Crucea.ro

The divine Gregory of Sinai, visiting St Maximus of Kapsokalyvia and speaking with him, among other things also said this: ‘I beg you, O most reverend Father, to tell me: do you maintain noetic prayer?’

And he smiled a little and said, ‘I do not want to hide from you, reverend Father, the miracle of the Theotokos that happened to me. From my youth I had a great faith in my lady Theotokos and besought her with tears to grant me the grace of noetic prayer, and one day I was going to her temple, as was my custom, and again entreated her with immeasurable warmth of heart. And when with longing I kissed her holy icon, immediately I felt in my chest and in my heart a warmth and a flame, which came from the holy icon, that did not burn me, but refreshed and sweetened me and brought into my soul a great compunction. From then on, Father, my heart started to say the prayer from within and my nous to be sweetened in the remembrance of my Jesus and of my Theotokos, and to be always together with their remembrance. And from that time on the prayer hasn’t left my heart. Forgive me.’

Translation and source Aaron Taylor, via the Greek Orthodox Old Calendarist group on Yahoo

“Time passes without stopping, and my body, even during my lifetime, constantly changes and passes on, and the whole world as is seen in its motion, also passes on, as though it were hurrying to its appointed end, like a machine set in motion. Where, then, is constancy? Constancy is that which moves and directs all this to its purpose. The first Cause of all that is complex and created is constant, being Itself not complex, and therefore not passing, but eternal. The souls of angels and men, created after the image of the first Cause, are also constant. Everything else is like a soap bubble. I do not lower creation by these words, but only thus speak of it in comparison with the Creator and beatified souls.”

St. John of Kronstadt

I Ephraim am dying and writing my Testament,
To be a witness for the pupils who come after me:
Be constantly praying, day and night;
As a ploughman who ploughs again and again,
Whose work is admirable.
Do not be like the lazy ones in whose fields thorns grow.
Be constantly praying, for he who adores prayer
Will find help in both worlds.

The “feast of Halloween,” celebrated by many in America, is rapidly finding its way in many parts of our world. It is portrayed as harmless fun for children. This could not be any further from the truth! Halloween is normally regarded as one more occasion for a party, one more opportunity for a good time without the least inquiry as to its meaning or origins. It is hardly a surprise when we consider that the greatest feasts of Christianity such as Pascha (Easter) and the Nativity of Christ (for which our ancestors prepared with fasting, prayers and tears) are now to so many, simply dates for eating, drinking and the exchanging of gifts. Be warned: Halloween is not what it appears to be! Its seemingly innocent manifestations represent a memory of an ancient celebration deeply rooted in paganism and demonology; furthermore, it continues to be a form of idolatry in which Satan, the angel of death is worshipped.

Known also as All Hallows Eve, the feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times. It was originally a Celtic festival celebrated widely among the peoples of the British Isles and northern France. These pagan peoples believed that life was born from death. On this night, a certain deity whom they called Samhain, their lord of Death, was honoured at their New Year’s festival (end of October). On that night, Samhain was believed to lead hosts of evil spirits into the world. Samhain is also identified as the Grim Reaper, the leader of the ancestral ghosts. On the evening of the festival, a huge bonfire built from oak branches, which they believed to be sacred, was ignited in a high place. Upon these, fire sacrifices of crops, animals and even human beings were burned as an offering in order to appease their demon lord. It was also believed that Samhain, being pleased by their faithful offerings, allowed the souls of the dead to return to their homes for a festal visit on this day. Thus they believed that cold, dark creatures filled the night, wandering and begging amongst the living. It is from this belief that the practice of wandering about in the dark dressed up in costumes imitating ghosts, fairies, leprechauns, elves, smurfs (a German nature spirit), and other assorted demons, grew up. It is important to note that the ‘souls of the dead,’ or ghosts, are in fact demons cunningly mimicking the attributes of departed loved ones as much as is necessary to delude the observer. Any attention paid to such illusions is destructive! The dialogue of “trick and treat” is also an integral part of this system of beliefs and practices. It was believed that the souls of the dead who had entered into the world of darkness, decay and death, and therefore into total communion with and submission to the demon Samhain, bore the affliction of great hunger on their festal visit. Out of this grew the practice of begging for “treats” (offerings). If these “treats” were not forthcoming, then the wrath and anger of Samhain would be unleashed through a system of “tricks” (curses).

From an Orthodox Christian viewpoint, participation in these practices at any level is idolatrous, and a genuine betrayal of our God and our Holy Faith. To do so by dressing up and going out would be to willfully seek fellowship with the ‘dead’ whose lord is also known as Satan, the Evil One, who stands against God. Or, to participate by submission to the dialogue of “trick or treat” is to make offering, not to innocent little children, but to the lord of Death, whom they unknowingly serve as proxy for the ‘dead.’
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Following a day of clashes between security forces and Arab rioters in Jerusalem, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Sunday evening stated that the fate of the capital would be determined by force, not negotiations.
“The fate of Jerusalem will be determined only by confrontation and not by the negotiating tables,” Mashaal said in a speech, according to Channel 10.
“The Israelis want to divide al-Aqsa Mosque, and this is not all. They want to hold their religious ceremonies in the mosque … in preparation for demolishing it and building their temple there,” he reportedly said.
Israel is interested in handling the Jerusalem issue unilaterally so that it is not included in negotiations with the Palestinians, Masha’al claimed.
“Jerusalem is all of Jerusalem, not only [the east Jerusalem neighborhood of] Abu-Dis. The Arabs and Muslims are [the city's] residents, and the Zionists have no claim over it,” he said.
“I call for angry protests in Palestine and in the Arab world. Today, protests began in [the] Gaza [Strip], and we hope they will spread to the West Bank. It is important for there to be a united Palestinian position. We must send a message to the world: In light of the settlements and actions in Jerusalem, there are no negotiations and we must rethink our steps,” the Hamas leader concluded.
Also on Sunday evening, Jordan warned Israel against “provocative behavior” in the city, saying continued violence could “derail all opportunities of peace and stability in the region.”
“Any new provocative attempts by Israeli troops and Jewish extremists such as what happened today in the shrine’s compound represents a flagrant violation of international law and conventions and sets the stage for more tension and acts of violence,” Jordanian Minister for Media Affairs and Communication Nabil Sharif was quoted by the UAE-based Khaleej Times as saying in a statement.
“Jordan, out of its historical responsibilities in being the custodian of the holy places in Jerusalem, is extremely worried about what is taking place and warns against going ahead with this provocative behavior on the part of Israeli troops,” he reportedly added.
According to the report, Sharif urged “an immediate end to such dangerous practices which threaten to derail all opportunities of peace and stability in the region”.
Nine police officers were lightly injured and 21 rioters arrested, during clashes that broke out between Arabs and police on the Temple Mount, in the alleyways of the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and east Jerusalem in a fresh round of violence that threatened to keep already-heightened tensions in the capital simmering.

Source and more: Jerusalem Post

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.

The declaration, signed Friday night and announced Saturday, comes with the disease more prevalent than ever in the country and production delays undercutting the government’s initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses of the vaccine could be available by mid-October.

Health authorities say more than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the flu, known as H1N1, and 46 states have widespread flu activity. So far only 11 million doses have gone out to health departments, doctor’s offices and other providers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.

Administration officials said the declaration was a pre-emptive move designed to make decisions easier when they need to be made. Officials said the move was not in response to any single development.

Source & more here.

“To all intent and purposes, mutual recognition of each others Mysteries already exists between us. We do not have communion in the Mysteries, but we do recognize each others Mysteries”, declared Archbishop Hilarion (Alfeev) on the air during a broadcast of the program “The Church and the World” on the television channel “Russia”, on October 17th.

“If a Roman Catholic priest converts to Orthodoxy, we receive him as a priest, and we do not re-ordain him. And that means that, de facto, we recognize the Mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church”, explained Archbishop Hilarion. (…)

Sursa: credo.ru

By Archbishop Averky

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me. (Mk 8:34).

The Great Fast is a season of repentance; and repentance is that struggle to
contend against sinful passions and lusts which is so difficult for man that the
Lord, the Judge of the contest Himself, likened it to the bearing of a cross. We
are vividly reminded of this at the very midpoint of the Great Fast, on the
Sunday of the Adoration of the Cross. Just as the Lord bore the Cross for the
sake of our salvation, so each of us must bear “his cross” in order to attain
the salvation prepared for us by the Lord.

Without the cross, without struggle, there can be no salvation! This is what
true Christianity teaches. The teaching on struggle, on the bearing of the
cross, runs like a scarlet thread through all the Sacred Scriptures and all of
the history of the Church; and the lives of those holy ones who were pleasing
unto God, the spiritual athletes of Christian piety, clearly bear witness to
this. The Great Fast is merely an annually repeated exercise in the bearing of
one’s cross in this life, an exercise in spiritual struggle inseparably bound up
with the entire life of the true Christian.

But now, in the twentieth century of the Christian era, “wise men” have
appeared—”neo-Christians,” as some of them refer to themselves—who do not wish
to hear of this. They preach a new sort of saccharine, sentimental, rosy-hued
neo-Christian love and the unrestricted enjoyment of all the delights of this
transitory earthly life. They totally ignore the innumerable passages in Holy
Writ which forcefully and eloquently speak of spiritual struggles, of emulating
Christ the Savior in crucifying oneself, of the many sorrows which await the
Christian in this life, beginning with the words which Christ the Savior Himself
addressed to His disciples at the Mystical Supper: In the world ye shall have
tribulation. (Jn 16:33). And this is because, as the Lord Himself explained,
true Christians are not of the world (Jn 15:19), since the whole world lieth in
wickedness (I Jn 5:19). This is why Christians must not love this world and the
things that are in the world (I Jn 2:15); the friendship of the world is enmity
with God, and whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God. (Jas 4:4).

These modern “wise men” somehow fail to see that the Word of God nowhere
promises Christians full spiritual satisfaction and paradisical blessedness in
this earthly life. Quite the contrary; it emphasizes that life on earth will
move further and further away from the Law of God; that, in respect to morality,
men will fall lower and lower (II Tim 3:1-5); that all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse
and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (II Tim 3:12-13); and that, finally,
the earth also and the works therein shall be burned up. (II Pet 3:10). But
there will appear new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
(II Pet 3:13)—a wondrous New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven (Rev
21:2), which was shown to John, the beholder of mysteries, during the revelation
accorded him.

All of this is not to the liking of the “neo-Christians.” They want blessedness
here in this world, burdened with its multitude of sins and iniquities; and they
await this blessedness with impatience. They consider one of the surest ways of
attaining it to be the “ecumenical movement,” the union and unification of all
peoples in one new “church” which will comprise not only Roman Catholics and
Protestants, but also Jews, Moslems and pagans, each retaining his own
convictions and errors. This imaginary “Christian” love, in the name of the
future blessedness of men on earth, cannot but trample upon the Truth.

The destruction of this earth with everything on it, although clearly foretold
by the Word of God, is considered by them to be something indescribably
horrible, as though it were not consistent with the omnipotence of God and,
apparently, quite undesirable. They reluctantly admit the destruction of earth
(for how can one not accept something prophesied in the Word of God?), but with
the condition that it will take place in the far, far distant, mist-enshrouded
future, not centuries, but millions of years from now.

What is the reason for this? One might say, because they are weak of faith, or
lacking entirely in faith in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
age to come. For them everything is in this earthly life, and when it ends for
them, everything does.

In a few of its points—especially in the expectation of the blessed life in this
world—such a frame of mind closely resembles the widespread heresy of the first
centuries of Christianity called “chiliasm.” This is the expectation of a
thousand-year reign of Christ on earth; therefore the modern manifestation of
this heresy may be termed “neo-chiliasm.”

One should be aware and keep in mind that chiliasm was condemned by the Second
Ecumenical Council in the year 381; and therefore to believe in it now in the
twentieth century, even in part, is quite unforgivable. Besides which, this
contemporary “neo-chiliasm” is far worse than the ancient chiliastic heresy in
that at its basis indubitably lies a disbelief in the life of the age to come
and the passionate desire to attain blessedness here on earth, using all the
improvements and achievements of the material progress of our times.

This false teaching wreaks terrible harm, lulling to sleep the spiritual
vigilance of the faithful and suggesting to them that the end of the world is
far away (if in fact there will be an end?), and therefore there is no
particular need to watch and pray, to which Christ the Savior constantly called
His followers (cf. Mt 26:41), since everything in the world is gradually getting
better and better, spiritual progress keeping step with materialism. And the
terrible phenomena which we observe at the present time are all temporary; all
has happened before, and all will ultimately pass away, and an extraordinary
flourishing of Christianity will replace it, in which, of course, the ecumenists
will occupy the principal and honored places.

Thus, everything is fine! It is not necessary to labor over oneself, and no
spiritual struggle is required; the fasts may be abolished. Everything will get
better all by itself, until the Kingdom of God is finally established on earth
with universal earthly satisfaction and blessedness.

Brethren! Is it not clear where the ultimate source of this alluring false
teaching is found? Who suggests all these thoughts to contemporary Christians
with the purpose of overthrowing all of Christianity? As an infectious plague,
as fire, must we fear this “neo-chiliasm” which is so profoundly contrary to the
teaching of the Word of God, the teaching of the Holy Fathers and all of the
centuries-old teachings of our Holy Church, by which many, many thousands of the
righteous have been saved.

Without spiritual struggle there is not, and cannot be true Christianity!
Therefore, our path does not lie with all the modern movements, nor with
ecumenists, nor with the new-chiliasts.

Our faith is the faith of the holy ascetics, the apostolic faith, the faith of
the Fathers, the Orthodox Faith which, hath made the whole world steadfast (from
the service for the Sunday of Orthodoxy). This faith and only this faith will we
firmly adhere to in these evil days in which we now live.

Amen

I remember an incredible story. One man was working with mules in a french forest called Sologne. The animals were used to tract pieces of tree from the woods to the roads, where trucks can pick’em and carry’em to the factory.
Then came a day when his boss told he bought something like a motorized engine, and mules were over. He went home alone cause his mules were sold to a butcher, for meat. The unfortunate guy spoke, like many others like him, such a secret langage with his mules, so nobody was able to make’em walk without him.
His boss asked him to come to the factory. A truck was waiting there. He had to lead his mules to the slaughter, cause he was the only man they understood.
The guy who told me this story was a friend of mine. He remembered the man had eyes and voice full of tears when he was telling this old story, and he was an old man.
World’s cruel.
Olivier, from France

Source: the Donkeys group at yahoo.com

GENEVA, Switzerland, Standard Newswire

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I will open the meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, which will take place in Kolympari, Crete, Greece, from 7 to 14 October 2009.
At this plenary meeting, the 120 members of the commission, which is seen as Christianity’s most representative theological forum, will address the question of Christian unity from new perspectives.
Participants at the Crete gathering will not only address issues that have traditionally divided Christian denominations, but also matters that have become divisive in more recent times even within churches, such as questions of moral discernment.
This new approach will be rooted in a reflection on how churches relate to their sources of theological authority, and developed through case studies illustrating how churches use these references to make moral decisions.
WCC president from Europe Dr Mary Tanner will encourage participants to engage in what she affirms could be the beginning of a new phase in Faith and Order’s history.

The main theme of the meeting “Called to be the One Church” will be addressed by:
•Metropolitan Prof. Gennadios of Sassima, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople;
•Rev. Dr Maake Masango, Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, South Africa;
•Rev. Dr Marianela de la Paz Cot, Episcopal Church in Cuba;
•Dr Minna Hietamäki, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland;
•Sister Ha Fong Maria Ko, Roman Catholic Church, China/Italy.

The discussion on the future of the study “The Nature and Mission of the Church” will be stimulated by contributions from:
•Rev. Dr Paul Collins, Church of England;
•Rev. Dr Hermen Shastri, Methodist Church in Malaysia
•Rev. Dr Viorel Ionita, a Romanian Orthodox Church.

More information on the meeting

Bishop Ambrose of Khabarovsk has provided us with some instructive anecdotes from the Soviet past.

Once the Soviet minister of education Lunacharsky and the pro-Soviet renovationist heretic Vvedensky were having a public debate. Lunacharsky said: “I came from the apes, but this man [Vvedensky] declares that he was created in the image and likeness of God. But look what progress I have made by comparison with the apes, and how this man has been degraded by comparison with God!”

Again, there was an old woman who handed in a note for the commemoration of “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”. But the priest did not want to commemorate him – a clearly anti-Soviet act. The old woman complained: “I’m paying money, and you are not commemorating this man. You know: I’m a communist from such-and-such a year…” But the priest found a ready reply, quoting from a well-known Soviet hymn: “Lenin lived. Lenin is alive. Lenin will live. So he must not be commemorated among the reposed.”

(Via Vladimir Moss, from the Live Journal of Nun Xenia (Mitrenina))