Month: January 2010

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Fr. Peter Preble interviews Fr. Jay Finelli, the iPadre

Life a bit hard right now? Watch this.

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Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky: Archbishop Job and the Struggle for Light

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More accolades about the courage of Abp. Job facing up to corruption in the Church. As an outsider looking in, it was clear that Abp. Job’s increasingly clear voice that the corruption in the OCA needed the disinfectant that only the light of transparency would allow started to break through when he mustered the courage to speak out. I could see it was not easy on the man. Perhaps it contributed to his early death.

I could see too it was a role he did not choose for himself but circumstances cast it upon him, and he did not disown the commission. He took it on reluctantly with some missteps along the way but for this he can be forgiven. Lesser men shrink under the challenge but Abp. Job found his voice. His courage clearly fostered the courage of others and opened the door for a renewal in a Church beleaguered by such grave malfeasance that its future was in doubt. Now is a new day. May his memory be eternal.

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H/T: ocanews.org

“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood [or overwhelmed] it.”

So far.

Archbishop Job

The light of Christ was held up in our Orthodox Church in America’s darkest hour, and it was held by our beloved, now late, Abp. Job. One incident I now share with you who remember and honor his name.

To our shame the scandal of misappropriation of millions of dollars and the efforts to conceal the deed took place at the highest levels. The salacious facts are rather well known at least in general terms and figures, while the whole story has yet to be exposed. I’m writing only of one interesting event, the decision to investigate the “accusation” by the Metropolitan Council in the early days of the disgrace, when it was still covered up by intimidation and denial. Continue reading →

Fr. Steven Kostoff: Reflection on Archbishop Job – A witness to the truth

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Fr. Steven Kostoff asks, why wasn’t Bp. Job’s courageous stand for the truth during the OCA’s recent time of trial acknowled at his funeral?

Fr. Steven Kostoff

His Eminence, Archbishop Job of Chicago and the Midwest fell asleep in the Lord on Friday, December 18. His funeral services were held in Chicago on December 22 & 23, and he was buried in Black Lick, PA on Saturday, December 26. Thus, we have lost an able archpastor who served us well in the Diocese of the Midwest. This was during a time of great distress throughout the entire Orthodox Church in America, when we were forced to come to terms with a “Church scandal” that exceeded the boundaries of the merely “financial.” I have no intention of rehearsing the facts of that story beyond what would be essential here, as I offer a personal assessment as to how I now understand the role of Archbishop Job in serving the Church throughout this “time of troubles.” I believe that his role was essential, decisive, and yet painful for him personally. I also believe that His Eminence grew in stature throughout this ordeal by his principled position, and in so doing he manifested a human capacity for “self-transcendence.” Perhaps I am using this term somewhat modestly in this context, but I am referring to his ability to stay on course despite his own limitations, flaws and weaknesses, when the pressure on him was enormous to fall back into the dreary conformity of personal and institutional self-defensiveness. Yet, even with that modest understanding of the term, I am certain that Archbishop Job’s clear demonstration of self-transcendence was part of the process of theosis that we hold to so dearly in our Orthodox theology. Continue reading →

Philly.com: A Frayed Connection

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Philadelphia Inquirer | David O’Reilly | H/T: ocanews.org

In the resurgent neighborhood of Northern Liberties, among the smoked glass condos, hipper-than-thou restaurants, swank salons, and teeming cafes and bohemian tea shops, Old World holiness still flickers to life on Sunday mornings.

St. Andrews Russian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia, PA

The Rev. Mark Shinn leads a service at St. Andrew's Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Northern Liberties, a neighborhood that was once a magnet for arrivals from Eastern Europe. Its Orthodox churches survive, but demographic changes through the decades have left them struggling. (ELIZABETH ROBERTSON)

Hardly anyone notices.

The ages-old glow of Christendom’s most elaborate, enigmatic liturgy no longer is a guiding light for the community. But inside St. Andrew’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, beneath four blue onion domes, the sanctuary is as luminous as the day it opened in 1902, if not nearly as brimful of youth and hope.

The Rev. Mark Shinn, bearded and gold-caped, appears through the “royal door” before the altar, an ornate chalice in each hand. Murmuring a prayer, he raises the goblets toward the worshipers, who bow and make the sign of the cross under the wide-eyed gaze of saintly icons. In a gesture of humility, some sweep their fingertips across the oak floor. A few prostrate themselves to kiss it.

They do not retake their seats. There aren’t any. The congregants stand for a candlelit service lasting at least two hours and celebrated almost wholly in Old Church Slavonic, an archaic Eastern European tongue.

On a typical Sunday, about 80 people attend. For that, the archpriest is grateful.

“We keep no rolls and collect no dues,” Shinn said. “If you come, you’re a member.”

If you come.
Continue reading →

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