Month: January 2010

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Two ways to help the Copts

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From Magdy Baiady:

Dear all,
Please sign these two letters (two links below) to help the Christian of Egypt (Copts) as soon as you get it.

http://capwiz.com/copticassembly/utr/2/?a=14549671&i=97433648&c=
http://www.petitiononline.com/dptm5401/

We need all the help we can get to stop blood shed in Egypt, by Islam and the Muslims. Also share this email with your email list.

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Patriarch Bartholomew Will Visit Russia in May

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It’s no secret that Moscow doesn’t take kindly to Pat. Bartholomew’s claims of universal authority (see: A Letter To The Ecumenical Patriarch Concerning The Situation Of The Diaspora by Patriarch Alexios written in 2005) so the sentence below “within the canonical order that was installed over centuries of church tradition” (quotes in Russian original) undoubtedly references this difference in ecclesiological understanding. This should be interesting.

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His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

On 20 May, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is scheduled to arrive in Russia for an official visit. At a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday, Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the MP, said that Patriarch Bartholomew, in particular, intends to visit Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladimir, and Suzdal. In July 2009, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias went to Turkey, his first official visit to another Local Orthodox Church as the First Hierarch of the MP. Then, at a meeting with Patriarch Kirill in Istanbul, Bartholomew expressed a willingness to work together with him “within the canonical order that was installed over centuries of church tradition. We extend to you the right hand of sincere and unfeigned love”, Patriarch Bartholomew said, noting that Patriarch Kirill always showed himself “an outstanding scholar and an honest labourer for the Gospel” and the Russian people were “pious and blessed by the Lord”. Patriarch Bartholomew also noted that “clouds” from time to time arose in the relations between the two “fraternal Churches”, but that they were only “temporary” and “quickly dissipated”. He emphasised, “No one can deprive us of the unity that we have in the common chalice”.

There are more Buddhists in America today than Eastern Orthodox Christians

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Kevin Allen wrote this back in 2007 (see: Can Orthodox Christianity Speak To Eastern Religions?) but it hit the Orthodox blogosphere again because it remains timely, especially as we emerge from our ethnic enclaves to engage American culture with meaning and purpose. H/T: Preachers Institute and Orrologion (both sites worth watching).

Can Orthodox Christianity Speak To Eastern Religions?

I recently had a conversation with a dear Eastern Orthodox priest, whose twenty six year old son had left home the day before to live indefinitely at a Buddhist monastery. He was heart broken. His son was not a stranger to Eastern Orthodoxy or to its monastic tradition, having even spent two months on the holy mountain of Mt. Athos.

His son’s journey is not an isolated event. Eastern religious traditions are a growing and competing force in American religious life. Buddhism is now the fourth-largest religious group in the United States, with 2.5 – 3 million adherents, approximately 800,000 of whom are American western “converts”? There are actually more Buddhists in America today than Eastern Orthodox Christians! The Dalai Lama (the leader of one of the Tibetan Buddhist sects) is one of the most recognized and admired people in the world and far better recognized than any Eastern Orthodox hierarch? Have you looked in the magazine section of Borders or Barnes and Noble lately? There are more publications with names like “Shambala Sun”, “Buddhadharma”, and “What is enlightenment?” on the shelves than Christian publications!

In addition to losing seekers to eastern spiritual traditions (many of them youth), eastern metaphysics has also seeped into our western cultural worldview without much notice. They are doing a better job (sadly) “evangelizing” our culture than we Eastern Orthodox Christians are!

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Antiochian Church defends life

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Of the Big 3, the OCA and Antiochian jurisdictions stand solidly within the moral tradition and are clear on its teaching. The GOA, by its silence, equivocates.

January 17, 2010, is the Sunday that precedes the 35th anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court Decision of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States. This Supreme Court decision overturned all moral and logical reasoning that most citizens of our society held and practiced. Since 1973, over 43 million lives have been aborted. Approximately 93% of the women who have had abortions cited they did so for social reasons (i.e. unready for responsibility, can’t afford the baby, concern over how baby would change her life, etc) as opposed to issues regarding the mother’s health, the baby’s health, rape or incest. These few facts are very alarming for us as Orthodox Christians who hold all life as sacred and holy.

The teens of our archdiocese are very concerned about this issue and desire to do whatever is in their ability to help bring about change that leads to godliness and holiness. The members of the North American Council (NAC) of SOYO, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip, are leading our Archdiocese in observing Sunday, January 20, 2008, as the “Sacred Gift of Life Sunday: Protecting the Life of the Unborn”. Our teens, as part of the celebration of January as Orthodox Education Month, are furthering their education, understanding and commitment regarding the Orthodox Church’s teaching on the sacred gift of life and abortion. In turn, they are helping to bring a greater awareness to the faithful of our parishes and throughout their local communities.

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