Dan Everiss
<oregdan@hotmail.com> | Wed, May 17, 2017 at 2:48 PM |
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Link to the Russian original, [ part or all of it?] at this date, 5/17/17 still posted on internetsobor:
http://internetsobor.org/arkhiv-rptsz/istoriya/rptsz/arkhiv-rptsz/professor-ivan-andreev-blagodatna-li-sovetskaya-tserkov
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Власть есть установление Божие: "Всякая душа да будет покорна высшим властям; ибо нет ...
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MONASTERY PRESS:http://monasterypress.com/presstitles.html
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A new history series from Monastery Press, The Russian Golgotha
(hard-bound illustrated, 536 pages, $30.00 [plus shipping]), tells the
story of Russia's new martyrs ...
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FOR English language readers: -a printed copy is available:
EXPLAINING THE CREATION of the UNCANONICAL "Moscow Patriarchy", by Professor I.M. Andreyev:
Note: This unique
very priceless work,
is a must-read, to fully understand just what the 1943 Stalin created
'Moscow Patriarchy', this false-Russian church organization, -how it
actually came into existence, & what it has
been and still is, truly all about. WHICH makes clearer to us today,
exactly how a large part of our old free ROCOR was betrayed in 2007,
etc. Unfortunately, this human-English translation is not in electronic
form. One must purchase this book.
Fr. Andrew Kencis's MONASTERY PRESS, [Alberta, Canada], also has many other very valuable traditional
Orthodox books, many dealing with the factual! history and the dreadful effects of the betrayal to the communists and their co-workers, of Russian Orthodoxy.
http://monasterypress.com/presstitles.html
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A new history series from Monastery Press, The Russian Golgotha
(hard-bound illustrated, 536 pages, $30.00 [plus shipping]), tells the
story of Russia's new martyrs ...
|
***LINK
to read promo and short introduction: Printed book: [the sole source]:
English translated book from the original Russian: "IS
THE GRACE OF GOD PRESENT IN THE SOVIET CHURCH?", by Professor I.M.
Andreyev.
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From:
V Rev Joseph Frawley
Subject:
Relics of St. Helena arrive in Greece
Date:
17 May 2017 18:44:21 GMT+01:00
Relics of St. Helena, and the Cross.
Nice photos.
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For the first time, the holy relics of St Helena will be displayed in
Athens together with a section of the Holy Cross. It is also the first
time that holy relics
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CPI of Greece: Week about the Samaritan in the Monastery of St.
Николая (Пеаниа, Аттика). Nikolay (Peaniya, Attica).
ФОТО - PHOTOS
Автор: Монахиня Вера вкл. Author: Nun Vera incl.
15 Май 2017 15-May-2017
. .
Опубликовано в
ИПЦ Греции (Просмотров: 4) Published in the
CPI of Greece (Views: 4)
2017 г.
В Неделю о Самаряныне в монастыре Святого Николая в Пеаниа (Аттика, ИПЦ
Греции) совершили Божественную литургию Митрополиты Хризостом
Аттикийский и Беотийский, Геронтий Пирейский и Саламинский и епископ
Амвросий Мефонский.
2017.
In the Week of the Samaritan Woman, in the Monastery of St. Nicholas
in Peanja (Attica, Greek GOC), the Metropolitan Chrysostom of Atticus
and Beotia, Gerontius of Piraeus and Salamis and Bishop Ambrose of
Methon, together served a Divine Liturgy.
============================== ============================== ============================== ============================== ===========
SYNAXARION FOR MID-PENTECOST
Wednesday of Mid-Pentecost
On the Wednesday of Mid-Pentecost, we commemorate the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ concerning the provenance of His teaching and His Divine
origin, whereby He proved that He was the Messiah, and the Mediator and
Reconciler of us and the eternal Father.
Verses
Standing in the midst of the teachers,
Christ the Messiah teacheth at Mid-feast.
Synaxarion
We celebrate this Feast in honor of the two great Feasts, I mean Pascha
and Pentecost, for it unites and joins each of them together. It came
about in this way. After Christ had worked a wondrous miracle for the
Paralytic, the Jews, supposedly scandalized over
the Sabbath (for the miracle was performed on the Sabbath), sought to
kill Him. Therefore, He fled to Galilee, and, spending time in the
mountains there, He wrought the miracle of the five loaves and the two
fishes, feeding five thousand men, not including
women and children. Thereafter, when the Feast of Tabernacles was at
hand (this was a great feast among the Jews), He went up to Jerusalem
and walked about in secret. Around the middle of this feast, He went up
to the Temple and taught, and everyone was amazed
at His teaching. Out of envy, they said to Him: “How knoweth this man
letters, having never learned?” For, being the New Adam, and also as
God, He possessed knowledge, just as the First Adam was replete with all
wisdom. They all murmured and were aroused to
envy against Him. But Christ, refuting those who were supposedly
fighting in defense of the Sabbath, said: “Why go ye about to kill me?”
Alluding to previous events, he said: “If ye are fighting in defense of
the Law, why are ye angry at Me? Because I made
a man every whit whole on the Sabbath? But although Moses legislated
these things, you choose to break the Sabbath for the sake of
circumcision.” Having spoken to them at length about this and having
proved that He was the Giver of the Law and equal to the
Father, on the last day, that great day of the feast, He was about to be
stoned by them; but no stone touched Him at all. Passing by thence, He
found the man who was blind from birth and gave him sight.
It should be known that among the Jews there were three very great
feasts. The first was Passover, which was celebrated in the first month
in commemoration of the crossing of the Red Sea. The second was
Pentecost, which commemorates the sojourn in the wilderness
after the crossing of the Red Sea; for the Jews spent fifty days in the
wilderness, until they received the law of Moses; and also on account of
the honor given to the number seven, which is esteemed among them. The
third feast is that of Tabernacles, which
commemorates the tabernacle which Moses saw in the cloud on the mountain
and which he pitched through the agency of the architect Beseleel. It
was celebrated over a period of seven days, commemorating the gathering
of fruit and the time spent in the wilderness.
It was then, during the celebration of this feast, that Jesus stood and
cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.”
Because through this teaching Christ proved that He was the Messiah,
being the Mediator and Reconciler between us and His eternal Father, for
this reason, in celebrating the present feast and calling it
“Mid-Pentecost,” we extol Christ and portray the honor
of the two Great Feasts on either side of it. On account of this, I
think, the feast of the Samaritan woman is celebrated after it; for it,
too, recounts much about Christ the Messiah, and also about water and
thirst, as in this case.
By Thy boundless mercy, O Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen
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HOMILY ON THE SUNDAY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN
ON WORSHIPPING GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
John 4:23
Beloved brethren! Today
we have heard in the Gospel that the true servants of the true God
worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and that God seeks, that is,
He desires to have such worshippers. If God
desires to have such worshippers, then it is obvious that he will
receive only such worshippers and servants, and they only are pleasing
to Him. This teaching was imparted to us by the Son of God Himself. We
believe in the teaching of Christ! We accept the
all-holy teaching of Christ with all our love! In order to follow Him
carefully, let us look at what it means to worship God the Father in
Spirit and in Truth.
Truth is our Lord Jesus Christ, as He testifies of Himself: I am the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 4:16). The Truth is the Word of God: Thy word is truth (Jn.
17:17;). This Word was pre-eternally
in God, it was pronounced by God and to God; this Word is God, this Word
is the Creator of everything that exists, both visible and invisible
(cf. Jn. 1:1,5; Col. 1:16). This Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14). No man hath seen God at any time, but the Word of God, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (Jn.
1:18). The Son of God, the
Word of God confessed God before people, and fully manifested God to
people; the Son of God showed people the truth that was incomprehensible
to them, having irrefutably witnessed to it and impressed it upon them
by abundantly bestowing divine grace. And
of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:16–17). This means that Jesus Christ brought not some more or less detailed and clear understanding of grace and
truth, but the grace itself, the truth itself, essentially bestowed upon people, instilled in people. We have been made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
Truth has a characteristic
Spirit. This spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (cf. Jn. 15:26;
16:13). It is Spirit, proceeding from the Father (cf. Jn. 15:26). It is
the Holy Spirit of God (cf. Jn. 14:26). It
is the Spirit of the Son (cf. Gal. 4:6), as inseparably close to the
Son, as comprising together with the Father and the Son one undivided
and unmingled Divine Essence. Accepting the Truth, we also accept the
Holy Spirit—that is why the All-Holy Truth says
of Himself, that He will send the Holy Spirit from the Father to His
disciples. Naturally, the Holy Spirit of Truth will be present where
Holy Truth acts, and will leave the effect of its action. In like
manner, where the Holy Spirit works, there will be an
abundant manifestation of Truth, as the Lord also said to His
disciples: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (Jn. 16:13). Describing the wondrous relationship of the Divine Word to the Divine Spirit, the Lord
said of the Spirit: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine (Jn.
16:14–15). The Spirit shows and manifests to people the Son co-natural
to Him. The Holy Spirit spiritually
forms the true Christian and transforms him into a dwelling place of God
(cf. Eph. 2:22); He represents Christ and instills Him in the inner man
(cf. Eph. 3:16–17). He makes people God's children by adoption, making
them like unto Christ, establishing Christ-like
qualities in them (cf. Jn. 14:6). People who have been made children of
God by adoption turn to Him in their prayers as to their Father, because
the Holy Spirit very clearly and tangibly witnesses to the spirit of a
person renewed by Him (cf. Rom 8:16) concerning
that person's union with God, his adoption by God. And because ye are sons, says the Apostle, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Gal.
4:6). Such worshippers are recognized as true worshippers of
God! Such worshippers, who worship God in Spirit and in Truth, seek and
receive God. There is no knowledge of God outside of true Christianity,
and no service of God.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me (Jn 14:6), said the Lord. There is no God for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ: Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father (1Jn.
2:23), and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (Jn.
3:36). It is impossible to approach God, or to enter into any kind of
communion with Him in any other way than through our Lord Jesus Christ,
the only
intermediary, intercessor, and means of communion between God and man!
There is no true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ without the
mediation of the Holy Spirit! No man, says the Apostle, can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost (1
Cor. 12:3). Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Rom.
8:9). There is no virtue outside of Christianity that is worthy of
Heaven! “Nothing good,” says St. Mark the Ascetic, “can be believed in,
or acted upon unless it be of
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.” Unworthy of God are natural human
good works, which proceed from our fallen nature, in which goodness is
mixed with evil, and in which goodness is for the most part barely
noticeable amidst the preponderance of evil. Fallen
nature is capable exclusively of evil, as God Himself testified: The imagination of man is intently bent upon evil things from his youth (Gen. 8:21); If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children (Mt.
7:11; Lk. 11:13).
Such is the worth before the Gospels and God of natural human goodness
and the activity proceeding from it. In vain does fallen nature glorify
its great and famous good works! Such self-praise shows a terrible
blindness! Such self-praise is an involuntary
reproach against the famous works of men, inspired and nourished by
vainglory. The stench of pride coming from these whited sepulchers is an
abomination to God; pleasing to Him is the incense of humility.
That is why the Lord
commanded fallen and blinded mankind to deny its nature, for man is
unconscious of his woeful fallenness. To the contrary, he sees it as a
magnificent triumph, and seeks to escalate this
triumph. For the sake of salvation, we must renounce sin! But sin has
become so much a part of us that it has become our nature, our very
soul. In order to renounce sin, it has become essentially necessary to
renounce our fallen nature, to renounce our soul
(cf. Mt. 10:39), to renounce not only the obviously evil deeds, but also
the good deeds of the old man that the world honors and
glorifies; it is essentially necessary to replace our manner of thinking
with the mind of Christ, and replace our activity
motivated by the senses and the dictates of carnal mindedness with the
scrupulous fulfillment of Christ's commandments. If ye continue in my word, said the Lord, then are ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free (Jn. 8:31-32). What remarkable and deep words! Their direct
impact consists in the fact that sin holds man in slavery only through
incorrect and false understanding. It is likewise clear that the
destructive incorrectness of these understandings
also consist precisely in an acceptance as good what is in essence not
good, and in the non-acceptance as evil what is in essence, murderous
evil.
He who is from God, hears
the words of God (cf. Jn. 8:43), said the Lord. Brethren! Let us humble
ourselves before our Lord God! Unlike the hardened Jews, who rejected
both the Lord and His teachings, let us
show submission to the Lord and obedience to His all-holy and saving
teachings! Let us set aside the manner of thinking that comes from our
fallen nature and from the world, which is at enmity with God! Let us
assimilate the manner of thinking that the Lord
offers us through His holy Gospels! Let us follow the Truth, and we
shall inherit the Truth. The Truth frees the human mind from the
invisible bonds of error by which sin has shackled it. Moreover, the
omnipotent Truth, having given spiritual freedom to the
mind, renewed and enlivened it by life from above—by the Word of God,
brings it out onto the path of Christ's commandments, and removes it
from the way of unrighteousness (Ps. 118:29). The soul enlivened by the Truth hymns together with the inspired
prophet: The way of Thy commandments have I run, when Thou didst
enlarge my heart. Set before me for a law, O Lord, the way of Thy
statutes, and I will seek after it continually. Give me understanding,
and I will search out Thy law, and I will keep it with
whole heart (Ps. 118:32–34). Such a soul will unfailingly become a
partaker of the Holy Spirit, Who cannot but be present where Divine
Truth is present and reigns; the Truth, Who in His mysterious counsel
with the All-Holy Truth, speaks of Himself thus: I
am a partaker with all them that fear Thee, and with them that keep Thy commandments (Ps. 118:63).
As long as man abides in
his fallen nature, as long as he is immersed in the darkness of his
exceedingly deep ignorance, he does not know how he should pray, he does
not know what he should pray for (cf. Rom
8:26), and he is incapable of serving God. Only faith in Christ gives
knowledge of Truth; faith, expressed by the fulfillment of Christ's
commandments, draws the grace of the Holy Spirit to the heart of the
faithful, as the God-inspired prophet said: I
opened my mouth and drew in my breath, for I longed for Thy commandments (Ps.
118:131). Only a true Christian, a Christian in faith and deed, can be a
true worshipper of God, worshipping and serving God as the Father, in
Spirit and in Truth. Amen.
Translated by Nun Cornelia (Rees)
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