The Holy Seven Maccabee Children, Solomone Their Mother, and Eleazar Their Teacher

August 1

Reading:

 

The names of the Holy Maccabees are Abim, Anthony, Guria, Eleazar, Eusebona, Achim, and Marcellus. They were Jews by race and exact keepers of the Laws of the Fathers. They lived during the reign of Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes ("Illustrious"), the King of Syria and an implacable enemy of the Jews. Having subjugated their whole nation and done many evil things to them, not sparing to assail the most sacred matters of their Faith, he constrained them, among other things, to partake of swine's flesh, which was forbidden by the Law. Then these pious youths, on being apprehended together with their mother and their teacher, were constrained to set at nought the Law, and were subjected to unspeakable tortures: wrackings, the breaking of their bones, the flaying of their flesh, fire, dismemberment, and such things as only a tyrant's mind and a bestial soul is able to contrive. But when they had endured all things courageously and showed in deed that the mind is sovereign over the passions and is able to conquer them if it so desires, they gloriously ended their lives in torments, surrendering their life for the sake of the observance of the divine Law. The first to die was their teacher Eleazar, then all the brethren in the order of their age. As for their wondrous mother Solomone, "filled with a courageous spirit, and stirring up her womanish thoughts with a manly wrath" (II Macc. 7:21), she was present at her children's triumph over the tyrant, strengthening them in their struggle for the sake of their Faith, and enduring stout-heartedly their sufferings for the sake of their hope in the Lord. After her last and youngest son had been perfected in martyrdom, when she was about to be seized to be put to death, she cast herself into the fire that they might not touch her, and was thus deemed worthy of a blessed end together with her sons, in the year 168 before Christ.

Apolytikion in the First Tone

 

Be entreated, O Lord, by the sufferings endured for You by the Saints, and we pray You, heal all our pain.

Kontakion in the Second Tone

 

The Wisdom of God's own seven pillars are ye all, a seven-branched lamp that shineth with the Light Divine, ye Great Martyrs that were before the Martyrs, O all-wise Maccabees, with them pray ye the God of all that we who now sing your praises may be saved.

SOURCE:

SOURCE FOR ICON:

SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2013(with 2012's link here also and further, 2011, 2010, 2009 and even 2008!)

A letter of complaint by His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus to the US Foreign Minister

From here.
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HELLENIC REPUBLIC
HOLY METROPOLIS OF PIRAEUS
AKTI THEMISTOKLEOUS 190
18539 PIRAEUS
TEL. +30 210 4514833
FAX. +30 210 4518476

7 September 2012

To the
Honourable
Daniel Smith
Ambassador of the USA
ATHENS GREECE

Your Excellency

I submit in writing my strong protests concerning the way my name is mentioned in the report of the Foreign office concerning religious freedom and I would kindly request you to forward this letter to Her Excellency the Secretary of State.

I would like to thank your Excellence in advance and may our Giftgiving Lord bless you with Health, Happiness and Progress.

HELLENIC REPUBLIC
HOLY METROPOLIS OF PIRAEUS
AKTI THEMISTOKLEOUS 190
18539 PIRAEUS
TEL. +30 210 4514833
FAX. +30 210 4518476

7 September 2012

To: Hillary Clinton
United States Secretary of State
USA Minister of Foreign Affairs
WASHINGTON U.S.A.


Your Excellency,

In the Report of your Department referring to the respect for religious freedom internationally and particularly in my country, my name is mentioned and my actions as well as my speeches are described without me having any chance to explain how things really stand.

As a world citizen and inhabitant on this planet I feel I am obliged to express my protest since there is obviously a violation of the Human Rights and the USA constitution in the way this specific Department Reports are constructed.

The founding of your country by the Leaders of your Nation was based on the Universal values which were born in my country; that is the freedom, democracy and respect of the human personality.

Since you are an experienced politician and a person of major contribution in your great country, you are certainly aware that according to the rules of law convicting someone without giving him the chance to apologize is unacceptable because the universal law of justice demands both sides to be heard before judgment.

Therefore I express my strong dissatisfaction that without being asked about what I really said or what really happened, I am literally accused internationally of being a so-called fundamentalist and violating the rights of my fellow men.

If the Services of your Ministry had the courtesy and the consciousness to ask me before accusing me about the specific issues, I would have informed them that I addressed in writing  the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens and requested the Blessing of the school year in the Roman Catholic School of Jean D’ Arc of Piraeus to come into effect exactly in the way the Roman Catholic School of Saint Paul of Piraeus does. I suggested that the blessing of the school year should be conducted by an Orthodox priest for the Orthodox students and by a Roman Catholic priest for the Roman Catholic students (who comprise a minority in this school), given the fact that in the Orthodox self consciousness and according to the canon law it is forbidden to pray together with people who believe in different dogmata and do not take part in the Holy Communion.

However, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church did not condescend to give us an answer and in this way I was not able to protect the Orthodox consciousness of the students in this school and as their Bishop and Shepherd I had no other way but appealing to the justice of Law and to the corresponding Law Services.

What else could I have done to confront the intransigent attitude and the obstinate obsession against the Orthodox Self Consciousness? Is there, in your opinion irrationality in my view? The justifiable conclusion which is deducted is that the Report was biased against me since there was no knowledge of the real facts and no mention was made in the attitude of the Roman Catholic Archbishop. In your Report there are unprovable allegations about my beliefs and combine them with ant-semitic expressions which supposedly were mine but these are distortions of my words trying to defame me.

I have never expressed myself against the Jewish Nation which I respect exactly as much as every other Nation on Earth. However, I must communicate the strong opposition of the Orthodox Jewish against the distortion of Judaism and the deviation from the divine approach to life into an apocryphistic system based on the dark teaching of Kabbalah, the surviving of eosphorism and the practice of black magic.

Therefore, I have never expressed anti-Semitic views. However as a Christian Bishop I had the right to interpret the Prophesies of the Old Testament and especially those of Prophet Daniel and Prophet Isaiah and prove that the longed for Messiah came in this world in the person of Lord Jesus Christ and the one who is expected by Judaism to come (and for whom the restoration of the Third Temple of Solomon and ceremonial and worship symbols – as publicized though the Internet – are prepared) is the one who is referred in the Apocalypse of Evangelist John as the Antichrist. 

Finally, do you consider as fundamentalism and anti-Semitism the obvious and universal reality that the bank system is one of the favorite economic activities of the powerful – in your country – Jewish lobby? Would you be kind enough to inform us who the three international Financial Institutions Moody’s Standard and Poor’s and Fitch belong to?  

Could you inform us what Nationality the founder of the Tri later Commission is? Could you inform us what is the Nationality of the members of the Bene Berith Lodge, which sites in Washington and has branches all over the world including my country? Could you inform us who comprise the governing body of the appearing as think Tank Bildeberg Group?

As a conclusion, I sincerely wish the Peace of God and feelings of understanding and tolerance between people to prevail on Earth. However the freedom of consciousness is of ultimate value which we are obliged to defend even with our lives and surely justice imposes the respect of all people’s rights especially of the weaker ones and of those who do not have power in this world.

Yours respectfully
The Metropolitan of Piraeus
+ Seraphim

Letter of the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece Ieronimos

From here.
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Letter of the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece Ieronimos, regarding the issues of taxation of the Orthodox Church of Greece and of the payroll of Its clergy to Greek PM and the leaders of the EU

Prompted by repeated publications in a part of the European Press regarding the issues of taxation of the Orthodox Church of Greece and of the payroll of Its clergy, and whose authors, in violation of any notion of ethics, avoid addressing relevant questions to the competent Press Office for their complete information, we are obliged to proceed to the following clarifications in order to restore the truth:

A. Taxation of the Church. The latest tax exemptions in favour of the Orthodox Church as well as in favour of all known religions in Greece with no exception, were repealed on April 23, 2010 by law No. 3842/2010. Henceforth, the legal entities of the Orthodox Church have been disbursing : (1) a tax on their real estate, and indeed at a tax rate three times as high as the one applying to the rest of the public organisations of the country; (2) a tax on the rents they receive each year from their real estate at a tax rate of 20% of their value, namely higher than the one applying to private individuals; (3) a complementary tax on their revenues from edifices and leased lands at a rate of 3%; (4) an advance payment of tax for the following year at a rate of 55% of the value of the aforementioned complementary tax; (5) a tax on inheritance and donations at a rate of 0.5% of their value; (6) a stamp duty fee and Agricultural Insurance Organisation rights at a total rate of 2.40% on each pecuniary contribution from the faithful to the Holy Churches by reason of sacred practices. Moreover, the aforementioned legal entities of the Church withhold and pay to the Greek Government all taxes which private tax payers are also obliged to withhold and pay in their transactions with third parties (tax on salaried services, VAT etc.). In accordance with tax law, only spaces used for worship and public benefit purposes by all religions and denominations with no exception are exempted from the tax on real estate. Thus the Central Service of the Church of Greece, the Holy Metropolises, the Parishes, the Holy Monasteries and the Ecclesiastic Foundations paid for the year 2011 a total amount of 12,584,139.92€ in taxes.

B. The payroll of the clergy. The payroll of the clergy is disbursed by the Government in compliance with a contractual obligation of the latter, assumed by it as of the year 1833 vis-à-vis the Church, since 65% (i.e. two thirds) of the rural and urban real estate property of the Church at the time came to the State. Henceforth and up to this day 96% of the remaining aforementioned property has also come to the State — either unilaterally (through a number of laws passed by the Greek Government) or through donations offered by the Church. The largest mass land concessions by the Church to the State took place in order to assist the refugees of the Asia Minor Disaster (1922) as well as the landless cultivators after 1945. Furthermore, the most significant public edifices of the capital (housing academic institutions, hospitals etc.) have been erected on real estate conceded by the Church free of charge for this purpose.

Today the largest part of Church property consists of forest extents, with regard to which, in accordance with the Greek Constitution, no change of their purpose and use is permitted, and of a few urban estates, upon most of which urban planning compulsory purchase has been imposed by the State so that they may be turned into communal spaces, without, however, the Orthodox Church legal entities’ having been compensated for them, due to the lack of financial resources of the relevant Municipalities. It is worth noting at this point that the salaries of the Deacons and of the Presbyters of the Orthodox Church are stipulated by the same law as those of Public Servants and are subject to the same cuts and tax allowances.

C. The revenues of the Church. The revenues of the Church derive from the rents of Its remaining real estate, the dividends from bank shares and voluntary contributions from the faithful. It should be noted that, as of 2008, paying dividends to bank shareholders has been suspended by law, while the real estate market is also going through a severe crisis. Despite all that, in October 2010 the Church of Greece supported the Greek economy by partaking of the share capital increase of the National Bank of Greece with the amount of 27 million euro, derived from bank borrowing. Today these shares, apart from the fact that they yield no dividend, have almost zero resale value. It should be emphasised that the Church of Greece has no revenues from commercial ventures or business activities in general.

D. The social work of the Church. Ever since the establishment of the Modern Greek State and up to this day, uninterruptedly, and of course these days in particular, when our people is suffering, Holy Metropolises, Holy Parishes, and Ecclesiastic Foundations have developed a large number of actions and charitable initiatives for the relief of those in need. Today the Church of Greece operates: 2,325 funds for the poor (Philoptocha), 10 nursery schools, 10 kindergartens, 19 hospices for the elderly within the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and a further 66 in the Holy Metropolitanates, 13 healthcare clinics for persons with chronic diseases, 8 foundations for persons with special needs, 10 hospitals and medical centres, 7 mental health hospices, 6 hostels for the homeless, 1 hostel for the accommodation of patients’ relatives, 36 boarding schools and orphanages, many foundations dedicated to child protection, over 200 free food distribution centres, with the number of portions of food offered constantly increasing, social supermarkets, free distribution points for clothing and foot ware, and student boarding houses.

The number of persons hosted in all the aforementioned forms of social infrastructure of the Church for the year 2011 (accommodation, boarding, medical and pharmaceutical healthcare) rose to 5,862. Moreover, 54 camping centres are operated, where more than 15,000 children are hosted each year. Furthermore, there is a special service operated by the Holy Synod for the reception of immigrants and for the provision of legal assistance to them, should they wish to submit asylum requests. Finally, it should be taken into account that daily pecuniary aid is provided to the destitute, and academic scholarships are granted to Greek and foreign students. In total, for the year 2010, all agencies of the Orthodox Church of Greece spent on their charitable and social work the amount of 96,234,510.47 euro.

It should be taken into consideration that the aforementioned data do not regard the Monastic Community of the Holy Mount, the Church of Crete or the Holy Metropolitanates of the Dodecanese, which constitute administratively independent ecclesiastic jurisdictions (and distinct from the Church of Greece) in accordance with Greek law.

We deem the dispatch of the present to be appropriate so that things may be put back in their right perspective; so that the irresponsible reproduction of erroneous and stereotypical information as well as the creation of distorted impressions at the expense of the Orthodox Church of Greece may cease, being obviously aimed at serving unfathomable expediencies.

 

http://www.ecclesia.gr/epikairotita/default.asp

Turkey-Historic decision: Erdogan returns seized property to religious minorities

From here.
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TURKEY

Historic decision: Erdogan returns seized property to religious minorities

by NAT da Polis

A decree published last night for the return of thousands of properties seized in '36, just hours before an Iftar of the Prime Minister with representatives of religious minorities. The beneficiaries are Greek-orthodox Christians, Armenians, Jews. Roman Catholics do not fall within the recognized minorities. The Prime Minister’s hopes: end to era of discrimination. 



Istanbul (AsiaNews) - In a sudden twist, the Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan has decided to return thousands of properties, confiscated by the government after 1936, to non-Muslim religious foundations.

This is Erdogan’s second surprise reserved for the old establishment of the Turkish Republic after the recent decapitation of the heads of the armed forces and the return of the primacy of politics over the military.

The publication of the draft-law on the restitution of property took place yesterday, just hours earlier than the traditional Iftar [the dinner-party that celebrates the end of the Ramadan fast] which the representative of the non-Muslim religious foundations, Lakis Vingas, held last night with the Prime Minister guest of honour.

The publication of the draft-law is a real "coup de theater": it will return all property to religious foundations that the Turkish administration with various subterfuges has seized in the past, after the census of 1936. Non-Muslim religious foundations means those recognized by various international treaties signed by Turkish Republic after 1923.

The decree has been published within a few days of Bartholomew I’s request for the return of unjustly usurped properties to minorities. In his campaign to see the return of certain properties of the Greek-orthodox communities, Bartholomew I had approached various European forums.

The decree provides:

1) the restitution of property as they were surveyed and registered in 1936 and subsequently confiscated from the religious foundations by the various administrations of the Republic of Turkey;

2) the return of the management of cemeteries belonging to non-Muslim foundations, which have been improperly sold to various towns and municipalities;

3) the restitution of undefined deeded property (such as monasteries and parishes), which were never recognized as legal entities by the Turkish Republic.

4) In the event that these properties have been sold or disposed of in various ways by the Turkish state parties, the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Turkey will establish with the owners a just compensation.

Interested parties are invited to submit the relevant documentation to the Directorate General of Foundations within 12 months.

It should be noted that the last law of the Turkish parliament voted on February 20, 2008, challenged and never accepted by opposition did not provide any of these regulations. What remains to be determined is the fate of mazbut properties (the so-called "occupied" properties) in which management, administration and property passed to the Turkish state.

According to an initial calculation, the decree provides for the restitution of 1000 properties to the Greek-orthodox Christians, 100 to the Armenians, numerous properties to the Chaldean Catholics and also to the Jews.

Nothing is expected for the Roman Catholics as they do not fall under the Treaty of Lausanne. But according to observers, the passage of the decree gives hope.

The decree has provoked positive reactions from all minority representatives. The director of the non-Muslim foundations described it as "a step of great importance and great historical content", the lawyer for minorities, Dr. Kezmpan, described it as a great revolution, after the liberation from the military dominance” . Another lawyer, Dr Hatem said that finally "the wrong done to the Church is restored."

In recent years the EU has always asked Turkey to take steps to remove discriminatory laws against religious minorities. And in some cases the European Court for Human Rights has condemned the Turkish state to return property or compensate the former owners.

At the Iftar yesterday, Erdogan said: "Like everyone else, we also do know about the injustices that different religious groups have been subjected to because of their differences…Times that a citizen of ours would be oppressed due to his religion, ethnic origin or different way of life are over".

12 Questions and Answers on Orthodox Confession and Worship

From here.
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12 Questions and Answers on Orthodox Confession and Worship.
 

Transcribed by A.D Kondogianakopoulou

On Monday 5 September, following an invitation from a Protestant theological school (postgraduate level) located outside Seoul, the Most Reverent Metropolitan of Korea, Fr. Ambrose, gave two lectures to 35 postgraduate students, all pastors. The lessons, within which the lectures were given, were on missions and the Liturgy. We have recorded the discussions for the most part that followed after each lecture and provide it below since we believe that the topics raised as well as the manner of their delivery of the Orthodox confession in Korea is of particular interest.  

***

1st Question: What is your understanding of missionary activities in the Orthodox Church? 

Answer: To start with, the term “mission” does not express the spirit of the Orthodox Church. We use it compromisingly because it has universal prevalence. Instead we prefer the term “witness.” The term mission, which derives from Western theology, does not exist in Holy Scripture, while the corresponding term, witness, is found many times. The teaching of the Gospel does not mean to say beautiful words about Christ but to give a daily witness of Christ with one’s words and with one’s silence, with works and by example. And if need be, if necessary, to martyr for Christ, namely, to spill one’s blood for Christ, as was done by millions of martyrs and confessors of the faith.
  

2nd Question: What is your opinion on proselytism? 

Answer: In the Orthodox Church we consider proselytism a great sin because it does not honour man. It tramples upon the precious divine gift of freedom and debases man’s personality. Proselytism means to impose on someone else your beliefs by lawful and unlawful means, while confessing Christ means to struggle, to live according to Christ and to repeat by one’s words and life, the perennial “come and see” of the Apostle Philip to any well-intentioned “Nathanael” – your neighbour. The disastrous results of proselytism of the so-called missionary countries by Western Christianity, which we face to this day, I believe, does not leave any margin for the indefinite condemnation of the proselytising process.
 

3rd Question: What process is followed in the Orthodox Church for someone to work as a missionary? 

Answer: In the Orthodox Church, the deacons of the Bible are not self-called but other-called. In other words, someone does not decide by himself to work as a missionary but is sent by the Church. Obedience to the Church is the only soul-saving route. If we remember, for example, the case of Barnabas and Paul, we see that the Holy Spirit chose them and the Church through prayer and fasting sent them to preach. (Acts 13:3) And when they returned to Jerusalem they informed the Church which sent them of “everything that God did through them.” (Acts 15:4)

This subject has great theological significance for the spreading of the true faith and for the unity of the Church. If everyone acts according to his opinion and desire, then the faith and unity of the Church is in danger. 

At this point permit me to mention the following event: Once I flew from America to Greece with an American woman, a self-appointed missionary. When I asked her why she chose Greece for her missionary work, she told me that she admired the Greeks a lot because she knew a lot about their glorious ancient history, and that is why she had great zeal to Christianize them.

“Do you know what modern-day Greeks believe in?” I asked her. 

“Of course, the twelve gods of Olympus!” she answered. 

“Do you know,” I told her, “that 2000 years before you some other apostle, the Great Apostle of the Nations Paul went to Greece and preached Christianity? And that Greeks have had an uninterrupted Christian Orthodox tradition ever since?” 

Such waggishness and much worse happens when behind every self-called missionary it is not the Church doing the sending. 

4th Question: You accused the woman from America who went to Greece as a missionary. Why did you come to Korea? Are you not doing the same? 

Answer: No, I did not do the same, nor did I accuse the lady. I simply mentioned the event to show what can happen if the missionary work of someone does not have proper ecclesiological foundations. You know better than me that in Korea there are millions of people who are not only non-Christians but are also pagans. However, Greece is a country with two thousand years of Christian history with a population of over 90% Christian. If Korea was a Christian country, the Ecumenical Patriarchate wouldn’t have sent me here. 

To be more clear allow me to add the following: At the University where I teach, the parents of one of our female students are in Greece as self-appointed missionaries. And, in fact, the place they chose for their missionary activities, was the holy island of Patmos! The island of the Revelation, where the traces of the Evangelist of love, Saint John the theologian, are still fully obvious. On this island, where many Christian saints lived and acted, there are an innumerable number of churches and monasteries where the Orthodox faith of its inhabitants has its roots in the apostolic period. One could ask what could they teach the Orthodox inhabitants of the island, two Koreans who became Christians a few years earlier? Don’t you think that it is not honest to try to change the faith of people who carry in their DNA a tradition of twenty centuries? 

In the same way, it was not honorable what the Roman Catholic Church did during the 90’s, after the fall of communism in Russia. Immediately after, the Uniates ran to underhandedly convert the Russians with their centuries-old tradition into Roman Catholics. If one wishes to do missionary work, let him turn to other non-Christian countries. 

5th Question: Would you like to tell us about the personality of a missionary (hierapostle)? 

Answer: In answering your very substantial question, I will try to explain very briefly what the theoretically ideal missionary is like. Of course, I am not maintaining that what should be done is always what is done. The one doing the missionary work of the Church must first have Christ as their prototype and all those who followed the steps of Christ, namely the saints. The missionary must without doubt be a person of many virtues, the main one being that of a person struggling against his passions. The cleansing for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit is the first step. From cleansing one then progresses to enlightenment and theosis (deification). You cannot transfer to somebody something that you do not have. To give a witness of Christ you yourself must necessarily have tasted the presence of Christ in your life.  

Question 6: What is the method for missionary work in the Orthodox Church? 

Answer: In the Orthodox Church we follow the practice of the early Church as we find it in the Book of Acts. When the Apostles saw that their numerous cares for the service of the tables would “steal” time away from their main work, they proposed to elect seven deacons. For themselves they announced to all the following decision: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). In other words, the Orthodox Church following the apostolic tradition places worship before preaching. One can easily see this, if they visit a worship service at an Orthodox Church and then does the same at a protestant assembly. The emphasis in a congregation of the Orthodox is dedicated to the worship of God, while for the Protestants it is preaching. That is why we often hear from the Protestants who have come to know Orthodoxy that “in our congregations we hear many words, but in the Orthodox Church we pray a lot and hear few.” 

 

We Orthodox are taught the Holy Gospel, which we always have at the centre of the Holy Altar to remind us that the word of God must be at the centre of our daily life, during our Divine Worship in three ways. Firstly, we read it. At every holy service, holy readings are read. Specifically, at every Divine Liturgy we hear the word of God from the Apostole and Gospel readings and from the divine preaching that follows. Secondly, we sing it. The wonderful, most theological hymns of Orthodox worship are for the most part full of direct and indirect scriptural references. In fact, in many cases if one compares the texts they can see that certain hymns are word-for-word quotes from the scriptural texts. In other words, we have “melodised” the text of Holy Scripture. And thirdly, we see it. We see the Gospel in Orthodox icons. That is, icons are an “illustrated” Gospel. If, for example, we pay attention to the icon of the Transfiguration of the Lord, we shall note that the iconographer through the designs and colours repeats iconographically the words of the evangelists who described the miracle of the Transfiguration. In conclusion we say that in the worship of the Orthodox Church we have a perfect audiovisual system of the Gospel teaching.

7th Question: You said that in the Orthodox Church worship takes precedence over preaching. However, the Apostle Paul only preached when at the Areopagus. 

Answer: The Apostle Paul was speaking to the Athenian idolaters for the first time. It was logical to start the preaching about the “unknown God.” To which God could he pray with the idolaters? During any other situations though as we learn from Acts, the Apostles followed the hierapostolic method of worship and then preaching. Their gatherings had as their main purpose the “Breaking of bread” and teaching. 

8th Question: You have spoken in great length on worship and its centre point, which is, as you said, the Holy Eucharist? How do you believe that the bread and wine is the body and blood of Christ? 

Answer: In the Orthodox Church we believe that the greatest work that is performed on earth is the Divine Liturgy. And this is because during the Divine Eucharist we relive the occasion of the Last Supper for the redemption of the human race. Just as then when in the upper room in Jerusalem Christ surrendered His Body and His Blood to His disciples, so it is that at every Divine Liturgy Christ Himself is invisibly present hypostatically and essentially as victim and sacrificer and imparts His Body and His Blood to the baptized faithful, who occupy the place of the Apostles. And, of course, we who receive Holy Communion believe that we commune the same holy Body and Blood of Christ “for the redemption of sins and unto life eternal.” Not symbolically, because Christ did not say during the Last Supper to His disciples, “Receive, eat, this is like My Body” or “Drink from this all of you, this is like my blood” but “this is My Body” and “this is My Blood.” 

9th Question: In other words, what we do in our worship is nothing? 

Answer: The great difference between Orthodox worship and yours is the fact that in your worship an imaginary representation is made of the sacrifice of Christ, namely a fictitious act of the Last Supper. In contrast, in the Orthodox Divine Liturgy the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ are present, and Christ is given “again and many times” to “be eaten and be drunk” by the faithful – “Always consumed but never spent”. The Apostles received the tradition of the celebration of the “Last Supper” from the Lord. They passed it on to their disciples and the Orthodox Church continues this tradition to this day without interruption. In the ecclesiastical history of the Early Church there are great number of references to the time of the persecutions and the catacombs that testify to the zeal of the first Christians and the dangers they ignored by participating in the Eucharistic gatherings to commune the Body and Blood of Christ. 

For us Orthodox, it is incomprehensible how Protestant theology interprets passages of Holy Scripture that speak most clearly about the heavenly Bread, such as those found in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John: “He who eats of my Body and drinks of my Blood has eternal life and I shall raise him in the last day” (John 6:54) and “he who eats of my Body and drinks of my Blood dwells in Me and I in him.” (John 6:56) Just as our body has absolute need of actual, and not symbolic, food and drink to be sustained in life, likewise our soul has absolute need of the Body and Blood of Christ that it may not die spiritually. We cannot live either in this or the next life if we do not eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ. Perhaps this sounds harsh. However, let us remember that many of the disciples ceased to follow Christ after everything He told them about His flesh and His blood. And addressing the twelve He asked them “Don’t you too wish to leave?” (John 6:67) He repeats the same even today to all who wish to be Christians but do not wish to believe and accept the whole teaching of Christ. 

10th Question: Is man not saved only by preaching? Why do you insist so much on the topic of worship? 

Answer: The salvific work of the Church is not accomplished only through preaching. Someone listening to the word of God and saying, “I am saved” does not mean that he has already been saved. The Orthodox Church apart from the word of God also offers man the sacramental life. Man, by participating in the Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Church, is sanctified and achieves theosis. The offering, for example, of Holy Communion to the faithful is done “for the remission of sins and life eternal.” The faithful through the Holy Eucharist are mystically unified with Christ and become “partakers of the divine nature…” (2 Pet. 1:4) What else is the salvation of man beyond this? 

11th Question: How can you explain to us what a Mystery (Sacrament) is?

Answer: It is hard for one to believe in the sacramental life of the Church if he does not first understand what the word “Mystery” means. A Mystery is something we see being performed but is impossible for man’s mind to comprehend how it is performed. If we could understand the manner in which the Mystery is taking place then it would not be a Mystery, but a common daily human activity.

We say, for example, that God is Triune. I ask you: Who of us understands the Mystery of the Holy Trinity? Three Persons, one Essence! This Mystery when considered with human logic is absurd. However, if a person sees it through the dimension of Faith then he will understand that it is not illogical but beyond logic. Who could understand what God is? What is, for example, the essence of God? NO ONE! Nevertheless, we believe in God. Not because we understand it, but because we feel His presence mystically and we heartily feel His love. In other words, we can understand the uncreated energies of God, as the great fathers of the Orthodox Church have so beautifully theologized about, but not His Essence. Let us see what God said to Moses when he asked God to show him His glory: “I will make my glory pass before you…but you cannot see my face: for there shall be no man see me and live…” (Ex 33:18-20) The same happens in all matters of faith that surpass natural laws. We “see them without seeing them,” we “know them without knowing them” for they are all wrapped up in the “divine darkness” (Gregory of Nyssa). We experience and participate in them only through the power of Faith. If we insist on believing only in what we understand with our finite logic then we narrow extremely our spiritual horizon and in the end cannot be Christians. For ultimately “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) And, of course, faith is conditional to true humility, with which we attract the grace of God. For “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6) The humble man who trusts God more than his logic, with the grace of God, can understand the Mysteries of the Church.  

12th Question: How can one study Orthodox theology in Korea? 

Answer: Because Orthodox theology is almost unknown in Korea, the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea is trying to build an Orthodox School of Theology, which will be the first not only in Korea but in the whole of East Asia, to provide the possibility to anyone wishing to approach this precious treasure. Pray that our wish soon becomes a reality for the glory of God.
 

[The lectures with question sessions lasted more than three hours (with a 10 minute interim break) were concluded with the following epilogue.]

My dear, before I leave the rostrum, I would first like to thank you for your polite invitation and for your particularly concise questions. Secondly, I apologize, for it is possible that some of you may have been disturbed by my answers. My intention was not to annoy anybody. Because I believe that for a dialogue to be meaningful and fruitful (for I believe that no one came here to hear empty idle talk and waist one’s time), without doubt, frankness and love must govern, that is why I told you what I believe with the language of truth and love. “Speaking the truth in love…” (Eph. 4:15) and “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) was the scriptural foundation of my thoughts. Finally, I wish to add, to avoid any misunderstanding, that I did not tell you that we, the Orthodox are all holy. Our goal, of course, is our sanctification for which we struggle. However, what everyone does in his personal life is what will be judged by God. What I tried to tell you is that we Orthodox believe steadfastly that we have the correct Faith. We continue in the Faith of the one undivided Church of the first millennium, keeping in mind the apostolic admonition: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold fast the traditions you have been taught, whether by word or by epistle of ours.” (2 Thess. 2:15).
I warmly thank you.

Source (in greek): All the Nations (Panta Ta Ethni)
               Trimonthly Hierapostolic Journal
               Issue 116
               Oct-Dec 2010

High Court Judgment suggests Christian beliefs harmful to children. Fostering by Christians now in

Frightening.  The Lord's return is not far when wickedness is now increasingly sanctioned by law.

From here.
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In a landmark judgment, which will have a serious impact on the future of fostering and adoption in the UK, the High Court has suggested that Christians with traditional views on sexual ethics are unsuitable as foster carers, and that homosexual ‘rights’ trump freedom of conscience in the UK. The Judges stated that Christian beliefs on sexual ethics may be ‘inimical’ to children, and they implicitly upheld an Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) submission that children risk being ‘infected’ by Christian moral beliefs.

Today’s ruling relates to the dispute between married couple Eunice and Owen Johns and Derby City Council. The Johns applied to the Council in 2007 to foster a child but the Council blocked their application because they objected that the Johns were not willing to promote the practise of homosexuality to a young child. In November 2010 both parties jointly asked the Court to rule on whether the Johns were able to foster children, or whether they could be excluded from doing so under equality law because of their Christian beliefs.

Today (28^th February) that judgment has been released. The judges declined to make the statement that the Johns, wanting to re-establish their fostering application, had sought. Instead, the judgment strongly affirms homosexual rights over freedom of conscience and leaves the Johns currently unable to foster a child as desired, despite their proven track record as foster parents. There now appears to be nothing to stop the increasing bar on Christians who wish to adopt or foster children but who are not willing to compromise their beliefs by promoting the practise of homosexuality to small children.

The nature of the judgment means that Christians who hold orthodox Christian views on the family, marriage and sexuality will continue to face difficulties in the fostering and adoption process and the Courts will not intervene to stop this from happening. In fact, the summary contained in the judgment sends out the clear message that orthodox Christian ethical beliefs are potentially harmful to children and that Christian parents with mainstream Christian views are not suitable to be considered as potential foster parents.

In their judgment, the judges stated:

• That if children are placed with parents who have traditional Christian views like the Johns “there may well be a conflict with the local authority’s duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of looked-after children”, [1]

• That there is a tension between the equality provisions concerning religious discrimination and those concerning sexual orientation. Yet, as regards fostering, “the equality provisions concerning sexual orientation should take precedence”, [2]

• That a local authority can require positive attitudes to be demonstrated towards homosexuality, [3]

• That there is no religious discrimination against the Johns because they were being excluded from fostering due to their moral views on sexual ethics and not their Christian beliefs (This is incredible and very disingenuous as the Johns moral views cannot be separated from their religious beliefs), [4] and

• That “Article 9 [of the European Human Rights Act] only provides a ‘qualified’ right to manifest religious belief and ... this will be particularly so where a person in whose care a child is placed wishes to manifest a belief that is inimical to the interests of children”. [5]

Equality and Human Rights Commission

The tax payer funded EHRC played an important role in this judgment. They intervened in the Johns case, and they suggested to the Court that a child should not, in their own words, be ‘infected’ with Christian moral beliefs. Suggesting that Christian moral beliefs on sexual ethics could ‘infect’ children is an extraordinary position for a statutory body to take. It is also deeply insulting both to the Johns, who have a proven track record of successfully raising children, and to Christians in general.

THE HIGH COURT IMPLICITLY UPHELD THIS SUBMISSION BY THE EHRC.

Johns Reaction

The judgment was greeted with disbelief and sadness today by Eunice and Owen Johns. In a statement, the couple said:

“We wanted to offer a loving home to a child in need. But because of this ruling we are unsure how we can continue the application process. We have been excluded because we have moral opinions based on our faith, and a vulnerable child has now probably missed the chance of finding a safe and caring home. We do not believe that our ordinary Christian moral views are infectious, contrary to what the Equality and Human Rights Commission believes. Being a Christian is not a crime and should not stop us from raising children. Today, it looks as though a child has missed out on a home.”

Christian Legal Centre Reaction

Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre said:

“The Johns are a mild mannered, ordinary Christian couple, yet they may never be able to foster children again. They were willing to love a child regardless of sexual orientation, but not willing to tell a young child that practising homosexuality was a positive thing. Now, a child has likely missed out on finding a home, at a time when there is a desperate shortage of willing parents. 

“Eunice and Owen Johns have been humiliated and sidelined and told by a Government body (the EHRC) that their mainstream Christian views might “infect” children. They have also effectively been told by British Judges that their views may harm children.

“The Judges have claimed that there was no discrimination against the Johns as Christians because they were being excluded from fostering due to their sexual ethics and not their Christian beliefs. This claim that their moral beliefs on sex have nothing to do with their Christian faith is a clear falsehood made in order to justify their ruling. How can the Judges get away with this?

“What has happened to the Johns is part of a wider trend seen in recent years. The law has been increasingly interpreted by Judges in a way which favours homosexual rights over freedom of conscience. Significant areas of public life are now becoming out of bounds to Christians who do not want to compromise their beliefs. If Christian morals are harmful to children and unacceptable to the State, then how many years do we have before natural children start being taken away from Christians?

“At the Christian Legal Centre our clients have included, amongst many others, a nurse suspended for offering prayer; a Council worker suspended for talking about God to a client, a teacher suspended for offering prayer; a nurse forced off frontline nursing because she wouldn’t take off her cross. We have dealt with Civil Registrars who have been demoted because they did not want to officiate at civil partnerships, and a Christian counsellor who lost his job for not wanting to give sex therapy to homosexuals. In the last few years, several Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to close because they refused to place children with homosexual couples.

“There is a great imbalance in the law at the moment, resulting in ordinary people suffering. The situation must be addressed by Parliament as the Judiciary have failed to stand for civil liberties but have capitulated to the agenda of the homosexual rights lobby. We cannot have a society where you are excluded just because you don’t agree with the sexual ethics of the homosexual lobby. Britain is now leading Europe in intolerance against religious belief.”

Orthodox Bishop Artemije to the Holy Synod...

From here.

---------------------- 

A R T E M I J E
The retired Bishop of Ras-Prizren
September 13^th, 2010
Shishatovac Monastery

TO THE HOLY ARCHIERATICAL SYNOD
OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
BELGRADE

Surprised, shocked and deeply wounded by its contents, and the slanders and threats contained in the latest Act of the Holy Archieratical Synod, No. 924, dated August 26^th 2010, we are compelled to answer it, according to our duty and our sense of conscience.

For the last few years, even though We expressed our disagreement, We have been tolerant of and accepting of many of your non-canonical and anti-constitutional decisions and deeds. The reason for that was that We were convinced then that, both for the Church and the people, instead of spreading and hardening the conflict within the Church, it was better that We endure your aggression, initially, with small acts but over time the aggression has grown bigger and harder, against the archieratical right and the authority of the Diocese of Ras-Prizren.

Must we remind you of the issue of Our lawsuit filed in Strasbourg, concerning the damage inflicted during the events of March 17^th 2004, and its forced withdrawal, the issue of the Memorandum (March 2005), the reception of the “reconstructed” edifices in 2008 and 2009, the question of Visoki Decani Monastery and the schism created by its administration, the issue of Our right to judge and promote our clerics… In the end, albeit not agreeing with it, We accepted the anti-canonical and non-constitutional extortion of Our Diocese from Us and our expulsion from Kosovo and Metohija.

We acted in such a manner in order to maintain peace, concord and unity within the Serbian Orthodox Church. We hoped for peace and harmony. Did Our tolerance towards you bring peace to the Church? No! Only chaos has been created. By your actions, only irreparable damage was brought to the Diocese of Ras-Prizren. You have chased away its monastics, you have exposed them to harassment, blackmail, threats of legal action both ecclesiastical and secular. You contest their right to a filial relationship with Us, their spiritual father.

You cooperate with illegitimate Albanian institutions, hence assisting the creation of a secessionist entity within the Serb Kosovo and Metohija. You have already received praise from our adversaries. 

Liturgical order has been destroyed and chaos has been introduced to the Diocese of Ras-Prizren.

Besides all this, you are pressurising the whole Serbian Orthodox Church, abandoning Sacred Canons and the Holy Tradition, toward the path of abominable Union with Papacy. What does the speech of His Holiness in Vienna these days look like?

We have no more justifiable reasons to accept things with which We do not agree. We have no such right, and the question is if We have ever really had it!? As Ras-Prizren Bishop, we must not, we do not want to, and we cannot cooperate in the dismantling of St. Sava’s Serbian Orthodox Church.

Fathers and brethren, with this address to You as members of the Holy Archieratical Synod, let it be considered and known that we address at the same time to the Holy Archieratical Assembly of Hierarchs, to the Primates of all the Local Orthodox Churches and their Hierarchs, to the Priests and Monastics, as well as to all the Orthodox people around the globe. The basic reason for that is the latest act of Yours, which We mentioned in the beginning.

You have intended to impose on Us a new punishment, showing thus that you are still not satisfied by all those declared and implemented punishments, all of them without real canonical background.

All are aware, even outside of the boundaries of Ras-Prizren Diocese, and even outside Serbia, what really hides in the deeper background regarding the motive as to why You removed us from Kosovo and Metohija, even forbidding Us to dwell there in any of the monasteries that We had built or reconstructed there, at least in a retired status, which you non-canonically and anti-constitutionally imposed on Us.

Such intentions of Yours towards Us suffice to show to many  who needs to fear whom and why, as well which side is canonically rightful and which one is not.

It is also publicly known that We, in order to keep the peace in the Serbian Orthodox Church, complied with Your decisions, emphasizing every time that Our compliance did not mean that We also agreed  with those decisions. We could not agree that in a completely oppressive way, You extort from Us the Diocese of Ras-Prizren, entrusted to Us by God, and that You give it over to the hands of the second and the third bridegroom, albeit We are still alive. Truly wise Church Fathers called such actions “fornication” from which one can expect only foul offspring. Who can be proud today of the offspring that multiplied like weeds from such an unholy union? Only the adversaries, and they are many, not only from the outside, but from the inside as well! But, let the initiators and perpetrators of the infernal plan of Our deprivation of the Diocese, and our removal from Kosovo and Metohija think about it more!

The malice continued to spread. In this chain non-canonical actions from Your side, not only that you deprived us of our Bishop’s throne, and expelled Us from Kosovo and Metohija, but you have scattered our flock, too. And the flock knows it shepherd. The flock is sensible and thus it has self-determined to follow its shepherd. It will not accept the imposed foreign shepherd who wants to keep the flock in fear, under threat and punishment.

Do We have the right to renounce Our own flock, which does not renounce Us? What answer shall We give to Christ the Saviour, Who invested Us to be the shepherd of the reasonable flock, and to Whom we gave an oath of faithfulness for life?

Bearing all this in mind, my dear Brethren in Christ, we declare and penitently acknowledge that We did not do well when we emphasized and declared that We “comply with your decisions, but We do not agree with them”. Our “compliance” towards You obviously did not bring peace to the Serbian Orthodox Church, which was so much desired from Our side. On the contrary!

After all that, we are indebted to officially withdraw all Our statements on the “compliance” given so far, for We see that We will have to give answers to  the Lord for them. In the other world We will not answer to You, but to Him Who taught us through all the Apostles, Martyrs, Teachers and the Saints of His Church, that one should pay obedience to God more than to men.

We have the feeling that by complying with Your decisions, preceded by specific blackmails, threats and horrible pressures, of which every successive one was harsher than the previous one, We have acted mistakenly against Our Diocese, which goes by the name of Ras-Prizren; against that entrusted to Us namely the spiritual flock, that is against Our life-long duty toward the Most High Lord to stand steadfastly on guard spiritually, in accordance to the church canons and the Archieratical oath We gave.

Hence, We rightfully demand that You give Us back the extorted seat of the Ras-Prizren Bishop, by which act You would bring back the canonical order and peace to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

On the contrary, We publicly declare by this that from now in future We deliver Us from the sense of guilt for the previous “compliances”, for We are, in the Church and toward God a life-long canonical Hierarch of the Ras-Prizren Diocese. In that sense, We will not submit to any future non-canonical decisions of Yours, bearing in mind that all the previous ones were brought about by the diktat of  non-ecclesiastical, political and inimical factors.

Undeniable testimonies and events which speak on behalf of what We say are well known to everybody, and the impartial historians will give their final judgment on that, and even before them it will be done by the general awareness of the rightful God’s people.

If there is awareness among you on how none of you  under any circumstances, would allow  someone to extort or endanger in any way  the Diocese entrusted to you by God, if that awareness  prevails in you, my brother Hierarchs, and that the other Hierarchs violate your rights which have been strictly guaranteed by the church canons, then you would understand Us and the justification for everything We have said here. If there is no such awareness, then there will only be hypocritical talk of love among us, and the efforts in reestablishing peace and order in our Church will be in vain.

In such a context, if, God forbid, a SCHISM happens in the Serbian Orthodox Church, be ready to receive and suffer the responsibility for it, and all the consequences which will come out of it.

No one either talks of schism or endeavours to create it except the members of the Holy Archieratical Synod, since February 11^th, 2010 until today. The people see and recognize that truth. It cannot be buried or hushed up, nor can the responsibility be shifted to someone else.

We, in the virtue of canonical Bishop of Ras-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, remain steadfastly loyal to the Hierarch of us all – Lord Jesus Christ, Who summoned Us to a life-long Archieratical service in the canonical unity with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Sincerely devoted in the Lord to the Holy Archieratical Synod,

Bishop of Ras-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija

+ARTEMIJ

Orthodox Bishop Artemije in Exile...

From here.
------------------------------

ARTEMIJE

By the Grace of God

Orthodox Bishop of Ras-Prizren

In Exile

December 7, 2010

TO BROTHER HIERARCHS

OF THE ONE HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC

ORTHODOX CHURCH

ALL OVER THE OECUMENE

Dear Brother and concelebrants in Christ,

We hope that your Grace had already received news on the displeasing events in the Serbian Orthodox Church concerning Us, least among your brethren in Lord. Modern mass media are various and numerous; hence the news that the Assembly of the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church had deprived Us of the Hierarchal honour and has reduced Us to the rank of monks, exactly on the day of the fiftieth anniversary of our monastic tonsure, has surely reached you, too.

We do not know of the reasons mentioned in the information you have received, and in which context have they been presented, but We know that here, in Our fatherland, the information, coming from the Holy Archieratical Synod and from the Serbian state, disseminated through the mass media, are full of falsities, slanders, and unproved accusations.

Just a small, but bitter part of the orchestrated persecution against Us one can get, learning how a few months ago the Serbian Patriarchate (i. e. Holy Archieratical Synod) has commenced a legal process against Our Protosyncellus, Archimandrite Simeon Vilovski, who had at the time already been in Thessalonica, preparing his Doctor’s thesis at the Theological faculty of the Thessalonica University. Based on “doubt on malfeasance in office”, the Synod has lodged a complaint against him. After an international arrest warrant issued against him, Fr. Simeon spent three and a half months in Greek prisons, waiting for the trial at the Areopagus, the Supreme Court of Greece. The trial was held on July 6, 2010.

In its ruling No. 1410/2010, the Areopagus justified Fr. Simeon. It was publicly declared on July 13, 2010, rejecting the request of the Serbian legal bodies for his extradition to Serbia where he would have been tried upon the indictment on “doubt on malfeasance in office”. The Areopagus clearly concluded that: a) it is a fabricated persecution, behind which stands the persecution of political and religious convictions, and b) he would have no fair trial in Serbia.

Lest you remain in misapprehension regarding Our case, we have taken liberty to provide attached Our written address to the Holy Archieratical Synod from September 13, 2010, from which you can have a firsthand knowledge on how and why the disagreement between Us and the Holy Archieratical Synod has come to pass.

The five-member Synod, in which Our infamous denouncers and persecutors participated and voted against Us, and, albeit We were not summoned to reply, reacted to Our letter, by ruling another non-canonical decision, which puts Us under suspension of “performing all the sacraments” until the regular session of the Holy Assembly of the Hierarchy, scheduled for November 17, 2010. In expectation of the possibility to put forth our defense at the Assembly of the Hierarchy, and that in front of all that the full Truth be shown, We have, even though the ruling is non-canonical, respected the synodal decision.

Unfortunately, We were not even invited to the Assembly of the Hierarchy, where, again, our infamous denouncers and persecutors participated and voted against Us. The Assembly of the Hierarchy, again non canonically, and against the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, brought the decision that We be deposed and demoted to the rank of monk, without the right to defend Ourselfs, and without Our presence,.

Eventually, all four of the times that either the Holy Archieratical Synod or the Assembly of the Hierarchy dealt with Our issue [a) February 11, 2010 the HA Synod temporary suspension from the Bishop’s seat; b) May 4, 2010. Holy Assembly of the Hierarchy – “deposition” from the Bishop’s seat; c) September 15, 2010, HA Synod – prohibition of performing the Sacraments; d) November 19, 2010, Holy Assembly of the Hierarchy – defrocking] were not regularly and canonically preceded by a judicial process, neither were the witnesses of the prosecutor and defense summoned, nor were We summoned to express our defense. Apart from May 4, 2010, We were not invited to the Assembly of the Hierarchy, and We did not participate in it. Finally, Our judges were Our infamous denouncers and horrendous slanderers through the mass media.

We have in front of Us the example of Saint John Chrysostom, who was also wrongfully and non-canonically tried and defrocked, excluded from participation in the sacraments and expelled. He himself never acknowledged that decision as a valid one, and considered himself the canonical Archbishop of Constantinople to the end of his life, had the communion with many Bishops throughout the Oecumene and celebrated the Divine Liturgy (according to the possibilities). That is why We behaved in a similar way. We have not accepted the decision of the Assembly, and We consider Ourself  the only legitimate and life-long Bishop of Ras-Prizren. Hence, We officiate the Holy Sacraments with our monks and the faithful, conditions that we live in allowing.

We inform You on all this, my dear brother, in hope that with brotherly understanding and support,  the Truth might triumph, and that We might  remain in spiritual and canonical Unity with all of You.

We use the opportunity to wish You a happy and blessed festivity of the Christ’s Nativity, with the all-joyful greetings.

CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

In the love of divine newly-born Christ, Your brother and concelebrant

Bishop of Ras-Prizren,

and Kosovo-Metohija

+ARTEMIJE

3rd Meeting of the Inter-Orthodox Network for Initiatives and the Study of Religions and Injurious Cults

From here.
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3rd Meeting of the Inter-Orthodox Network for Initiatives and the Study of Religions and Injurious Cults

Press Bulletin

Great success was noted at the 3rd Meeting of the Inter-Orthodox Network for Initiatives and the Study of Religions and Injurious Cults, which took place between October 1-3, 2010 at the Holy Monastery of Saint George-Hadjidimovo in Nevrocopi, Bulgaria.

Many research specialists on heresies and injurious cults took part in the conference: from Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus and Serbia. The network’s third meeting had the following general topic:

“The Neo-Pentecostal Movement. Pastoral and social problems and ways of facing them.” Among other things, opening remarks were given by the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Nevrocopi Nathaniel (Bulgaria), the Most God-loving Bishop of Karpasia Christopher (Cyprus), Cypriot Member of Parliament Tasos Metsopoulos, Russian Professor Alexander Dvorkin, as well as the mayor and police chief of Nevrocopi.

From the submissions that followed, it became obvious that the teachings and proceedings of the Neo-Pentecostals have nothing in common with Orthodoxy, or more generally, with Christianity. Their beliefs are considered obscure (secret) and blasphemous (not only to the Orthodox faith but also to all Christians). Their proceedings are also wily, deceiving and harmful to the person, family, and to society at large.

The distinguished speakers provided many examples on the efforts of Neo-Pentecostals to infiltrate education, the health system, orphanages, old age homes, drug addiction treatment programs and civilian life in general of Orthodox countries. In consideration of the infiltration efforts of the Neo-Pentecostal movement in Orthodox Churches, and generally throughout the world, the members of the network recommend a) alertness, b) exposure of the harmful activities of these groups, c) help from experts on heresies and harmful cults when necessary, d) educating and informing the Orthodox flock on the harmful methods used by these groups (such as the presentation of pertinent films, exposure of their real purpose which is the collection of money and power through deceit), e) that contact be made with the victims and not with the organizations that take advantage of them, always carefully and with love, f) that the government enact new laws for the protection of the individual from brainwashing and from the crafty methods used by such secretive organizations, g) that the local Church place importance on the problem and h) that Orthodox catechism be reinforced as a defense against cultism. The Neo-Pentecostals with their falsehoods overturn the whole evangelical message and nullify salvation in Christ to their victims. The problem the activities of the Neo-Pentecostals create is not only theological and pastoral. It has dimensions and repercussions on all areas of man’s life (personal, family, social, etc.), exacting terrible damage on their victims – such as psychological, neurological and even physical damage, sometimes even leading to death.

At the conference the following pastoral findings and explanations were presented. It is observed that in our days a joint effort is being made by different factors (unfortunately even by members of the Church) to remove the clearly ecclesiological term “heresy” from our vocabulary. They do not acknowledge our pastoral right to stress the difference – through the use of this term – between Orthodox teaching and life and these Neo-Pentecostals and various other groups, even though they are highly harmful to the individuality and life of people.

We, the Orthodox shepherds and Christians, must first understand this ourselves but also make it plainly clear to all ecclesiastical, political and social bodies that our reference to heresies is not grounded in bigotry, nor does it aim at the annihilation or abolition of heretics but at the protection of the faithful members of our Church and of the social system in general.

Note: The complete proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the network will be published soon.
From the Secretariat of the Inter-Orthodox Network for Initiatives and the Study of Religions and Injurous Cults.

Source (Greek):Pan-Cyprian Parents Union