Orthodox Church

Attn: Grand Rapids, MI — Edith Humphrey Speaks Tonight (March 23, 2012) at 7:00pm

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The West Michigan Orthodox community is gathering for the 4th Salutations to the Theotokos (Akathist Hymn) on Fri., March 23, at 7:00 pm at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church.

Following the Akathist, a Baker Publishing Group author, and Orthodox Christian, Edith Humphrey will be speaking. Last year, Baker published her marvelous new book on liturgy, “Grand Entrance: Worship on Earth as in Heaven.”

Humphrey (Ph.D., McGill University) is the William F. Orr Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She is the author of several books, including “Ecstasy and Intimacy: When the Holy Spirit Meets the Human Spirit,” and of numerous articles on the literary and rhetorical study of the Bible.

Here are some links that explain more about her work:

Click the cover to learn more.

Book sample from Baker Books.

Edith Humphrey website.

Also, the newly consecrated Antiochian Bishop – Anthony – will be in attendance Friday evening along with Ancient Faith Radio (www.ancientfaith.com) – which will be recording the talk.

All are welcome.

Egypt’s Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III dies

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Source: BBC

Egypt’s Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III has died at the age of 88, state television has announced.

The leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian minority was reported to suffer from cancer that had spread to several organs.

Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population of 80 million.

After attacks on Coptic Christians in recent years, Pope Shenouda urged officials to do more to address the community’s concerns.

Pope Shenouda led the church, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, for four decades.

His political adviser Hany Aziz told Reuters news agency that Shenouda “died from complications in health and from old age”.

He had returned recently to Egypt after seeking treatment abroad.

Pope Shenouda was born Nazeer Gayed into a devout Christian family on 3 August 1923 in Asyut, Upper Egypt, and became a monk in 1954, taking the name Shenouda.

After Pope Cyril died in 1971, Shenouda was enthroned as Pope of Alexandria.

He fell out with President Anwar Sadat, who in 1981 sent him into internal exile. He was allowed back to Cairo by President Hosni Mubarak four years later.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says Pope Shenouda sought to protect his Christian community amid a Muslim population by striking a conservative tone and lending tacit support to President Mubarak’s rule.

Whoever succeeds him now faces the task of reassuring the Coptic community as the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood look on the verge of sharing power in Egypt for the first time, our correspondent says.

Many younger Copts will now be looking for a leader who can help redefine their community’s role in a rapidly changing post-Mubarak Egypt, our correspondent adds.

Fr. Peter-Michael Preble: Sunday of Orthodoxy Calls us to Emulate the Courage of our Fathers in the Faith

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Fr. Peter-Michael Preble tells us just as our Orthodox Fathers fought to preserve the sacred images (because they knew that destroying the icons of Christ would lead to a denial of the Incarnation in the end), we are called to defend the icons of “flesh and blood” — the human person. It’s a strong sermon but entirely fitting for our times.

Source: Fr. Peter-Michael Preble Blog

To the glory of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

Today we commemorate the restoration of the Icons that took place at the 7th Ecumenical Council in 787. Prior to this Council Icons had been declared Idols and therefore were not allowed to be used or created. Many of the images from those early days had been destroyed, although some were saved by hiding them in various places. Today, on this first Sunday of the Great Lent, we remember that day and reaffirm our belief is what is Orthodox. At the close of the Liturgy we will recite the Synodal Affirmation of Faith, which is found in the bulletin. Tonight we will gather with Orthodox Christians from all over Worcester County to celebrate this feast day.

As Orthodox we know that we do not worship the wood and the paint of the Icon for if we did that would indeed be an Idol and would have no place in our worship. Saint Basil the Great said, “The honor shown to the image passes to its prototype.” By honoring the image portrayed in the Icon we show honor to the prototype or who it is in the image. We Orthodox surround ourselves with Icons. At St. Mary’s Albanian Orthodox Church in Worcester there is not one flat surface in the church that does not have an Icon on it. Our temple here is adorned with Icons that assist us in our worship, and by venerating the paint and wood we are indeed venerating the very face of God.

Imagine a point in time in history when Icons were illegal. Imagine a point in time in history when all of the Icons you see here in our Church would have been confiscated or in some way desecrated. That point was prior to the 7th Ecumenical Council. But the controversy goes much deeper than that. The controversy surrounded the very nature of Christ. Was Christ truly human and truly divine? Was He human and divine from the very beginning or did this combination happen at another point in time in history?

History tells us that the Emperor Leo the 3rd declared that Icons were graven images and therefore should be outlawed. The government was telling the church how it was to worship! It was not until the Empress Irene in 780 came along that Icons were restored. Then it started up again between 815 and 843 until Empress Theodora ended this nonsense for good. I find it amazing that it took to women to smack some sense into people!

But what about veneration of other Icons or images? What about the veneration of the image that is found in humanity? We are so quick to defend the images displayed here made of wood and paint but we are not so quick to defend the Icons made of flesh and blood. You see each created person, each human man and woman is a living Icon created in the image and likeness of the creator. Every human being, Christian or not, is that living Icon, the image of the prototype and when we venerate them we honor the very creator.

We live in a society that does not place a very high value on human life at any point along the spectrum of that life. We have more laws governing the treatment of animals then we do the treatment of people. Poverty, hunger, torture, war, unemployment, abortion, euthanasia, discrimination all of these show dishonor to the image and therefore show dishonor to God.

Our Orthodox Church, from the very beginning of its history, is pro-life. We may disagree when life begins, be it at conception or attachment, but we hold that all life is sacred from its very beginning to it natural end. This is not a theology that we came upon lightly; we came upon this theology due to the fact that the very image of the creator is contained in its creation from the start.

Although our church has been, and please God, always will be, some people in our church feel that it is okay to honor politicians who hold contrary positions to that of the Church. Some of our Orthodoxy organizations give seats of honor to these, so called, Orthodox politicians who have the highest rating by the pro-choice advocates in our country. It is not easy to get the 100% rating from NARAL but we have Orthodox Congressmen and Women who have obtained that very rating and they are proud of it! The sad part is some in the church remain silent when these, so called, Orthodox Christians vote the way they so. Priests will commune them, knowing they are in a state of grave sin, bishops will have their photos taken with their arms around them and Organizations like the IOCC will honor them all because it will bring in money! We have sold our faith for 30 pieces of silver and we show dishonor to the very image of God!

Friends we live in desperate times. We live in times where people only care about what they want, and want it on their terms. Oh they will call themselves Orthodox but it has to be on terms that they decide. We live in a society where life is worth nothing, where pepper spraying someone in Wal Mart for a pair of sneakers seems to be the sport of the day. Where we care more for the latest gadget then we do for fasting and praying. Where our job has become our religion and Sunday has become just another day of the week to do whatever we want to do. We fill our bodies with man manipulated food and we are killing ourselves, and by all of these things we are showing dishonor to the creator, we are showing dishonor to God. We might as well take all of these Icons in this church outside and smash them on the ground!

Friends it is time for to wake up. It is time for us to take the blinders off. Recently I spoke about some changes the Government was trying to force down our throats. One of the best things to come out of this was how it united not only Christians but all people of faith to fight for what is right. For a short period of time, over this one issue, we were united and we were able to push back, not far enough, but we were able to push back. Our bishops, very reluctantly, joined in on this fight. They had to be publicly embarrassed in order for them to take a stand for what is right. I find this completely incomprehensible that the bishops of our church would stay silent while the church was coming under attack.

I have spoken a lot about one of our former priests here at St. Michael Fr. Vasilachi. Many of you sitting here today knew him and knew what he went through in Romania. Fr. Vasilachi, and many more like him, were thrown into prison for speaking up for those who had no voice. He spoke against the government of his day because of what was being done to the people and for that he spent 18 years in prison and was forced to leave his home. He watched his brother die in prison for speaking the truth about what was going on. The new Saint Andrei Saguna, who our Ladies Society here at St. Michael is named after, was a revolutionary and stood up against the government of his day, he is now honored in Romania as a saint and as one of her greatest heroes, and there are thousands more that we will never know. They stood up for what is right and we must do the same thing!

I say all of this to remind us that when we remain silent, when we give in on a position of our faith even a little, when we say it is okay when Orthodox politicians disgrace the faith with their votes, when we say it will never happen to us, we do all of those who gave their life for the faith a disservice, we dishonor their memory and dishonor all that they fought for. It is time for all of us to wake up!

Great Lent is a time for us to take stock of our lives. I will be honest and say that when I see the destruction this past week it makes me stop and think about the things that are important. I know these things are not due to God’s wrath, but it does make me stop and think about what we are doing and where we are headed. Is this some kind of a sign? Is this a reminder from God?

When you come forward at the end of Liturgy today and venerate these Icons, when you venerate you’re Icons at home, think about how you show veneration to the Icons of flesh and blood. Do you show more veneration to these man made Icons then you do for the God made ones? Something needs to change!

We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One, and ask forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ God. Of Your own will You were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh to deliver Your creatures from bondage to the enemy. Therefore with thanksgiving we cry aloud to You: You have filled all with joy, O our Savior, by coming to save the world. (Troparion of the Sunday of Orthodoxy)

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Advice Orthodox Can Heed — Abp. Timothy Dolan: A Good Time to Revive Your Faith

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Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan offers advice that applies to Christians across the board. Some highlights:

If there is not some sacrifice, hardship, and challenge to living our Catholic faith, we usually end up taking it for granted and setting it aside.

Dr. Philip Jenkins, the scholar of religion at Penn State University, observes a bit of raw data: the Church grows rapidly, and the faith of her believers is deep and vibrant, in countries where there is persecution of the Church; the Church languishes and gradually loses its luster in countries where it is prosperous, and where it is privileged.

The great Father of the Church, Tertullian, made the same claim 19 centuries ago as he watched the Church suffer persecution in the Roman Empire: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the faith.”

Uh-oh…what’s that say about us? We live in America where there is religious freedom (even though it is under pressure!). Here we are in a country where there is no danger or external hardship involved in being a loyal Catholic. Are we in for trouble, then? Is our faith becoming listless?

Last week I had the honor of preaching a day of recollection for our great priests of the archdiocese. We try to come together for prayer twice a year, in Advent and Lent. There we have conferences, confessions, a holy hour.

In one of my talks I repeated to the priests the famous quote from Pope Paul VI: “When it’s easy to be a Catholic, it’s actually harder to be a good Catholic; and when it’s hard to be a good Catholic, it’s actually easier to be one.”

Read that again and let it sink in…

Source: Catholic New York

Couple of weeks ago I mentioned to you how the radiance, glow, and temptation to self-satisfaction that accompanied my elevation to the College of Cardinals was all set aside when the Holy Father reminded us, the new cardinals, that we now wore red because it is the color of blood (like the vestments at Mass on the feast of a martyr). In case we didn’t get the point, he told us that we were expected to be ready to give our very blood in defense of the faith.

I guess I should not have been startled. Aren’t we all called to sacrifice, selflessness, service—even at the cost of our lives—for the enduring values of our faith, out of love for God and neighbor?

Is that not one of the potent lessons of this holy season of Lent?

It was the day after Ash Wednesday that we heard Jesus say, “Whoever wishes to be my disciple, must pick up his cross and follow me.”

If there is not some sacrifice, hardship, and challenge to living our Catholic faith, we usually end up taking it for granted and setting it aside.

Dr. Philip Jenkins, the scholar of religion at Penn State University, observes a bit of raw data: the Church grows rapidly, and the faith of her believers is deep and vibrant, in countries where there is persecution of the Church; the Church languishes and gradually loses its luster in countries where it is prosperous, and where it is privileged.

The great Father of the Church, Tertullian, made the same claim 19 centuries ago as he watched the Church suffer persecution in the Roman Empire: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the faith.”

Uh-oh…what’s that say about us? We live in America where there is religious freedom (even though it is under pressure!). Here we are in a country where there is no danger or external hardship involved in being a loyal Catholic. Are we in for trouble, then? Is our faith becoming listless?

Last week I had the honor of preaching a day of recollection for our great priests of the archdiocese. We try to come together for prayer twice a year, in Advent and Lent. There we have conferences, confessions, a holy hour.

In one of my talks I repeated to the priests the famous quote from Pope Paul VI: “When it’s easy to be a Catholic, it’s actually harder to be a good Catholic; and when it’s hard to be a good Catholic, it’s actually easier to be one.”

Read that again and let it sink in…

Convenience, ease, no demands, no sacrifice, blending in, drifting along, just-like-everybody-else, no “cost of discipleship”—that’s a poisonous recipe for faith.

Hardship, sacrifice, tough choices, harassment, ridicule, standing for Gospel values, loyalty to our faith to the point of persecution or even blood—that’s the recipe for a deep, sincere, dynamic faith.

We see it in the Old Testament: when the People of Israel are at peace, prosperous, free and unfettered in their faith…they turn to false gods!

When they are under attack, persecuted, and vilified for their faith, their religion is pure and strong.

Scholars tell us that people who leave our Catholic faith for another religion—and a somber fact today is that many do—usually (not always), but more often than not, join a religion that is stricter and more demanding.

Seems like “easy religion” languishes; “hard discipleship” flourishes.

So, what do we do? Should we long for harassment or persecution to revive and renew the faith? Hardly.

But we do admit that, if the practice of our faith does not result in some hardship, or make us somewhat different from “the crowd” to the point of occasional derision and exclusion, something’s wrong.

And we can also voluntarily take on sacrifices to remind us of the cross Jesus asks us to carry with Him.

Voila! Lent! The time we are encouraged to penance and mortification.

The old-timers will recall the rigors of past Lents, and scoff at the negligible penance we’re expected to take up nowadays: abstinence from meat on six lousy Fridays? Fasting and abstinence on two measly days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday)? Get serious! the veterans annually remind us.

(And I annually get sack loads of mail asking for a “dispensation” from even these light demands!)

If we are fortunate enough to live in a country where there is no overt, external, explicit persecution of the faith—and we Americans are—we praise God, but then are constantly vigilant to make sure our faith does not become listless.

One way to avoid that is by taking upon ourselves penance, sacrifice, and mortification.

To some, that’s “old school.” To some, that’s pharisaical.

To me, it’s pure Gospel…and very wise.

Because, when it’s easy to be a Catholic—and today it is—look out, because it’s tougher to be a good Catholic; and when it’s hard to be a good Catholic—and that’s your choice—it’s easier to be one!

A blessed Lent!