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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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GIANT 40 TON MOSAIC UNVEILED IN WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST ORTHODOX CHURCH
from: Hindustan Times
(23 Feb.) A four-million-euro mosaic depicting Jesus Christ inside the world’s second largest Orthodox church was unveiled in Belgrade on Thursday. The giant mosaic, which weighs 40 tons and was worked on by 70 Serbian and Russian artists, decorates the central dome of the city’s Saint Sava Orthodox cathedral.
The unveiling was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who arrived in the capital on Wednesday for a two-day visit, alongside Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Bosnian Serbia leader Milorad Dodik. Vucic commended the project for "weaving in millions of glittering pieces into one single message of brotherhood and solidarity" and thanked the lead artist, Russia’s Nikolai Mukhin.
The mosaic represents Christ’s Ascension into heaven and was financed by Russian energy giant Gazprom. It was assembled in Moscow for a year before being transported to Belgrade. The construction of Saint Sava cathedral, which can accommodate up to 10,000 people, started in 1939, based upon the model of Haghia Sophia in Istanbul. But construction was interrupted two years later with German occupation at the start of World War II. [read more...]
TAJIKISTAN: AMENDMENTS IMPOSE EVEN TIGHTER STATE CONTROL
by Mushfig Bayram: Forum 18 News Service
(19 Feb.) Tajikistan's latest amendments adding more restrictions to the already restrictive Religion Law came into force on 10 January. "Instead of improving the Law, the amendments worsened it and made it more restrictive," human rights defender Faizinisso Vokhidova told Forum 18. "The Law represents total control and is unjust."
The amendments: allow the state to restrict manifestations of freedom of religion or belief on a wide range of grounds not permitted under international human rights obligations; increase religious organisations' requirements to report all their activity to the state; require state approval for the appointment of all religious leaders; and increase state control both on religious education at home, and on those travelling abroad for such education.
People from a variety of religious communities, who asked not to be identified for fear of state reprisals, told Forum 18 they already have to submit to the state full details of all their activity and this seems set to increase still further. "We are afraid to give more personal details of our members and religious activity," one community leader said. [read more...]
POLITICAL RELIGION OF THE UOC-MP DID HARM TO CHURCH, SAYS ARCHIMANDRITE CYRIL (HOVORUN)
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(16 Feb.) "I was categorically against the Russian world ideology, which emerged before the war in the east of Ukraine and which became the main instrument of aggression against Ukraine," said Archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun), who is now a lecturer at the University Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, USA, in an interview with Voice of America, Radio Liberty has reported.
Commenting on the situation in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) on the eve of the war, when Cyril headed the Department of External Church Relations of this CUOC, he said: "I was then in Moscow, I worked with His Holiness the Patriarch (of Moscow - Ed.) and tried to convey the idea that one cannot deal with Ukraine in a coercive manner, through coercion... It is impossible to force the Ukrainian people." Using the Russian World ideology in the time of Russian aggression against Ukraine disserved the Church, the religious activist is convinced.
"In my opinion, the things that happened in Ukraine when Russia acted with aggression and acted precisely on the basis of the Russian world narrative constructed by the Church – this seems to have brought harm to the Church itself - both in Russia and in Ukraine. The Russian World ideology became a synthesis of the religious and political elements. The one that I would call 'political religion,'" says Archimandrite Cyril. [read more...]
PATRIARCH KIRILL SEES SHOOTING IN DAGESTAN AS PROVOCATION AIMED AT CAUSING DISCORD BETWEEN ORTHODOX, MUSLIMS
from: Interfax-Religion
(19 Feb.) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has voiced his condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting incident in Dagestan's Kizlyar on Sunday. "His Holiness Patriarch Kirill has been deeply shocked by today's bloody events near a church in Kizlyar. He has offered his most sincere condolences to the relatives and loved ones of those who died at the killer's hands and is praying for the repose of their souls," priest Alexander Volkov, the patriarch's press secretary, said on the patriarchal press service's Telegram channel.
The patriarch sees this "monstrous crime" committed on the eve of the Great Lent as a provocation aimed at causing discord between the Orthodox and the Muslims, who have been living in peace in the Caucasus for centuries, he said. "The Russian Church expresses its deep concern about the incident and insists on the most thorough investigation into this crime," Father Alexander said. [read more...]
RELIGIOUS PROTESTS AGAINST GAY FILMS SHOW DIVIDE IN ROMANIA
from: ABC News
(19 Feb.) Religious protesters in Romania have disrupted the screenings of two movies featuring gay themes, saying they violate traditional values. In response, a new screening of the Cannes award-winning movie "120 Beats Per Minute" is going to be held Tuesday in Bucharest.
The dispute illustrates Romania's divided views about homosexuality, which remains a difficult topic in the eastern European Union member where more than 85 percent of its people belong to Orthodox Christian churches. Homosexuality was only decriminalized when Romania prepared to join the EU in 2002.
Protesters calling themselves Orthodox Christians burst into a movie theater on Feb. 4 during the French AIDS drama "120 Beats Per Minute" by French director Robin Campillo. Days later, protesters disrupted another movie titled "Soldiers: A Story from Ferentari" featuring a relationship with a Romanian man and an ex-convict from the nation's oppressed Roma, or Gypsy, minority. "(There's a) conflict between conservatives and liberals in Romania," Cristian Parvulescu, dean of the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, told The Associated Press.
Parvulescu says what's happening in Romania is similar to developments in other former communist countries. "We are influenced by Hungary and Poland," he said [read more...]
TURKEY: WHY CAN'T ARMENIANS ELECT A PATRIARCH?
by : Forum 18 News Service
(15 Feb.) The Turkish state has, again, blocked the process for the election of a new Patriarch for Turkey's Armenian Apostolic community. The Istanbul Governorship intervened again in early February as the community appeared to be on the point of initiating the long-delayed election. In light of the interference, the Armenian Patriarchate's Clerical Council felt compelled to back down, annul its 2017 election of a Locum Tenens (temporary leader) and acknowledge the authority of the Patriarchal Vicar-General, Archbishop Aram Ateshian.
The Istanbul Governorship - a state institution under the Interior Ministry responsible for state administration in Istanbul province, where the Armenian Patriarchate is based - argued that the Armenian community cannot elect a new leader as the previous Patriarch - unable to fulfil his functions since 2008 because of illness - is still living.
Despite Turkey's international human rights obligations protecting the right of religious communities to elect their leaders, it is "established practice" that the state interferes in how some religious communities elect their leaders, particularly the Armenian, Greek Orthodox and Jewish communities. The state also appoints the head of the Presidency of Religious Affairs which is the state institution providing Islamic religious services including the administration of mosques and teaching.
The state blocking of the election of a new Patriarch leaves the Armenian Apostolic Church community - the largest Christian community in Turkey - facing uncertainties and controversy. Within the community many views have been expressed in the past 10 years about how to elect a new leader in accordance with the community's traditions. But state interference has been a crucial factor obstructing progress being made in electing a new Patriarch. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
RUSSIA PREPARES ESCALATION OF CONFLICT BETWEEN CONFESSIONS OF UKRAINIAN CHURCHES - SBU
from 112 UA
ATTEMPTS MADE IN UKRAINE TO MERGE CANONICAL ORTHODOX CHURCH WITH SCHISM
from TASS
GOSPEL LIGHT FOR CHINA’S UNREACHED PEOPLES
from Mission Network News
PATRIARCH KIRILL TELLS JORDANIAN KING ABOUT REASON FOR MEETING WITH POPE
from Interfax-Religion
DECR CHAIRMAN’S CONDOLENCES OVER THE DEATH OF PASTOR BILLY GRAHAM
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
A REVIVAL IN MOSCOW: BILLY GRAHAM’S LEGACY IN EURASIA
from Mission Eurasia
THE UNCOVERING OF THE RELICS OF PATRIARCH TIKHON
from Orthodox Christianity
PROTESTANT CHURCHES OPPOSED THE MOST TO "RUSSIAN WORLD" IN DONBAS
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
ISIS TELLS MUSLIMS TO KIDNAP AND MURDER CHRISTIANS IN RUSSIAN-OCCUPIED AREAS
from Newsweek
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The first two items in our "Other News Headlines" - RUSSIA PREPARES ESCALATION OF CONFLICT BETWEEN CONFESSIONS OF UKRAINIAN CHURCHES - SBU and ATTEMPTS MADE IN UKRAINE TO MERGE CANONICAL ORTHODOX CHURCH WITH SCHISM - tell stories that seem to be about completely different parts of the world. But no, both articles dealing with the same places and events, each from a very different perspective than the other. In the first, Ukraine paints Russia as the bad guy; while in the second, Russia paints Ukraine as the bad guy. Pray for peace in Ukraine!
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The Sunday of Orthodoxy
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
The first Sunday of Lent marks celebrates the triumph of Orthodox Christianity over the Iconoclasts, who for over a century had hijacked the Eastern Church and destroyed icons anywhere they could find them in an effort to appease the encroaching Muslim armies. So on this day, Orthodox Christians bring their icons to church and make a procession around it, holding up their icons, to celebrate this victory.
In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, John 1:43-51, we learn how Jesus called His first disciples: Andrew and his brother Simon whom Jesus renamed Cephas (Peter) meaning a "Stone," then Philip and his brother Nathanael. Nothing is said here about James and his brother John, likely because of the author’s reluctance to name himself, although the other gospels place them among the first batch of disciples.
When Philip invites Nathanael to see Jesus, Who seems to be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, Nathanael makes this strange statement: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (v.46). How should we understand this? The brothers Andrew and Peter, as well as brothers James and John, all came from Nazareth, but Nathanael seems to disparage the town, wrote Chrysosotom. Augustine, however, thought it could be taken two ways: "either as casting aspersions on Jesus' birth and upbringing, or affirming that something good can come out of Nazareth" (ACCS). But Nathanael’s brother Philip brushed aside this complaint by simply saying – "Come and see." This is what we need to say when people bring up objections about Christ, Christianity and the Church: invite them to church: "Come and see," or better yet, pick them up and take them to church. Only about 10% of the people you invite to church come, but 100% of the people you take to church come!
And what's that strange bit about the fig tree? When Nathanael came, Jesus said to him – "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!" Nathanael seems a bit embarrassed and asks – "How did you know me?" And Jesus replied – "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" (vv. 47-48). What's with the fig tree? It was a place of shade in hot weather where a man could sit and pray or meditate on the Scriptures (NIVSB). Nathanael knew that Moses and the prophets hadn't written anything about the Messiah coming from Nazareth, but rather from Bethlehem: what a puzzle!
Okay, that’s the lead-in. The stunning thing about this Gospel reading, however, is that the relatively obscure Nathanael, not Simon Peter, is the one who makes the shocking confession right at the start of Christ's ministry – "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (v. 49). It was only much later that Peter would confess – "You are the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God" (Mat. 16:16). Why is this? St. John Chrysostom wrote that "Jesus was praising Nathanael for being so diligent and careful in his search for the Messiah. Christ's foreknowledge and His ability to see into Nathanael's heart stir him to this confession of faith" (OSB note).
This is all it took for Nathanael, he was hooked on Jesus when He told him – "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these" (v. 50). All it takes for most people is a personal encounter with Christ through someone who sees their heart, cares enough to show interest in them, and that person sees Christ in them. Do we care enough to show interest in people... especially those "others" who are maybe a little strange and different from us?
Even more stunning than Nathanael's confession of Jesus as the Son of God, however, is what Jesus said to him next – "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (v. 51). This brings to mind Ezekiel’s vision – "...the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God" (Ezek. 1:1), and the story of Jacob’s ladder in Gen. 28:12 – "Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." What does all this mean, and how does it tie into the Sunday of Orthodoxy?
When the Virgin Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, the Son of God – the eternal Sophia and Logos – became the Son of Man. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He is not just a man who was a created being and became really godly, like the Arians and later the Muslims would say; nor a half-and-half, part man and part God, as the Nestorians taught. NO! The invisible God became a visible, tangible and very real human being while remaining fully God. This is what the iconoclasts and the Muslims fought against, that the invisible God, Whom nobody may make a three-D carved image of, became visible and could be depicted in a two-D image, an icon.
St. John the Evangelist wrote in the first part of this chapter – "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace [kharis] and truth [aletheia]" (v. 14). Grace is not merely a free gift from God, as our Evangelical friends say: it doesn't make sense to say that Jesus was full of the free gift from God. Grace is also God's divine energy that transformed Mary into the Theotokos, the Birthgiver of God, and is transforming us into His likeness. And the truth here is God's Word that sanctifies us – "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth" (Jn. 17:17).
So now we've solved this puzzle: the Son of God – Sophia or Wisdom, Logos or the Word – no longer is just an abstract ideal in the realm of ideas. He came down the Ladder of the Virgin Mary’s womb, He took on human flesh while remaining fully divine, God became the Son of Man, became a visible, tangible Man, as St. John wrote later – "That which was from the beginning, which we have seen and heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word [Logos] of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship [koinonia] with us. And our fellowship [koinonia] is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (1 Jn. 1:1-3 NIVSB).
This koinonia-fellowship refers to Communion, the Eucharist, in which we become koinonos-partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4 KJV+). It is not merely a symbol, it is partaking of the very real Body and Blood of Christ: the Son of God becomes the Son of Man, the Word becomes flesh and dwells in and among us; thus we become the Body of Christ, the Church. Let us now proclaim what we have seen and heard to the whole world: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Rom. 1:16) – and also for the Carpatho-Rusyns and for the Russians, Serbians, Americans, Italians, Africans, Fijians, Peruvians… "Come and see!"
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
________________
Sources:
ACCS = Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures, on this passage (e-Sword add-in)
KJV+ = King James Version with Strong’s Dictionaries and Concordance (e-Sword)
NIVSB = New International Version Study Bible
OSB = Orthodox Study Bible (used throughout except where otherwise noted)
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, 24 Feb. 2018
