Presbyter Neketas S. Palassis, Editor

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 0412-260) is published biweekly except the first two weeks of August by St. Nectarios American Orthodox Church, 10300 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, Washington. Periodical postage paid at Seattle, Washington. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to. ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS, 10300 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, Washington 98133-9410.

Epistle: Ephesians 4:1-7.   Gospel: Luke 18:18-27.; Tone:  Pl. IV.

25th Sunday after Pentecost. Great-martyr James the Persian; St. Palladius of Thessalonica; Commemoration of the miracle of the Weeping Icon “Of the Sign” at Novgorod in 1170; Kursk-Root and Abalek Icons of the Theotokos “Of the Sign;” St. James, bishop and Wonderworker of Rostov; St. Romanus the Wonderworker of Cilicia; Opening of the relics of St. Vsevolod (Gabriel) of Pskov; St. Pinuphrius of Egypt; St. Nathaniel of Nitria; St. Diodorus, abbot of Yuriev Monastery (Solovki); St. Congar, bishop of Somerset; St. Fergus, bishop of Glamis.

    The man who during his whole life loves the conversation of this yoke-mate fasting is a friend of chastity. Just as the satisfaction of the belly is the source of all evils, so fasting, vigil, and wakefulness in God’s service . . . crucify the body throughout the day and night, and are God’s holy pathway and the foundation of every virtue. Fasting is the champion of every virtue, the beginning of the struggle, the crown of the abstinent, the beauty of virginity and sanctity, the resplendence of chastity, the commencement of the path of Christianity, the mother of prayer, the well-spring of sobriety and prudence, the teacher of stillness, and the precursor of all good works. Just as the enjoyment of light is coupled with healthy eyes, so desire for prayer accompanies fasting that is practised with discernment. (St. Isaac of Syria, Homily Thirty-Seven)

    Thus does one of the Church’s pre-eminent authorities on the spiritual life speak of the God-given discipline of holy fasting, my beloved Orthodox Christians.

    This universal practice—taught to us by Our Saviour, the Saints of both the Old and New Testaments, and the countless millions of God’s holy men and women, and the unnumbered millions of Christians of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church down through the ages—this practice trains us and makes us true athletes of Christ.

    Once when Saint Seraphim of Sarov was approached by a mother who sought the Saint’s counsel on choosing the best spouse for her daughter, the Saint advised her, “Make sure that your daughter’s future husband keeps the holy fasts.” At this point, one might reasonably ask: “What does fasting have to do with finding a good husband or wife?” When a young woman is looking for a mate, her usual concerns are that he be a gentle person, a good provider for his family, handsome, etc. Likewise, when a young man is looking for a wife, he is looking for a woman that is a good companion, beautiful, intelligent, and so on. Indeed, one might say, what an odd piece of advice the hermit of Sarov gave the mother! What person takes such habits as fasting or prayer into consideration when looking for a spouse?

    And yet, the married lives of our young people would be far happier here on earth, and their attainment of life everlasting in God’s Heavenly Kingdom would be far more certain, if they took Saint Seraphim’s words seriously to heart.

    Why so? If a young person were to look for the virtue of fasting in their future spouse, they would find many treasures. They would, for example, find a person who is more conscious of the spiritual life, less selfish, more temperate and moderate, less prone to anger with others, more reproachful of self, more open to accepting spiritual correction, less arrogant, less stubborn, more patient. As Saint Isaac of Syria says, “No one has ever seen a discerning faster enslaved by evil desires” (Homily 37).

    Imagine how much more blessed the lives of our Orthodox Christian couples would be if the words of Saint Seraphim were taken seriously! What a boon to themselves, what a blessed heritage to their children! What a benefit to society in general!

    Again, as Saint Isaac of Syria teaches us:

Fasting with discernment is a spacious mansion for every good thing; but he who neglects fasting makes every good waver. For fasting was the commandment that was given to our nature in the beginning to protect it with respect to the tasting of food, and in this point the progenitor of our nature fell. There, however, where the first defeat was suffered, the ascetic strugglers make their beginning in the fear of God as they start to keep His laws. (Homily 37)

    With these sentiments, therefore, and with this spiritual understanding, my beloved, let us enter with gratitude and joy into the holy season of the Great Fast, with the words of Saint Theodore the Studite on our lips and in our hearts:

   "Come, O ye faithful, eagerly laying hold of the weapon of the fast as it were a shield, let us turn away every device of the enemy’s deception. Let us not be enticed by the pleasures of the passions, nor let us fear the fire of temptations; for thereby Christ, the Friend of man, shall crown us with the prizes of patience." (Sticheron of Vespers, Monday of the First Week of the Fast)

 Your fervent suppliant unto God,
 

+ Ephraim, Metropolitan of Boston

Great Lent 2001
Protocol Number 1920

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    Back in 1849, when the organized Protestants of Massachusetts debated whether or not to support the public school movement, which was then being strongly promoted by the Unitarians, they decided in favor of support, but with some very thoughtful reservations.

    "The benefits of this system, in offering instruction to all, are so many and so great that its religious deficiencies -- especially since they can be otherwise supplied -- do not seem to be a sufficient reason for abandoning it, and adopting in place of it a system of denominational parochial schools," they wrote.

    "If after a full and faithful experiment, it should at last be seen that fidelity to the religious interests of our children forbids a further patronage of the system, we can unite with the Evangelical Christians in the establishment of private schools, in which more full doctrinal religious instruction may be possible."
No one can doubt that for the last 150 years the public schools have had that full and faithful experiment, and that the spiritual effect on Christian children has been disastrous. In several schools around the country, Christian children have even been murdered by fellow students possessed by satanic beliefs. How much worse can it get?

    In fact, during the last 20 years, thousands of Christian parents, without knowledge of the debates that took place in 1849, have removed their children from the public schools and have either placed them in private Christian schools or are home-schooling them. They have done this despite the fact that many well-known Christian leaders have not yet sounded the alarm and, in many instances, have urged Christians to stay in the public schools and work to reform them.

    But the simple fact is that the present government education system has as its foundation an anti-Christian philosophy known as Secular Humanism. All one has to do to confirm this is read the two Humanist Manifestos. The first, written in 1933 by young Unitarian ministers, asserted that the spiritual power of orthodox religion was in decline and that it should be replaced by a rational, man-centered, non-theistic religion.

    "Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values," they wrote. "Religious humanism considers the complete realization of human personality to be the end of man's life and seeks its development and fulfillment in the here and now. ...

    "Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and direction of such associations and institutions with a view to the enhancement of human life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly religious institutions, their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities must be reconstituted as rapidly as experience allows, in order to function effectively in the modern world." In other words, humanism is the only religion in America that has as its purpose and program the reconstitution of the institutions, rituals, and ecclesiastical methods of other religions. This is an overt declaration of war against biblical religion.

    Forty years later, Humanist Manifesto II stated, "As non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. We can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. ... No deity will save us, we must save ourselves."

    In the January/February 1983 issue of The Humanist magazine, a young scholar by the name of John J. Dunphy expressed the aim of humanists in education with these very blunt words:

    "I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects that spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of educational level -- preschool day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new -- the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of "love thy neighbor" will finally be achieved."

    Mr. Dunphy did Christian parents a great service by telling them exactly what humanists want to accomplish in the public schools. Humanists are forever paying lip service in asserting the separation of church and state when it comes to keeping Christianity out of the schools. But when it comes to humanism, they are strangely silent. As a result, humanism has become the establishment religion in our schools, and no one in the federal government or the Congress has seen fit to do anything about it.

    Obviously, from a Christian point of view, the experiment of government education has been a colossal failure. In place of God, the public schools offer evolution, multiculturalism, transcendental meditation, situational ethics, drug education, death education, sex education, sensitivity training, gay studies, condoms, whole language, behaviorism, magic circles, and other humanist teachings.

    These programs are creating the new nihilists, the amoral barbarians and the followers of Satan that are devastating the lives of thousands of families. There is hardly a Christian family that has not had to cope with a child lost to drugs, promiscuity, abortion, venereal disease, and pure unadulterated devil worship.

    What will it take for the majority of Christian parents to realize that the public schools have become a spiritual danger for their children? Those Christian children who are strong in their faith still have to contend with the Satanists among the student body who may wish to harm them. The parents at Columbine could not conceive of the notion that perfectly normal American kids could become murderers, killing for the sake of pleasing Satan. That sort of stuff is supposed to belong in horror movies, not in middleclass, suburban families.

    This is something that has never happened before in America, and it is the result of a spiritual disease called moral relativism, which teaches that everyone is entitled to their beliefs, no matter how weird or anti-social, and that no one can judge anyone or anything else. That is why no one at Columbine High felt morally obligated to stop the future killers from expressing their views as wildly and openly as they wished. No one at Columbine took them seriously, because no one there believed that the pure power of evil could take hold of the lives of normal kids.

    The lesson is painfully simple: When a nation abandons moral absolutes, it opens the door to unbridled evil.

    Iconographer Andrij Maday of Cleveland, Ohio has been in Seattle since last Wednesday, March 7th to prepare and lay-out the church walls  for the installation of iconography.  In 2000, Andrij had written  the Pantocrator for the dome of our church, as well as two archangels for the back of the sanctuary. This is in addition to the previously completed  Annuncation.  His  long term goal is to execute the icons for the sanctuary, as well as the solea area of the church. Some of his finished icons can be seen on our parish web-site.

    Parishioners are contributing to an icon fund for the completion of this project. Icons yet to be donated include the following: the Communion of the Holy Apostles (within the Sanctuary), the 12 Apostles, the major feasts, and the Hierarchs for the side walls of the sanctuary. Donations are being accepted for the iconography project. Checks payable to St. Nectarios should be ear-marked "icon fund".

    About a year ago, His Eminence Metropolitan Ephraim received an urgent request from several clergymen from the Church of Uganda expressing a sincere desire to be received under his spiritual guidance. With some hesitation, His Eminence undertook a trip to Uganda to assess the situation. He was received enthusiastically and saw that the request was genuine and sincere. Thereupon he decided to receive them, thus establishing a true Orthodox presence in Africa.

    His Eminence was struck by the number of orphans for whom the church was caring. He promised to assist with whatever means he could to brighten the li ves of those unfortunate children. Upon his return the Metropolitan gave informative speeches about Uganda and showed video tapes of his trip, depicting the warmth of the faithful as well as their utter poverty. As a result a missionary society was formed to underake fund raising activities for the faithful in Uganda.

    St. Necarios parishioners have already adopted 30 orphans. Each person has pledged $20. monthly for the support of a single orphan.

    If you wish to support the Mission in Uganda you may contribute directly to the

 Ten years ago one of the last confessors of the True Orthodox Church of Russia appealed to our Synod of the True Orthodox Church of Greece. This was catacomb Hiermonk Gury of blessed memory.  Fr. Gury spent almost the entire span of the 20th century in exiles, prisons, and under severe persecutions of the communist power.

 Fr. Gury and his flock, as well as many other catacomb Christians in Russia were looking for the true Orthodox bishops, since most of the true Orthodox Bishops in Russia were martyred by the God-haters.  For many years the catacomb Christians hoped that the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad would help them to restore the Orthodox Church in Russia, but alas, after the repost of Metropolitan Philaret of blessed memory, the Synod with it’s new head, Met. Vitaly, betrayed their brothers in the Motherland and turned to union with the false Moscow Patriarchate and the other apostate churches of so called “World Orthodoxy.”

 So, Fr. Gury and his flock appealed to the True Orthodox Church of Greece.  In July 1991 Fr. Gury was consecrated as Bishop with the blessing of Archbishop Auxentius of blessed memory.

 Later the Synod of the True Church decided to open a metochion in Moscaw to help Bishop Gury.  In 1994 the metochion became an exarchate.  Fr. Victor Melehov, the priest of the Holy Resurrection Church in Worcester, was appointed as Exarch of Russia after the repose of Vladika Gury.  He has been visiting Russia twice a year since 1992, traveling to the catacomb convents and parishioners of Bishop Gury’s flock in Kazan and the parishes in Moscaw and St. Petersburg.  Fr. Victor has also organized the Russia Missionary Society to help the Russian people.

 The parish of St. Seraphim in Moscow also has a sisterhood, which in time is intended to become a true monastic community, God willing. Two members of this sisterhood, Lydia Sykorskaya and Yelena Bessonova are currently visiting with the Mothers and Sisters at our Convent here and are attending Liturgy with us today.  This evening at 7:30, following Vespers, they will be showing a video that they made, showing the history of the true Christians in Russia, from the time of the Communist Revolution to our present day; including the life and struggles of the saintly Vladika Gury. This film includes footage from 1917, with some scenes even of St. Tikhon the Patriarch and Confessor. We warmly invite all of you to attend tonight and to take this opportunity to establish ties with the faithful in Russia who are a real source of edification for us.

 The Sisterhood from Moscow will also be selling many icons and other beautiful handcrafted items that they have brought from Russia, during today’s coffee hour and after tonight’s video. The proceeds from these sales will go towards the construction of their Church and Convent which began in May 2000.

    The complete series of  The Ante-Nicene Fathers, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I and II, including Bible references and translators' footnotes. Completely corrected scanned text with parallel texts of the original edition preserved. Active searches and cut and paste facility to word processing software.
 

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