tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81774032158870461192024-03-19T16:15:00.745-07:00 Orthodox Christian MedicineThe healing of soul and body through the ancient Orthodox Christian Way of Life.
Copyright © 2009-2013 by Fr. Symeon Sean KeesFr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-6282789348997383852013-08-20T15:29:00.001-07:002015-08-12T15:38:36.267-07:00The Christian Way in the Secular West<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The Christian Way in the Secular West:</span></b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, serif;"><span style="font-size: 21px;">A Message from the Ancient Church*</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">by Priest Symeon
Kees<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWloNuEW9IAgiQFE4r-G6Qn0eccUxm9Ag6zc46K3gHiYBhCG_lgay9EE4W2a5OIg4sM7qNegd-0B1pw_o_-Y_mykpuUhNNewSYSNnPmOOpNBA6LUix58Jyc9rtGkdn8EC2aMUyyU5OULM/s1600/Byzantine_-_Votive_or_Dedicatory_Cross_-_Walters_57630+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWloNuEW9IAgiQFE4r-G6Qn0eccUxm9Ag6zc46K3gHiYBhCG_lgay9EE4W2a5OIg4sM7qNegd-0B1pw_o_-Y_mykpuUhNNewSYSNnPmOOpNBA6LUix58Jyc9rtGkdn8EC2aMUyyU5OULM/s1600/Byzantine_-_Votive_or_Dedicatory_Cross_-_Walters_57630+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">PART I: THIS IS OUR WORLD</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There was a time when the formidable
walls of <i>Western Christianity</i> cast
its long shadow of influence broadly over the Western world. Things are different now. Today, we live in a society shaped by the
decay and collapse of Western Christianity. The wreckage of a weakened religion breaks and crumbles around us. Western Christianity has not
only been replaced, but the origin and significance of that once-high tower drifts
into the forgotten past. As a society,
we are much more interest in the new, shiny, cutting edge “what’s-next” than the
old obsolete model it replaced. The formerly mighty fortress has been superseded
by a new religion, a <i>popular </i>S<i>ecularism</i>, an innovative ideology and
worldview seeping deeply into our society.
As Secularism permeates the society, it alters people’s even most basic
understanding of humanness, shapes their views of reality, and changes their
behavior as they accept its teachings and give obedience to its precepts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Though Secularism is a broad
ideology embracing many contradictory ideas, it is recognizable by its central <i>dogmas</i> that are held by Secularists as
universal truths. The dogmas rest upon
the <i>myth of human progress</i>, the idea that
humanity, or at least the sector of humanity that has adopted Secularism, is
more scientifically, technologically, <i>even
intellectually and morally,</i> more advanced right now than any generation
before us. Knowledge passed down through
the millennia is casually brushed aside as “premodern” and “outdated.” Such is the “Well, people used to think that
way, but now we know better” attitude. Suddenly,
that which has always been known to be right and true is dismissed while the
unthinkable gains public acceptance. This
belief in the moral superiority of the present time may be the reason many Secularists
possess such shallow appreciation of history, especially the stream of Biblical
and Church history so central to Eastern and Western civilizations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Orthodox Christians view the
present age through a long lens from the origin of the universe at one end to
the culmination of human history at the other.
When our place in the 21<sup>st</sup> century is viewed through such a
lens, human beings today do not appear more knowledgeable in theology, more advanced
in their comprehension of the nature of the human person and human
relationships, or more competent to understand ethics or to live ethically than
our honorable Fathers and Mothers of old.
Rather, the opposite seems true: We appear far more ignorant and deficient in
some respects than our ancestors who lived in former centuries. Realizing the <i>deficiency</i> in our knowledge and experience compared to our
ancestors should be humbling, but humility is a Christian virtue, not a popular
one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Secularism is built on <i>pride, egotism</i>. Pride is the path of self-love. Self-love leads to self-worship, which is
narcissistic idolatry. (Narcissus,
according to Greek mythology, fell in love with the most beautiful creature his
eyes had ever seen – his own reflection in a perfectly still pool of
water.) Even Secularists who suffer from atheism have
a god. The image of that god gazes back
at its most faithful devotees through a mirror.
The Secularist aspires to a state of self-love and self-will, often
described in terms like “good self-esteem” and “personal empowerment.” To the Secularist, the best way to live is
reduced to an existence moved by whatever urges and inclinations seem natural
as long as other autonomous individuals consent to participate. The beauty of that loving, devoted intimacy between
a man and woman who have been joined together in the union of true Marriage,
each a martyr striving to give up personal wants and needs for the benefit of the
other, has been traded for the misuse of the body in the selfish pursuit of
vanishing pleasure. The wonder of
bringing children into the world to nurture in a loving home has become
something of a hobby for those who have time left over from attending to more
important priorities, like working at a job, socializing, or traveling. Career advancement, high status, and generous
income are mistaken for signs of success. Thanks to the efforts of feminists, at least
in part, women are now certainly equally as selfish and delusional as men with
regard to marriage, family, and employment.
For millennia, the Orthodox have understood these symptoms of egotism as
ultimately produced by the core disease that enslaves the man and woman, making
them more like irrational, instinctual animals - more like zombies, really - than true human persons. (<i>By the way</i>, in a spiritual sense, the dreaded <i>Zombie Apocalypse</i> has already hit the Western world. You have been bitten and there <i>is</i> a cure.) The Orthodox Way, the Way of Christ, promotes
inner healing because it brings the person’s life in harmony with his <i>true, </i>healthy human nature. This Path leads us to the experience of a
personal transformation far beyond what we can accomplish, or even imagine,
alone without the active help of the One who knows us best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Among the foundational
doctrines of Secularism is <i>religious
pluralism</i>, the belief that all religions contain universal truths that are
part of the human experience, and since there is no one religion with a
“monopoly on truth,” no one religion can rightly claim to be substantially more
correct than other religions. Although Secularists
also claim <i>religious tolerance</i> as a complimentary
doctrine, they are often forcefully intolerant of any person or community that
claims to possess a more accurate understanding of reality than Secularists
themselves hold. Within a Secular
worldview, any dogmas (besides the dogmas compatible with Secularism) are
considered tools to discriminate against and control people. According to the dogma of religious pluralism,
being a Christian is permissible as long as the Christian person is willing to
compromise his Christian Faith at the point where the Christian Way conflicts
with Secular doctrine. In other words,
Christians are expected to practice <i>syncretism</i>,
the diluting of the Christian Faith with incompatible religious beliefs. Attempts to mix Orthodoxy, that is, the <i>true belief</i>, with non-Orthodox opinions
produces something far less than authentic Christianity. The Orthodox Christian should always be
mindful that our earliest Christian ancestors were tortured and killed by
pagans because they rejected religious pluralism, but proclaimed the true God,
and refused to compromise the Truth even to the point of death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Since Secularism may be
regarded, at least in part, as a reaction against Western Christianity,
Christianity seems to top the “hit list” as a prime target against which Secularists
aim their propaganda. (Strangely, Secularists
seem to extend more tolerance to atheists, on the one hand, and to Islamic
practitioners on the other, than to traditional Christians.) What passes for Biblical, theological, and
Church history scholarship in our society often largely ignores the history and
Tradition of the original, ancient Orthodox Christian Church that uniquely
possesses an unbroken continuity from the time of Christ and the Apostles until
now. Some teach that no one true Christianity
existed in the early Church, but rather a number of equally legitimate “Christianities”
in competition over doctrine.
Eventually, as Secularists tell the story, through the influence of power-driven
politics, a so-called “orthodox” Christianity emerged that suppressed all
others. The Western teachers who
perpetuate these relatively new ideas, many of which seem to be rooted in 19<sup>th</sup>
century German academic pursuits, lack personal knowledge of the Orthodox
Church within which the Old Testament was preserved, within which the Gospel
was preached and practiced <i>before</i> the
writing of the New Testament, within which the New Testament was written down
and compiled into a fixed collection of Scripture, and within which the <i>interpretation</i> of Scripture has been passed
down alongside the Biblical writings themselves. Sadly,
besides those who openly embrace Secularism, many religious Western Christians
remain largely ignorant of the story of the Christian Church from the death of the
Holy Apostle John about the end of the first century until the rise of Medieval
Roman Catholicism from which the Protestant movement arose in the 16<sup>th</sup>
century. Over a thousand years of
history has been lost in the West. Under
the influence of Secularism, the flourishing of such ignorance is spreading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In addition to the dogmas of
religious pluralism and tolerance, many of the dogmas of Secularism are defined
in terms of <i>rights</i>, particularly
“Human Rights.” Same-sex marriage is
justified as “marriage equality” or “freedom to marry.” Abortion, the abhorrent and violent execution
of an innocent child in the womb of his mother, which is blandly labeled, “the termination
of pregnancy,” is justified as a reproductive right and considered a key aspect
women’s rights. Secular morality is reduced
to preserving rights, preventing discrimination, and empowering human beings
who are subjugated by those possessing power.
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Honestly, as human beings, we
really don’t have any rights. All that
we have that is good has been undeservedly delivered into our mortal hands as gifts
from the Good God who loves mankind. As
the Scriptures remind us, the true God brings sunshine and rain on good people
and bad people because He loves us all.
He actively invites us all to use our free will to turn from evil and toward
Him that He might embrace us and grant us our spiritual inheritance so that we
can fulfill our whole potential. As
Orthodox Christians, we do not help others because we think they possess
certain rights nor because we egotistically fancy ourselves the enlightened heroic
saviors of the disadvantaged. Christ,
our Master, has commanded us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” “If you love me,” Christ instructed,
“you will keep my commandants.” So, we
strive to follow the Way of our Master to His glory, for the benefit of others,
Whom God loves, and as the path of healing for our own souls. <i>Only</i>
when we purify our hearts through prayer and repentance can Divine Love operate
within us so that we really love others as we should. Orthodox Christians do not believe in “social
justice.” Instead, we endeavor to bring <i>philanthropia</i>, “love of mankind,” into the
lives of the people around us. God loves
us. In response to the Divine Love we
receive, we help the poor because God loves them and we, though we may possess
money, suffer from more destructive kinds of inner poverty. We care for the sick, because God calls us to
comfort the hurting and, until we are perfect, we, too, suffer in this world
from sickness in the body and in the soul. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Western
culture is steeped deeply into this new Secular religion. We encounter its doctrines and worldview in
the media, in academic and professional settings, and in personal
conversation. Although tolerance is
claimed as a central doctrine, adherents to Secularism, believing they are
morally superior to all others, consider themselves justified to force
non-believers to conform to their dogmas.
Secularists figure-point at Christians who evangelize with forceful accusations
of intolerance and pushing their beliefs upon others, while their own
evangelists, whether self-described “experts,” “activists,” or “advocates, spare
no opportunity to aggressively push others toward conformity to their opinions.
In the eyes of Secularists,
discrimination and inequality constitute heresy and the vocal condemnation of
their tenets should be regarded as blasphemy, <i>hate-speech</i>. The unbeliever
is considered either intellectually ignorant or morally evil for having
rejected Secularism. The attempt to
civilize nonbelievers by a supposedly “enlightened” Secularism is the new “White
Man’s Burden” of Western society. Employees
and students may be required to participate in indoctrination sessions under
the guise of “sensitivity training” or “diversity training.” The promotion of Secular propaganda is often presented as an effort to "raise awareness." School systems often shape children and young
adults so thoroughly in the Secular worldview and ethos that many consider its
tenants unquestionable. Due to the wedding
of Secularism with national and international politics, Secularism is emerging
as the state religion of Western nations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Our Orthodox Christian
Fathers and Mothers outright rejected the presumption that many “spiritual
traditions” lead to salvation alongside the Way of Christ. Instead, they believed the words of Christ,
Who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” The Orthodox Christian follows a Way directly
opposed to the religious pluralism of Secularism. In order to justify discrimination against Christians
who hold to the unalterable and timeless Orthodox Faith, Secularists will
surely dismiss us as irrelevant and accuse us of being evil by labeling us with
pejorative identifiers: bigot, intolerant, ignorant, narrow-minded, judgmental,
oppressive, hate-monger, patriarchal, hate-speech user, offensive,
non-inclusive, extremist, misogynist, sexist, homophobe, and so on. Orthodox Christians who challenge Secularism
should expect Secularists to respond by attempting to nurture <i>outrage</i> among their own. Secularists may publically demand that the Christian
challenger be silenced and perhaps otherwise punished through legal action, business
boycott, loss of professional position, or public shame for daring to question
the truthfulness of Secular doctrine. Since
Secularists carefully craft language in such a way as to justify their
ideological worldview and goals, even the use of “politically incorrect”
language may bring heavy condemnation. When
Secularists agree with Christians, we shall be considered (perhaps
surprisingly) enlightened. When,
however, we correctly identify the activities they embrace as <i>sin</i>, such as the misuse of sexual
expression outside of a faithful marriage between a man and a woman, Secularists
will accuse us of being judgmental bigots for simply discerning between that
which is right, good, and healthful and that which is wrong, evil, and
dangerous to the health of the soul. Those
who rail against Christians often possess very little knowledge of the authentic
mind, ethos, and life of the Orthodox Way.
They also likewise show very little patience to listen or interest in learning the Way that challenges their own preconceived opinions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">PART II: HOW WE ARRIVED WHERE
WE ARE <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">To grasp how Christians are
called to respond to this Secularism, let’s look at a brief summary of human
history to see how we arrived where we are.
The Western calendar divides human history into two categories: BC and AD.
What event in human history is so significant that all human history hinges
on it? The birth of Jesus Christ is that
pivotal happening that shapes our vision of history. Certain circles find it fashionable to
replace BC (Before Christ) and AD (<i>Anno
Domini</i> – “In the year of Our Lord”) with the less descriptive BCE (Before
the Common Era) and CE (Common Era), but the birth of Christ still services as
the marker in historical time from which all history before and after is viewed
differently because of what happened at that particular time in the story of
the cosmos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“God said, ‘Let there be
light’.” God created all things through His
Word, or, to put it another way, The Father brought all things into existence
through His Son. The Son, Who has always
existed eternally with the Father and through Whom the universe came into
being, knitted for himself a human body in the womb of a Virgin. The Son took on our human nature, joining it
with His unchangeable divinity. Then, He
Who Is the Source of Life, liberated us from slavery to death and opened the
gate to resurrection and immortality. “Christ
is Risen!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Since Christ came to heal us
from physical and spiritual death, He established His Church as a spiritual
Hospital on earth. The Church is an unfathomable
Mystery that is indeed, according to the Scripture, “the pillar and ground of Truth.”
Within the Church, the inalterable Truth
“once for all delivered to the Saints” is preserved and passed on from
generation to generation. When early heretical
communities started popping up soon after the descent of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost, the answer to the question, “Where is the true Church of God on
earth?,” was essential for our ancestors who lived during the time of the
Apostles. The answer to that question
during the time of the Apostles was simple: Wherever you find the Apostles, who held the authority
they had received from Christ, <i>there</i>
is the Church. In other words, any
community that claimed to be “Christian,” but was not under the pastoral
authority of Christ’s Apostles, was not the true Church, but instead a
heretical community adhering to their own human opinions and invented traditions. Distinguishing the difference between the
Orthodox Church and a heretical community was the difference between finding a
real hospital with competent physicians who administer effective medicine and a
fake clinic run by frauds who incompetently, albeit with sincere intentions, administer
poisonous concoctions that promote infection and disease. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Apostles consecrated
bishops as their co-ministers and successors to oversee and shepherd the local
churches. Those first bishops
consecrated more bishops, as needed. During
this time, the answer to the question, “Where is the Church?” remained
essentially the same as before. One of
the early bishops who lived during the time of the Apostles was St. Ignatius,
the second bishop of the Biblical Church of Antioch. In one
of his pastoral letters, he explained that wherever the Orthodox bishop is
found, there is the Church. Conversely,
those communities that claimed to be Christian, but operated apart from the authority
of an Orthodox bishop, offered, as St. Ignatius explained, poison mixed with
sweet wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Orthodox Church endured
several centuries of persecution from the first century until the Church was lifted
out of persecution in the fourth century during the reign of St. Constantine
the Great, whose mother, St. Helena, was a devoted Christian. The Church gained legal status and eventually,
during the reign of the Holy and Right-Believing Emperor Theodosius the Great, the
Orthodox Christian Way became the Faith of the Roman Empire. As it has been said, “The Empire that killed
the martyrs was conquered by their Faith.”
From Jerusalem and Antioch in Asia to Rome and Britain in Europe, the
Eastern and Western world held one Faith within one Church and walked according
to the one Way of the One true and living God – the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Among the most significant
dates in world history is AD 1054, the year of the Great Schism, when the
Orthodox local church of Rome separated herself from the One Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church. The Church is
comprised of independently governed local churches in communion together. The five ancient local churches, called
Patriarchates, included Old Rome, Constantinople (called “New Rome”),
Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The chief
bishop of the Roman church, the Orthodox Pope and Patriarch of Rome, attempted
to assert universal authority over his brother bishops who shepherded the other
ancient local churches. This attempt,
and other noteworthy actions by Rome, caused the other Orthodox local churches
to officially recognize that the Roman jurisdiction had separated herself from
the Orthodox Church. Since Rome and the
Western European territory within its jurisdiction had been torn from the
Orthodox Church, Rome offered a new answer to the question, “Where is the true
Church?” Rome, headed by the Pope,
redefined the Church in terms of submission to Papal authority. This is the beginning of <i>Papism</i> or, as it is commonly called, <i>Roman Catholicism</i>, though the <i>Roman
Catholic Church</i> was neither Roman, nor Catholic, nor the Church. Over time Roman Catholicism continued to drift
farther away from the Life and Faith of the Orthodox Church. An event in AD 1204, 150 years after the act
causing the Great Schism, confirmed the reality that the church in Rome had
separated itself from the Holy Orthodox Church.
In that year, the Roman Catholic Crusaders on the Fourth Crusade viciously attacked and terrorized the Orthodox Christian citizens of the Imperial City of
Constantinople. The Crusaders looted Constantinople and weakened its defenses, contributing to the fall of the Imperial City to the Mohammedan Ottoman Turks in AD 1453, the tragic event that brought an end to the long-enduring Roman Empire, which had persevered as an Orthodox Christian Empire for nearly 1,000 years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In the 16<sup>th</sup>
century, about 500 years after the Great Schism that separated Rome from the
Orthodox Church, the <i>Protestant </i>movement
began in Western Europe as a reaction against what Roman Catholicism had
become. Rather than returning to the One
Church founded by Christ, Protestants created a new kind of Christianity. Protestantism showed the influence of Roman Catholicism, while also providing fertile soil for the development of new doctrines,
such as the teaching that the Scripture <i>alone</i>
is the sole source of spiritual authority. Although rightly rejecting Roman Catholic traditions that contradicted
Apostolic teaching, Protestants made their own traditions
based on the opinions of strong leaders such as Henry VIII, Luther, Calvin,
Wesley, and others. Just as the local church
of Rome realized the need to invent a new answer to the question, “Where is the
true Church?” to claim legitimacy when it had separated itself from the One
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, so the many, many various Protestant
communions and independent congregations that have been founded over the past
500 years have also recognized the need to yet again redefine <i>what</i> the Church is and <i>where</i> the Church is. New, innovative answers to the question,
“Where is the Church?” that fit neatly within the framework of Protestant
doctrine have been developed. The answers to that critical question offered by Protestant groups vary considerably. However a particular Protestant denomination,
association, congregation, or individual answers the question, “Where is the
Church?,” the answer proposed proves far different from the answer provided by
the ancient Orthodox Church down through the centuries from Apostolic times to
today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">After the rise of
Protestantism, religious wars erupted in Western Europe between Roman Catholic
and Protestant sides as well as among Protestant sects themselves. Whereas the Western Christian world gave
faith and reason complimentary roles, the bloodshed caused many to question
whether faith served as a necessary component at all. The
idea that one could discover truth with the rational mind through the process
of reason alone became popular in the West along with the idea that truth can
be found by experiencing reality with the five senses, especially by using the
scientific method. The process of
reasoning is dependent on some assumed truths, such as whether God exists, that
cannot be proven or disproven by reason alone.
When the application of reason alone failed to lead the world toward
lasting peace and freedom, but instead brought war and death with the rise of atheistic
political revolutions, some rightly determined that cold, hard reason utterly
fails to lead human beings to truth by itself.
Like reason, the scientific method proves useful for understanding how
the created universe operates, but the realm of science is limited. Certain questions, such as “Does the Uncreated
God exist outside of the material creation?,” “Why does the universe exist?,”
or “What does it mean to be human?,” lie outside the proper boundary of
science. No inherent conflict exists
between science and theology, properly understood. Those who place faith in a Secular <i>philosophy of science</i> that affirms the scientific method,
but rejects the reality of the existence and operation of God in the universe, presume to claim that God does not exist with certainty,
while they with certainty are far from exhausting the quest for knowledge of
those things in our vast universe present within the scope of science. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Secularists have attempted to
build a foundation upon research studies, commonly cited as evidence to support
their claims concerning what it means to be human, male and female, and how
human beings should live (with regard to morality), questions that largely lie
outside the scope of science. These
studies are invoked as though they undeniably establish Truth with absolute,
infallible certainty. Research studies
can only present what appears to be true assuming both the data and
interpretation of data are accurate.
They are subject to being overturned in light on new, better
evidence. So, while studies are useful tools
within the scope of academic and scientific inquiry, as well as the practice of
medicine, the tentative, challengeable, and limited nature of studies, produced
by human beings capable of error, make these studies very poor Secular substitutes
for Holy Scripture and the enduring Tradition of the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The social sciences are based
on the observation of <i>fallen</i> man. Our race has fallen into the experience of sickness and chaos. The problems among people in the world reflect our inner troubles. Even
one who is deemed “normal” by a mental health professional when compared to
other people is still spiritually and mentally ill from a theological
perspective. Social scientists, who sometimes do accurately observe fallen man, have produced effective therapies
that help people improve their thinking patterns and behaviors, but the social
sciences know nothing of <i>unfallen</i> man
free from the effects of spiritual sickness or the <i>full potential</i> of man in the healthy, perfected state of the soul. Mental health professionals, then, can
certainly help people to some degree, but the deeper healing of the soul is
beyond the boundary of the social sciences.
The Church, however, has preserved the Truth about who we were created
to be, the root causes of our problems, and what we would be like if we were,
not only normal, but to some degree <i>perfected</i>,
having achieved the heights of mental and spiritual health. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Today, many have realized the
limitations of rational philosophy and science to determine absolute truth,
especially with regard to God, the spiritual world, the meaning of human life,
and the right way for a human being to live.
Having believed the Secular doctrine of religious pluralism, they have
grown likewise skeptical that any particular “religious tradition” can possess
substantially greater knowledge of absolute truth than any other. Having grown skeptical of the ability to even
know Truth with certainty, many young men and women seem to have given up
seeking the Truth about God, the meaning of their lives, and their own
spiritual health all together. When a
person does not know the living God Who reveals Truth and Who instructs us how
to live, he doesn’t possess any way of knowing who he truly is, the full significance
of his life, or how he should live in relationship with other people. Such a person possesses nothing but a
collection of personal opinions that form out of his own speculations, passions,
imaginings, and feelings alongside the influence of other people’s
assertions. He is like a house built
upon shifting sand, without a secure foundation to anchor it. Such is the society in which we find
ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">PART III: THE CALL OF THE
ANCIENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH TO ALL CHRISTIANS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What message, then, does the
original, 2,000 year-old Orthodox Church have for the non-Orthodox who still
desire to live as Christians in the world?
In this increasingly darkened society, let all Christians be united by
bearing one unchanging Faith by sharing one all-encompassing Life under the
guidance of the One Spirit within the one Church established by our only Lord and
God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The One
Church, established by Christ, that has kept the fullness of the Christian
Faith unchanged since the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost remains in the
world, even into the 21<sup>st</sup> century, to bring salvation to all people. This Church is, as St. Paul wrote and I
previously noted, “the pillar and ground of Truth,” against which, Christ
promised, the gates of hell shall not prevail.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Still today, wherever you
find an Orthodox parish under the pastoral care of an Orthodox Bishop, who
bears Apostolic succession in <i>both</i> the sense of historical lineage from the
Apostles <i>and</i> preservation of the Orthodox Faith within life of the Orthodox
Church, <i>there </i>you find the true
Church of Jesus Christ. The Church calls
everyone to leave behind false religions, philosophies, doctrines, heresies,
incorrect opinions, and unfruitful practices to unite with the One Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church. Real unity
among Christians only becomes a reality when Christians walk the singular Way
of Christ in its fullness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">To clarify, let me emphasize what
the message of the original Christian Church to Western Christians is <i>not</i>.
The message is not this: You can connect to the ancient Church by "borrowing"
elements of ancient Christian spirituality "relevant" for today and by
integrating those elements into your "prayer life" and "worship experience." That is <i>not</i>
the message. If you were to unplug your
coffee brewer and take it with you on a hike up a mountain into the wilderness,
you should not be surprised that your machine doesn’t work when you get to the
top of the mountain - without electricity.
That is what trying to “borrow” beliefs and practices from Orthodox
Christianity for use outside of the wholeness of the Orthodox Church is
like. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Christians must not be
double-minded, holding some views in harmony with the mind of the Church alongside
other views contrary to the mind of the Church. Oil and water do not mix. If I say that I am an Orthodox Christian, you
should be able to safely assume much about what I believe. You should also be able to assume how I
strive to live, although, personally, I often fail in my attempts and, after
repentance, find it necessary to change my thinking and realign my course. We must choose either the narrow Way of
Christ that leads to Life or one of the many broad ways heading toward
destruction. As the <i>Didache</i>, an early Christian writing, states: “There are two ways,
one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two
ways.” We need to decide if we want to
be Christians or be honest with ourselves that we are something else. If you
want to be a Christian, <i>be a Christian-
completely</i>. Plunge your whole life down
into the depths of the Mystery of the Church so that your life will be whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In a fallen, corruptible
world, the Church remains the holy and pure Hospital for all people. (Her treatment is indeed perfect, though her patients
bear varying degrees of wellness.) As
patients of the Great Physician, we seek healing as we also work to
bring others to the One Who heals. Many
of those in our society do not realize they are spiritually sick and,
furthermore, would be offended by the suggestion. Since they remain unaware that they are
afflicted by the effects of death within, they do not seek the Physician. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If we are to bring healing to
the world through the grace of the All Holy Trinity we must live as strangers
in this world while ministering to the people of the world. The <i>Book
of Hebrews</i> reminds us of the Holy Prophets of Old Testament times, who,
like the Saints of the New Testament, endured persecution because of their unwavering
faithfulness to God and boldness to proclaim the Way of repentance and
healing. They<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">were
tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better
resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of
chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted,
were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,
being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We have received the Holy
Tradition of the Apostles into our most unworthy hands. Our calling as <i>Christians</i>, who presume to bear the Name of Christ, is the same as the
Prophets and Saints who have gone before us, preserving and passing on, even to
the shedding of blood, the fullness of the Faith from generation to generation. When
we live and work within our Secular culture as Orthodox Christians, we can
expect conflict because our Way is not the way of the world. Our ancestors were brutally tortured and
martyred in old pagan cultures because they stood bearing the Light of Truth in
the dark shadows of spiritual ignorance and delusion. May we
stand as they stood with such unwavering boldness. Let’s proclaim with our whole lives the words
we periodically pray at the service of Vespers: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Though
You were arrested, O Christ, by the law-breakers, You still remain my God, and,
therefore, I am not ashamed. Though You were lashed on Your back I shall not deny You - or nailed upon the Cross, I
shall not hide it, for in Your Resurrection do I glory, for Your death is my
life, O Almighty One and Lover of mankind. O Lord, glory to You! (Octoechos,
Tone 7).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Briefly, to those of you who
are immersed in Secularism, permit me to offer you the same invitation the
Orthodox have offered on behalf of the Living Resurrected Christ for two
millennia: Open the door of your
heart. Through humility, let in the God
Who gives you Life, Who knows you completely, and Who loves you
unconditionally. Learn what He has
accomplished for you and desires to give you.
He knocks on the door of the heart, but, respecting the free will He has
given us, God waits for us to open it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Do not misunderstand the
Orthodox Way: Our Holy Tradition is rich with liturgical services, sacred art, lyrical
chanting, sweet-smelling incense, dogmatic prose, and theological poetry. An outsider who does not understand the Way
may misunderstand this fullness as a series of unnecessarily complex ritualistic exercises. One who knows the Orthodox Way deeply, however,
experiences all these external expressions as guides that lead toward the
healing of the soul within and as outward expressions of the inner life. The outward
expression is inseparable from the
personal interior life, that is, the inner life of <i>humility </i>before God and our fellow human beings, <i>love of God and others</i>, <i>repentance</i> from sin that causes
sickness, <i>prayer</i> of the mind and
heart, <i>peace</i> inside and outside, <i>patience</i> in the midst of chaos, and simple
<i>obedience</i> that produces harmony both within
the soul and in our relationships. These
things rest at the heart of the Orthodox Christian Way of Life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the most significant turning-points
in my own life was when I, having two degrees in religion, found myself
standing before the very Church of the Holy Bible. I had considered myself a member of the
Church (from my Protestant perspective), but there I stood outside the doors of
the actual Church described in the <i>Acts
of the Apostles</i>. I stood there as an
outsider looking in. Once a man finds
the one and only Church in the world established by Jesus Christ Himself, that
man, if he desires to be a Christian, has nowhere else to go. How could I say that I am a Christian and
reject Christ’s own Church? I had been
looking for the “right church <i>for me</i>,”
and I discovered the <i>right Church</i> for
everybody. Instead of joining a
congregation that believed what I already believed, I found the necessity to
change many of my own preconceived notions so that I believed what was in
harmony with Truth and the Way of salvation.
I hope that you will have the ears to hear and eyes to see these words. Seek a deeper experience of God, learn the
Orthodox Way, and enter into Christ’s Holy Church for the glory of God, for
your own salvation, and for the benefit of all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">From the ashes, let us rise and soar to the heights. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
* <span style="font-size: 12pt;">DEFINITION OF TERMS:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">At the very beginning of this presentation several terms with very specific meanings should be clearly defined to avoid misunderstandings later. The first term to define is “the ancient Church.” What specifically is “the ancient Church?” “The ancient Church” refers to the only true Church, that is, the one Church planted on earth by Jesus Christ Himself. This is the Church that Christ placed under the care of His Twelve Apostles. One of the most ancient names for this Church is "the Way," as Holy Scripture indicates. In the 300’s, after emerging from persecution, the Church adopted the name, “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Although the Church was once simply called <i>the Church</i>, due to the fact that various groups have claimed to be the Church over the centuries, the original Church of the Apostles clearly identifies herself today as the <i>Orthodox Church</i>. The word "Orthodox" means both to hold the <i>correct Faith</i> in the one true God and to <i>rightly worship </i>the one true God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The second term that should be defined is “Western Christianity.” This refers specifically to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, both of which started in Western Europe and developed separately from the original Orthodox Church still present in the East.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> __________________</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>Fr. Symeon serves as the associate pastor of St. George
Orthodox Church in Houston, TX.</i></span></div>
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Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-71406290673838019982013-01-23T08:32:00.001-08:002013-01-23T08:35:52.585-08:00"Science Set Free"Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, author of <i>Science Set Free</i>, addresses the limitation of science and dogmas of the materialistic philosophy underlying contemporary science. He emphasizes that science should be a method, not a confession of faith.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/GkWPOIbsldE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-29308452776359195342012-03-20T13:49:00.002-07:002012-03-20T13:55:24.528-07:00PBS: Evaluating Health Care Systems<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcoDDRiPLAm-qdsmXlQjHinqULtoiYUpYJfBBrbIooodaXXWsZDMeLcRUiqPk6EWD_C0W69C1ZIXujuWzeFql3qxM6JGzzdrWJ6VoxpZ2Nzm1ECvxI90IjwsAzC0tYtAhfzXjsHKVJkE/s1600/Recovery+Room+NIH+Public+Domain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcoDDRiPLAm-qdsmXlQjHinqULtoiYUpYJfBBrbIooodaXXWsZDMeLcRUiqPk6EWD_C0W69C1ZIXujuWzeFql3qxM6JGzzdrWJ6VoxpZ2Nzm1ECvxI90IjwsAzC0tYtAhfzXjsHKVJkE/s320/Recovery+Room+NIH+Public+Domain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Hopefully, in the future, Orthodox Christians will focus their skills and resources to establish truly Orthodox health care organizations and institutions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">PBS has aired two programs, both hosted by coorespondent T.R. Reid, relevant to improving the U.S. Health Care System. Perhaps we can learn principles from these successful models to aid the effective implementation of health care systems or the establishment of Orthodox medical institutions. The most recent is <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/2198039605/">Health Care: The Good News</a>: "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Correspondent T.R. Reid profiles doctors and hospitals all over the U.S. that are finding ways to cut health care costs while still providing excellent care. The documentary looks at several low-cost, high-quality regions to find out how they do it." (</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/2198039605/" style="text-align: left;">http://video.pbs.org/video/2198039605/</a>)</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Another program is the FRONTLINE documentary, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/view/#morelink"><i>Sick Around the World</i></a>: "<span style="background-color: white;">In </span><i style="background-color: white;">Sick Around the World,</i><span style="background-color: white;"> FRONTLINE teams up with veteran </span><i style="background-color: white;">Washington Post</i><span style="background-color: white;"> foreign correspondent T.R. Reid </span><span style="background-color: white;">to find out how five other capitalist democracies</span><span style="background-color: white;"> -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland -- deliver health care, and what the United States might learn</span><span style="background-color: white;"> from their successes and their failures." (</span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/view/#morelink">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/view/#morelink</a>)</span></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div>Photo from the National Institute of Health. Public Domain.</div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-5299273707880964142012-02-19T18:47:00.000-08:002012-02-19T18:47:13.511-08:00A Cardiologist & the Spiritual Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJU9zm9EhGBaiyBEI-F5f8RfD15Nnn5O8DYB2i7P2-L0Qt41wJ0mMaSXq0flagVXaoD-IEPkixOAd8MjFWQ_uQwfExm9oNmCMY-Ay47n8C3ig27T9tZlzIlbqAnTE8D1W7xJWzNPnokSQ/s1600/Anatomy+Heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJU9zm9EhGBaiyBEI-F5f8RfD15Nnn5O8DYB2i7P2-L0Qt41wJ0mMaSXq0flagVXaoD-IEPkixOAd8MjFWQ_uQwfExm9oNmCMY-Ay47n8C3ig27T9tZlzIlbqAnTE8D1W7xJWzNPnokSQ/s320/Anatomy+Heart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. George K. Papazahos, Assistant Professor of Cardiology at the University of Athens, served as one of Elder Porphyrios' physicians. The following testimony of Dr. Papazahos regarding Elder Porphyrios is included in the book, <i>Elder Porphyrios: Testimonies and Experiences</i> by Klitos Ioannidis (Athens: Holy Convent of the Transfiguration of the Savior, 2007), translated from the Greek 5th edition. The testimony previously appeared in <i>Synaxis</i> (January-March, 1992, pp. 93-97):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Here I will mention a self-diagnosis of himself. He verified changes in his electrocardiograph without a cardiograph machine. One night, he called me up quite concerned, 'Come here, late as it is, to see the changes in the cardiograph. I was in pain many times today, and the pain was anginal.' Indeed, I ascertained that there were ischaemic changes (to arteries V3-V6) and I asked him under what kind of stress he was today. He began to cry and with frequent interruptions he began describing something in detail to me. He was seeing scenes from the street fighting in Romania. It is was the day when the people rose up against Ceaucescu. With his gift he saw the shootings and the deaths in the squares just like they were being published in the newspapers the following day. He continued to cry, and I begged him to ask God to take away this vision. His heart was in a dangerous state because of the stress. His blockage could get severe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I found myself in the same kind of stress while witnessing the sensitivity of the 'other' heart of a saint. I avoided looking at the cardiograph and thought to myself, 'What meaning does this nitrite anti-angina medicine that I am about to give you have for you, Elder? You're not of this world. Your heart is beating in Oropos and is living in Romania. On the ECG the heart is shown with an ischaemic "condition" at the ST interval, but in reality can be found "resurrected" to the heavens.' I left there quite late, trembling because I had seen a little of the light of a saint." (268)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Elder Porphyrios "never refused the medical help of the many doctors who were also his spiritual children. In fact, one day I asked him, 'Why do many spiritual people, especially monks, refuse medical help, thinking that the Panagia will help them quickly?' He answered. 'It's egotism. It's the work of the Evil One, thinking that God will make an exception amongst all the others and will miraculously intervene for you. God performs miracles, but you should not expect one for yourself. It's selfishness. On the other hand, God Himself acts through the doctors. 'The Lord gave us physicians and medicine,' says the Holy Scripture.'" (267)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"The Elder, as a doctor, did not only 'see' my physical ailments, he concerned himself with my many spiritual imperfections, too. He tried to help me find humbleness. One afternoon he telephoned me at my office immediately after a couple of patients had expressed their extreme love for me for the care I gave them. I recounted his words, 'George, It's the Elder. Both of us are going to hell together. We'll hear, "You fool, this very night your soul is being demanded from you." You enjoyed the good things in life. "And the things you have prepared whose will they be?"' I interrupted him, 'What did we enjoy in this life, Elder? The broken down car, the empty bank account or the non-existent sleep?' He answered abruptly, 'What's that you're saying? Don't people tell you what a good doctor you are? You love us. You take care of us. You don't skin us alive. And you welcome this praise, you swallow it down. Eh, you've already lost your reward. The same thing happens to me. They tell me that I have "gifts", how I can touch them and perform miracles, that I'm holy. And I gulp it all down, weak fool that I am. Eh, that's why I told you that both of us are going to hell.'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> 'If we're going to go together,' I replied, 'let's go to hell too!' And he hung up the phone saying, 'I'm speaking to you seriously and you're always joking. Good repentance to the both of us.'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> One day I was downcast, thinking that most of my life has gone by pointlessly in the midst of useless daily details. The Elder telephoned me and lifted my spirits with two or three of his expressions, 'Doctor, did you ever hear the phrase, "they will not taste death?" We can, if we wish avoid death. All we have to do is love Christ. You, "with all your heart", Mr. Cardiologist.' He laughed." (270-271)</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-13418703130751825362012-02-17T06:53:00.000-08:002012-02-17T06:53:54.799-08:00"Conception to Birth - Visualized" (TED.com)Here is a beautiful TED presentation entitled, <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized.html"><i>Conception to Birth - Visualized</i></a>," by Alexander Tsiaras. <br />
<br />
<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; min-height: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: auto;"><object height="374" width="526"> <param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2010P/Blank/AlexanderTsiaras_2010P-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AlexanderTsiaras_2010P-embed.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=1270&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized;year=2010;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=medicine_without_borders;theme=art_unusual;event=INK+Conference;tag=design;tag=medical+research;tag=science;tag=visualizations;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="526" height="374" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2010P/Blank/AlexanderTsiaras_2010P-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AlexanderTsiaras_2010P-embed.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=1270&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized;year=2010;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=medicine_without_borders;theme=art_unusual;event=INK+Conference;tag=design;tag=medical+research;tag=science;tag=visualizations;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"></embed> </object></h1><div>The video is also accessible at TED.com.</div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-31642888450068314982012-02-16T12:52:00.000-08:002012-02-16T12:55:27.815-08:00Record of Protest Against the Infringement of Religious Liberty by the Department of Health and Human Services<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://orthodoxwiki.org/thumb.php?f=EpiscopalAssembly2010.jpg&width=800" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://orthodoxwiki.org/thumb.php?f=EpiscopalAssembly2010.jpg&width=800" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/01/20120120a.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.</span></span><br />
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<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for 'contraceptive services' including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care. We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment."</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>The original statement can be viewed on the website of the <a href="http://www.assemblyofbishops.org/news/releases/protest-against-hhs">Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America</a>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The photo of the Assembly of Bishops is copyrighted (</span><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">DIMITRIOS@PANAGOS.COM</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">) and is used here according to Fair Use. The image is from Orthodoxwiki.org. </span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-60380043517680231042012-02-13T12:27:00.000-08:002012-02-23T07:03:14.885-08:00The 180 Movie: Abortion, Young Americans & Compartmentalism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/7y2KsU_dhwI/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7y2KsU_dhwI&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7y2KsU_dhwI&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">To live the Orthodox Christian Way involves possessing the Orthodox mind, ethos, and worldview, which remains unchanged in all places and in all ages. This Orthodox way of thinking and seeing permeates all aspects of our lives: personally, privately, within the family, in the workplaces, and publicly. Unfortunately, our neighbors who live and work alongside of us in our secular Western culture often suffer from <i>compartmentalism</i>. That is, they knowingly or unknowingly separate their lives into philosophical compartments bearing labels such as political philosophy, private relationship philosophy, work relationship philosophy, religious philosophy, spiritual philosophy, work philosophy, historical philosophy, social justice philosophy, etc. When one suffers from compartmentalism, the person may say one believes something with regard to religious teaching, but the stated belief isn't actually expressed in his or her relationships with the opposite sex or evident in conversation regarding politics. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">As Orthodox Christians, we are called to live the Way of Christ that we might be of one mind, one heart, one ethos, one worldview. This is only possible by immersing ourselves in the life of the Church, the path of humility, repentance, love, and prayer. The Orthodox Way is not the way of rational philosophy but of the noetic knowledge of the heart. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The movie <i>180</i> demonstrates the lack of a holistic way of thinking and seeing among young Americans, specifically with regard to views on abortion. Even when members of the younger generation know intellectually that the baby in the womb is alive, they have been indoctrinated to accept the idea that abortion should remain legal because of a woman's "right to choose" to "terminate the pregnancy," especially in certain circumstances. So, a severe contradiction exists between what some say they believe with regard to the life of the child in the womb and what they believe according to a political philosophy rooted in secularism. If abortion is seen primarily as a political issue (pro-life v. pro-choice) emphasizing the personal autonomy of the woman to make choices regarding her body, then attempts to stop legal abortion may be viewed as "politicizing health care" rather than attempts to end the legalized murder of innocent babies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Not only does the Orthodox Church reject compartmentalism, but also rejects the confusion between rational philosophy (models based on concepts) and theology (knowledge of God by experience of the heart, not concepts in the rational mind). The pursuit of theology within the life of the Church, which is only pursued through prayer and repentence, not by academic study or scientific inquiry, brings one to a Way of living wherein all things, by the Spirit, are seen through a single lens and understood outside of philosophical contradictions between spirituality, religion, vocation, relationships, politics, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>180</i> is a fascinating piece of work that demonstrates ignorance (lack of education) regarding history and the problems of compartmentalism in a secular pagan society. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">More information on the historic approach to abortion in the ancient Church is available under the <a href="http://orthodoxhealing.blogspot.com/search/label/prenatal%20care">prenatal care</a> section of this blog.</span><br />
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<span id="goog_382944627"></span><span id="goog_382944628"></span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-75299327900050495212012-01-17T14:48:00.000-08:002012-01-17T14:48:07.927-08:00Words for Physicians from the Evergetinos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QlYKozSNL77LuDf5e9nURkq49DzlAAQZTkETWY6qO7huxwHQ2qbfSabfzlhAjFyagxFMQYRJP9_udIhjIQeiT0bLIt46Xop2iNyFYhVEwgKS0IEy6Uxkpn71zuePs6itS008NY6IkLc/s1600/Deesis+in+Hagia+Sophia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QlYKozSNL77LuDf5e9nURkq49DzlAAQZTkETWY6qO7huxwHQ2qbfSabfzlhAjFyagxFMQYRJP9_udIhjIQeiT0bLIt46Xop2iNyFYhVEwgKS0IEy6Uxkpn71zuePs6itS008NY6IkLc/s320/Deesis+in+Hagia+Sophia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>St. Diadochos:</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"There is nothing to prevent us from calling doctors when we fall ill. Since the science of medicine was destined to be discovered at some time through human experimentation, natural remedies were already in existence for this purpose. However, we should not place our hope of healing in doctors but in our true Savior and Physician, Jesus Christ" (115).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>St. Barsanouphios:</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"If you insist on thinking that this remedy is beneficial for the sick person and it turns out that he is harmed by it, God, Who regards the heart, will not condemn you; for He knows that, although you harmed this person, you wanted to help him. But if someone who is experienced tells you what to do, and you disdain to listen to him and do what you think best, this is arrogance and self-will" (116).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>St. Ephraim:</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"My beloved, if you have expertise in the science of medicine and are able to cure people, be vigilant, lest in your desire to heal others you show yourself to be full of passions. As the Apostle says: 'Let not your good be evil spoken of' (Romans 14:16)" (117).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Evergetinos: A Complete Text</i>. Volume 3. Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2008.</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-8517581881769953462012-01-03T06:20:00.004-08:002012-02-19T18:52:43.006-08:00Benefiting from Illness through Prayer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.orthodoxwiki.org/images/a/a2/Porphyrios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://commons.orthodoxwiki.org/images/a/a2/Porphyrios.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"We benefit greatly from our illnesses, as long as we endure them without complaint and glorify God, asking for His mercy. When we become ill, the important thing is not that we don't take medicines or that we go and pray to Saint Nektarios. We need also to know the other secret, namely, to struggle to acquire the grace of God. This is the secret. Grace will teach us all the other things, namely, how to abandon ourselves to Christ. That is, we ignore the illness, we do not think about it, we think about Christ, simply, imperceptibly and selflessly and God works His miracle for the good or our soul. Just as we say in the Divine Liturgy, 'we commend all our life to Christ our God'" (227-228).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"The whole secret is faith -- without doubts, gentle, simple and artless: <i>in simplicity and artlessness of heart</i>. It is not a question of 'will power' or 'mind over matter'. A fakir can display this kind of 'will power'. It is a question of having faith that God loves us with infinite love and wants us to become His own. That is why He allows illnesses, until we surrender ourselves in trust to Him" (228-229). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">*Footnote on p. 224: "Elder Porphyrios suffered from the following illnesses: myocardial infarction (anterior diaphragm with lateral ischaemia), chronic kidney disease, duodenal ulcer (with repeated perforations), operated cataract (loss of lens and blindness), herpes zoster (shingles) on the face, staphylococcus dermatitis on the hand, inguinal hernia (frequently strangulated), chronic brochitis and cancer of the pituitary gland."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; line-height: 18px;">Selections from </span><i style="background-color: #fefdfa; line-height: 18px;">Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios</i><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; line-height: 18px;">, trans. by John Raffan (Limni, Evia, Greece: Denise Harvey, 2005). </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Image source: Orthodoxwiki.org</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-20524136765123914782011-11-26T10:55:00.000-08:002012-02-19T18:53:33.454-08:00The Mountain of Silence: On Logismoi<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtPmaONJyzot4d6_Z1K5RoKDU_MELM8C4YolLSeayLyBtFXdwouvNXv5rEIw1SyuTo5QXQCNDDsFvER37-U17HlH7la0N0peziVr-G4_WL_4304NhaqI-SqlD-kns1qBEUvYwjH3IDQO8/s1600/Mountain+Silence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtPmaONJyzot4d6_Z1K5RoKDU_MELM8C4YolLSeayLyBtFXdwouvNXv5rEIw1SyuTo5QXQCNDDsFvER37-U17HlH7la0N0peziVr-G4_WL_4304NhaqI-SqlD-kns1qBEUvYwjH3IDQO8/s1600/Mountain+Silence.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"'<i>Logismoi</i> are much more intense than simple thoughts. They penetrate into the very depths of a human being. They have enormous power. Let us say,' Fr. Maximos went on to clarify, 'that a simple thought is a weak <i>logismos</i>. We need to realize, however, that certain thoughts, or <i>logismoi</i>, once inside a human being, can undermine every trace of a spiritual life in its very foundation. People who live in the world don't know about the nature and power of<i> logismoi</i>. That is, they don't have the experience of that reality. But as they proceed on their spiritual struggle, particularly through systematic prayer, then are they able to understand the true meaning and power of this reality'" (118).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"'I have noticed that some people, particularly young, oversensitive souls,' Fr. Maximos said, breaking the silence, 'suffer so much from these <i>logismoi</i> that it often leads them into psychopathological conditions. They reach such states partly because of their ignorance of the nature of <i>logismoi</i>. Such persons who may be attacked by a perverted, or let us say a sinful <i>logismos</i>, are unable to realize that such a <i>logismos</i> does not necessarily emanate from within themselves, but is directed toward them from the outside. They feel guilty and begin what the late Paisios used to call the 'the repetition of those whys.' They become obsessive. Oversensitive persons become even more sensitive and blame themselves with all kinds of questions: "Why do I have such a thought, why?" Such people are in dire need of proper instruction on how to handle the <i>logismoi</i>,' Fr. Maximos pointed out. He went on to say that the most dangerous logismoi are those sent by demonic spirits that get support and get activated by our own passions. Logismoi coming from demons are extremely devious and duplicitous" (120).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For more on<i> logismoi</i>, including the stages of their development (assault, interaction, consent, captivity, and passion) and strategies for mastering them, see Chapter 9 on "Invisible Intruders" and Chapter 10 on "Strategies" in <i>The Mountain of Silence</i>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: Markides, Kyriacos C. <i>The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality</i>. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2001.</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-89852372265418309622011-11-23T16:45:00.000-08:002011-11-23T16:45:14.754-08:00St. Athanasius: Why the Son became a Human Being<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyql7rqDYlQF5GwLjhv59po9ihq2X9JMzkNxCoaTJhJuDB2h5mYT-qWIsyXBO9drXrilz6k6zDXXPG5ksj6GyeYF-Zwy6F9TKWAS8ndzp2QqnLSqBQLSi0g7aDkC5Bind73nf9IQGLyN0/s1600/Pantokrator_of_Sinai+enh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyql7rqDYlQF5GwLjhv59po9ihq2X9JMzkNxCoaTJhJuDB2h5mYT-qWIsyXBO9drXrilz6k6zDXXPG5ksj6GyeYF-Zwy6F9TKWAS8ndzp2QqnLSqBQLSi0g7aDkC5Bind73nf9IQGLyN0/s400/Pantokrator_of_Sinai+enh.jpg" width="206" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Some may then ask, why did He not manifest Himself by means of other and nobler parts of creation, and use some nobler instrument, such as sun or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of mere man? The answer is this. The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholder. But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who need Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">- St. Athanasius the Great, </span><i style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">On the Incarnation</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">(Crestwood, NY: SVS Press), 1998), 78.</span></span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-84519268711492680802011-11-20T16:49:00.000-08:002011-11-20T16:49:55.287-08:00The Entrance of the Theotokos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0wbV6qhXCjzIDtUu9VhAS2OhPS2G_ckoLicUgOGSbUVzx5CJQlDPlO6JiyrG1yQw8r4WrheWM0Y3L2UyIXsHMTxbbG_QpbPmm-VEMRbgh1SAeti8YFPm93OfOKv7CiMixf9AXKe7vrJ8/s1600/VMENTRNC.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0wbV6qhXCjzIDtUu9VhAS2OhPS2G_ckoLicUgOGSbUVzx5CJQlDPlO6JiyrG1yQw8r4WrheWM0Y3L2UyIXsHMTxbbG_QpbPmm-VEMRbgh1SAeti8YFPm93OfOKv7CiMixf9AXKe7vrJ8/s320/VMENTRNC.JPG" width="234" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On November 21st of every year, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple. The Feast commemorates the entrance of the Virgin Mary into the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years of age. Having been dedicated to God by her aged parents, Joachim and Anna, she remained in the Temple until she reached womanhood and was betrothed to the elderly widower, Joseph, who protected the Virgin chosen to be the Mother of God. In a beautiful sermon, St. Gregory Palamas sets forth the Virgin Mary as an example of a healthy soul who attained to the heights of the spiritual life. Here is an excerpt from that sermon:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"With profound understanding she listened to the writings of Moses and the revelations of the other prophets when, every Saturday, all the people gathered outside, as the Law ordained. She learnt about Adam and Eve and everything that happened to them: how they were brought out of non-being, settled in paradise and given a commandment there; about the evil one's ruinous counsel and the resulting theft; about their expulsion from paradise on that account, the loss of immortality and the change to this way of life full of pain. In addition, she saw that as time passed, life continued under the inherited curse and grew even worse, God's creature made in His image was estranged from the Creator and became more and more closely associated with the one who had evilly schemed to crush him. (Alas for the evil one's power over us and his insatiable rage against us! Woe to our insensitivity and our inclination to return to the earth!) No one was capable of putting an end to this impulse which brings destruction on all men alike, or to the uncheckable rush of our race towards hell. When the holy Virgin Maid heard and understood this, she was filled with pity for humanity and, with the aim of finding a remedy to counteract this great affliction, she resolved at once to turn with her whole mind to God. She took it upon herself to represent us, to constrain Him Who is above compulsion, and quickly draw Him towards us, that He might remove the curse from among us, halt the advance of the fire burning men's souls, weaken our enemies, answer our prayers, shine upon us with light that never sets and, having healed our sickness, unite His creatures with Himself."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I highly recommend that Orthodox Christians read the sermon in its entirety for their edification.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">St. Gregory Palamas, "On the Entrance into the Holy of Holies II," <i>Mary the Mother of God: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas</i>, ed. by Christopher Veniamin (South Canaan, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing, 2005), 41.</span><br />
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</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-81442876094230843262011-11-19T05:58:00.000-08:002011-11-19T05:58:19.232-08:00St. Athanasius on Christ the Physician<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1v2FlzK4uPyOzD7OTdZ8K0mnLgRvTrA78dWIhETkZUn4_Ezu-I3BNaSH7Mahuqe_-4yn-BQanzl0VN3QnTiUuMS4Nt-D25-RenAjajXXozLsil520_B5md0Ndv777DzoZYjUQLEEP2Y/s1600/JCBLIND1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1v2FlzK4uPyOzD7OTdZ8K0mnLgRvTrA78dWIhETkZUn4_Ezu-I3BNaSH7Mahuqe_-4yn-BQanzl0VN3QnTiUuMS4Nt-D25-RenAjajXXozLsil520_B5md0Ndv777DzoZYjUQLEEP2Y/s200/JCBLIND1.JPG" width="147" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What man that ever was, for instance, formed a body for himself from a virgin only? Or what man ever healed so many diseases as the common Lord of all? Who restored that which was lacking in man's nature or made one blind from birth to see? Aesculapius was deified by the Greeks because he practiced the art of healing and discovered herbs as remedies for bodily diseases, not, of course, forming them himself out of the earth, but finding them out by the study of nature. But what is that in comparison to what the Saviour did when, instead of just healing a wound, He both fashioned essential being and restored to health the thing that He had formed?" </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- St. Athanasius the Great, "Refutation of the Gentiles," <i>On the Incarnation</i> (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press), 1998), 87.</span><br />
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</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-8722990783694932642011-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:002011-11-13T14:12:05.421-08:00An Orthodox University<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5dxO3WSplY0xEhyphenhyphenD1AIvKkpzqz58LPcRb-Uba58i26A5BhOttVA7PkTPg0Nv_2aZRqRrGk2XjG-xopGTIrhw9ivJp0BlVY_0a5XRDUDDOqATudbIcJgoSEap1Fd48ldvqVyU3bqBlLZQ/s1600/Word+September.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5dxO3WSplY0xEhyphenhyphenD1AIvKkpzqz58LPcRb-Uba58i26A5BhOttVA7PkTPg0Nv_2aZRqRrGk2XjG-xopGTIrhw9ivJp0BlVY_0a5XRDUDDOqATudbIcJgoSEap1Fd48ldvqVyU3bqBlLZQ/s1600/Word+September.jpg" /></a>The September 2011 edition of <i>The Word</i>, a publication of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, includes an article on Orthodox higher education by His Grace Bishop THOMAS of the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic. Both the establishment of Orthodox schools and the establishment of Orthodox medical facilities involve forming a truly Orthodox institution that exists within the Mystery of the Church and that operates according the Orthodox ethos as an oasis in a secular culture. I highly recommend the article, "<a href="http://www.antiochian.org/sites/antiochian.org/files/september_2011_word.pdf">An Orthodox University: Higher Education for Orthodox Christians</a>," which begins on page 26 of the magazine.Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-22284535694549170692011-10-04T09:21:00.000-07:002011-10-05T06:19:35.980-07:00David Berlinski on the Limitation of Science“A great many men and women have a dull, hurt, angry sense of being oppressed by the sciences. They are frustrated by endless scientific boasting. They suspect that the scientific community holds them in contempt. They are right to feel this way.” - <i>The Devil's Delusion</i> by David Berlinski<br />
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David Berlinski is not an Orthodox Christian. He is not an advocate for any religion, but addresses the proper limitation of science and the contemporary failure of scientists to recognize the limitation of science and to make the proper distinction between science and the philosophy of science. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FyxUwaq00Rc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
A rough transcript of the above interview is<a href="http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/David_Berlinski_transcript.pdf"> available as a pdf file here</a> on the website of the Hoover Institution.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Self-Critical Science and Other Myths</b><br />
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</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/U6JJO4Tc4D8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-77155037241317192592011-09-08T09:40:00.000-07:002011-09-08T09:40:49.835-07:00The Way True Love Heals You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPyo98u5FTM-vXmlEIYYr_i07lTL-f2CIVie1DeHvfba5HOZuRQpE3sQCpLa-F8Rzqn5uN3MCv6rckZS_KPrgswmB-vn0IbDYj3qPiVg_BDYWzqQadA9nTK8S5r7GVRMwyf-95N3laTo/s1600/TheWayjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPyo98u5FTM-vXmlEIYYr_i07lTL-f2CIVie1DeHvfba5HOZuRQpE3sQCpLa-F8Rzqn5uN3MCv6rckZS_KPrgswmB-vn0IbDYj3qPiVg_BDYWzqQadA9nTK8S5r7GVRMwyf-95N3laTo/s640/TheWayjpg.jpg" width="474" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Orthodox Christianity is not ultimately about history, comparative religion, written doctrine, and external practices. The Orthodox Way is about internal prayer and personal healing through prayer. It is not an academic path, but a practical one. It is about the experience of God and personal transformation through that experience. Human religion based on imagination and opinions don't make you a better person (and can make you a lot worse), but <i>true </i>religion - the spiritual Way - leads to the fullness of Life. God does the work in us if we are willing to cooperate. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br />
Attending a class is not going to change you, but learning about the richness of the spiritual treasure very well may be life-changing. If you take hold the treasure before you, then you will most certainly be on the healing Way.</span></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-47142612760545506592011-09-07T14:09:00.000-07:002011-09-07T14:09:01.105-07:00St. Syncletica on Illness & JoySt. Syncletica of Alexandria is one of the holy Desert Mothers of the 4th century. (She is often referred to as Mother, or "Amma" Syncletica). You can <a href="http://www.antiochian.org/node/17319">read about her life</a> on the website of the Antiochian Archdiocese. Here is one of her sayings:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"She also said, 'If illness weighs us down, let us not be sorrowful as though, because of illness and the prostration of our bodies we could not sing, for all these things are for our good, for the purification of our desires. Truly fasting and sleeping on the ground are set before us because of our sensuality. If illness then weakens this sensuality the reason for these practices is superfluous. For this is the great asceticism: to control oneself in illness and to sing hymns of thanksgiving to God.'"</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">The Sayings of the Desert Fathers</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">, trans. by Benedicta Ward (Trappist, KY: Cistercian Publications, 1984), 232.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-85100978711980576152011-09-01T13:10:00.001-07:002011-09-01T13:34:10.245-07:00Notes on Helping Those With Same-Sex Temptations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4USHgoabAXX9DP_67ai7XKqpp55eu3bl0hKdiVOiEPoEJf4p6EvcqhsSzwVXeq5VVZ_Ald1L81dlj9wZwzjKdSxQB6Xxm99xC-oKIbsS3Cdk1nVAbfFQtt7QJ7MZQ4nmGJolILWAZCk/s1600/Trojan+Horse+Etching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4USHgoabAXX9DP_67ai7XKqpp55eu3bl0hKdiVOiEPoEJf4p6EvcqhsSzwVXeq5VVZ_Ald1L81dlj9wZwzjKdSxQB6Xxm99xC-oKIbsS3Cdk1nVAbfFQtt7QJ7MZQ4nmGJolILWAZCk/s320/Trojan+Horse+Etching.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Homosexuality and associated issues, like same-sex marriage, appear to have gained much acceptance within our society in recent years. Orthodox Christian healthcare providers can benefit from knowing how "homosexuality" is understood within the Church and how it has been dramatically redefined in our secular pagan culture.<br />
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1. <b>Homosexuality is a behavior, not a feeling or orientation. </b>Therefore, one is not a "homosexual" until one chooses, according to free will, to do something that is contrary to human nature and that is in disharmony with the Way that leads to the healing and perfection of the human person. Of course, a person can commit a sin in the mind by willing to act before the full action is carried out, but sexual temptation, whether opposite-sex or same-sex, is not sin when the tempting thought is dismissed and rejected. Therefore, a "homosexual" is not one who feels same-sex attraction, but one commits a sexual sin with a person of the same sex. This is similarly true for adultery. An "adulterer" is one who commits adultery, not one who feels attracted to those other than his or her spouse if he or she dismisses the temptation and remains steadfastly faithful to the spouse. No matter what form of temptation, whether opposite-sex or same-sex, one may face, we are called to treat our bodies as holy temples and only express the beautiful gift of sexual expression within the context of marriage, a union between a man and woman. So, we are all called to chastity - celibacy outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage, whatever our place in life.<br />
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In our secular society, "homosexuality" has been redefined, not as a behavior contrary to good spiritual, mental, and physical health, but as an "orientation" central to a person's identity. <br />
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2. <b>Accepting homosexual behavior as good and acceptable is not an act of love and compassion</b>. If someone is suffering from anorexia, for the good health of the person, we must be honest about her condition and help her heal from her illness. We do not help her by telling her that we affirm her in her eating disorder, but rather, motivated by love, we should gently help her understand that she is truly sick and needs healing. We do not help the sick by reinforcing their delusions about themselves, their relationships, and their lifestyle choices. If a man believes he is a cat, his friends do not help him by conforming to his demands that they always dress like cats and eat from a common bowl in the floor when they visit his apartment, even at the expense of being called prejudiced Ailurophobes (those fearful of cats). We are not "open and affirming" with regard to sin, because sin creates wounds in the soul that affects the whole person. Rather, we love the person and do our best to care for him or her compassionately to aid in healing.<br />
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Since homosexuality is misunderstood in our society as an orientation, perhaps assigned before birth, those who rightly identify homosexual acts as sinful may be accused of judgmentalism and hate speech.<br />
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3. <b>Answers to questions about the Orthodox view of homosexuality best begin at the beginning. </b>If a secular person asks, "What does the Orthodox Church teach about homosexuality," we should realize that the one asking the questions may be thoroughly indoctrinated into a secular pagan vision of homosexuality. Such a question is best answered, if we are given the time, not with a simple position statement, but with an expression of God's love for man, our creation according to the Divine Image, our fall away from God into spiritual sickness (including the darkening of the heart, confusion of the mind, and choas of the passions), and the spiritual Way that leads to the transformation of the passions, healing of the soul, and the full experience of Life. We should help those who are willing to learn, who "have ears to hear,"<br />
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* to percieve the difference between what <i>is</i> natural (for a healed human person) and what only<i> seems</i> natural (in our sickness and deluded state),<br />
* to realize the fact that we are all "born this way" with regard to sickness and death, although our common spiritual illness is manifested in different people in different ways,<br />
* to know that we are all called to rise above living like animals (driven by passions) to live as true human beings with perfect love (guided by the Spirit),<br />
* to distinguish between the temptation of same-sex attraction and the sin of homosexuality, and<br />
* to find the Way of Christ within the hospital of the Church, wherein the refreshing Medicine of Divine Grace flows abundantly.<br />
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Above all, let us show genuine love and compassion for our fellow human beings. Without humility, we can help no one, including ourselves.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">* Note: The Trojan Horse picture has been chosen to represent secular paganism. Secular teachings can unknowingly be received and accepted if one does not know the Orthodox Faith, does not seek spiritual knowledge of the heart through prayer, and is not vigilant. </span><br />
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Fr. Symeon<br />
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Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-9320410693633506572011-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:002011-09-01T13:11:13.698-07:00Orthodox Psychiatrist Discusses Homosexuality<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">An article, "<a href="http://www.aoiusa.org/blog/2011/08/shifts-in-paradigms-an-orthodox-psychiatrist-on-homosexuality/">Shifts in Paradigms: An Orthodox Psychiatrist on Homosexuality</a>," essentially an interview with Dr. Lynne Pappas, is available on the American Orthodox Institute website. </span><br />
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Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-85527035056461279052011-08-24T12:03:00.000-07:002011-09-01T13:11:59.397-07:00Prayer for One Who Has Shameful Thoughts<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z8QGO3zUJv09IT3VKsvQA3-FdIvZ_TiiixhGUK3bnmq1ph8j7s3OXH0kQZKIliAaonZdzCe8FrQurlgWTsxA6lxweKgwnIzK7SWGiNc_SwBzRp7dfMit0smNnuempHK3xYeXO9RmRzU/s1600/Pantokrator_of_Sinai+enh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z8QGO3zUJv09IT3VKsvQA3-FdIvZ_TiiixhGUK3bnmq1ph8j7s3OXH0kQZKIliAaonZdzCe8FrQurlgWTsxA6lxweKgwnIzK7SWGiNc_SwBzRp7dfMit0smNnuempHK3xYeXO9RmRzU/s320/Pantokrator_of_Sinai+enh.jpg" width="165" /></a><b>A Prayer for One Who Has Shameful Thoughts</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">O Master, Lord my God, in whose hands is my destinty: help me according to Thy mercy, and leave me not to perish in my transgressions, nor allow me to follow them that place desires of the flesh over those of the spirit. I am Thy creation; disdain not the work of Thy hands. Turn not away, be compassionate and humiliate me not, neither scorn me, O Lord, as I am weak. I have fled unto Thee as my Protector and God. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee; save me for Thy mercy's sake, for I have cleaved unto Thee from my youth; let me who seek Thee not be put to shame by being rejected by Thee for unclean actions, unseemly thoughts, and unprofitable remembrances. Drive away from me every filthy thing and excess of evil. For Thou alone art holy, alone mighty, and alone immortal, in all things having unexcelled might, which, through Thee, are given to all that strive against the devil and the might of his armies.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"> For unto Thee is due all glory, honor and worship: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.</div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">From <i>The Great Book of Needs</i>, Vol. 3 (South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon's Monastery, 2002), 47.</span><br />
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</div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-32548188368515218312011-08-14T15:56:00.000-07:002011-09-02T08:38:37.453-07:00St. Luke the Surgeon on Science and Religion<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cdc2b4; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhritA0NEAStAkcabs2cOYxCFZWh3DESb25CYjBTueW4DUADSzH1eDMhQSRYli25BC5nq3UF24WQcpw4PXl5LClnnjy1sqn7CsYlpCBarFc6Xi6jIRUmMYi84Ya9MncLSRAABSdkvsRX1c/s1600/St+Luke+Blessed+Physician.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhritA0NEAStAkcabs2cOYxCFZWh3DESb25CYjBTueW4DUADSzH1eDMhQSRYli25BC5nq3UF24WQcpw4PXl5LClnnjy1sqn7CsYlpCBarFc6Xi6jIRUmMYi84Ya9MncLSRAABSdkvsRX1c/s320/St+Luke+Blessed+Physician.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">St. Luke of Simferpol and Crimea served as a bishop, scientist, medical doctor, surgeon, professor of medicine, and author. His <i><a href="http://medlib.ws/hirurgiya/197-ocherki-gnojjnojj-khirurgii.html">Notes on Purulent Surgery</a>, </i>first published in 1934, may be considered his most significant literary contribution to the surgical arts. You can <a href="http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2008/10/st-luke-archbishop-of-simferopol.html">read about the life of St. Luke</a>, called "the Blessed Surgeon," on the <i>Full of Grace and Truth</i> blog. <a href="http://orthodoxwiki.org/Luke_(Voino-Yasenetsky)_of_Simferopol_and_Crimea">Information is also available</a> on <i>Orthodoxwiki</i>. The book, <i><a href="http://www.stjohnsbookstore.com/node/1062">The Blessed Surgeon</a></i> (2nd edition), provides a relatively detailed account of his life.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">In an article on</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> "<a href="http://www.impantokratoros.gr/8C1597E5.en.aspx">Science and Religion</a>," </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">St. Luke commented on the relationship between science and Orthodox spirituality, true religion. The words of the Blessed Surgeon are relevant today for Orthodox Christians who work in scientific, academic, and/or medical environments steeped in secularism, wherein there is much ignorance regarding the limitation of science and the distinction between scientific knowledge of the rational mind and the theological knowledge of the heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">St. Luke wrote, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">"We are certain that apart from the material world there is an infinite and incomparably superior spiritual world. We believe in the existence of spiritual beings that have higher intellect than us humans. We believe wholeheartedly that above this spiritual and material world there is the Great and Almighty God.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">What we doubt is the right of science to research with its methods the spiritual world. Because the spiritual world cannot be researched with the methods used to research the material world. Such methods are totally inappropriate to research the spiritual world.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">How do we know that there is a spiritual world? Who told us that it exists? If we are asked by people who do not believe in the Divine revelation, we shall answer them thus: 'Our heart told us'. For there are two ways for one to know something, the first is that which is spoken by Haeckel, which is used by science to learn of the material world. There is however another way that is unknown to science, and does not wish to know it. It is the knowledge through the heart. Our heart is not only the central organ of the circulation system, it is an organ with which we know the other world and receive the highest knowledge. It is the organ that gives us the capability to communicate with God and the above world. Only in this we disagree with science.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Praising the great successes and achievements of science, we do not doubt at all its great importance and we do not confine the scientific knowledge. We only tell the scientists "You do not have the capability with your methods to research the spiritual world, we however can with our heart.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">There are many unexplainable phenomena which concern the spiritual world that are real (as are some type of material phenomena). There are therefore phenomena that science will never be able to explain because it does not use the appropriate methods.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Let science explain how the prophecies appeared on the coming of the Messiah, which were all fulfilled. Could science tell us how the great prophet Isaiah, some 700 years before the birth of Christ, foretold the most important events in His life and for which he was named the evangelist of the Old Testament? To explain the far sighted grace possessed by the saints and to tell us with which physical methods the saints inherited this grace and how they could understand the heart and read the thoughts of a person they had just met for the first time? They would see a person for the first time and they will call him by his name. Without waiting for the visitor to ask, they would answer on what troubled him.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">If they can, let them explain it to us. Let them explain with what method the saints foretold the great historical events which were accurately fulfilled as they were prophesied. Let them explain the visitation from the other world and the appearance of the dead to the living.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">They shall never explain it to us because they are too far from the basis of religion- from faith. If you read the books of the scientists who try to reconstruct religion, you will see how superficially they look at things. They do not understand the essence of religion yet they criticize it. Their criticism does not touch the essence of faith, since they are unable to understand the types, the expressions of religious feeling. The essence of religion they do not understand. Why not? Because the Lord Jesus Christ says 'No one can come to me unless My Father who sent Me draws him to Me.' (John 6:44)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">So it is necessary that we be drawn by the Heavenly Father, it is necessary that the grace of the Holy Spirit enlighten our heart and our mind. To dwell in our heart and mind through this enlightenment, the Holy Spirit and the ones who were found worthy to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, those in whose heart lives Christ and His Father, know the essence of faith. The others, outside the faith cannot understand anything."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">Source of quote <a href="http://www.impantokratoros.gr/8C1597E5.en.aspx">here</a>. The <a href="http://orthodoxwiki.org/Image:Agios_Loukas.jpg">image</a> is from Orthodoxwiki. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">This icon was authored by Father Daniel from the Holy Hesychastirio of Daniel the Katounakian, Mount Athos and is kept at the Holy Church of St. Paraskevi, Koropi, Attica of Greece. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f1f1de; line-height: 19px;">Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the <b><a class="extiw" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License">GNU Free Documentation License</a></b>, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.</span></span></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-4074988507192348592011-08-05T09:02:00.000-07:002011-08-05T09:02:33.007-07:00A Prayer of Healing for the Soul<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpa84-ZUoiqdoCdfpZ4Ron96Jyc8gq9CnUhQruvuFoXIRtwnTS52cPkHmtlvyhzbDI-ieXuMDWugPL5h44wruQHuKkLF183dPTAXGVX1MFK7Jp8yfzrndBNf0SuThCU1bmopJnEPkAYmg/s1600/ChristMkSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpa84-ZUoiqdoCdfpZ4Ron96Jyc8gq9CnUhQruvuFoXIRtwnTS52cPkHmtlvyhzbDI-ieXuMDWugPL5h44wruQHuKkLF183dPTAXGVX1MFK7Jp8yfzrndBNf0SuThCU1bmopJnEPkAYmg/s1600/ChristMkSm.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Make me whole, O Lord, and I will become whole! On only wise and merciful Physician, I beseech Thy benevolence: heal the wounds of my soul and enlighten the eyes of my mind that I may understand my place in Thine eternal design! And inasmuch as my heart and mind have been disfigured, may Thy grace repair them, for it is as true salt.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> What shall I say to Thee, O Knower of the heart who searchest the heart and inner workings of men? Indeed, Thou knowest that, like a waterless land, my soul thirsts after Thee and my heart longs for Thee. And Thy grace has always sated those that love Thee.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Thus, as Thou has always heard me, so now do not scorn my prayer. For Thou seest that my mind, like a prisoner, seeks Thee, the Only true Savior.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Send Thy grace, that it may satisfy my hunger and quench my thirst. For insatiably do I desire Thee, O my Master! And who can have enough of Thee if he truly loves Thee and thirsts for Thy truth?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> O Giver of light! Fulfill my supplications and grant me Thy gifts according to my prayer; impart to my heart just one drop of Thy grace, that the flame of Thy love may begin to burn in my heart; and, like a fire, may it consume evil thoughts like thorns and thistles!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Give me all this in abundance; grant it to me as God unto man, as the King to His subjects, and increase it as a kind Father.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- A prayer by St. Ephraim the Syrian</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Psalm 3 in </span><i><span style="color: #333333;">A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God, Excerpted by Bishop Theophan the Recluse from the Works of our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian Arranged in the Manner of the Psalms of David</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333;">, trans. by Antonia Janda, (Liberty, TN: St. John of Kronstadt Press, 2004), 17. </span></span></span></div></div></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-5281865252387442312011-08-04T13:16:00.000-07:002011-08-04T13:16:37.178-07:00Dr. Engelhardt: Orthodox Christian Bioethics<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>"The Search for Global Morality: </b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Bioethics, Moral Diversity, and the Collapse of Consensus"</b></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">(<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">This presentation is from the University of Chicago's 28th Annual Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar Series: Global Health and Medical Ethics.) </span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-LRjUIxXYRw" width="425"></iframe></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Also, A video of a presentation on "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1372382535">Moral Pluralism and the Crisis of Secular Bioethics: </a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://distancelearning.iocs.cam.ac.uk/videos/index.php?page=videos&groupid=67721&videoid=59&high">Why Orthodox Christian Bioethics has the Solution</a>"</span> is available on the website of the <a href="http://distancelearning.iocs.cam.ac.uk/videos/index.php?page=videos&groupid=67721">Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies</a> (Cambridge, England).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div></div></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-17436426687898667042011-08-03T09:22:00.000-07:002011-08-04T13:10:04.338-07:00Paraklesis to the Most Holy Theotokos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ffHYqWQsSAx5vZvgJTKWvJXySlV3vLx2J-90V_ZI93zU7WqRtE6p4Jf8EmBjYDteVzCtDQpmKS65e7OvJOtg5flk-wQdZcOgdY1tnY5cEfl1na3n7pFUJQXm29YZQU0eelgBew47NxA/s1600/Theotokos+enhanced.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ffHYqWQsSAx5vZvgJTKWvJXySlV3vLx2J-90V_ZI93zU7WqRtE6p4Jf8EmBjYDteVzCtDQpmKS65e7OvJOtg5flk-wQdZcOgdY1tnY5cEfl1na3n7pFUJQXm29YZQU0eelgBew47NxA/s320/Theotokos+enhanced.JPG" width="213" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <i>Paraklesis to the Most Holy Theotokos</i> is a supplicatory service chanted in Orthodox churches to honor the Theotokos and ask for her intercessions on behalf of the living. The service is chanted during the Dormition Fast in August and may be chanted at other times as needed. The text of the <span id="goog_2142022687"></span><a href="http://goarch.org/chapel/chant/paraklesis/">Small Paraklesis</a><span id="goog_2142022688"></span>, authored by Theosterictus the Monk in the 9th century, is available on the Greek Archdiocese of America website. More information on the <a href="http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paraklesis">Paraklesis</a> is published on Orthodoxwiki.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here is a selection from the service (Ode 6):</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I pour out my supplication before the Lord, and I speak of my sorrows before Him. For my soul has been filled with evils, and my life has approached Hades. Wherefore, I supplicate Thee like Jonah, crying out: 'Raise me up from corruption, O my God.'</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Most Holy Theotokos, save us!</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Intercede with thy Son and God, O Virgin, who by delivering Himself to death, He saved from death and corruption, our nature overtaken by death and corruption, that He may deliver me from the evil harm of the enemies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Most Holy Theotokos, save us!</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have known thee to be an intercessor for our lives, a sound protection, a remover of different trespasses, and a vanquisher of the wiles of demons, O Virgin. Wherefore, we beseech thee ceaselessly, to deliver us from the corruption of our passions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have possessed thee as a wall of refuge, O Maiden, and as a complete salvation for our souls, and a comfort from distress. We always rejoice in thy light. Wherefore deliver us now, O Lady, from passions and sufferings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages, Amen!</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since we lie now on the bed of infirmities, and there is no healing for our bodies. O thou who didst give birth to God, the Savior of the world, and Remover of sicknesses, we beseech thee, O righteous one, to raise us from the corruption of ills."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(The above selection from the Paraklesis service (Ode 6) has been taken from the translation used in our parish.)</span></span></div>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8177403215887046119.post-87269521836357801392011-07-29T18:53:00.000-07:002011-07-29T18:53:39.231-07:00St. Ephraim the Syrian: Healing Tears of Repentance<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_P2X0GeM5n0mnLL4dP3RuWIpZS9k3GHZYEY8DwEoiI8gHoqIKj8VucFvov3ElGFtWDVit5AcGk4yitPFSZKdJ_2D46KxDl1lt4gRfAHHF-pyIqK5W20iAIFtQKxqxmCcw29WmuYbYFg/s1600/George_John+Damascene_Ephraim_Sinai_14thC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_P2X0GeM5n0mnLL4dP3RuWIpZS9k3GHZYEY8DwEoiI8gHoqIKj8VucFvov3ElGFtWDVit5AcGk4yitPFSZKdJ_2D46KxDl1lt4gRfAHHF-pyIqK5W20iAIFtQKxqxmCcw29WmuYbYFg/s320/George_John+Damascene_Ephraim_Sinai_14thC.jpg" width="149" /></a><i><b>Psalm 74</b></i></div><br />
"Who will cure my soul if not Thou, O Christ, the only Physician of souls! Where will I find a remedy for the disease of my soul, if not with Thee, O fountain of healing! Thou Who dist cure the ailing woman, cure also my soul from the ruin of sin.<br />
May Thy compassion descend on me and help me to overthrow the enemy. Fortify me who am infirm by the strength of Thine arm, and the Evil One will be ashamed when he sees that I am prepared for battle. Animate me and the Evil One will be humiliated. In shame will he be turned back, and I will glorify Thy name.<br />
Accept the tears of my wretchedness and blot out the record of my debts, and again will the enemy be ashamed, seeing that Thy loving-kindness has destroyed the fruit of his wicked deeds and that I will not be punished.<br />
May Thy compassion come to mine aid, that I might pass safely through the realm of temptation, and that I might thereafter be close to Thee, with Thee always.<br />
My sinful soul will glorify Thee and Thy Father and the Holy Spirit, for she has wept and been heard, and, washed with tears of repentance, she has been made a temple inhabited by the Divinity Which has created the world."<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Psalm 112</b></i></div><br />
"O Giver of all good things, O fountain of healing and treasure of compassion, Thou only good and kindhearted God, Who ever grantest good things to those who ask! I beseech Thee, that Thine abundant grace might descend upon me and gather together my mind and heal my hidden sores anew, for distractions and wandering thoughts constantly renew my secret sores.<br />
O long-suffering Lord Who ever curest with grace and compassion, heal the great spiritual infirmities that are within me, a sinner!<br />
I have nothing to give Thee, O Master, in return for Thy cures. And what price could be put on Thy cures? Neither heaven nor earth can give a reward worthy of them. It is impossible to purchase these holy heavenly cures, for they are priceless. Thou givest them only in return for tears, O our Savior; and in return for bitter weeping dost Thou grant them to all.<br />
O my Master, grant me who am unworthy daily tears and strength, that my heart, enraptured and streaming forth fountains of tears, might be ceaselessly illuminated by pure prayer, and that a few tears might blot out the weighty record of my sins, and a small measure of weeping might extinguish the fire that burns therein. For if I weep here, there will I be delivered from inextinguishable fire."<br />
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*Note: The shedding of tears does not refer to just crying due to emotional sadness, but the shedding of tears due to sorrow for one's sins, true humility, and genuine repentance (a sincere desire to turn away from sin that brings sickness and to turn toward God, Who heals.) One who prays with this disposition invites the transforming, Life-Giving Divine Grace into his heart. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God, Excerpted by Bishop Theophan the Recluse from the Works of our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian Arranged in the Manner of the Psalms of David</i>, trans. by Antonia Janda (Liberty, TN: St. John of Kronstadt Press, 2004), 127-128, 179180.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The icon shows St. George, St. John of Damascus, and St. Ephrem the Syrian</span><br />
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</span>Fr. Symeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678552547700196995noreply@blogger.com