DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SHANGHAI AND SAN
FRANCISCO
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 412-260)
is published monthly by St. Nectarios American Orthodox Cathedral,
10300 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, Washington 98133-9410.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
OCW, 10300 Ashworth Ave. N., Seattle, WA. 98133-9410
Fr. Neketas S. Palassis, Editor Email: frneketas@stnectariospress.com
Telephone (206) 522-4471; (800) 643-4233 U.S. & Canada;
Fax: 206-523-0550
SEPTEMBER, 2004, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 9 (1540)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. The Consecration of Bishop Sergios
2. A Letter from Metropolitan Moses to New Calendar Friends
3. In the Know: Sexually Transmitted Diseases are Proving to be Brutal
Teachers
4. A Muslim Sect Turns Vice into a Tool Against Western Enemies
5. Americans: Your Nation Needs More Children
6. Rabbit on the Moon - A Short History of Easter
7. New Items from the Book Center
1. THE CONSECRATION OF BISHOP SERGIOS
On Sunday July 26 (ecclesiastical calendar)/August 8 (civil calendar),
2004, the Feast of Saint Hermolaos and St. Paraskeva, St. Gregory of
Sinai Monastery's Igoumenos, Archimandrite Sergios, was consecrated by
His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios and His Eminence Metropolitan Moses,
as Suffragan Bishop for the Metropolia of Seattle at the Metropolitan
Cathedral of Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis and Aegina, with the title
Bishop of Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond is the town in which our monastery
is located and where the new Bishop will continue to reside. The
consecration took place at Saint Nectarios American Orthodox Cathedral
in Seattle, Washington where Protopresbyter Neketas Palassis and Father
Ihnat Ponomarchuk of the Cathedral were our tireless and gracious
hosts. A number of clergy from the Boston Metropolia, including
Archimandrite Isaac, Igoumenos of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in
Boston, Hieromonk Theodore and Archdeacon Andrew, also of Holy
Transfiguration Monastery were there. Priests from the Metropolis of
Seattle, were Fr. Nicholas Liberas, Fr. Sergius Pelegrini and Fr.
Constantine Parr. Fr. Andrew Boroda from Minneapolis, Hieromonk
Aimilianos, from our monastery, and Deacon Christos Patitsas, from the
Pillars of Orthodoxy parish in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, were also able
to participate. Deacon Christos was a fellow pilgrim with Fr. Sergios
on the 2002 pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Faithful from all the
communities participated in the consecration which was a most joyous
event.
The consecration weekend began early for our monastery. Before
dawn on Thursday morning, August 5th, the day of the Prophet Ezekiel,
Fr Sergios, accompanied by Fathers Aimilianos, Theologos, and Moses,
set off from the monastery on the long, beautiful drive to Seattle.
Father Anthony remained at home in Loch Lomond to look after the
monastery and Father Simon flew to Seattle the next day (having just
had knee surgery, the long ride was ruled out.) The Bishop-elect and
the other fathers arrived that night at the residence of Metropolitan
Moses, where we were all to stay for the weekend. Metropolitan Moses
had laid in supplies and sleeping mats aplenty; it was a crowded but
happy gathering, and we were well looked after by our Metropolitan.
Friday Morning, Metropolitan Moses, Father Sergios and the monks drove
up to the Convent of the Meeting of the Lord to drop off produce from
our monastery vegetable garden and olive oil from our oil press for the
Sisters. They then drove north to Bellingham and were treated to a
memorable feast at the restaurant of Marcos Boulos, St Nektarios
parishioner. The fathers then visited the Grizzly Tools company, where
woodworking tools were purchased for the monastery woodshop. Vespers
was served that evening at the Cathedral with Fr. Sergios serving. Dr.
Andrew Tolas of the Cathedral and Psaltis John Presson of Nativity of
the Holy Theotokos Orthodox Church in Portland sang in the kliros. A
reception was held afterwards, where people were able to meet the
Bishop-elect.
The next morning we all went to the church for the celebration of the
Divine Liturgy. Fr. Sergios served his last Liturgy as a priest, with
Metropolitans Makarios and Moses in attendance. We were saddened by the
absence of our beloved Metropolitan Ephraim, who has visited our
monastery several times. His health prevented him from making the
journey from Boston to Seattle. Archdeacon Fr. Andrew, of Holy
Transfiguration, served as first Deacon, assisted by our own
Hierodeacon Aimilianos. Fr. Andrew was to provide a steady hand in
guiding the proceedings throughout the weekend's celebrations. We monks
were honored to join Fr. Sergius Pelegrini and Psaltis John Presson in
the kliros for the chanting of the Divine Liturgy. It was a beautiful
but sobering service for us of St. Gregory's Monastery, as we
understood that it would be the last liturgy Fr. Sergios would serve as
a priest, after a ministry of thirty-five years.
Following liturgy, another of several wonderful meals was served to the
attending clergy and laity by Saint Nektarios Parish. Following the
meal, the Metropolitans met with the Bishop-elect, while the Cathedral
choir, under the direction of Ruth Wolf, held a choir practice,
including choir members from Portland and the monastery, practicing the
special hymns sung for the consecration. Father Andrew oversaw the
practice and review of the upcoming services for the Clergy. Several
other tasks were attended to, including the first trying on of the
beautiful vestments and miter that had been made for Fr. Sergios by the
Sisters of Holy Nativity Convent in Boston. Subdeacon Gregory Moshnin
was a great help here, as none of us knew exactly how the vestments
were buttoned together.
That night, Vigil with Liti was served for the Resurrection and St.
Paraskeve. It was a compelling service, as hymns to the Holy
Resurrection of the Savior mingled with hymns for Holy Pentecost. The
vigil was joyous and somber and there was sense of great expectation in
the air. The next morning, the faithful greeted the chief hierarch,
Metropolitan Makarios, and escorted him into the church. The Cathedral
Choir, under the direction of Ruth Wolf, was joined by the Sisters of
the Convent of the Meeting of the Lord and sang in north kliros. The
choir of the Nativity of the Theotokos Orthodox Church of Portland,
Oregon, directed by John Presson, was joined by us monks of St.
Gregory's in the south kliros. After Metropolitan Makarios had been
vested, Metropolitan Moses and the assembled Clergy came out from the
Holy Sanctuary and took their places, solemnly assembled on either side
of Metropolitan Makarios. Archdeacon Andrew and Deacon Christos brought
Fr. Sergios out through the Beautiful Gates and placed him before the
chief Hierarch.
At the questioning of the two Metropolitans, the candidate read the
three Confessions of Faith. We were all struck by many things,
particularly the timelessness of the living tradition of the church as
we saw the two bishops carefully questioning the candidate in this way,
and the candidate's proclamation in a loud voice of the sacred
doctrines of the church.
The first confession is the Symbol of Faith, the Nicene Creed itself:
" I believe in one God , the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth, and of all things visible and invisible..."
The second Confession reveals to us "more particularly...the properties
of the Three Hypostases of the ineffable Godhead and the Incarnation of
the Son and Word of God":
"... I believe that One of the same super-substantial and life-creating
Trinity, the Only-begotten Word, came down from Heaven, for us men, and
for our salvation, and was incarnate of the Virgin May by the Holy
Spirit, and was made man; that is to say, was made perfect man, yet
remaining God, and in no wise changing his divine essence by his
participation in the flesh, neither being transmuted into anything
else: but without mutation assuming man's nature, He therein endured
suffering and death, being free in His divine nature from every
suffering."
In the third Confession, the candidate reveals what he confesses
concerning the Canons and Traditions of the Church:
" In this my confession of the holy Faith, I promise to observe the
Canons of the holy Apostles, and of the Seven Ecumenical councils, and
of the holy Local Councils, the traditions of the Church, and the
decrees, order and rulings of the Holy Fathers. And all things
whatsoever they have accepted I also accept; and whatsoever things they
have rejected those also do I reject. "
The Divine Liturgy and consecration continued and later, after the
Thrice-Holy Hymn, Metropolitan Moses and Archimandrite Isaac led the
Bishop-elect around the Holy Altar Table to the chanting of hymns, and
the two Metropolitans prayed and laid their hands on our Abbot,
consecrating him to be a Bishop. He was vested in the episcopal
vestments while the choir and people sang, at each vesting: "Axios!" We
then sang the acclamation to the new Bishop of Loch Lomond, and
continued the celebration of the Divine Liturgy with the reading of the
Epistle.
After the Gospel Reading, Bishop Sergios preached on praying for one
another, and how we must never falter in our prayers, our Savior
himself providing the example of prayer and humility for which we- and
particularly Bishops - must strive.
When the Divine Liturgy was finished Metropolitan Makarios presented
Bishop Sergios with the pastoral staff:
"Receive this staff that thou mayest shepherd the flock of Christ
entrusted unto thee..."
The morning concluded with the taking of many pictures. We were very
moved by the "family photo" of the new Bishop with his monks and the
parishioners who attend services at the monastery. They had all come
from such a great distance, some of the families travelling with many
children.
The celebration continued with a banquet at the Seattle Yacht Club. We
all enjoyed the feast, overlooking the sparkling sea under a clear blue
sky. At the conclusion of the meal, the Honorable Les Ponomarchuk, the
eloquent master of ceremonies for the banquet and Chancellor of the
Seatle Metropolis introduced the speakers, beginning with the Dean of
the Cathedral, Protopresbyter Neketas Palassis.
Father Neketas told us to rejoice in the day that the Lord has made.
Speaking to Bishop Sergios, he said, "We all know that you would have
wanted someone else to assume this Episcopal responsibility, but we
would have been distraught had you not accepted it...You have followed
Our Lord's example, who said in the garden of Gathsemene, "Not my will,
but Thy will be done."" Father Neketas also thanked the parish
committee, who worked so tirelessly with elaborate preparations for the
event, which went so smoothly and with such dignity.
Metropolitan Moses spoke next, who extended his heartfelt
thanks to everyone, and reminded us of the hymns we had just sung. "We
celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and for this reason we chanted
hymns from the service for Holy Pentecost during the vigil last night:
We celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit and the time of the
promise and the fulfillment of hope. How great is this mystery it is
both exceeding great and most venerable, wherefore, we all cry to thee,
O Creator of all, O Lord, Glory be to Thee. (sticheron from the Vigil
for the feast of Pentecost.)
On this day we celebrate the legacy of the saints. In a certain sense
this is a triumph of Orthodoxy and a guarantee that we may continue in
our efforts to cultivate the spiritual life...We carry the legacy of
the saints that were teachers of our own instructors: St Philaret, the
elder Joseph, the elder Ieronymos, and many others.
...I ask you all to pray that God grant an outpouring of Grace for our
new Bishop that he will carry on and walk in the paths of the saints."
Metropolitan Ephraim, recovering from a stroke and unable to
make the trip west, had sent a letter to Bishop Sergios which was read
by Judge Ponomarchuk. In it he sent his blessing and words of
encouragement: "May God give you strength and patience, and a good
sense of humor, (which you already have, but will need more of now),
and above all, may He give you a thorough fear of God, and earnest love
for Him."
The next speaker was, Metropolitan Makarios of Toronto. "This
indeed is a joyous occasion; it is a mystery because it is one of the
Mysteries of the Church (ordination). The Orthodox Church keeps
Apostolic succession. Today as we were reading those prayers and
celebrating that Liturgy, my thoughts went to our predecessors, and I
say this in all humility, to the Apostles, the Disciples, who went out
into the ecumeni to preach, to endure all things. I was especially
thinking of Saint Paul, who is mentioned in the prayer that we read at
the time of consecration. Saint Paul, who traveled, who endured much,
who was an apostle to the nations, and that injunction stands today.
Just as those disciples became apostles on the day of Pentecost, it
stands today to go forth and to teach, and baptize all nations. Today
we have participated in that mystery, in that process, that succession,
because through the prayer, the invoking of the descent of the Holy
Spirit Archimandrite Sergios became Bishop Sergios, indeed a mystery.
And these are the economies of God, Who loves us- as we know, more than
we are able to realize- and provides for us in all ways, and many times
mysteriously. How we have come together from various ethnicities, from
all different parts of North America on this day, is a mystery. It is
the providence of God; it is an expression of the love of God for His
people. In the prayers of Saint Basil, we are a peculiar nation; we are
the sons of adoption; we are a royal priesthood and indeed, on
occasions like today, and that Mystery which took place today, at Saint
Nektarios Cathedral, it is a reality. It is not a theory; it is not
just history, it is not just some occasion noted on the calendar, it is
a reality which all of us experience through the mercy of God.
We offer to our beloved hierarch and brother in Christ congratulations,
best wishes that God keep him, preserve him steadfast in the faith,
that he persevere through all the trials that may come upon him."
Bishop Sergios was the last speaker. He thanked everyone present, and
spoke of his happiness to be in Seattle, among those assembled together
by God. He spoke of the need for education in the Church, and the need
for the training of candidates for the diaconate and priesthood. He
asked everybody to join him in the sacrifices we all must make for the
good of the Church, and continued with a request for everyone's
prayers: "Please pray for me. In addition to being given a staff to
lean on, I know that I lean on your prayers more than anything else,
because it is through prayer, as we saw in the Gospel this morning,
that God works miracles."
Although no monk ever wants to assume the responsibilities of a Bishop,
neither does he want to become an example of disobedience. In his
remarks Bishop Sergios described the event as a difficult transition
for him and for his community, but one to which the Church's hierarchs
called them and to which they attempted and would continue to attempt
to respond with good will and in a good heart. The Holy Synod,
recognizing the dearth of clergy in its Seattle Metropolia (which
covers the US west of the Mississippi) was careful to stress that
Bishop Sergios' relationship to St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery would
not be altered and that every care would be exercised to not burden the
ongoing life and work of our Brotherhood, to enable him to continue to
serve the monastery as its Igoumenos, for which Bishop Sergios
expressed our thanks.
After a brief rest, we returned to the Cathedral for Great
Vespers for the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon. Liturgy was
celebrated the following morning, after which we enjoyed a festal meal.
Among those getting the blessing of the new Bishop was Elizabeth Eaton,
from Seattle, living now in Germany, who is a singer and vocal trainer.
She and Bishop Sergios began discussing singing in church choirs, and
before this conversation went very far, the monks of the
monastery-never ones to pass up the possibility of a voice lesson- were
back in church, receiving valuable and useful vocal instruction from
Elizabeth.
We then bade farewell to our dear Fathers and friends in
Seattle, and in particular to the organizers, who seemed to be just
about everywhere throughout the weekend, keeping things moving and
tending to the many details of an event such as this that demand so
much attention and care. Fr. Simon was dropped off at the airport, and
flew back to California, arriving home a day before the Bishop and the
other Fathers. Fr. Andrew Boroda and his sons, Elias and Luke drove
from Seattle to the monastery and likewise arrived before the Bishop
and were on hand to receive him. In the evening of Tuesday, August
10th, (Martyrs Callinicus and Theodota), we were alerted via cell phone
by Fr. Moses that the episcopal party was on its way up the mountain.
And so with lighted lamps, with bread and salt, and with the ringing of
the monastery bells the newly-consecrated Bishop of Loch Lomond was
welcomed home to his See.
And glory to God for all things.
Simon, Monk, Secretary to the Senior Council, St. Gregory of Sinai
Monastery
2. A Letter from Metropolitan Moses to New Calendar Friends.
June 19/July 2, 2004
Saint John of San Francisco
Beloved of God D,
Greetings in the Lord!
I write to you to ask you a favor. As an Orthodox Christian bishop,
I ask you to make special prayers for your New Calendar friends. This
is an age of much confusion and one of the problems we have today is
that too many good people are on the wrong side. What am I referring
to? Many are confused and do not understand the importance of truth.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to Saint Photini, the Samaritan woman at
the well, as recorded in the Gospel of Saint John, and proclaimed that
"God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth" (John 4:24). It is recorded later, in the same Gospel,
"Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice" (John 18:37).
This teaching of our Savior concerning the importance of truth
seems quite clear, yet, what do we see today? From December 1965 when
Constantinople unilaterally lifted the 1054 Anathema against an
unrepentant Rome, Constantinople, the Church of Greece and the Greek
Archdiocese in North America have been under a shadow of falsehood. An
anathema is simply a decree of the Church of Christ against a false
teaching making it clear that anyone who embraces this false teaching
has abandoned "the faith once delivered to the saints." One cannot
fight against the revelation of God and declare a falsehood as
something true. At the time of this sad event, the canonist of the new
calendar Greek Archdiocese of North and South America, Reverend
Theodore T. Thalassinos, wrote: "The removal of the mutual
excommunication between the two Churches restores canonical relations
between Rome and New Rome. This restoration is a canonical necessity,
since there is no possible third situation between ecclesiastical
communion and its negation: ecclesiastical excommunication."
From this point on there have been only greater betrayals of
Orthodoxy on the part of the hierarchy of the "New Calendar" church.
The only conclusion that one can come to is that the laity of the Greek
Archdiocese are unwitting members of a Uniate church, a
pseudo-orthodox/Papist church. The issue here is not politics, it is
falsehood and heresy. What are we to do? Can we ignore the teachings of
our Savior? The Holy Ecumenical Councils ordain that we take a stand
for the truth by breaking off sacramental communion from those who
knowingly and unknowingly are in heresy. It is by this act that the
truth is made manifest for those who seek it.
I know that your friends are good people because you are
attracted to them as worthy friends. You are in a unique position to
love them not merely with a passing friendship, but with a love unto
salvation. Our Savior said unto His disciples that "no one having
lighted a lamp, puts it in a secret place, nor under a bushel, but on
the lamp-stand, that those coming in may behold the light." So you see,
the light of truth is important. Saint Photios the Great once wrote
that the greatest act of love is to speak the truth. -Yet there is a
proper time and place for this....
When our Savior spoke of the last times in chapter 18 of the Gospel of
Saint Luke, He said "when the Son of Man comes, will He find the
faith?' I mentioned earlier that the problem now a days is that there
are too many good people on the wrong side. What can make the
difference is when good people like you influence in a positive way
good people like your friends.
In the love of our Savior,
+Metropolitan Moses
3. IN THE KNOW: SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES ARE PROVING TO BE
BRUTAL TEACHERS
I couldn't figure out why the BOSTON GLOBE would sound Paul
Revere's alarm over a new treatment-resistant strain of gonorrhea, when
that seems so damning of modern lifestyles. By the eighth paragraph I
understood: The Globe's take is that Gov. Mitt Romney's government is
the culprit for reducing the health department's budget for the testing
of sexually transmitted diseases. Still, whether from good motives or
bad (as in Philippians 1:15-18), it's good to have the nation's
politically correct epidemic finally ousted.
Satan has proved as good as his word. He once said of forbidden fruit,
"When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil," and three chapters into the Bible we have all
kinds of knowing we didn't have before: knowledge of misery, fear,
alienation, and death.
Next up, knowledge of rapacious venereal disease. My
high-school days in the '60s seem irenic by contrast. We knew only of
simple gonorrhea and syphilis (a shot of penicillin would make you
right as rain), and only one out of 32 of your classmates had an STD.
In 1983 it jumped to one in 18; in 1996, to one in four. And with over
30 new STDs today, 30 percent of them incurable, that's a lot of
polysyllables to know. (Amaze your friends by dropping words like
condyloma acuminatum.)
But knowing is a political business in this world. Meg Meeker,
in Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids, writes that one in five
Americans over the age of 12 has genital herpes. (Reread that statistic
and let it hit you.) Why the silence? "I think honestly, a lot of
teachers and physicians are intimidated by Hollywood and by businesses
which seem to have taken over our kids and are selling sex," Dr. Meeker
says. This from a woman who used to hand out Depo-Provera like Altoids
at her women's college until she started seeing kids come back to her
office with cervical cancer and herpes.
I checked out the l0th-grade health curriculum in our district, and
page 21 of a 72-page syllabus is the entire year's coverage of all
known venereal diseases. Trendy AIDS gets a page to itself (though one
in 250 Americans has AIDS, while one in five has a viral STD). But
while you were all feeling sorry (or smug) over Africa's HIV woes,
"More women died in 1997 in this country of cancer-related illness due
to [human papillomavirus, aka HPV, aka 'genital warts'] than died of
AIDS," according to Pam Stenzel, founder of Enlighten Communications,
Inc., who tells teens that unwanted pregnancy isn't their biggest
problem.
A post-Eden knowledge sampling: Chlamydia, a bacteria with no symptoms
in 90 percent of the teens who carry it. It brings a 25 percent chance
of lifelong sterility the first time you get it, a 50 percent chance on
the second, and a good chance of never having children on the third.
HPV: "Even mild HPV infections ... may decrease fertility simply by
preventing penetration of the sperm into the cervical canal" (Joe
Glickman, M.D.). Infertility has risen more than 500 percent in the
1990s, says Ms. Stenzel. Any connection? (And for those who do manage
to conceive, neonatologist Karen Fritz of Philadelphia can fill you in
on the manifold effects of STDs on newborns-a whole branch of knowledge
in itself.) Genital herpes is a virus. Read: NO CURE. Undaunted,
pharmaceutical companies with questionable ads featuring smiling faces
and couples running on beaches are lining up to reduce your pain,
burning, and itching during the "prodrome" stage. A sample: "If you are
finding your warts or out-breaks are causing you anxiety, you are not
alone. As many as 20 million Americans carry the herpes virus and 40
million have the genital wart virus. Our products can help you rid
yourself of these." Message: Buy "Oxi-Med "or "ViraDerm," and don't
worry.
"Warts No More" (for genital warts) sounded so good in the ad that I
almost wanted to contract HPV: "Warts No More is an all natural
certified organic treatment proven to eliminate warts without scarring
or surgery . . . made from 100 percent pure and natural essential oils
and plant extracts, grown organically in remote regions high in the
North American mountains."
I know a young lady who thinks she just had a thorough STD
checkup. She didn't. Detection for HPV (the most common and most
contagious of the lot, and a disease that laughs at condoms and the
Clintonian notion that oral sex isn't sex) involves a very expensive
blood test, and most clinics don't do it.
Thank you, Satan, for more knowledge than we ever cared to have.
Crime as redemption
Gene Edward Veith, Cultural Editor
[World, June 19, 2004]
4. A MUSLIM SECT TURNS VICE INTO A TOOL
AGAINST WESTERN ENEMIES
Investigators of the 3/11 terrorist attack on Spain have found
that the leader of the radical Islamic cell was a drug dealer who
traded a load of hashish for the explosives that killed 191 people.
Spanish authorities are finding that the al-Qaeda-related terrorists
are also tangled up in organized crime, the underworld of robbery,
counterfeiting, fraud, drug dealing, and murder.
How can that be? A Muslim who steals is to have his hand cut
off. Islam forbids the use of drugs. How can there be an alliance
between fundamentalist Islam and organized crime?
The answer, reports Sebastian Rotella of the Los Angeles Times, is the
existence of a particular Islamic sect: the Takfirs. Nearly all of
today's radical Islamic groups trace their lineage to the Muslim
Brotherhood, which was founded in the 1960s. One offshoot of the Muslim
Brotherhood was an order called the Takfir wal Hijra. The name means
"Excommunication and Exile." Outwardly, members appear to be
excommunicated from Islam, conforming to Western ways and even Western
vices. But inwardly, they are devout Muslims in exile in a strange
land. This split between their outward behavior and their inner piety
is justified, according to Takfir theology, as a tactic of jihad.
"Takfiris accept drinking and vice and encourage short hair,
fashionable dress, and an outwardly Western lifestyle as a holy
warrior's disguise against detection," explains Mr. Rotella. "In the
Takfir creed of outward conformity and internal exile, crime is a means
of waging war against the West."
The 9/11 terrorists fit the Takfir profile: They were
clean-cut, wore Western clothing, and spent the days before their
"martyrdom" drinking in strip clubs and receiving lap dances.
The biggest breeding ground for Takfiri is the underworld of Northern
Africa and Europe, with its vast underclass of Muslim immigrants. The
major center of Takfiri evangelism, if one can call it that, is prison.
Mr. Rotella quotes De Bousquet de Florian, the French intelligence
chief: "Crime that was once practiced with no trace of an Islamic
reference, once they have converted, rather naturally acquires an
objective, a justification, a religious legitimization. Because the
base of Takfir doctrine explains that crime can be committed for the
good of the cause."
Takfir is spreading beyond the European immigrant community.
Reportedly, a leader of the Mafia in Naples has converted to Islam.
According to an Italian prosecutor, he has set up an operation with
terrorists trading arms for drugs.
Criminals are human beings. They may feel plagued by guilt. A
Christian chaplain can offer them Christ's forgiveness for what they
have done and usher them into a new life in the gospel. A Takfir imam
can offer them a redemption that allows them to remain criminals. Crime
even can become a means of redemption.
According to Islam - and this is orthodox Islam, not just this
particular sect - after death a person's deeds are weighed in a
balance: Those whose evil deeds outweigh the good deeds they performed
in their lives are thrown into hell. If the good deeds outweigh the
evil deeds, the person will be accepted into paradise. But it is
impossible to know whether one's deeds are sufficient for salvation.
But those who wage jihad, holy war, against non-Muslims can
have their sins forgiven. Dying as a "martyr" while killing the enemies
of Allah is about the only way a person can be assured of going to
paradise.
For a criminal weighed down by his bad deeds, knowing that he faces
certain damnation, the gospel of jihad will appear as very good news
indeed. And he doesn't even have to change his ways. Rather, he can
feel self-righteous, even as he retains his vices, giving his life
meaning as he strikes at the infidels by stealing from them, selling
them drugs, or blowing them up.
Takfir shows how a legalistic religion can be twisted to justify sin.
It is reminiscent of the thugee, the Hindu sect that committed murder
as a sacrifice to the god Kali, from which we get the word thug. Takfir
may have a direct relationship to the hashishiyyin, the Muslim sect
that would consume hashish as a prelude to the murder of enemy leaders,
from which we get the word assassin.
Postmodernists, relativists, and ecumenical types who believe that all
the world's religions are essentially the same and all equally
beneficial should consider the Takfirs. Before the Takfirs get hold of
them.
5. AMERICANS: YOUR NATION NEEDS MORE CHILDREN!
The Wanderer, July 17, 2003
In an editorial published July 6, The Washington Post formally
noticed the coming birth dearth, suggesting that more immigration will
be needed if the United States expects to maintain its current level of
prosperity and social programs for the elderly, such as Social
Security.
The brief editorial opened: "Honey, I shrunk the kids" might well have
been the title of last month's National Vital Statistics report, which
shows that the U.S. birth-rate has hit a record low. The U.S.
population isn't shrinking - yet. But if current trends continue, the
country will grow increasingly reliant on immigration to bolster the
ranks of its working-age population.
Thankfully, the shrunken birthrate is largely a result of falling
numbers of teen pregnancies, which have steadily declined since the
1990s, thanks in part to public awareness campaigns. Also, the graying
of the population has contributed to the lower birthrate, as more
people live longer past the traditional years of fertility.
Nevertheless, a larger trend is unmistakable: Birthrates for women in
their peak reproductive years are down. Women are waiting longer before
having children and are having fewer when they finally do.
As a result, the U.S. birthrate has been dropping and is now just below
replacement level. That it remains among the highest in the developed
world is not much consolation: Most of the rich nations of Europe, as
well as Japan, are facing a demographic crisis be-cause of low
birthrates....
Countries with shrinking populations may stagnate economically,
intellectually, and militarily. If future generations are to carry on
the American vibrancy and dynamism, the country must be prepared to
embrace more babies, and more adults from around the world.
6. RABBIT ON THE MOON - A SHORT HISTORY OF EASTER
By Ron Westman
Based on The Easter Hare by Katharine Hillard ,The Atlantic Monthly,
May, 1890
Hillard's article reveals that Easter and its customs have
ancient and nearly universal origins, roots which were concerned with
the most basic aspects of life. Our friend the Easter Hare (or Bunny,
as you prefer) and his cart of eggs are borne of those roots. To know
how this myth became associated with Easter requires that we examine
Easter's association with a number of ancient symbologies.
LUNAR ASPECT
Easter is not really a solar festival, but rather one of the
moon. The name Easter comes to us from the Saxon Eostre (synonymous
with the phoenician Astarte), goddess of the moon. From the most
ancient times, this goddess was the measurer of time. Her name as we
know it (moon) comes from the Sanskrit mas, from ma, to measure, and
was masculine (as it was in all the Teutonic languages).
Although this seems to suggest some confusion of sex, we can assume
from the earliest mythologies that the deities were androgynous and sex
depended upon the relationship to causes, whether active or passive.
Since the measurement of time was an active process, the full moon was
considered masculine.
According to an ancient document1 the moon as measurer of our
days was chosen over the sun, since it seemed most natural to adopt a
system that harmonized both the cosmos and humanity. The most likely
choice was manifest in the cycle of the moon and the physiological
phenomenon of mother and child. The lunar month of 28 days (four weeks
of seven days each) gave 13 periods in 364 days, equivalent to the
solar year of 52 weeks; thus the method of measuring by lunar terms.
(And here we can make a connection between the female estrus and the
goddesses Eostre and Astarte.)2
How, though, do these revelations about our lunar measurer
relate to the Easter Bunny or, more appropriately, the Easter Hare?
A clue to the answer is found within the paintings and fables of
artists and storytellers of the Far East. These artists often painted
the moon with rabbits racing across its face. The Chinese, in
particular, have represented the moon as a rabbit pounding rice in a
mortar.
The rabbit's association with the moon is partly explained by two
stories. In one Buddha places him there as payment for a favor in which
Rabbit voluntarily gave himself as food for one of Buddha's hungry
friends. In another, a rabbit, with nothing else to offer a hungry,
weary Indra, jumps into a fire, cooking himself for the deity (a
timeless example of humankind's self-serving fables). Out of gratitude,
Indra placed the rabbit in the moon.
If we consider the phases of the moon in its waxing
(masculine) and waning (feminine), and accept the notion that the moon
at full intensity is the Destroyer of Darkness or, as Hillard says,
"sign of new life and the messenger of immortality," we can appreciate
the honored position to which the rabbit has ascended.
A number of explanations account for this hare/moon symbiosis.
One is that the hare is nocturnal and feeds by night; another is that
the hare's gestation period is one month long. And, it was believed
that a rabbit could change its sexólike the moon. Other stories
in
Sanskrit and Hindu connect the rabbit to the spots on the moon (related
to the story above); to stories of hares dwelling upon the shores of
the moon; and as mortal enemy of the lion (sun).
EGYPTIAN EYE OPENER
A more important connection can be found exclusively within the
hare, who unlike the rabbit is born with his eyes open. The Egyptians
called the hare Un, which meant open, to open, the opener. Un also
meant period. Thus the rabbit became a symbol for periodicity in both
the lunar and human sense of the word. The hare as "opener" symbolized
the new year at Easter; and fertility and the beginning of new life
within the young.
Now that we've made the connection of the Easter Hare to the
moon and procreation symbolism we can see his connection to the Easter
egg, which also has ancient but more obvious symbolic roots. However,
the fairly recent pairing of the hare and egg is largely a product of
artistic license and image appropriation, introduced to this country
just before the turn of the century by European confectioners. Adhering
to common older customs they used the celebrated Easter eggs to make
cakes in the image of hares and gave them to the children.
LOSS OF MYTH
Today, there is little, if any, cultural awareness as to the
origins of popular myths such as the Easter Bunny. This lack is due to
the proliferation of imagery, caused by the mechanization of the image
making processes and to the marketplace use of popular imagery to sell
products. The ancestors of our Easter Bunny and a host of other
traditional symbols are now just so much flotsam and jetsam, awash in a
sea of imagistic excess.
Entering another spring, another Easter, we might reflect on
this loss, since our myths developed out of a real need to pass along
information and instruction regarding the essential inner realities of
human life.
Notes
1. Regarding its Christian heritage: in 325 A.D. it was decreed
by the council of Nice that "after that date, Easter was to fall upon
the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal
equinox; and if said full moon fell on a Sunday, then Easter should be
the Sunday after."
2. Vol. I. p. 389.
7. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
Click here to
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(GMC) GREEK MONASTERY
COOKERY: Healthy Cooking of the Eastern Orthodox Monastics by
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(CMC) THE COAT OF MANY
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(DA8) DIVINE ASCENT issue #8.Articles on Monasticism in
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articles on the Monastery of St. John of S. F., the Jesus Prayer by St.
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(TM55) MUSIC OF
BYZANTIUM by Capella Romana. A collection of music from 1261 to 1557
recorded and produced to accompany the 2004 Metropolitan Museum of Art
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(SBI) STUDYING
BYZANTINE ICONOGRAPHY by Marisa Decastro. Translated from Greek. An
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the symbolism, techniques and meaning of icons. 63pp Paper e$17.00