I Believe

By Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Source: http://www.mitras.ru/eng/


11 June 1985


In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.



What do we mean when we say that we believe? The word has become so weak. More often than not to believe means that we accept a proposition on trust and yet with a certain hesitation, with a degree of uncertainty: ‘I believe that he will come,’ ‘I believe he is right,’… How different this perception of believing is from the faith of Abraham or from the faith which the Son of God become the Son of man shows in mankind. Let us dwell one moment on Abraham who was called in the Old Testament “the father of all believers.”



The test came so clearly and could be such a lesson to us. He was promised a son in his old age and the son was born, and he grew, and the Lord had promised that this child would be the first of a vast race, as numerous as the sands of the shores, as many as the stars in heaven. And of a sudden when the child was already growing, when all hopes seemed to be ready to be fulfilled in him, when he was joy and expectation, the Lord gave his word, “Take this child, Abraham, take him onto the high mountain and bring him a blood offering to Me.” And here is the test not only in the fact that Abraham obeyed because he recognised the voice of the same Lord who had commanded him to leave his land and to go to the place that the Lord would reveal unto him, the test was even more acute. Was he going to believe God’s promise or God’s word? The promise could be misunderstood, the promise could be fulfilled differently. He did not know. What he knew for certain was that the Lord had spoken again and he trusted the Lord more than he trusted the promise he had been given. He left it to the Lord to find a solution to the problem that was insoluble for him. And the Lord did find the solution.



Now, no-one of us is put to the test in such a way. And yet, so often we are not prepared to accept God’s word to us because we think that God could not speak that way. We say that there must be something wrong in the way in which his words were reported, that we should use our intelligence, our judgment. The result being that we submit God’s word to our human judgment and not our human judgment to God’s own wisdom. And yet we might well know that the words of Isaiah the prophet are true throughout the ages, the words which God spoke to him, “My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are so far above yours as My thoughts are above your thoughts. And so here we are confronted with sharpness by Abraham, by his unreserved, complete trust in God so different from our own attitude. Are we prepared to accept what Paul called ‘the folly of the preaching’, a preaching concerning ways and attitudes in this fallen, distorted world that seem not to solve its problems? Are we prepared to be fools for Christ’s sake, remembering that the folly of God is wiser than the sagacity of men and the wisdom of men? This applies to all our ways, to the way in which believe or not in the Gospel as it was proclaimed by the early Christian community. It applies also to our readiness to live according to the Gospel, to follow a way in a distorted world that is straight, to live in a way which is a scandal or a folly. Are we prepared for that?



I would like to give you an example, modern this time, of that kind of mad, foolish attitude.



I met in Russia a man, a priest who had spent thirty six years of his life in prison and in a concentration camp. To most of us it is either most of our lives, or half our lives, a very long term. He sat in front of me with eyes shining with wonder and said to me, “Do you realise how wonderfully good God has been to me? The Soviet authorities did not allow into prisons or camps priests or any kind of spiritual ministration. And God chose me, a young, inexperienced priest and sent me for thirty six years of my life to minister to the people who needed most of all to be looked after and to have a witness of God in their midst.” That is one who believed, that is one who took an act that otherwise could be understood as the brutality of the times, as something monstrous happening in our days, as an act of divine wisdom and an act of love not only to those who were also like him in prison or in a camp but to him. He deemed it a privilege to be allowed this ministry. Here is a man of faith, he did not try to oppose a passage of the Gospel or a line of the Scriptures to the will of God, to try to find a loophole or to find a way in which he could charge God with many years of suffering. He was a fool humanly speaking, he was wise in God.



And then I would like to attract your attention to the Lord himself. It is not his faith in the Father I want to speak about, it is His faith in man, in us. St. Paul is clear about it when he says, How would anyone die for his friends? but Jesus, the Son of God become the Son of men died for us while we still were God’s enemies, opposing His will, unfaithful, unwilling to follow the way of life which is narrow and hard at times. He had faith in us... This is one of the most extraordinary things one can experience - realise that God has faith in me. He created me knowing what I would be, and yet, He had faith that I would find the way, the way of life. He entrusted me with the knowledge of Him, He called me to be His disciple, and when I say “me” I mean each of us. God has faith in us. A friend of mine in a sermon said once, “When God looks at any of us, He does not see the virtues or the achievements which may well not be there, but what He does see is His own image in us”. Do we look at one another with faith?



You know, faith according to the XI chapter to the Epistles to the Hebrews is certainty concerning things unseen. To see the image of God in one’s neighbour is an act of faith that makes us followers of Christ because He looked at the harlot, at the sinner, at the tax-gatherer, at Zacchaeus and Matthew and in each of them He saw the possibility of salvation. One of the reasons why our world is so cold and so dark, and so painful is that very few believe in one another. We treat one another as though we were a precious painting that has been damaged by time, by moisture, by circumstances, by the folly of man, and we concentrate only on the damage - it is cut, is it slash, it is ugly, it’s almost destroyed. That is what we see. And God looks and sees what has survived of the unsurpassed beauty of His image and loves it.



And we could do the same quite easily. It would be so easy if we thought that our neighbour however damaged, profaned, made ugly, distorted by life in all its forms, whether it be heredity or education, or circumstances, that our neighbour is a holy image. Think of the way in which you would treat the photograph of your mother who had died, or your fiancé who had been killed in the war, or of a person whom you loved with all there was of love in you and you discovered that his photograph had decayed, had been ill-treated, perhaps, torn with hatred by someone. You would treat it with tenderness, the very wounds it bears would call for care. We would treat this photograph, as one would treat a badly wounded person. One wouldn’t say, “This person is wounded. How revolting this blood and these broken bones, and this flesh!” We would say, “Here is still life, he can live”. And we would give all our attention and love to this person. This is the way in which God sees us and believes in us. And this is the second half of the diptych - to say that we believe in God and don’t believe in those for whom He has given His life is a lie. It’s not true. St. John says that if we say that we love God and don’t love our neighbour we are liars. Well, we are; but in order to love our neighbour we must have faith in him, faith that all things are possible, that the most depraved, the most broken person can change. And indeed people do change. One can see that in so many ways when life is tragic. In the war, in accidents people whom we thought were totally incapable of any good suddenly show mercy and love and heroic courage.



So when we speak of faith and of believing we must learn to believe in the way in which the early Christians believed. Take St. Barnabas. It was reported to him that Saul, the persecutor had come blinded by a vision and everyone probably said, “Don’t come near him, don’t you know that he came, he was on his way to destroy everything that we are building. He is a hater of Christ.” Barnabas believed in him, he went to see him, he called him his brother, not Cain but a brother in Christ, and he restored the sight of Paul and gave him to know Christ and sent him on his glorious missionary journey. He believed in him because God had believed in him first.



And think of so many people who in the Gospel or in the Acts are believers. Take for instance the man who said, “I believe, Lord, help my lack of faith!” How often we would be right to speak that way recognising that we lack this total certainty and yet that there is in us a flicker of hope, that we are ready to believe and yet we are afraid of believing - what if my faith is not met by God’s mercy? We can say, each of us, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!” But we must then believe. What did this father believe in? I think what he believed in was what he saw in the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw in His eyes infinite, divine compassion. He did not see the power of the magician, Christ was no magician, but he saw love, and because he saw love, he saw that everything is possible.



Now, we should be able to be to people around us an occasion for that kind of faith. People should meeting us, see in us that love which that man found in Christ. They should see compassion, they should see that we believe in them even against all evidence. And then they also could believe through us in God and through God in mankind and in life. Then they could, like Thomas, say, “My Lord and my God!” and have no doubt anymore. So that faith is an act of heroic trust, faith is an act of faithfulness to God’s word and to God’s person, faith is also the certainty which is born from that kind of experience. Let us read in the Gospel the passages where we can find faith revealed and ask ourselves, “How did these men and women find this degree of trust in God?” And we will discover that we also possess enough evidence to believe; only we imagine that believing is something so extraordinary, it is the condition of the saints. No, it is the condition of normal, ordinary, sinful people, who can give their trust to God, obey and then discover that they were not insane in doing this.


http://www.pravmir.com/article_1153.html

AUSSIE CARROTS, Orzo Stuffed Tomatoes, Stir-fried Spinach

Aussie Carrots

1 pkg. carrots
1 Tsp. curry
2 Tsp. water
1 1/2 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. chili powder (Hot)
2 Tsp. minced Garlic
2 finely minced serano peppers

Peel and slice carrots into quarters, 3 inches long.
Place in tin foil with all ingredients.
Wrap tightly and put on grill.
Let cook for 20 minutes.



http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1850,147178-225201,00.html




Orzo Stuffed Tomatoes

Vegetarian Recipe

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 beefsteak tomatoes
4 ounces orzo
8 black olives, stoned and finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
2 ounces freshly chopped garlic
Salt and black pepper
Fresh basil sprigs to garnish

Directions:
Brush a baking sheet with olive oil.
Slice the tops off the tomatoes and reserve.
If the tomatoes will not stand cut a thin slice off the bottom. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the tomato pulp into a strainer, but do not pierce the tomato shells. Invert the tomato shells onto kitchen paper, pat dry and then set aside to drain.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil.
Add the orzo and 1 tablespoon of the remaining olive oil and cook until tender, but still firm to the bite.
Drain the pasta thoroughly and set aside.

Put the olives, chopped basil, parsley and garlic into a large mixing bowl and stir in the drained tomato pulp.
Add the pasta to the bowl.
Stir in the remaining olive oil, mix together well, season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon the pasta mixture into the tomato shells and replace the lids.
Arrange the tomatoes on the baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 22 minutes.
Remove the tomatoes from the oven and allow to cool until warm.
Arrange on a serving dish and serve with the fresh basil sprigs.

Recipe makes eight servings Pasta Stuffed Tomatoes.



http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/veg/pastawtomato.html




Stir-fried Spinach

Ingredients:
2 lb. spinach
2 t. salt
1-1/2 t. sugar
5 T. vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:
Trim and wash the spinach.
Heat oil, put spinach in and stir-fry for 1 minute with high heat.
Add salt and sugar.
Mix well and serve.



http://www.english.china.com/zh_cn/livelife/chineserecipes/chineserecipes080506.htm




Plate, serve, enjoy.

Serbian Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage Recipe - Posna Sarma

During Orthodox lenten periods, meat and dairy are strictly prohibited. For cabbage lovers, these vegetable sarma or posna sarma (where "posna" means Lenten or fasting) allow one to indulge in a favorite food while still following the Church's strictures.


Makes 6 servings of Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage - Posna Sarma

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes


Ingredients:

•1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
•2 onions, finely chopped
•3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
•1 rib celery, finely chopped
•3 Cubanelle or sweet peppers, finely chopped
•2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed
•2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
•Salt and black pepper to taste
•3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
•1 (3- to 4-pound) head cabbage
•1 (32-ounce) jar sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
•1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
•1 (10-3/4-ounce) can tomato soup



Preparation:

1.Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add celery, carrots, peppers and cook for 5 minutes.


2.Add rice, tomatoes, salt and pepper, and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool and mix in garlic.


3.Meanwhile, steam cabbage until leaves are limp and pull away easily. Continue to remove as many leaves as possible.


4.With a paring knife, remove tough ribs from leaves without damaging leaves. Reserve tougher outer leaves but don't use for rolling.


5.Heap 2 tablespoons vegetable filling on each leaf, fold top of the cabbbage leaf up over filling, then fold sides to the center, and roll away from yourself to encase completely. Repeat until filling is gone.


6.Heat oven to 350 degrees. Discard the cabbage core and coarsely chop any remaining cabbage except the tough outer leaves you have reserved.


7.Spread chopped cabbage on the bottom of a large casserole dish or Dutch oven. Add the sauerkraut.


8.Layer on the cabbage rolls, seam side down. Cover rolls with reserved outer leaves. Mix tomato sauce and soup with enough water to make a liquidy consistency. Pour over rolls until mixture is level with rolls but not over the top.


9.Cover casserole dish and bake 1 hour. Let sit 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Freezes well.

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/vegsarma.htm

Saint Nicetas of the Kiev Caves

January 31 and April 30


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bishop of Novgorod


Those whose life is passed in small and modest efforts become free of dangers and have no need of special precautions. By always conquering desires they readily find the way leading to God. St. Anthony the Great 4th c.



In this age of widespread spiritual indifference, a soul zealous to ascend the ladder of perfection is indeed worthy of praise. Zeal, however, must be accompanied by a profound sobriety and humility, else the soul --instead of rising to heavenly heights--will fall into a pit of vainglory, for the cunning enemy of our salvation is able to use our strengths, as well as our weaknesses, in trying to bring us to perdition. The Lives of two monks, Isaac (Feb. 14) and Nikita. from the early history of the Kiev-Caves Lavra, are often cited as examples of the spiritual deception which can blind a soul whose zeal lacks the safeguards of sobriety and humility.

Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (II Cor. 11:14)



St. Nikita was tonsured in the Kiev-Caves Lavra. Very early in his monastic life he secluded himself in a cave. His decision to become a recluse was based on inexperience and was contrary to the will of the saintly abbot Nikon who refused to bless such an undertaking:

"My son! at your age such a life will not benefit you. You would do much better to remain with the brethren. In laboring together with them you will surely gain your reward. You yourself saw how our brother Isaac was seduced by the demons in his seclusion and would have perished had he not been saved by the grace of God through the prayers of our holy fathers Anthony and Theodosius ."


"Never, my father," replied Nikita, ",will I be deceived. I am resolved firmly to withstand the demonic temptations, and I shall pray to the man-loving God that He grant me the gift of working miracles as He did to the recluse Isaac who, to this day, continues to perform many miracles through his prayers ."

"Your desire exceeds your powers. Take heed, my son, that you do not fall on account of your high-mindedness. I would enjoin you rather to serve the brethren, and God will crown you for your obedience."

The abbot's wise counsel could not tame Nikita's ambitious desire to be a recluse. The monastery's eiders, however, did not forsake the headstrong novice in his foolishness; they continued to keep an eye on him and to pray for him.



It was not long before the recluse's cave became filled with a sweet fragrance and he heard a voice joining his in prayer. He reasoned to himself: If this were not an angel, he would not be praying with me, nor would I sense the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. The undiscerning recluse began to pray still more fervently: "Lord," he cried out, "appear to me that I might see Thee face to face!" The voice answered: "I shall send you an angel. Follow his will in everything you do."

Presently a demon appeared in the guise of an angel. First he told the novice to stop praying, that he himself would pray and that the recluse was to occupy himself with reading the Old Testament, and the Old Testament alone. The unfortunate novice was obedient to the demon: he stopped praying, falsely reassured by the constant presence of the "angel" praying at his side. The Old Testament he learned by heart.


The demon began telling Nikita all that was going on in the world, and on this basis the recluse began to prophesy. Laymen would come to his cave to listen to him. The monastery elders, however, noticed that the recluse never cited the New Testament, only the Old, and they understood that he had fallen into a state of prelest (spiritual deception). They broke into the cave, chased out the demon by their prayers, and dragged the recluse from his place of seclusion.

No sooner was Nikita parted from the demon than he forgot all he had learned of the Old Testament; he was convinced that he had never read it. Indeed, it appeared that he had even forgotten how to read, and when he came round he had to be taught all over again, like a child.


Nikita understood his error and wept bitterly in repentance. He began to struggle on the true path of humility and obedience. And the Lord, seeing his fervor, forgave him, in token of which He made Nikita a shepherd of His rational flock. Elevated in 1096 to the episcopal throne of Great Novgorod, Nikita was granted grace to work miracles. The Lord thereby assured the faithful that their archpastor had been fully cleansed of his delusion and that his labors of repentance had found favor with God. Once, for example, during a severe drought, God answered his prayer for rain; another time, a fire in the city was extinguished by his prayers. For 13 years St. Nikita skillfully guided his flock before leaving this world on January 30, 1108 to enter into eternal and blessed repose with the saints.


St. Nikita was buried in Novgorod's St. Sophia's cathedral which was frescoed according to plans he had designed. In 1551 the earthly remains of the holy hierarch were discovered to be incorrupt and he was officially canonized. On the eve of his glorification, a priest saw the Bishop in a dream: he was vested and censing the holy icons. When his coffin was opened, everyone was struck by the light which emanated from his face. Today his relics--encased in a large, intricately carved reliquary--are located in the church of the Holy Apostle Philip, the only church in Novgorod which remained open for worship during the Soviet era.


St. Nikita had no beard and so he is depicted on his icons.

(Based on a translation from 1000 Years of Russian Sanctity compiled by Nun Taisia; Jordanville, 1983.)


http://www.roca.org/OA/66-68/66p.htm

Silence of the minds

By Fr. Vasile Tudora

I always liked this dialogue from the movie Pulp Fiction (slightly adapted for language):

“Don’t you hate that?”

“Hate what?”

“Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it’s necessary to yak about nonsense? In order to be comfortable?”

“I don’t know. That’s a good question.”

“That’s when you know you found somebody really special, when you can just shut […] up for a minute. Comfortably share silence.”

Indeed, why do we always have to say something? Or for the same reason why do we have to listen to something all the time: radio in the car, TV at home, iPod when working out and we can go on and on. Put three people in an elevator for a couple of minutes and you will immediately see the beginning of a conversation. Weather, local sport teams, the financial crisis and other general subjects flourish in any communal moving vehicle. No one wants to just travel in silence and everybody feels the need to say something, or at least to smile, nod, interact in some way with the others. One thing is clear everyone hates uncomfortable silence.

The term itself however is paradoxical: why would silence be uncomfortable? After all silence is associated with peace, tranquility which is the opposite of annoying.


The answer might be that there is something we are afraid to be alone with. Archmandrite Meletios, from the Monastery of St. John in California, says it is our thoughts. Our mind generates an uninterrupted stream of thoughts, or logoismoi, as the Greek Fathers call them. This stream of thoughts, originating in the primordial separation between our mind and our heart (nous), is what drives us nuts when there is silence around. Suddenly we have to deal with all our inner turmoil, all our frustration, all our depression, all our deep seated feelings that are masked by focusing our attention on something else. Conversation and any other surrogates of sort are like a Band-Aid on an eviscerating wound.

The problem of inner thoughts is a very important one because the thoughts are the root of all we do. No sin is done without passing through the mind that gives the command. Stop the command and you will stop sin. In our minds we are at war, an unseen warfare, as people like to call it, in which our path in life as persons is defined.

The mind is so affected by these unstoppable thoughts that it becomes unbearable at times; this is where the discomfort in silence comes from. The only way to stop it is to do what St. Theophanes the Recluse says: “Get out of the head and into the heart.” The heart or the nous (I’ll use these two terms interchangeably) is the only part of us that is not affected by the logoismoi because is the part that could establish the contact with God and God does not have to be explained in words, He just Is. The goal becomes then to sink our mind into our heart and embrace the peace that comes from the presence of God in our heart. Until we completely surrender our mind to God we will continue to be bothered by thoughts.


Talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, St. Isaac the Syrian said that the language of the future is silence. This may seem odd for many that cannot imagine eternal Communion with God as being silent, without words. We imagine that at the End we will be able to ask and find answers to all our questions and God will preach explaining everything we want to know. I doubt that this will be the case because in the presence of God there are no more questions and answers, no noise, distractions or entertainment, just love that flows and fills everything. The very presence of God is enough to fulfill any need or question we might have. He, the Logos, the Word incarnate is the answer. He was, is and will always be the answer to all our questions. We just have to shut-up and listen.

http://www.pravmir.com/article_1011.html

Vegetable Casserole Recipe - Serbian Djuvece

This recipe for Serbian vegetable casserole or djuvece uses summer's bounty -- zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, celery, potatoes, onions and green pepper. The dish is started on the stovetop and then mixed with rice and baked. It makes a great Lenten dish or vegetarian main course.

Garlic isn't traditional, but I like to add it. You will probably need 2 teaspoons of salt because the rice and veggies really need it (Or you may want to try soy sauce or better yet prepare some onion soup mix as your broth and add it where the recipe calls for it), but use at your discretion.

Makes 6 to 8 servings of Serbian Vegetable Casserole - Djuvece

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients:

•1/4 cup olive or canola oil or garlic infused oil
•2 large onions
•4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
•3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (May substitute with cauliflower)
•2 medium zucchini, sliced 1/2-inch thick
•1 large diced green pepper
•3 ribs celery, sliced 1/4-inch thick
•1 bay leaf
•4 large, peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes or 1 (16-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
•1 cup rinsed and drained long-grain rice
•Salt and pepper
•1 Large Portobello Mushroom sliced (Optional)

Preparation:

1.Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a Dutch oven, saute onion in oil until translucent. Add carrots, potatoes, zucchini, green pepper, celery and bay leaf, and cook 15 minutes, stirring frequently.


2.Add tomatoes, rice and salt and pepper, and stir well. Add enough broth (Vegetable or onion soup) or water to barely cover the vegetables. Place lid on Dutch oven and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove bay leaf and serve.

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/serbianvegetables/r/djuvece.htm

Potato, Carrot, and Summer Squash Soup

30 minutes to make

Serves 4

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 220.8

Total Fat: 0.5 g

Cholesterol: 0.0 mg

Sodium: 1,358.8 mg

Total Carbs: 46.2 g

Dietary Fiber: 7.6 g

Protein: 6.9 g

Ingredients
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 medium onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 baking potatoes, diced (May substitute with cauliflower)
1 large zucchini, cut into half moons
1 large carrot, sliced into rounds
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (Italian seasoned may be used)
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup basil leaves, thinly sliced
6 oz curly kale, chopped


How to make it --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heat a deep pot over medium-high heat.

Add the onion, garlic, potatoes, zucchini and carrot.

Cook until softened and brown, about 7-8 minutes.

Add tomatoes, stock and water to the pot.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bring the soup up to a boil then turn it down to a simmer.

Cook for 10 minutes.

Add the kale and basil, cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Taste and re-season before serving.


http://www.grouprecipes.com/46293/potato-carrot-and-summer-squash-soup.html

A Spiritual Treasure - St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

As a merchant from various lands gathers various goods, and brings them into his house and treasures them there, likewise a Christian can collect from the world soul-saving thoughts, and by collecting them in the treasury of his heart can form his soul.

Such is the opening motto of St. Tikhon Zadonsky's book, A Spiritual Treasure Gathered from the World.

St. Tikhon was born of an extremely poor family in 1724 in the turbulent wake of Church reforms largely instigated by Tsar Peter in an effort to "subdue the old Russia for the benefit of the new Russia to come." With the increasing infiltration of Western liberalism, criticism fell upon clergy and particularly monastics as being "ignorant" and "backward". Hierarchs bold enough to raise their voices against State interference in Church affairs were banished or otherwise Silenced. Tikhon himself was forced to be present at the unjust defrocking of Metropolitan Arseny, a leading figure among those who opposed Catherine II's secularization of Church property, which Was a blow directed against monasticism and its influence. The criticism of "ignorant" clergy was not altogether unjustified: there were few good seminaries and many of the poorer clergy were uneducated and merely fulfilled certain outward duties in order to make a living. Such were the conditions of the ecclesiastical world into which St. Tikhon was born and in which he struggled to preserve and spread the fire of true Christianity to the end of his days.


The son of a village reader, Tikhon was fortunate in being able to receive a good theological education although he constantly suffered from poverty. His soul was drawn to the secluded life, but by God's will he soon found himself rising rapidly in the Church hierarchy and in 1763 he was appointed bishop of Voronezh. His sensitive soul was burdened by all the difficulties of his position combined with the disorganization and low level of Church life. But he resolved to follow his God-given obedience and crucify himself for his flock. His task was not easy. Soon after his arrival to his new diocese he wrote:

"Some deacons and priests seem to be unable to read the Scripture properly. It is evident that they either do not possess Bibles, or are unfamiliar with them and do not read them, neglecting thus their own salvation and that of the people entrusted to them. The will of the Heavenly Father is revealed to us in the New Testament through His beloved Son without knowing it one cannot fulfill it."

He applied himself energetically to his pastoral duties: he opened a seminary, instituted special sermons, cared for the poor and the sick. His primary concern was in educating the people in basic, practical Christianity. One of his first booklets was on The Duty of Christian Parents to their children and of children to their parents. He addressed the upper classes sternly:

"God will not ask you Whether you taught your children French, German or Italian or the politics of society life – but you will not escape divine reprobation for not having instilled goodness into them. I speak plainly but I tell the truth: if your children are bad, your grandchildren will be worse...and the evil will thus increase...and the root of all this is our thoroughly bad education.''

After 7 years of intense labors in the Lord's harvest, his health was undermined and his spiritual strength exhausted. He begged to be relieved of his episcopal robe which he said was "too heavy for him" and in 1768 he retired to Zadonsk Monastery where he lived until his death in 1783. Literally thousands of people, both lay and monastic, began to come to him for counsel. Here also he continued his literary career which he had begun in answer to the crying need of his flock.



It is both from the life of this extraordinary man of God and from his writings, that we can gather spiritual pearls to enrich our our impoverished spiritual lives as we struggle against the same evil tide of worldliness which was threatening to engulf St. Tikhon's flock in 18th century Russia. "Tikhon's teaching on true Christianity in each walk of life opened new vistas before every struggling soul. He left no precise spiritual method, but he was the first Russian writer to deal with the obstacles and progress of the Christian soul in its bearing on everyday life .... He sought sa1vation not in dogmatical speculation or through certain techniques of contemplation. through ritualism or unusual deeds of asceticism, but through meditation, prayer, love and the practice of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

One of his best-known literary legacies is his book A Spiritual Treasure Gathered from the World, a collection of short essay., or sermons on various aspects of spiritual life. Simple images from the world are used as metaphores and expounded upon to produce clear and vivid illustrations of basic Christian principles which are more accessible and · more easily remembered than mere abstract dogmatic or moral teachings, and may be compared to the Hew Testament parables. For example, one of his teachings on humility is entitled, "water flows from high mountains onto low places": "We see that water gravitates from the mountains to low-lying areas; so too, the grace of God is poured out from the Heavenly Father upon humble hearts." He goes on to explain what is needed to acquire such humility.


"Try to know yourself, your own wickedness. Think on the greatness of God and your wretchedness. Meditate on the suffering of Christ, the magnitude of Whose love and suffering surpass our understanding. Ascribe the good that you do to God alone. Do not think about the sin of a brother but about what in him is better than in yourself .... Flee from glory, honors and praise, but if this is impossible, be sorry that such is your lot. Be benevolent to people of low origin. Be freely and willingly obedient not only to those above you but to those below .... The lowlier we are in spirit, the better we know ourselves, and without humility we cannot see God."

St. Tikhon knew both the New Testament and Psalter by heart and this· is evident in his frequent references to them in all his works. Typical of his teachings is one entitled "The Deaf Man":

"Just as the body has an ear, so also does the soul. Not everybody has an ear that is open, nor does every soul. God commands the soul: do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, turn away from evil and do good, etc. The soul whose ears are open, hears and listens to God speaking and does what God commands. Truly, such a soul cannot but hear God and obey His commandments if it has its ears open. Men listen and carry out the commands of earthly kings and lesser authorities, and will not a soul listen to God speaking if it has its ears open? Of course ! And with what fervor and delight will it not listen and say to Him: Ready is my heart, 0 God, ready is my heart" (Ps.107:2).


Throughout all of his writings he stresses the need to actively love one's neighbor, for herein is shown the love of God:

"For love does not seek its own, it labors, sweats, watches to build up the brother: nothing is inconvenient to love, and by the help of God it turns the impossible into the possible .... Love believes and hopes .... It is ashamed of nothing. Without it, what is the use of prayer? What use are hymns and singing? What is the use of building and adorning churches? What is mortification of the flesh if the neighbor is not loved? Indeed, all are of no consequence .... As an animal cannot exist without bodily warmth, So no good deed can be alive without true love; it is only the pretence of a good deed."

At the end of his earthly life, he Would restlessly spend nights on end walking in desolate places begging God to let him know what awaits those who are seriously concerned with their spiritual life. One night suddenly the whole sky was opened and the monastery was bathed in heavenly light and there was a voice saying, See what is prepared for those who love God--and he beheld the unutterable blessings of that other world for which the Christian lives."

The above quotations are taken from the following sources:

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, by Nadejda Gorodetsky (see Recommended Reading, p. 12); "St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and His Spiritual Legacy" in Orthodox Word, July-Aug. 1966 A Spiritual Treasure (in Russian)reprinted from the 1901 edition by the' St. Tikhon Church in San Francisco, 1979.

http://www.roca.org/OA/6/6e.htm

Evangelism and Culture

By Fr. Michael J. Oleksa

The most obvious gospel paradigm for the theme evangelism and culture is the parable of the sower. The seed is the Word of God.


But as St. Maximos the Confessor wrote in the seventh century, the Word of God is constantly revealing himself, becoming “embodied.” The Word establishes the created universe, the heavens tell his glory, the firmament his handiwork, for it is by the Word that everything that was made came into existence and is sustained in being. The Word is embodied first of all in the entire cosmos. The Word in the Cosmos has been misunderstood, after all. It was as if the Message revealed by the Word was written, as C.S. Lewis once said, in letters too large for us to read clearly. In the pre-Christian societies, he was wrongly identified with Neptune, Zeus, Adonus, Apollo, or in the modern world with the forces of the natural world, with the “laws” of chemistry, physiology, genetics.



So in the second embodiment the Word became easier to decipher. The Word of God is also embodied in the Holy Scriptures, in some ways in amore focused and understandable form. Even there, the possibility of misinterpretation arose, and the Scribes and Pharisees were constantly criticized for missing the intended meaning of the Law and the Prophets.



So ultimately, at the fullness of time, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is called “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” He is called “the Messiah.” “the Christ,” the Way, the Truth and the Life.” He calls himself “the Living Bread,” “the Son of Man,” “Living Water,” “the Good Shepherd.”



All of this is the Word of God, the seed in the parable of sower- and more. The gospel is also the Church, the mystical body of Christ, and the scattered seed can refer to the evangelical establishment of the church as the faith spreads geographically throughout the world. And fullness of the gospel, of the Christian faith, is Orthodoxy. The seed then means all these-the Word of God in all embodiments, the Gospel of Repentance, of the Kingdom, the sacramental and iconographic presence of Christ, the Truth of the Orthodox faith. And none of these existed in a vacuum. The seed always requires a specific place, some oil, in which to grow.



The Word of God as scripture must be expressed in human language, and language is culture. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached in human words, and words are culture. The presence of Christ must convey, manifested with signs, symbols, art, music, liturgical action, sacrament, and all this is culture. The Truth, like the seed, needs soil in which to grow, and the soil is culture.



The seed in the parable is scattered and some grows, some does not. But even the seed that reaches maturity produces different harvests, some thirty or sixty or a hundredfold. The same truth, the same gospel, the same Christ, when introduced into specific cultural context produces a unique harvest, for different soils have different levels of fertility. Climatic conditions vary from time to time and place to place. The reception of the Word of God varies accordingly, not only as individuals hear the gospel, understand the Truth, confront Christ, enter the church, but as cultures do as well.



No one plants without expecting a harvest. The results the church anticipates and for which it prepares, the goal of all that it says and does, is revealed in the gospel passage read on more Sundays during church year than any other: John ch. 17. It is no accident that the church presents our Lord’s prayer for unity to us more often than any other, for this is the ultimate goal of his life and mission, the fulfillment of the gospel. In the end, the scriptures tell us, Christ will be “all in all.” He will hold us, all people of all races, nationalities, ethnic groups, political parties, religious sects and creeds, and with all others, our friends, neighbours, and the enemies Jesus Christ commanded us to forgive, to bless, to love. For those who have loved and served him- and the neighbour the have abused, despised, rejected, exploited, hated- will be their sorrow, humiliation, their torment, their hell. Heaven and hell are not places we “go to,” but spiritual conditions we are already in.



We must become one, the way our Lord prayed to his heavenly Father, as the Holy Trinity is one, in total humility and love, each of us fulfilling the will of the Father as the son and the Holy Spirit perfectly and eternally do. This is the end toward which the church labours and strives. The church plants the seed in order to reap this harvest. No one can be the image of the Holy Trinity alone, as isolated individual. While only human beings, by an acct of faith and commitment, can be saved, no one is saved alone. There is no such thing as an individual salvation, for salvation is to enter into the community of interpersonal love, love of God, fulfilling his will in all things, and the love of one’s neighbour, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.



This is the goal, the harvest the church expects, awaits, and in which it invites all humanity to participate. The church’s vision, her soteriology and eschatology, while focused on Christ, is not exclusively Christocentric but Trinitarian. And the essence of his interpersonal unity-in-love, the possibly for many persons to be one, is revealed in divine love, tri-personal Agape, which, which makes the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the three equally divine persons, one. We must always keep the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in mind in all the evangelists think, say and do. There is no place for coercion, persecution, intolerance or violence in planting the seed, in announcing the good news to the nations, for these tactics would render the ultimate goal, total Agape, unattainable.



Syncretism and inculturation



Perhaps no question is more heatedly discussed in various ecumenical mission conferences today than the attempt to distinguish theologically between syncretism and inculturation. Within the World Council of Churches, the problem, it seems to me, is that there are different kinds of seed. In this context, the temptation to syncretism is inescapable.



What is syncretism? It has bee difficult if not impossible for many Protestant theologians to arrive at consensus, a definition of exactly what constitutes syncretism, but the historic, patristic Orthodox tradition offers us clear guidelines. The church, during the period of ecumenical councils, sought to express its faith in terms intelligible to Hellenic culture without being distorted, without being “contaminated” by it in the process. This was no easy task, and it required five centuries and seven councils to accomplish it. Syncretism was successfully voided. The church, guided by the Holy Spirit, did not add to its doctrines, practices, beliefs, anything extraneous or incompatible with the faith of the Apostles, the witness of sacred scripture, the Truth revealed in Christ. Syncretism is precisely the introduction into Christian doctrine or worship elements that are incompatible with the fullness of the Apostolic tradition.



Thus, when we learned Chinese Protestant theologian attempted to include within her presentation at Canberra general assembly of the World Council of the Churches an act of reverence to the Chinese goddess of mercy, the Orthodox were correct in rejecting such an inclusion as syncretistic. There is no place for “goddesses of mercy” in Christian doctrine or piety. (Orthodox missionaries, however, encountering a culture with a personification of a merciful feminine principle might attempt to present this pre-Christian intuition as typologically prefiguring the Theo-okos.



If syncretism must at all costs be avoided as distorting or corrupting the gospel message, inculturation, on the other hand, is inevitable and necessary. However, inculturation is only possible when the evangelist knows the Orthodox tradition and can therefore discern what is and what is not compatible with it. Inculturation is the planting of the gospel, the seed, the presence of Christ, in the unique soil of new culture, and allowing it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to mature at its own pace, to produce ultimately a new, indigenous church.



The Alaskan Orthodox mission



When, for example, the Valaam Mission analyzed the spirituality of the Kodiak native peoples in 1795, they expressed a willingness to tolerate certain aberrations (such as polygamy) for a short time, to discuss others (the belief in the inua/yua) and to overlook still others (for example, fasting norms).



Polygamy endured for one generation after the baptism of the Kodiak Alutiiqs. This was a necessary accommodation, since to require the separation of multiple wives from their husbands would have created severe social upheaval and economical hardship for women and children. Fasting norms could not be enforced in a land of hunter-gatherers whose food supplies were never stable or predictable, and starvation was an annual possibility. Only today, after two centuries, is fasting being gradually introduced. Everywhere, however, the reception of the gospel ended inter-tribal warfare and the enslavement and mistreatment of the prisoners. This was seldom recognized or even noticed by later observers, who had not complained that the Orthodox natives had not absorbed much doctrine, had not memorized much scripture, and thus had not, in their estimation, been properly evangelized.



Belief in the Yua persists. The Yua, in Yup’ik Eskimo culture, is the spirit that makes a living thing to be alive. It is the life force, which in pre-contact times was believed to be conscious but interpersonal. Animals and human beings have essentially the same Yua, and differ only in their outward physical form.



Animals have abilities that surpass those of human beings. They see, smell, and hear what we cannot. They have strengths and capabilities that surpass ours. They are not viewed as inferior beings, but in some ways as superior creatures. Their sensory input permits them to know things that we cannot perceive. To be changed into an animal in all native Alaskan folklore is viewed not as a curse (typical of European stories; - “the Frog Prince,” “Beauty and The Beast,” werewolves, etc.), but as a promotion. Some Alutiiq stories end with the hero deciding to remain an animal and “live happily ever after.” This belief in the intelligence, sensitivity and even superiority of the animals made traditional Alaskan peoples reverent towards the game they needed to kill in order to feed themselves, in order to survive. And it is the universal beliefs that since the animals know more, see more, hear more, sense more, they are willing victims who offer to the hunter. But they only sacrifice themselves to feed those human beings who treat them reverently, respectfully, not only during the hunt, in the act of killing the and butchering them, but in the way the meat is thoroughly eaten, wasting none of it, and how various parts of the animal (such as the pelts) are used. The unusable remains must also be treated respectfully, returned to the habitat from which the animal was taken. Recycling is an ancient practice in the Arctic.



Orthodox missionaries did not discourage this belief that life in all its form should be treated reverently. Their Alaskan converts heard the Paschal gospel from within the context of their traditional worldview, and saw Christ in the whole created universe, the Word of God in the Cosmos, in a way even the missionaries had not seen him before. The life of the world, the life of all, yes-all the Yua are really him. And the first chapter to the Colossians took on a meaning that was always there, but had gone unnoticed, or at least under appreciated, for centuries.



The seed found especially fertile ground, for the text “He is before all things and in him all things subsist” affirmed that what the Alaskans had intuited centuries before was now affirmed in the gospel. Only now they knew his identity. Alaskan Orthodoxy affirms a cosmic dimension to the Christian faith that many, perhaps most, modern Christians fail to grasp. John 3:16 is probably the most widely memorized verse in the New Testament, few who study the Bible in English translation grasp its full meaning the way most Eskimos do. The original text speaks of God’s love for the world, and most suppose the Greek word here is oikoumene, the inhabited earth, the human beings, and indeed the evangelist could have chosen this word. In fact, however, he did not. This famous verse affirms “For God so loved cosmos the sent his son.”



In the missionary context of the industrialized world, where secularism is in some instances giving way to a revival of “paganism” or the emergence of “new age” spirituality, or an interest in oriental religions, the theology of St. Maximos, in which the “logoi”: of God are affirmed, in which the created universe plays a mediating and sanctifying role in God’s divine plan, which the cosmos is to be blessed, reclaimed, transfigured and transformed, sanctified and blessed to become “the Kingdom of our God and His Christ” presents a Christian alternative. The Alaskan church goes forth in procession each January for the great blessing of water, in most places walking on the frozen river, standing on the ice in subzero temperatures, to sanctify the one small piece of the cosmos on which their lives have always depended. The river is their highway, their cleansing, their supermarket, their home, their life. In their pre-Christian past they thanked the animal spirits for offering themselves, sacrificing themselves to feed the people, and put their inflated intestines and bladders through the holes in the ice in order to recycle their Yua. Now they go to the river and bless the waters, putting the cross through a cruciform hole in the ice; it is Christ they bless, Christ they thank, for his sacrifice, prefigured in the cycle of the natural world as they understood it.



This not, I would submit, syncretistic, for these patterns were always there, in the liturgical life of the church. The gospel texts were always there, within the hearing of all believers. But the Eskimos have discovered a meaning hidden from those of other cultures and they offer this meaning back to the church. This the pattern of all genuine inculturation-the missionary, and, through the evangelist, the whole church, discovers heretofore unnoticed or disclosed treasures of her own sacred heritage.



When Navajo Indians of the American southwest were asked to make a film about production of their famous rugs, they submitted a video depicting a sunrise, wild flowers blooming, rain falling, sheep grazing, wind blowing, the sun setting, and finally a few seconds showing a half-finished rug on a traditional loom. The producers who had commissioned the film were confused and disappointed. They had expected to see wool being spun, dyed and woven, and none of this was included in the video. But to the Navajo, it takes more than wool, vegetable dyes, a loom and a grandmother to make a rug. They assumed a much wider frame of reference: The sun must rise. The rain must fall. The flower must bloom. The sheep must graze. And if all is harmony, you can get rugs out of it. It takes the whole cosmos to make a rug.



It this not equally true of our Eucharastic Gifts? We so often perceive it as merely bread- flour, water and yeast. But what does it take to produce that flour? The sun must shine. The wind must blow. The rain must fall. The earth must be fertile. Human beings must appropriately interact with it. And if all is in harmony, you can make bread. On every altar, in every church we offer the universe in joy and thanksgiving back to God. But our frame of reference can be too small.



Christ fed thousands with only a few a few loaves and two fish. Those who witnessed this considered it a miracle. Our Lord also said, “The son only does the works he sees his Father do.” The Father is always taking a little wheat and feeding thousands, but we fail to see it, we don’t get the message. He is taking some seeds each spring and making food in every wheat and corn field, but the pagans said it was Apollo or Zeus or Minerva or “Mother Nature” at work, and secularists say it is all “natural processes.” So the Son does the same thing he sees his Father do, but on a smaller scale and a faster speed, and suddenly the miraculous element becomes evident. It is the same Word of God made manifest and the feeding of the thousands will have its full impact when we can recognize it continuously in the miracle of the cosmos, the Word written in letters so large we could not read the message before.



Be reminding the church of the cosmic dimensions of its faith and mission, the Greek evangelized become evangelists. In the Patristic age, Greek language, Greek culture, Greek philosophical language enriched the life of the church forever. As the seed, the gospel, the church, as Christ’s presence enters into the context of other cultures, these too offer something back to God. The same seed, the same faith, the same Orthodox truth, implanted in another culture produces a unique harvest, a Serbian, a Romanian, a Russian, a Ukrainian, an Albanian, an African, an Alaskan, an Indonesian, a Korean or Japanese (or even an American), expression, each the product of the same holy faith, yet each irreplaceable and unique.



Father Alexander Schmemann defined in his most famous book, For the Life of the World, what it means to be Christian. “A Christian, “ he wrote, “is someone who, wherever he/she looks sees Christ and rejoices Him.” I read this book many times. I was blessed for several years to attend Father Alexander’s lectures. I read Holy Fathers. But it was my Eskimo parishioners who revealed to me the depth of the passage, revealed to me the cosmic dimension of the prologue to the gospel according to St. John, showed me the magnificence of the Apostle Paul’s Christocentric experience and vision. This is what inculturation means for the church. Unlike syncretism, which distorts the gospel, corrupts the faith, renders a Christian harvest impossible, inculturation enriches and deepens and expands the genuine apprehension of the Apostolic faith, to the glory of God and building up of his holy church. The church, while resisting any syncretism, delights and rejoices in inculturation.





Conclusion



The church scatters the seed, offering the gospel to all, and in so doing, discovers the new harvest dimensions of the faith it had not consciously known, noticed or appreciated fully before. Evangelism enriches the church. Inculturation blesses the church. Our Greek patristic legacy is the historic evidence of the creative process. The seed always needs soil in which to grow-the gospel always needs a culture in which to be planted, and the Holy Spirit produces various harvests in each culture and in each of us.

Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Vinegar

Grilled eggplant with a little balsamic vinegar and herbs and olive oil.


Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

•1 large eggplant
•3 tablespoons olive oil
•2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
•2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
•1 pinch each thyme, basil, dill, and oregano
•salt and freshly grated black pepper

Preparation:

Heat grill.

When grill is hot, slice eggplant about 1/2-inch thick.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper.
Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with the oil and vinegar mixture.
Place eggplant on the hot preheated grill.
Grill about 15 to 20 minutes, turning once.


http://southernfood.about.com/od/grillfruitveggie/r/bl30627e.htm

В Крыму открылась выставка «Семейные традиции восточных славян»

Симферополь, 29 мая 2010 г.


По благословению Митрополита Симферопольского и Крымского Лазаря в Крымском республиканском учреждении «Этнографический музей» в рамках празднования Дней славянской письменности и культуры, а также Дня семьи, любви и верности, проводящегося под покровительством православных святых Петра и Февронии, открылась выставка «Семейные традиции восточных славян». Об этом сообщает сайт Симферопольской и Крымской епархии УПЦ.

Организаторы выставки — КРУ «Этнографический музей», Симферопольская и Крымская епархия УПЦ, Ассоциация заповедников и музеев Крыма при участии Крымского университета культуры, искусств и туризма.

Собравшихся на открытии приветствовали секретарь Симферопольской и Крымской епархии протоиерей Александр Якушечкин, первый заместитель постоянного представителя Президента Украины в АРК Владимир Казарин, директор Этнографического музея Юрий Лаптев, отметивший большой вклад Симферопольской и Крымской епархии и в частности, руководительницы епархиального отдела культуры Людмилы Ясельской, в организацию выставки. Помимо того, что епархия представила для экспонирования иконы и предметы, связанные с богослужением, по благословению Правящего архиерея Митрополита Лазаря специально к открытию выставки был создан и передана в дар Этнографическому музею святой образ покровителей семьи благоверных князя Петра и княгини Февронии, Муромских чудотворцев.

С концертными номерами, отражающими тематику выставки, на ее открытии выступили студенты Крымского университета культуры, искусств и туризма.

С мая по сентябрь 2010 года с выставкой можно ознакомиться в выставочном зале КРУ «Этнографический музей» (улица Пушкина, 18). Время работы — с 9.00 до 17.00. Выходной — вторник.

О выставке «Семейные традиции восточных славян»
Культурные и экономические связи представителей восточных славян с Крымом насчитывают многовековую историю.

Формирование восточнославянского населения Крыма происходило за счет переселенцев из различных регионов России, Украины и Беларуси. Русские, украинцы и белорусы, переселявшиеся на новые земли, попадали в специфические природные и социально-экономические условия и вступали в новые для них этнокультурные контакты с населением, уже проживавшим здесь ранее и вновь прибывающим по мере заселения Крыма. Эти факторы неизбежно влияли на формирование новых черт традиционной культуры. На этапе переселения представители каждого из трех родственных этносов отражали особенности жизненного уклада того региона, откуда шло прибытие.

В современном обществе все больше возрастает интерес к изучению традиционных семейных обычаев, обрядов, православных праздников восточных славян. Особенно ярко это проявляется именно на Крымском полуострове, где проживают представители более ста этнических групп и национальностей, среди которых в численном отношении русские, украинцы, белорусы являются доминирующим этносом.

Выставка «Семейные традиции восточных славян» знакомит посетителей с семейными традициями (обычаями, обрядами, праздниками) русских, украинцев, белорусов, проживавших в Крыму в конце XIX — середине XX вв. через элементы одежды, предметы культа, орудия труда, фотоматериал и т. д.; напоминает старшему поколению и показывает младшему традиционные семейные праздники.

Семейные традиции — это обычные принятые в семье нормы, манеры поведения, обычаи и взгляды, которые передаются из поколения в поколение. Семейные традиции сближают всех родных, делают семью семьёй, а не просто сообществом родственников по крови.

Вся семейная жизнь восточных славян сопровождалась разнообразными обрядами и ритуалами, которые в образно-символической форме фиксировали важнейшие этапы жизни человека и наиболее значимые стадии развития семьи. В соответствии с естественным циклом существования человека сложился и комплекс семейных обрядов. Основные из них: свадебные, освящающие брак, родильные, приветствующие новорожденного и его мать, похоронные и поминальные, связанные со смертью человека и почитанием его памяти.

На выставке представлены экспозиционные комплексы: рождение и крещение; религиозно-нравственное и трудовое воспитание детей; свадебный обряд; День святых Петра и Февронии — покровителей семьи и брака, празднуемый 8 июля; Рождество, Пасха, Радоница, вышивки восточных славян.

Экспозиционные комплексы представлены через экспонаты фондов КРУ «Этнографический музей» и материалы Симферопольской и Крымской епархии.

Выставка «Семейные традиции восточных славян» позволит ознакомить широкий круг посетителей с элементами культуры восточных славян, дать представление о тех обычаях и обрядах, праздниках, которые со временем были утрачены или преобразились, и о тех, которые живы и по сей день.

После окончания работы выставки в Этнографическом музее ее экспонирование запланировано в других музейных учреждениях АР Крым.

29 / 05 / 2010

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/news/35500.htm

“The Russian Orthodox Church will never remain silent in Her care for or sorrow over the fates of the Russian people."

An Interview with Archbishop Justianian of Naro-Fominsk

On April 9, 2010, on Bright Friday, His Eminence Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, celebrated his first Divine Liturgy in New York in ROCOR’s Synodal Cathedral of the Sign, co-served by His Grace Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, and clergymen of the Synodal Cathedral and of St Nicholas Cathedral. On March 5, 2010, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Justinian was appointed Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA. Upon completion of the Liturgy, His Eminence gave an interview to Diocesan Media Office correspondent Reader Peter Lukianov. The text of Archbishop Justinian’s interview is available to readers below.

- Your Eminence, you recently arrived in the United States, after your appointment as Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA. What instruction were you given by His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill prior to your arrival in America?

First, His Holiness passes along, through me, his blessing to the Patriarchal parishes, and to that part of the fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church – the Russian Church Abroad. The Patriarch himself charged me to be an ardent supplicant on the American continent, that in prayer we might form relationships with the clergy of the cathedral and the parishes, and that in prayer we might seek unity with the Russian Church Abroad, because woe be unto any clergyman who gives himself over primarily to practical business, to administrating, forgetting his basic, primary responsibility: being a priest, a performer of prayer, a performer of sacraments. And I, of course, will try not to forget these words of His Holiness the Patriarch, and these words must become manifested in works. Of course, His Holiness would also like for the divine services conducted in St Nicholas Cathedral to give the opportunity for the children of the Russian Church Abroad to familiarize themselves with those, I won’t say traditions, but customs, now prevalent in Russia. This is because, having once had a life independent of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Church Abroad may have seen the birth of Her own local traditions or particularities. And so it should be that, coming to St Nicholas Cathedral, the children of the Russian Church Abroad can see how people pray in Moscow or in other dioceses. However, this is clearly not the most important thing, which is adhering to Orthodox teachings, preserving the Church’s dogmas and canons, that which makes us familiar to our fellows regardless of where we may live. And, of course, the Patriarch cares deeply that our witness to the Russian Orthodox Church might reach those people who might not yet know Christ; there are such people in our Russian emigre community, as well. His Holiness’ concern is for Russians living here to stop thinking of themselves in terms of a layered cake: different generations, different ages, different traditions, but rather that they should have the feeling and experience of a single Russian America.

- How would you gauge the role of the Moscow Patriarchate in representing the World Russian People’s Council (WRPC) at the UN?

- Among the many weighty responsibilities of the Russian Orthodox Church, I would name Her service as an ethnarch, a representative of the Russian people, in the broader sense of that word, as it always was in Russia. If you were Orthodox, that is, regardless of the color of your skin or the cut of your eyes, it meant you were Russian. And for that reason there was never any pronounced nationalism in Russia, because there was a sense that everyone was truly brothers. But, thanks to many centuries of Orthodox upbringing, we can definitely see the creation, the birth, of a united, mighty Russian people. And the Orthodox Church has a duty to be an advocate, a duty to be responsible for the fates of the Russian people, be that in Russia proper, be that beyond her borders; but truly, who but the Russian Orthodox Church, relying on the finest spokesmen-sons of the Russian people, is in a place to represent them before the United Nations? I think it is clear to every thinking person that it is precisely the Russian Orthodox Church that is the axle uniting the Russian people. And for this reason the Russian Orthodox Church will never remain silent in Her care for or sorrow over the fates of the Russian people.

- Your Eminence, our meeting with you today is historic, because, in this new era for the Church Abroad, you are the first hierarch appointed to the role of Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the period following the reunification of the Churches. As the Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes of the MP in the USA, what is your attitude toward the Church Abroad? Are you planning to visit ROCOR parishes and reach out to the faithful of the Church Abroad?

- Of course, my first concern as Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes is that arena of Church life. But wherever I am invited to participate, either in the divine services, or in the life of ROCOR, I will gladly, cautiously, lovingly respond, because many things that perhaps seem natural to me, as a person born and raised inside Russia, might not be entirely understood by Russian people born abroad. And so, in order that we in no way harm the work of unification, we must naturally constantly synchronize our watches, so to speak. We must compare our responses to various shared problems. I think that we must concelebrate at festal divine services, but we must also have a relationship based not only on shared high ceremony, but on working moments, an evaluation of our shared life in the quiet of the study, in joint conferences. In this matter I can only say that, for the head of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion, for the Synod for all of my Orthodox brothers in ROCOR, I am a servant, ready to work together as much as is needed of me.

- Your predecessor, His Grace Mercurius, Bishop of Zaraysk, worked diligently, especially here in New York, to unite the flock of the Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate. One of the remarkable traditions of the last few years is the Paschal service in St Nicholas Cathedral on Bright Saturday. Can we hope on future joint celebrations in St Nicholas Cathedral?

- I simply must preserve those good traditions established by my predecessor, Bishop Mercurius. Of course, the service on Pascha Saturday and the procession around one of Manhattan’s city blocks is a joy that inspires all of us. This is such a pleasant, inspirational event for those Russians who hear of it, that we are simply duty-bound to apply all our efforts, so that not only this service, but other forms of our unity, might only develop further in the future. I know there is an idea to bring part of the relics of St Tikhon, the Patriarch of all Russia, to the cathedrals and parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church, and I mean in all of Her fullness on the American continent, and maybe to other Orthodox churches of other jurisdictions. Here, I think, we must deal with this in all seriousness, working out a beautiful, worthy schedule, deeply symbolic, one that reaches the broadest possible spectrum of dioceses and parishes. This must be thought through, and then we can petition His Holiness the Patriarch, so that this definitely takes place.

- We have received word, Your Eminence, that the Patriarch will visit the USA in the near future. Can you tell us about His Holiness’ plans to visit America?

- His Holiness absolutely desires a visit to America, to pray with his spiritual children, bearing witness to Christ and the life of the Orthodox Church to the whole world. There is some thought being given, of course, to the most comfortable time to perform this visit, because there is a certain order, a Church tradition, that the Patriarch must visit certain other places in his role as Patriarch. But his archpastoral, patriarchal heart certainly cares for us, and I dare to confirm that His Holiness is searching for the opportunity to come here with all haste.

- The majority of our site’s readers are clergy and laymen of the Eastern American Diocese, within the borders of which is located St Nicholas Cathedral. Of course, most of your interaction with clerics of the Church Abroad will be with clerics of the Eastern American Diocese. What would you wish the readers of our diocesan website?

- I would like for us, if not formally, then in our everyday lives, to feel ourselves to be one united Eastern American Diocese, which has its diocesan hierarch, Metropolitan Hilarion, and a prayerful, hierarchal connection to His Holiness, Patriarch Kyrill. So far, Church life is represented in two Church structures, but at the very least, may we have the impression in our hearts that we are one Eastern American Diocese.

- Thank you very much, Your Eminence. I greatly hope that you will give your blessing in the future to conduct another interview some months hence. We will be very grateful.

- As soon as the fullness of my heart abounds with impressions, I will ask you myself for an interview, that my heart might remain lively, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese (ROCOR)