The Catalog of Good Deeds

Several sisters took the Rassaphore and Stavrophore vows in our Convent on February 20 (the Tuesday of the First Week of the Great Lent) after the Compline and the reading of the Great Penitential Canon of St Andrew of Crete. They were tonsured by the Most Reverend Pavel, Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl.

Four Rassaphore nuns and five Stavrophore nuns received the blessing to tread the narrow yet blissful path in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Here is what Metropolitan Pavel told the newly-tonsured sisters:

We have sung a wonderful prokeimenon during the tonsure into the Stavrophore, “For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ.” The Church sings this remarkable hymn when people receive the Sacrament of Baptism. You have received a new baptism, and it is because of this Sacrament that you have had your names changed, which serves to remind you that both your internal life and your external life has to change. That is what you have now promised to God, the Most Pure Theotokos, and the holy Angels. During the Last Judgement, the Lord will not ask you what promises you made but whether you fulfilled them or not.

The good tradition to perform tonsures during the Lenten season is not accidental: it’s the time when all services and prayers are designed to help us reconsider and improve our fallen way of living. We have heard the Gospel readings during the weeks before the Lent. The examples described in the Gospel are very edifying for everyone, especially monastics. They keep us from vices and set an example to follow. Like Zacchaeus who did his best to see God, you should follow his example by seeking God restlessly.

The Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian, which is repeated in the church during the Great Lent, has a special meaning and power. The words of this prayer must be foundational for a monastic. One should especially abhor idleness. It becomes clear over time that idleness is the worst sin and it is a precursor to one’s downfall. We can’t feel something permanently. This is how we are made and this is the result of the Fall. People must move forward and build up strength. If they stop, their ineptitude will lead to instant degradation of their way of life and their personalities. That is why the sisters who have promised to serve God, the Church, and other people for their entire lives, must build up their spiritual strength by fulfilling their promises, performing their duties, and strictly following the required prayer rules and other monastic obligations.

I would like to wish everyone God’s inexhaustible grace in their monastic life. Get saved in the Lord!”

The sisters were given new names: Eudoxia, Alexandra, Anna, Nadezhda, and Yekaterina, in honour of New Martyrs. The tradition requires that newly-tonsured sisters must stay in church for three days and nights.

February 21, 2018

On the evening of April 10, 2009, the Eve of Lazarus Saturday and the Feast of St. Leo of Rome, twenty-six catechumens from the newly formed St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Lewistown, Maryland were chrismated and received into the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America at Ss. Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Potomac, Maryland. The chrismations were conducted by the group’s catechists, including Fathers Nicholas Alford, Patrick Cardine, and Alban Waggener, as well as by the new mission’s interim priest, Father Peter Jacobsen.

The chrismations were the culmination of nearly a year of inquiry by the former Charismatic Episcopal Church congregation and subsequent months of intensive preparation by the catechumens. The congregation, formerly known as Lamb of God Church, had previously adopted St. John the Baptist as their patron, and had therefore requested to bear the saint’s name. In response, on March 20, 2009, Metropolitan PHILIP officially named and established the new Western Rite mission as Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Church. Since the congregation officially decided to become Orthodox, the new catechumens have been joined by other local Orthodox Christians searching for a local Orthodox church, including families from the Greek, Romanian, and Orthodox Church in America (OCA) jurisdictions, many of whom were present for the chrismation of the new faithful.

James K. Hamrick, the former priest and pastor of the parish was among the 26 received into the Church. He said, “This is what we have longed for and hungered for—to finally be joined to the ancient Church established by Christ and the Apostles. We give thanks to the Lord for leading us home, and for the sacrifices and faithfulness of those who helped us along the way.”

Until he is approved for ordination to the priesthood in the Orthodox Church, Hamrick and his flock will be served and mentored by Father Peter Jacobsen, a retired Orthodox priest from New York.

Saint John the Baptist Church, located in the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic under the episcopal oversight of Bishop THOMAS, celebrated their first Western Rite Divine Liturgy (Mass) on Palm Sunday, April 12, 2009 with Father Peter Jacobsen as the celebrant. Bishop THOMAS will make his first visitation to the new mission two weeks later, on Sunday, April 26^th.

Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Church is located just north of Frederick, Maryland, an hour west of Baltimore and an hour Northwest of Washington, DC. The new mission is the first Western Rite Orthodox mission in Maryland, and only the second Orthodox Church of any jurisdiction in Frederick County, Maryland (Ss. Peter & Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Frederick being the only other). The people meet in a historic chapel located on Angleberger Road in Lewistown, Maryland, and have worked hard to transform the space into a beautiful place appropriate for worship in a Western Rite Orthodox Church.

Source: http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/19144

Abba Macarius and the Devil

Abba Macarius was returning from a lake to his cell, carrying palm branches. He met a devil with a scythe. The devil tried to hit Macarius with the scythe but he failed. The devil said:

– You are so strong, Macarius. I can’t stand against you. I do all the things that you do. You fast, and I don’t eat anything at all; you refrain from sleep, and I don’t sleep at all. There is only one way in which you defeat me.

– What is that? – Macarius was curious.

– Humility, – the devil replied. – This is what makes you stronger than me.

“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:33)

Killing Life

There was a terrible and bloodthirsty vizier in Constantinople whose favorite pastime was watching the executor cutheads in front of his palace. There was also a righteous fool-for-Christ andprophet, who was deeply revered by the people, on the streets of Constantinople. One morning, when the executor was beheading another convictand the vizier was looking at it, the fool-for-Christ stood in front of the vizier’s windows and started swinging a heavy iron hammer.

– What are you doing? – the vizier asked.

– I’m doing exactly the same that you are doing, – the fool-for-Christ replied.

– What do you mean? – the vizier inquired.

– It’s simple, – the fool-for-Christ responded. – I’m trying to kill wind with this hammer. You are trying to kill life with a sword. My efforts are in vain, just like yours. Vizier, you can’t kill life just like I can’t kill wind. The vizier quietly retreated into dark chambers of his palace. He did not allow any visits and did not eat or drink for three days. Three days later, the vizier gathered all his friends and announced,

– Indeed, the man of God is right. I was a fool. You cannot destroy life just like you can’t kill wind.

St Nikolaj of Serbia. Explanation of the Ten Commandments. The Sixth Commandment

A Hound and a Hare

An individual runs as long as he lives in an attempt to find Christ, and he never stops. While he runs, he feels joy rather than exhaustion.This is an example that I can provide for you to understand: when a good hound smells a hare, it does not stand still by a hunter’s side. It starts running and looking for the hare. It runs, then stops to smell the air, and then runs again. It cannot stand still. Its brain is busy looking for the hare. It does not stare at unrelated objects. It enjoys running more than standing still. Running and searching is its life.

This is the attitude that we must aim at. Our minds must strive for Christ constantly because He is our aim. Instead, although we know the way and know where to go in order to encounter Christ, we stand still and don’t move. If we hadn’t known the way, our inertia would have been justifiable.

St Paisius the Athonite. Homilies. Book V. Section Two. The Good Worry and Anxiety for the “Good Fight”. The Good Worry Never Ends.

Wonderful House

I know a wonderful, fully equipped house.It has a mill and a kitchen where warm meals are cooked day and night. That house has many passageways and corridors. Swift little servants carry the warm food to all the corners. There is a restless housekeeper in that house, too. Henever sleeps, even for a single minute. He sends the swift little servants to all the places where food, drinks, or heat are in demand. There is a large and well-ventilated dining hall in that house. There are two cute windows with blinds: the blinds open in the morning and shut in the evening. There is an invisible lady in that house. One cannot see her but it is she who manages all things and makes them move: it is for her that the little servants work, it is she who looks into the windows and opens and closes the blinds. As soon as the lady leaves the house, everything will stop: the housekeeper will stop beating, the servants will stop in their tracks, and the entire house will become quiet, empty, and cold. The blinds will shut, too. Where does the lady go? She goes back to where she had come from — to the heaven. She is but a guest on earth. The house will be demolished as soon as its landlady leaves.

Konstantin Ushinsky

The Thief’s Candle

(Parables about St Nicholas)

There was a poor man who decided to find a way to earn some money. The way that he chose wasn’t honest: he was stealing things from others or buying low-quality goods and reselling them on the market. He was very guileful and knew many tricks. Every time he did his thing, he would light up a candle in front of an icon of St Nicholas.

He lit up so many candles that literally no one else’s candles could be seen on the candle stand.

Rumors had it that Ipat (the man’s name) was so successful because St Nicholas always helped him. Ipat was also certain that all his success was thanks to St Nicholas.

One day, he grabbed some of his neighbor’s things and hurried away. Unluckily for him, the property owner saw it and started chasing him. Ipat was running and running… He ran out of the village and down the road because he was scared. All of a sudden, he bumped into an old man who looked like a beggar.

– Where are you running, Ipat?

– Oh please help me: don’t let them catch me. Hide me somewhere: if they come for me, they’ll kill me!

– Go and hide, – the old man said, – in that ditch over there.

Ipat jumped into the ditch, and saw a dead horse there. He hid under the horse, right inside its belly. People were running down the road, chasing

the thief, but they could not notice him: though the ditch wasn’t deep, the dead horse was huge from rotting. That was how they lost his track. Ipat crawled out of the dead horse. The old man was standing on the road.

– Hey, Ipat, did you like sitting in the horse’s corpse?

– You bet! I almost died of the stinky smell!

– Ah, that’s what you say! – the old man said sternly, – Do you think I enjoy your candles? Your candles stink like this dead horse!

And the old man went away.

Sergei Yesenin

The Lie. A Parable About Money for Children and Adults

Money decided to claim that it is divine. Why not? Everyone likes money, everyone worships it, and no one can live without it. It informed people about its new status and gave them plenty of wealth. People were happy.

One pious man asked:

— Alright, you can provide a lot of benefit during one’s life. And what happens next?

— I can do a lot even after one’s death – the money started explaining. – A lavish funeral, nice wreaths, and luxurious tombstones…

— Is that all?

— What else do you want? – the money was surprised.

Everyone saw that money is not a god!

Where Do Swamps Come From

A lake noticed that it was slowly but surely turning into a pond and begged with people:

— Please clean me up!

The people did not pay attention to its words:

— We’re fine with a pond, too!

The pond saw that it was slowly but surely turning into a swamp, and begged:

— Help me till it’s too late!

People didn’t pay attention again. Soon the former lake turned into a swamp.

People had to walk around it and sometimes fell in it (some people even died). They were outraged:

— Where do swamps come from?

We should add: That’s where swamps come from not only on earth but also in human souls!

Monk Barnabas(Sanin). Little Parables for Children and Adults

BISHOP RAPHAEL HAWAWEENY

Born: Beirut, Lebanon, ca. November 20, 1860, to Mikha`il and Maryam Hawaweeny; raised in the Bab Tuma Quarter of Damascus, Syria

Educated:

Patriarchal School, Damascus, Syria School of Orthodox Theology, Halki Island (1879-86)

Theological Academy, Kiev, Russia (1888-89)

Ordained:

· Deacon, December 20, 1885, on Halki Island

· Priest, June 16, 1889, in Kiev, Russia

· Archimandrite, July 28, 1889, in Moscow, Russia

· Bishop, February 29, 1904, in New York, by Abp. TIKHON and Bp. INNOCENT (Pustynskii), becoming the first Orthodox Christian hierarch consecrated in the New World.

Ministry:

· Rector, Metochion of the Patriarchate of Antioch, Moscow, Russia (1889-92)

· Extraordinary Instructor in the Arabic Language, Theological Academy, Kazan', Russia (1893-95)

· Rector, St. Nicholas Church, Brooklyn, NY; simultaneously serving as Leader of the Syrian Orthodox Spiritual Mission in North America, traveling extensively in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, solidifying communities; serving as Censor of the Russian-language Russian Orthodox American Messenger (November 14, 1895-November 28, 1904)

· Bishop of Brooklyn (1904-15), overseeing founding and development of twenty-nine parishes; simultaneously serving as Second Vicar of the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America (1904-15); Administrator of the entire Diocese (1909)

· Benefactor of St. Tikhon's Monastery, South Canaan, PA, and St. Platon's Theological Seminary, Tenafly, NJ

· Vice-President, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union (1910-12)

Writings:

· al-Kalimat [The Word] (Edited: 1905-15)

· An Historical view of the errors of the Papal Church (Arabic)

· A Brief history of the Christian Church (Arabic)

· A Refutation of the Proclamation of Pope Leo XIII (Arabic)

· The Funeral service for children (translated into Arabic)

· A Guide to the services of the Consecration and Dedication of a church (translated into Arabic)

· The Kontakarion (translated into Arabic)

· The Great Euchologion (translated into Arabic)

· The Small Euchologion (translated into Arabic)

Died: Brooklyn, NY, February 27, 1915

Now buried: Antiochian Village, Ligonier, PA; his incorrupt relics having been translated from the Arab section of Mount Olivet Cemetery, Queens, NY (which he founded) in July of 1989.

Summary: Born in Beirut, Lebanon, and educated in Damascus Syria, Halki, Turkey, and Kiev, Russia, Raphael Hawaweeny found himself virtually exiled in Kazan, Russia, making himself of use on the faculty of the Anti-Muslim Missionary School, when he was summoned to the New World by the Syrian Orthodox Benevolent Committee in New York City. Immigrating in 1895 and serving under the aegis of the Russian Orthodox Mission -- then the only established Orthodox hierarchy -- he was technically pastor of St. Nicholas Church (later Cathedral) in Brooklyn, NY, but was, in fact, the roving pastor of several dozen tiny, isolated communities spread thinly across the continent. As a priest he crossed the continent repeatedly in the course of nine years, and did so several more after being consecrated Bishop of Brooklyn -- the first such Orthodox consecration in North America -- in 1905. He established a journal, al-Kalimat, to spread "the Word" to places he could not himself be, and worked diligently at translating Greek liturgical books into Arabic. These he distributed at his own expense to communities throughout the Middle East and to émigrés in the Americas, Africa, and Australasia, greatly helped preserve Orthodox Christianity in those regions.

Bibliography:

1. Garrett, Paul D., "The Life and Legacy of Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny," The First One Hundred Years (Englewood, NJ : Antakya Press, 1995).

2. __________., "Envoy from Antioch: the life and ministry of Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny," Again (16.4), 6-9.

3. __________., "Pascha, 1901," Word (28.4), 15-16.

4. Issa, André, "The Life of the thrice blessed: Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny," Word 39.2 (Feb. 1995), 5-7; 39.3 (Mar. 1995), 9-11; 39.4 (Apr. 1995), 5-7 ("Bishop Raphael and Orthodox/Episcopal Relations"); 39.5 (May 1995), 9-11.

Source: http://antiochian.org/lifeofstraphael

St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), archbishop of Thessaloniki (1347-1359), was and is a controversial figure. His experience and teachings of the Uncreated energies of God was severely attacked by Barlaam the Calabrian (who accused him of following the supposedly innovative teachings of St. Nicephorus of Mt. Athos [d. c. 1300]),[1] Gregory Akindynos, Nicephoras Gregoras, and others in his own time. Although his theology was vindicated by several councils in Constantinople between 1341 and 1351, and he was canonized just nine years after his death in 1368, it remained a topic of disagreement. His theology and influence fell into nigh-obscurity from the late sixteenth century practically until the twentieth century, and today there is still disagreement within the Orthodox Church over how to understand his theology and interactions with his opponents, as well as continued debate from outside the Church.[2]

However, for the faithful Orthodox Christian there is no such question: St. Gregory Palamas is undoubtedly a great Father of the Church, fully within the Orthodox Tradition. His theology is a seamless whole with that of all the Fathers who came before and after him. Whereas the Church recognizes heretics to be such because they innovated, She recognizes St. Gregory Palamas to be one of the three great Pillars of Orthodoxy, and his hymns connect him with the three Theologians and the Three Holy Hierarchs.[3] His commemoration on the Second Sunday of Great Lent is understood as a continuation of the First Sunday’s celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. In placing him between the Sundays of Orthodoxy and the Cross, the Church “underlines the fact that, in his life and teaching, St. Gregory stands as an unsurpassable witness to the Orthodox Christian faith and a supremely skilled guide to the mystery of the Cross, the vision of Christ in glory.”[4] The Council of 1351 which proclaimed Palamite theology holds ecumenical status and is widely regarded as the Ninth Ecumenical Council.[5] And his troparion leaves no doubt as to his position within the Church: “O light of Orthodoxy, teacher of the Church, its confirmation/ O ideal of monks and invincible champion of theologians/ O wonder working Gregory, glory of Thessalonica and preacher of grace/always intercede before the Lord that our souls may be saved.”

However, it must be emphasized that St. Gregory Palamas was no mere “traditionalist” in the sense of one who simply repeats theological formulae that came before him, but rather he is one who truly entered into the living stream of the Orthodox Tradition, that is, into the Life of the Holy Trinity. Although his writings are replete with Scriptural and Patristics quotations, he did not intellectually develop his theology of the essence and energies in God from a synthesis of those who came before him. To theologize, even based on the great Fathers of the Church, apart from personal experience would ultimately be an exercise in philosophical speculation, but St. Gregory’s beginning point was precisely his own personal experience of the divinizing grace of God. Archbishop Basil Krivosheine makes exactly this point: “He was not a mere compiler if only because the starting point of his theologizing was his own spiritual experience and not only the study of the books of the holy Fathers.”[6] Commenting on the view that monastics must study secular wisdom because knowledge of God comes through the mediation of creatures, the great saint himself does not offer a rebutting philosophical argument, but speaks from a place of experiential intimacy: “I was in no way convinced when I heard such views being put forward, for my small experience of monastic life showed me that just the opposite was the case.”[7]

And not only did St. Gregory’s theology begin with his own experience within the Church, but it is the possibility and reality of this experience which he directly defended against the blasphemies of Barlaam, Akindynos, and Gregoras. Ultimately the very theology and life of the Church was at stake in the Palamite controversy—for theology is, at its height and center, not a collection of dogmatic statements, but it is the Person of Jesus Christ—our great God and Savior, Whom we may know by Divine illumination, to which dogmatic statements point the way. True theology, true spiritual life, is the vision of Christ in glory, and so at the heart of the Orthodox faith also stands the Cross-bearing Christian who has beheld Christ in glory. Of such, St. Gregory states: “We believe what we have been taught by those enlightened by Christ, which they alone know with certainty.”[8] His experiential theology is that of the saints preceding him because they experienced the same Christ. The centrality of such personal experience of the glory of God is underlined by St. Symeon the New Theologian’s statement that whoever does not desire to attain to the vision of Christ is possessed by the devil,[9]and St. Gregory’s own statement that the vision of God “is the only proof of a soul in good health.”[10]

Continue Reading: http://orthochristian.com/91867.html

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The Fatherly Embrace: New Monastic Tonsures in St Elisabeth Convent

Path to Orthodoxy: The Story of the 26 Catechumens

Seven Parables and Stories for the Week: Issue 23

The Lie. A Parable About Money for Children and Adults

Where Do Swamps Come From

Quick Facts About the Life of St. Raphael of Brooklyn

Was St. Gregory Palamas a Traditionalist or an Innovator?

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Search This Blog

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The Fatherly Embrace: New Monastic Tonsures in St Elisabeth Convent

Path to Orthodoxy: The Story of the 26 Catechumens

Seven Parables and Stories for the Week: Issue 23

The Lie. A Parable About Money for Children and Adults

Where Do Swamps Come From

Quick Facts About the Life of St. Raphael of Brooklyn

Was St. Gregory Palamas a Traditionalist or an Innovator?

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