Author: Fr. Johannes Jacobse

The god Called Earth

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Steve the Builder

Couples who refuse to have children in order to protect the environment, says Steve Robinson, “reject religion and dogma, (yet) their devotion to the earth is indeed a religious devotion very similar to the ancient pagans.” In fact, the “eco-fundamentalists has a version of the prosperity gospel… we ‘serve the earth god,’ name it and don’t claim it, and you get nice stuff and exotic vacations.”

Robinson continues, “The ecologist and Orthodox Christian agree that the human being is indeed taken from the dirt of the earth and thus shares in the nature of the earth itself. But Christianity says he also is given the breath of God who created the very dirt from whence he came, and so he shares in the nature of the spiritual and is given dominion over the dirt, but not for gluttonous consumption but as a means of expressing love in the image of the one who created all things out of love.”

Listen to the podcast:

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Wisdom from Samuel Adams

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No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. Samuel Adams

HT: Nixatron Blog

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Church of Russia to host Metropolitan Jonah April 25-May 4

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Does the concelebration indicate tacit affirmation that the standing of Met. Jonah is equal to Met. Kirill in the eyes of the Russian Orthodox Church?

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] — At the invitation of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah will be the guest of the Church of Russia from April 25 through May 4, 2009.

The visit marks Metropolitan Jonah’s first official visit to a sister Orthodox Church since his election as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America in November 2008.

During his visit, Metropolitan Jonah will concelebrate the Divine Liturgy with Patriarch Kirill at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral and at the 15th century Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin. He also will visit the OCA’s Representation Church of the Great Martyr Catherine in central Moscow and the Valaam Monastery in northern Russia, where he began his life and ministry as a monastic.

Accompanying Metropolitan Jonah will be His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada; the Very Rev. Alexander Garklavs, OCA Chancellor; the Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, OCA Director of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations; and Archdeacon Kirill Sokolov.

Met. Gerasimos blasts Met. Jonah for “persecuting” the Church of Constantinople

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Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco (GOA)

In what can only be described as a radical restructuring of an increasingly public discussion, Met. Gerasimos (GOA, San Francisco) blasts Met. Jonah (OCA) for his recent criticism of the address by Fr. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis at Holy Cross Seminary last month. In the address, Fr. Elpidophoros laid out the rationale for submission of all American Orthodox Christians to Constantinople in what can be generously described as exclusively ethnic terms.

Met. Gerasimos addresses none of Met. Jonah’s criticisms or Fr. Elpidophoros’ rationale. Instead, Met. Gerasimos frames the discussion in terms of the “persecution” of the Constantinopolitan Church, which, he contends, “…has shown us that the Ecumenical Patriarchate must now concern itself not only with attacks by those outside the Church, but also from within the Church, as well.”

No mention is made of the historical and canonical claims made by Fr. Elpidophoros. Neither does Met. Gerasimos address the worldwide resistance to Constantinople’s reading of Canon 28 (see articles), the reduction of Hellenism to Greek ethnic identity, or the servitude of Patriarchal and GOA leaders to the national interests of the Greek state.

Any analysis or criticism of Constantinople’s historical and canonical claims are tantamount to persecution of the Church Met. Gerasimos says in so many words. Is he trying to shut down discussion?

Complete text follows: Continue reading →

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Christos Anesti! — Greek chant

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZSyTUsdpu0[/youtube]

Christ, the central figure of the icon, is robed in white to show His divinity. The aureole (elongated halo) around Him also symbolizes this brilliant Light. At His feet are the demolished gates of Hades (in some icons these gates are the coffin lids of Adam and Eve and are depicted as a Cross on which Christ stands), with their broken keys and locks. Christ holds the hands of Adam (Heb: man) and Eve (Heb. Life), depicted to his right and left, as he pulls them from their tombs. Adam is in old man, recalled to his primordial innocence; Eve is also depicted as elderly, and is set free from her sin in Eden by the Incarnation. Behind Christ are aligned the Righteous of the Old Testament (to the left, including Solomon and David) and the New Testament (to the right, including John the Baptist and Joseph the Guardian). Continue reading →

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