRICS (roo' briks) -- From the Latin meaning red. Directions for Divine Services for each Sunday and all holy days, so-called be-cause they are generally printed in red letters. REVERENCE (rev' er ens) -- A profound bow or a prostration. S SABAOTH (sab' å oth) -- In Hebrew means hosts, hence "The Lord God of Hosts." SABBATH (sab' åth) -- The seventh day, of the week, ordered to be kept holy by the Fourth Commandment. The day God rested after creation. The Apostles transferred the obligation to the first day of the week in honor of Christ's resurrection. SACRAMENT (sak' rå ment) -- A mystery -- an outward visible sign of an inward invisible grace. The Orthodox Church has Seven Sacraments. SACRIFICE (sak' ri fis) -- A holy offering. The great Christian Sacrifice is the Holy Eucharist. SACRISTY (sak' ris ti) -- Room alongside the Sanctuary where the sacred vessels and vestments are kept and where the clergy put on their robes for Divine Services. SAINT (sant) -- One who has led a pure and holy life and has been inscribed in the list of saints and whose memory is celebrated on a given day. SAKKOS (sak' kôs) -- Proper Eucharistic vestment of bishops. SANCTUARY (sangk' tu a ri) -- Area of the church, separated from the nave by the iconostas, where the altar stands. SCHISM (sizm) -- Separation from the True Apostolic Church. The Great Schism of 1054 divided the Church into East and West. SEE (se) -- Place where a bishop holds jurisdiction. SOLEA (so' le a) -- The raised floor in front of the Iconostas. The middle portion, just in front of the Royal Doors, where Holy Communion is administered, is called the Amvon. SPOON (spoon) -- Sacred object used to convey the Holy Gifts (body and blood of Christ) into the mouths of communicants. STOLE (stol) -- Long, narrow vestment worn over the left shoulder by a deacon. A priest's Stole is worn around the neck and joined in front for its entire length, falling low upon the cassock. Neither priests nor deacons can celebrate any service or office without the Stole. SPONSOR (spon' ser) -- A Godparent at Baptism. SUNDAY (sun' da) -- First day of the week, observed by Christians as a day of rest and worship in commemoration of Christ's Resurrection. T TABERNACLE (tab' er nå kl) -- Receptacle, standing on the Altar, in which- the Blessed Sacraments are reserved before conveyance to the sick. TE DEU UI (te de' um) -- Hymn ascribed to St. Ambrose which is sung at a service of Thanksgiving. THAUMATURGUS (thô' må tûr gus) -- Title applied to various saints distinguished for their miracles. A wonder-worker. THEOLOGY (the ol' o ji) -- The science teaching of God and the things of God. Positive Theology explains and interprets the Holy Scriptures and the writings of Church Fathers. Dogmatic Theology proves and de-fends truths of the faith. Moral Theology explains Christian conduct. THEOTOKION (the ot' o ke on) -- Hymn in honor of the Mother of God. THEOTOKOS (the ot' o kos) -- The Virgin Mary, Mother of God. THURIBLE (thu' ru bl) -- A censer, the vessel in which incense is burned. Also called Kadilo. TITHES (tiths) -- The tenth part. From earliest times held to be the part due to God. TONE (ton) -- Standard melody for versicles, troparion and prokimenon, arranged in eight tones, which are sung in continuous cycle throughout the year. TRADITION, HOLY (trå dish' un, ho' li) -- The spiritual treasures inherited .from the ancestral Holy Fathers, in accord with the scriptures but larger in extent. TRANSUBSTANTIATION (tran' sub stan' shi a' shun) -- In the Holy Eucharist, the changing of bread and wine, at consecration, into the body and blood of Christ. TREBNIK (treb' nik) -- Book containing the prayers and order of administration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Chrismation and Confession and the Rites of Burial and other services. TRINITY, HOLY (trin' i ti, ho' li) -- The mystery of faith which teaches that there is One God in Three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: TRIKIRI (tri' ker e) -- Candleholder for three candles, representing the Holy Trinity, used by the bishop to bestow blessings upon the people. TRISAGION (tris ag' i on) -- The thrice-holy hymn sung at the Divine Liturgy and often said as a prayer "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have. mercy on us." TROPARION (trô pa' ri on) -- Short hymn sung after the Little Entrance in the Divine Liturgy. There is a different Troparion for each of the eight tones with special ones for each of the feasts. U UNCTION (ungk' shûn) -- The Sacrament which provides spiritual healing for bodily ills and prepares those critically ill for the better life in Heaven. This Sacrament includes anointment with oil. UNIATE GREEK CATHOLICS (u' ne ate) -- Those , once Orthodox who later acknowledged the authority of the Pope. In church services they follow the Greek rite but adhere to the Roman dogmas. UNFROCK (un frok') -- Depriving a priest or bishop of his Orders for a grave offense. V VEIL (val) -- The covering for the Chalice and Paten, used at the beginning and end of the Divine Liturgy. VERY REVEREND (ver'i rev'?r end) -- Title of address accorded to archpriests. VESPERS (ves' perz) -- Even-song. The evening service. VESSELS, SACRED (ves' els, sa' kred) -- Vessels used in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. VESTMENTS (vest' ments) -- The special garments worn by deacons, priests and bishops in the celebration of Divine Services and in administering the Sacraments. VIGIL (vij' il) -- The eve of a holy day. VOW (vou) -- A promise willingly made to God to do something pleasing to Him. W WEEKLY CYCLE OF SERVICES (wek' li si'kl of sûr' vis es) -- Each day of the week is consecrated to special memories concerning Christ, the Angels, Apostles, Saints and de-parted Christians. WESTERN CHURCH (wes'tern chûrch) -- The part of the Universal Church which separated in 1054 with the Pope of Rome at the head. Commonly referred to as the Roman Catholic Church. WINDING SHEET (win'ding shet) -- A large sheet of velvet with an image of the Entombment of Christ inscribed on it. It is brought out on Good Friday to the center of the church for adoration. On Saturday before midnight it is placed on the Altar and remains there until the Feast of Ascension. WORSHIP (wûr' ship) -- Religious services for the glorification of God. Y YEAR, ECCLESIASTICAL (yer, e kle' zi as' tik al) -- The church calendar which begins the first of September. Z ZONE (zon) -- The belt or girdle worn by priests and bishops when robed for celebration of the Divine Liturgy. Made of the same material as the vestments. Taken from: "Faith of our Fathers -- The Eastern Orthodox Religion" by Stan W. Carlson and The Very Rev. Leonid Soroka, Dean UMW

On the Psychology of Schism

First Ecumenical Counsil "Behold how good it is for brothers to dwell as one" (Psalms 133:1). Unity and one-mindedness (edinomisliye) are important aspects of the Christian life. St Paul tells us repeatedly that the Church is the Body of Christ (Colossians 1:18). As parts of this body we must work together. This implies, then, that we are interconnected (to use a popular term). The analogy of the body also implies that the Church is living and therefore dynamic. St Paul says that the Holy Spirit enlivens the church like a man’s spirit enlivens his body. We know that in modern biology, a living organism is a complex system of information requiring cooperation of all its parts. Disease, be it physical or mental, disrupts this unity. The body, being dynamic, naturally works with diverse influences that may appear to be contrary. In mental life we often have contrary desires or thoughts. When this happens we may even have a personal crisis. If one works through it well, one will come up with a different way of thinking or behaving, many times for the better. If the crisis cannot be resolved in a creative and healthy way, a person may end up broken, sometimes for life. Using this metaphor, one can see the Church in the same way. God created people with different skills and talents (1 Corinthians 12:4). We know from the Gospel that we are to use our talents and not hide them out of fear (Matthew 25). Our Lord says that at least we should invest them (ibid. v.27). In practice, this means that the Church inherently will have some division. When conflict is from Heaven, so to speak, we see contrary views leading to a greater unity and understanding. An example of this is the debate over circumcision and all it implied in the early Church. SS Peter and Paul represented the two sides. The conflict led to unity and to the practice of a conciliar Church.(Acts 15). Conflicts born of the Devil are ones when pride, the greatest sin, takes hold like a cancer and infects the Church. Division is the result. Examples of this are too numerous to count. Look into the phone book and see how many Christian denominations there are. There are actually many more than are listed. The diversity of churches is a sign of historical fights that lead to division upon division. The Arian controversy led to two different types of Christianity and divided a Christian empire. Division of this sort comes in two major forms, heresy and schism. St Basil tell us that heresy (from the Greek verb to choose) is a conflict that can not be resolved, e.g. the Orthodox view that the Son is not created and the Arian that He is. Heresy leads to permanent division. Schism on the other hand is a break in church discipline that can theoretically be reconciled, i.e. the division over the calendar. A council could resolve the issue (Cf. St Basil, Letter to Amphilochius). * * * * * A year ago our Russian Orthodox Church Abroad reunited with the Moscow Patriarchate. As is well known, some were unable to accept this and left the Church Abroad. Some went gone off to other canonical churches. Others left to create yet another jurisdiction. They called us and continue to call us schismatics, heretics or any other list of insults. From a historical and psychological viewpoint, this is business as usual. I wish to outline some of the spiritual and psychological aspects of the schismatic mind set. Using a disease model I will treat the schismatic mind set like a disease, with an etiology, symptoms and prognosis. In my work with people I often find that the purpose of a psychological disturbance comes down ultimately to be a way of perpetuating a belief, feeling or behavior that a person has become attached to. The goal of repeating certain behaviors is to perpetuate the behaviors and their corresponding feelings. People do this to identify themselves with certain beliefs, feeling and behaviors and use them to fend off unwanted beliefs and feelings. The ultimate goal of the schismatic is to be a schismatic. He will deny this because of his need to see himself as pure, or at least striving for purity. This mindset seeks exclusive, elite movements to provide a sense of security and as a means to assuage any feelings of guilt and shame. This mindset is common in all religions and in many secular movements, especially political ones. Communism and fascism are examples of political cults that function in many ways like religion. Thus a Christian and a Communist can share the same propensity for ideological purity. The etiology, i.e. cause, of this disorder is usually a profound sense of shame and a need to have some verification that is