DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN OF SAN FRANCISCO

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TO OUR READERS: We apologize for the  recent delays in publishing . This issue, dated June 5/18, actually was produced and distributed in November. We hope to  be caught up soon. Pray for us..

Hiero-martyr Dorotheus, bishop of Tyre; Repose of St. Theodore Yaroslavich, older brother of St. Alexander Nevsky; Martyrs Marcian, Nicander, Hyperechius, Apollonius, Leonides, Arius, Gorgias, Selenias, Irenius and Pambo, of Egypt; St. Theodore the wondeworker, hermit of the Jordan; St. Anubius, confessor and anchorite of Egypt; Blessed Constantine, metropolitan of Kiev; Blessed Igor-George, tonsured Gabriel, great prince of Chernigov and Kiev; St. Abba Dorotheus of Palestine; St. Peter, monk of Serbia; Finding of the relics of Sts. Bassian and Jonah, monks of Pertomsk (Solovki); St. Basil, bishop of Ryazan; Neo-martyr Mark of Smyrna, who suffered in Chios; St. Illidius, bishop of Clermont (Gaul) Hiero-martyr Boniface, archbishop of Mainz and enlightener of Germany (B754), and those with him: Eoban, bishop, Wintrung, Wlathere, Ethelhere, priests; Hamrind, Scirbald, Bosa, deacons; Wachat, Gundaccer, Illehere and Hathowulf, monks; Martyr Christopher of Rome; Martyr Conon of Rome,

    ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, it was revealed that biotechnology researchers had successfully created a hybrid of a human being and a pig. A man-pig. A pig-man. The reality is so unspeakable, the words themselves don’t want to go together.

    Extracting the nuclei of cells from a human fetus and inserting them into a pig’s egg cells, scientists from an Australian company called Stem Cell Sciences and an American company called Biotransplant grew two of the pig-men to 32-cell embryos before destroying them. The embryos would have grown further, the scientists admitted, if they had been implanted in the womb of either a sow or a woman. Either a sow or a woman. A woman or a sow.

    There has been some suggestion from the creators that their purpose in designing this human pig is to build a new race of subhuman creatures for scientific and medical use. The only intended use is to make animals, the head of Stem Cell Sciences, Peter Mountford, claimed last week, backpedaling furiously once news of the pig-man leaked out of the European Union’s patent office. Since the creatures are 3 percent pig, laws against the use of people as research subjects would not apply. But since they are 97 percent human, experiments could be profitably undertaken upon them and they could be used as living meat-lockers for transplantable organs and tissue.

    But then, too, there has been some suggestion that the creators’ purpose is not so much to corrupt humanity as to elevate it. The creation of the pig-man is proof that we can overcome the genetic barriers that once prevented cross-breeding between humans and other species. At last, then, we may begin to design a new race of beings with perfections that the mere human species lacks: increased strength, enhanced beauty, extended range of life, immunity from disease. “In the extreme theoretical sense,” Mountford admitted, the embryos could have been implanted into a woman to become a new kind of human— though, of course, he reassured the Australian media, something like that would be “ethically immoral, and it’s not something that our company or any respectable scientist would pursue.”
But what difference does it make whether the researchers’ intention is to create subhumans or superhumans? Either they want to make a race of slaves, or they want to make a race of masters. And either way. it means the end of our humanity.

    You can’t say we weren’t warned. This is the island of Dr. Moreau.*  This is the brave new world. This is Dr. Frankenstein’s chamber. This is Dr. Jekyll’s** room. This is Satan’s Pandemonium, the city of self-destruction the rebel angels wrought in their all-consuming pride.
But now that it has actually come— manifest, inescapable, real—there don’t seem to be words that can describe its horror sufficiently to halt it. May God have mercy on us, for our modern Dr. Moreaus—our proud bio-technicians, our most advanced genetic scientists—have already announced that they will have no mercy.
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    *The Island of Dr. Moreau by  H.G. Wells
Synopsis: Prendrick, a survivor of a shipwreck, is picked up by a schooner bound for Noble's Isle. On the island, Prendrick encounters the Beast People, roughly human but with animalistic traits. It turns out that Dr. Moreau, a scientist who came to the island years before, has been developing animals into humans with the help of his assistant Montgomery. When Moreau is killed, the Beast People revert and their world becomes utterly chaotic. Prendrick, while imagining himself to remain a cut above the Beast People, becomes somewhat bestial himself. He is rescued from the island, but cannot shake off the perverse vision of the Beast People as he continues his life among men.
    **The humanitarian Dr. Henry Jekyll becomes obsessed with separating the good from the evil in every man and creates a drug that releases in himself the demonically evil Mr. Hyde.

    During the last meeting of the Sacred Synod of our Church (July 15/28, 2000), the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

    “In view of the courageous and outstanding confession of the Orthodox Faith made time and again in both sermons and writings by Metropolitan Philaret of New York of blessed memory, and in view of  God’s divine confirmation of the sanctity of his life and confession of faith through the manifestation of his incorrupt relics, the Sacred Synod resolves that this twentieth century beacon of Orthodoxy be recognized as being among the saints. Moreover, the Holy Synod commissions the Very Reverend Protopresbyter Victor Melehov of the Church of the Holy Resurrection, Worcester, Massachusetts, to prepare for the glorification of the blessed Metropolitan Philaret in May 20 of 2001.”

    We should all start making plans from now to be at the “Glorification.”

    All these years,  35 in fact, I had longed to visit the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, the Holy Nativity Convent, and our parishes on the East Coast, but it never seemed to be God’s Will . Thus, when the letter arrived from Metropolitan Ephraim regarding the Boston Clergy-Laity Conference, I felt this would be a perfect time at last to fulfill my small pilgrimage. With Father Neketas’ blessing and  my husband’s too, the trip to Boston became a reality. We arrived quite late in the evening as we had experienced some plane delays. In fact, we called and warned the convent,  but the  Mothers said not to worry — they would light candles so we would  be able to get there. Sure enough, within an hour we were flying into Boston. Our dear Mother Seraphima greeted us at the airport. We were taken to the convent and greeted with hugs and kisses by all the sisters who had made their six-month rotation through our Convent of the Meeting of the Lord, in Stanwood, WA. It was such a joyous reunion!

    Words cannot possibly express how I felt entering the convent and seeing it for the first time. The beauty and solemnity of the convent, the church and the iconography left me in awe. Of particular beauty was the replica of the Cave of the Nativity of  Our Savior  on the left side of the church. It was a fireplace that has been covered in marble, the identical marble that is in the Nativity Cave in Bethlehem.

    The next morning, we attended liturgy at the convent, and  left for St. Anna’s in Roslindale, and  the Laity Conference. It began at 10 a.m. with a blessing from Metropolitan Ephraim and instructions from Dr. Edward Marsh, a retired pediatrician who served as conference moderator. We were then assigned  to  “think tanks” to discuss the issues facing our diocese and parishes.

    After the conference ended,  dinner,  prepared by the women of St. Anna’s and St. Mark’s, was  served by Presbytera Victoria Fleser and Father John Fleser. Then Father John drove us to the new St. Philaret Diocese House for a tour. We were impressed by the size, the space, the organization of the offices, and the conference room. It is a much-needed asset for our diocese.

    Again, we were on our way, this time to  vespers at St. Mark of Ephesus (which is next door to St. Anna’s), and then back to the convent to attend a beautiful and compunctionate vigil service.

     The next morning, we attended St. Mark of Ephesus for the  Hierarchial Liturgy, which began at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m. Father Christos, of St. Mark’s, has done a wonderful job of teaching  Byzantine-style  chant to  young men of the parish. Eight chanted the service in English, Greek, and Slavonic.

    The concelebration of some 30 of our diocesan priests was something to behold. And in the middle of all this was our Elder Father Panteleimon. It is hard to believe that the Elder and our own Father Neketas were our “pioneers” and without their confession of faith, we would never have become the “mouse that roared.”

    Back at the convent, we walked through the beautiful grounds, stopping to venerate the icons that are in various quiet places in the gardens. We then went to the monastery, which is only a twenty-minute walk from the convent. I could hardly wait to see the monastery.and  I cannot possibly describe my feelings as we walked up the path, passed the wellspring, and  entered  the abbey. If I were a child, I would say that I had entered a castle.

    The Abbot, Father Issac, welcomed us.

    Father Nicholas (nee Rodion) gave us a tour of the monastery, including the workshops, and the beautiful grounds. Along with the tour we also got a personal history lesson regarding several of the beautiful original icons. A special highlight was seeing our own Dietrich, a young man who attended St. Nectarios Parish many years ago, and who went to the monastery and became Father Romanos. He told us that he was to be tonsured the following week, and since then we learned that he was tonsured Boniface.

    As we were speaking, the bells began to chime. The Elder explained  that  first the Simandron depicts Noah gathering the animals, and then a set of bells rings for the Prophets. A heavy gong rang 33 times depicting the years of Christ’s life, and finally light chimes represented  the angels. It was the calling to services.

    Before we left that evening, the Elder informed us that he would be going up to the Skete in Maine on Monday.  He said he expected us to come for a visit to the Skete on Tuesday and that he would be preparing a luncheon for us. Thus on Tuesday morning, the mothers along with Mother Seraphima, took us on a scenic drive to Maine where we saw the New England fall foliage and small cozy New England towns that make up the beautiful Atlantic Coast.

    Upon arrival at the Skete, we found  the Elder bustling in the kitchen, wearing a blue apron. Of course, he refused our offer of help, so we took the opportunity to walk down to the water’s edge and enjoy the scenery. Mother Seraphima gave us a tour of   the Skete,  including  it’s lovely chapel on the top floor, and the beautiful Icons. Lunch was served,and what a lunch it was! Sadly, our day came to an eend, and as we were leaving, the Elder, wrapped in a shawl and with his apron still on, came out to see us off.   As we pulled out of the driveway, the Elder gave us his blessing and bowed. His presence was framed in the blue of the ocean behind him. It was truly a picture and one I will not soon forget.

    All too soon it was Wednesday, and our day of departure had come. The Mothers were scurrying around all morning wrapping this and boxing that to send to the convent in Stanwood, and to various others Seattleites. We had traveled to Boston with as few suitcases as possible and we were now leaving with our suitcases bulging, boxes to be checked, a carry-on that took two of us to heft through the airports, and several starts of geraniums from the Holy Land. It was so difficult saying goodbye to all the mothers who by now had gathered on the front porch. They came from all the parts of the convent, the candle room, the sewing rooms, the book-binding room and the kitchen to stand on the front porch and wave. How does one willingly leave a place of peace, serenity, and liturgical beauty. It was not easy. Glory be to God for all things!

    St. Demetrios Parish of Pomona, CA, will host an Orthodox mini-conference February 16-18, covering a wide-range of subjects, including “Attractions of the new Age,” “ Parenting and Parental Authority” and “Living an Orthodox Life in a non-Orthodox World.”

    Invited conference guests include Metropolitans Ephraim and  Makarios, Bishop Moses and Frs. Panagiotis Carras of St. Nektarios Parish of Toronto and Nicodemas Gayle of St. Seraphim of Sarov Parish of  Richmond, VA.

    There is no charge to attend the conference, and activities are being planned for children, so parents are urged to bring children. Some free housing also is available for conference-goers.

    For additional information, telephone Nectari Liberis at 1-714-964-5453, or E-mail for information at sdc@socal.rr.com.