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OCTOBER 2005, Vol. XXXIX, No. 1553
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. MEDIA UTTERS NONSENSE, WON'T CALL ENEMY OUT
2. I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH
3. THE ECONOMY OF OUR SALVATION
4. DONATIONS
5. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
Do not allow another to do the work that is rightly yours, so that
the reward as well may not be taken from you and given to another and
he be enriched with your wealth while you are put to shame.
St. Basil the Great
1. MEDIA UTTERS NONSENSE, WON'T CALL ENEMY OUT
October 16, 2005
BY MARK STEYN CHICAGO SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
From Thursday's New York Times:
''Nalchik, Russia -- Insurgents launched a series of raids today in
this southern Russian city, striking the area's main airport and
several police and security buildings in large-scale, daytime attacks
that left at least 85 people dead.''
"Insurgents," eh?
From Agence France Presse:
"Nalchik, Russia: More than 60 people were killed as scores of
militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and government
buildings . . ."
"Militants," you say?
From the Scotsman:
"Rebel forces battled Russian troops for control of a provincial
capital in the Caucasus yesterday . . ."
"Rebel forces,'' huh?
From Toronto's Globe & Mail:
"Nalchik, Russia -- Scores of rebels launched simultaneous attacks on
police and government buildings . . ."
"Rebels," by the score. But why were they rebelling? What were they
insurging over? You had to pick up the Globe & Mail's rival, the
Toronto Star, to read exactly the same Associated Press dispatch but
with one subtle difference:
''Nalchik, Russia -- Scores of Islamic militants launched
simultaneous attacks on police and government buildings . . ."
Ah, "Islamic militants." So that's what the rebels were insurging over.
In the geopolitical Hogwart's, Islamic "militants" are the new
Voldemort, the enemy whose name it's best never to utter. In fairness
to the New York Times, they did use the I-word in paragraph seven. And
Agence France Presse got around to mentioning Islam in paragraph 22.
And NPR's "All Things Considered" had one of those bland interviews
between one of its unperturbable anchorettes and some Russian
geopolitical academic type in which they chitchatted through every
conceivable aspect of the situation and finally got around to kinda
sorta revealing the identity of the perpetrators in the very last word
of the geopolitical expert's very last sentence.
When the NPR report started, I was driving on the vast open plains of
I-91 in Vermont and reckoned, just to make things interesting, I'll add
another five miles to the speed for every minute that goes by without
mentioning Islam. But I couldn't get the needle to go above 130, and
the vibrations caused the passenger-side wing-mirror to drop off. And
then, right at the end, having conducted a perfect interview that
managed to go into great depth about everything except who these guys
were and what they were fighting over, the Russian academic dude had to
go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like "republics which
are mostly . . . Muslim." He mumbled the last word, but nevertheless
the NPR gal leapt in to thank him and move smoothly on to some poll
showing that the Dems are going to sweep the 2006 midterms because Bush
has the worst numbers since numbers were invented.
I underestimated multiculturalism. After 9/11, I assumed the internal
contradictions of the rainbow coalition would be made plain: that a
cult of "tolerance" would in the end founder against a demographic so
cheerfully upfront in their intolerance. Instead, Islamic "militants"
have become the highest repository of multicultural pieties. So you're
nice about gays and Native Americans? Big deal. Anyone can be tolerant
of the tolerant, but tolerance of intolerance gives an even more
intense frisson of pleasure to the multiculti- masochists. And so
Islamists who murder non-Muslims in pursuit of explicitly Islamic goals
are airbrushed into vague, generic "rebel forces." You can't tell the
players without a scorecard, and that's just the way the Western media
intend to keep it. If you wake up one morning and switch on the TV to
see the Empire State Building crumbling to dust, don't be surprised if
the announcer goes, "Insurging rebel militant forces today attacked key
targets in New York. In other news, the president's annual Ramadan
banquet saw celebrities dancing into the small hours to Mullah Omar And
His All-Girl Orchestra . . ."
What happened in Russia on Thursday was serious business, not just in
the death toll but in the number of key government installations that
the alleged insurging rebel militants of non-specific ideology managed
to seize with relative ease. The militantly rebellious insurgers of no
known religious affiliation have long said they want a pan-Caucasian
Islamic state from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and the carnage
they wreaked in the hitherto semi-safe-ish republic of
Kabardino-Balkaria suggests that they're more likely to spread the
conflict to other parts of the Russian Federation than Moscow is to
contain it.
Did you see that news item in Stavropolsky Meridian last October?
"Strontium, Uranium And Plutonium Found In Train To Caucasus." When a
region already regarded as a Bud's Discount Warehouse for nuclear
materials is getting sucked deeper into the maw of Islamism, why be so
sheepish about letting us know the forces at play?
The Russians couldn't hold on to Eastern Europe. They couldn't hold on
to Central Asia. Why would they fare any better with the present
so-called Russian "Federation"? The country is literally dying. It's
had a net population loss every year since 1992, one of the lowest
fertility rates in the world -- 1.2 children born per woman -- and one
of the highest abortion rates: some 70 percent of pregnancies are
terminated. Russian men now have a lower life expectancy than
Bangladeshis -- not because Bangladesh is brimming with actuarial
advantages but because, if he had four legs and hung from a tree in a
rain forest, the Russian male would be on the endangered species list.
Yet, within their present territory, there remain a few exceptions to
the grim statistics cited above, parts of Russia that retain healthy
fertility rates and healthy mortality rates. And guess what? They're
the Muslim parts. Or, as the New York Times/NPR/Agence France
Presse/Scotsman/Toronto Globe & Mail would say, they're the
insurgent rebel militant parts. Many of these Russian Muslim areas --
like Bashkortistan (and no, I didn't make that up, it's a real stan.
Check it out in the World Book Of Stans) -- are also rich in natural
resources.
If you're an energy-rich Muslim republic, what's the point of going
down the express garbage chute of history with the Russian Federation?
The Islamification of significant parts of present-day Russia is going
to be a critical factor in its death spiral.
I'm aware the very concept of "the enemy" is alien to the non-judgment
multicultural mind: There are no enemies, just friends whose grievances
we haven't yet accommodated. But the media's sensitivity police
apparently want this to be the first war we lose without even knowing
who it is we've lost to. C'mon, guys, next time something happens in
the Caucasus, why not blame the "Caucasians"? At least that way, we'll
figure it must have been right-wing buddies of Timothy McVeigh.
2. I Will Build My Church and the Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail
Against It. (Matt. 16: 18)
(Archbishop Averky, Orthodox Life, No. 3, MayJune 1961, pp. 39.)
But it becomes very frightful when representatives and leaders of
separate local churches which are part of the One True Church of
Christ, forgetting their high calling to be servants of the task of
Christ here on earth, enter into affiliation and cooperate most
friendly with the enemies of the Church and give themselves over to
complete subjection and obedience to the servants of Satan, and already
thinking not of serving Christ the Saviour, but only about pleasing
their new lords. The worst and most dangerous idea of modern times, is
the idea of reconciliation, of "coexistence" with evil. And very many
servants subjugate themselves to this idea, the servants of the Church
are not to be excluded.
But is it possible for the True Church of Christ to reconcile Herself
somehow with evil, which comes from the enemy of mankind's salvation -
the devil? Is it possible for Her to coexist with it, without carrying
on a most decisive struggle with it?
Of course not, for, according to the words of Christ the Saviour, no
one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). And it is namely for this
reason that they who broke away from the True Church, the so-called
movement of the Living Church, the movement for reform which wanted to
compromise Christianity with this world, that lies in sin, and
"Sergianism" which preaches "coexistence" with the godless power of
Communism, and participation in the so-called "ecumenical movement"
that recognizes the equality in rights and dignity of all groups and
"denominations", all this is in essence already a departure from the
true Church.
Can that organization be called a Church which calls for "loyalty" to
the servants of Satan?
This of course already is not The Church, but a false church, or
according to the word of God "the congregation of evil-doers", and to
remain in such a church is not only not helpful toward salvation, but
on the contrary it is ruinous.
It may be asked why do we speak and write about this so often?
For the reason that it is our sacred pastoral duty to warn our
believers about those countless numbers of subtle temptations which now
have been abundantly sown about everywhere; we are obligated to teach
them to discern the True Church to be able to distinguish it from the
false church, and "the congregation of evil-doers". Christ our Saviour
gave us the great promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail over
His Church, that is to say all the forces of hell in all their maximum
endeavour. But believers separately, and pastors individually, and even
separate hierarchs and whole local churches headed by them, can fall
away from the One True Church, preparing for themselves and their
followers eternal perdition in the depths of hell.
It was not in vain that the Lord named the members of His Church as
"the little flock", and foretold that when He would come back to earth
again the second time, He hardly shall find faith on earth (Luke 12:32
and 18:8). The circle of true believers in Christ, shunning all
compromises with the evils of the devil, at the time of the end of the
world and the Second Coming of Christ will be contracted to an ever
greater extent, and corresponding to this the diapason of the True
Church of Christ will lessen more and more. But the True Church of
Christ, which did not involve itself in "co-existence" with the evil
one and did not bow before the Antichrist, will not end its own
existence, in spite of all the difficult hardships, shocks and
persecution, to which it will be subjected to up to the very end of the
world. It will exist to the very Second Coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, even if only one bishop exists who retained and kept loyalty to
Christ the Saviour with a most insignificant group of clergy and laymen.
AMEN!
3. THE ECONOMY OF OUR SALVATION
by Father Panagiotes Carras
"This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind,
and on their heart will I inscribe them" (Hebrews 8:10).
+When Adam was led into captivity, God did not cease to love mankind
nor did He abandon the creation which was made in His Image and
Likeness. Adam and Eve were wounded but no dead. They were outside of
Paradise but not away from God. They were now in a captive land not in
their Father's house, but their Creator came searching for them so that
they could be led back to the Kingdom of Heaven and become once more
children of God.
Within Paradise Adam had been given the opportunity to become "a son of
God". God had made a Covenant or agreement with Adam. Our Heavenly
Father would adopt Adam and make Him "His Son" when Adam would mature
in his love for God. Adam on the other hand was to abide by a single
commandment-not to eat of the fruit of "the Tree of the Knowledge of
good and evil". The "Tree" would be the symbol of this Covenant. Our
Forefathers did not honour this Covenant and chose to go their own way.
The path which they took led them into a captivity from which they
could not save themselves. Their heavenly Father, however, came
searching to find the lost sheep. The Will of God and His providence to
lead Adam out of captivity is called the Economy of Salvation. The word
Economy is derived from the Greek word "Ekonomia" which literally means
"looking after one's house". The term Economy of Salvation is used by
Saint Irenaeus (Demonstration 47) and other fathers and refers to
everything that God has done to save us from Satan's captivity.
The economy of Salvation began before Adam had fallen: "According as He
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians
1:4). Immediately after the Fall God imposed certain hardships on
mankind so that he would have something to make him realize that he was
a stranger in a foreign land. Along with these hardships God also
promised Adam there would be an end to this captivity. "I will put an
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis
3:15). These are the words of our Lord as He cursed Satan. He speaks of
the struggle between mankind and Satan, and how finally Satan's head
will be crushed by our Lord and Saviour, the Seed of Eve.
The Old Testament records the mighty Acts of God as He led mankind
along the long road to sonship. Within the Old Testament we see God's
Wisdom, Patience and love for us. Concerning the Economy of Salvation,
Saint Irenaeus tells us "inasmuch as God is invincible and
long-suffering, He did indeed show Himself to be long-suffering in the
matter of the correction of man and the probation of us all. " (Against
Heresies, III, 23:1) In th4e Old Testament, the prophets recorded the
many ways that God sought to bring us closer to Him and the
stubbornness of the human race which chose to remain under the
captivity of satan. In the days of Noah our Heavenly Father again made
a Covenant with mankind. In time this Covenant was also rejected by
mankind and there was not one person in the whole world that loved God.
With the passage of time God appeared to Abraham who, not knowing God,
nevertheless desired to find him. "God, having pity on him who alone
quietly sought Him, appeared to Abraham, manifesting Himself through
the Word as through a ray of light" (St. Irenaeus, Demonstration,
24.) Abraham was instructed by God to take his wife Sarah and his
nephew Lot and to leave their homeland and to go to the land of Caanan.
Once again God made a Covenant with mankind. It was revealed to Abraham
by the Logos, the Word of God, that if he and his descendants were
faithful to God, then they would become the people of God. The sign
that God chose for this Covenant was circumcision. The new nation, the
Hebrews, who at this time became the Chosen People of God were
circumcised to show they accepted this Covenant.
Among all the inhabitants of the world only the Hebrew people, the
descendants of Abraham, knew God. All the other nations worshipped
demons. God made a Covenant and founded the nation from which our Lord
would arise: 'I will establish My Covenant between Me and thee...and
thy seed after thee, to their generations, for an everlasting Covenant,
to be Thy God, and the God of Thy seed after thee" (Genesis 17:2,7).
With the passing of generations the Hebrew people lost much of the
faith that they had in God and the Lord brought forth another Covenant
to strengthen the faith of the Israelites. This was the Covenant of the
Hebrew Pascha or Passover. The sign for this Covenant was the Law of
God which was given to Prophet Moses. The mosaic Law revealed to them
how sin alienated them from God but was powerless to save them from the
captivity of Satan. The Hebrew people entered into a new stage of the
Economy of Salvation: the period of the law. St. Paul tells us
that Satan and death which kept mankind separated from God was now
exposed for what it is. "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression" (Romans 5:14). Commenting on this, St. Irenaeus tells
us: "the law coming, which was given by Moses, and testifying of sin,
that it is a sinner, did truly take away death's kingdom, showing that
he was no king, but a robber ... a murderer" (Galatians 4:1-2). God was
leading mankind, step by step, to the day when Adam's children will be
able to become children of God.
St. Paul tells us that the Hebrew nation during the period of the Old
Testament, i.e., Covenant, was like a child being guided by his tutor
until the day would come when he would no longer need a guardian: "Now
I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from
a servant, though he be Lord of all; But is under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father" (Galatians 4:1-2). God in His
wisdom provided the Israelites of old both with restrictions and
instruction in order to help them in their struggle to remain faithful
to the Covenant of the first Pascha.
The restrictions which were placed upon them had the purpose of keeping
them from worshipping false gods or living an ungodly life and thus
abandoning God. The Law of Prophet Moses was given to the Hebrew nation
to guard them from wandering away from their Heavenly Father. It was
not able to bring mankind to Sonship, but it served to preserve the
Israelites from being completely under the rule of Satan. "For the law
made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by
which we draw nigh unto God" (Hebrews 7:19). Faithfulness to the Law of
God was what the Lord required from His people. If the Covenant with
God were to be maintained, it could be accomplished only through the
keeping of the Law.
The Israelites knew God through His mighty acts and the Old Testament
is a record of the Acts of God which the Israelites transmitted from
generation to generation (Exodus 13:14). For the Hebrew people, God was
a living God Who made himself known to His Chosen people (III Kings
17:1). Throughout their history God was with them, protecting them and
guiding them through every adversity. Even when Jerusalem was destroyed
and they were led captives into Babylon, the Covenant between the Lord
God and His Chosen people was maintained. The Prophet Daniel and the
three youths would not worship another God but steadfastly kept all of
the Lord's commandments and in this way remained faithful to the
Covenant which God had made with their fathers.
The saints of the Old Testament were not faithful to God only because
they had seen the acts of God but more so because it had been revealed
to them that the day would come when the Lord would establish a new
Covenant, the Covenant of Adoption. The expectations of the Saints of
old Israel are expressed by Prophet Jeremiah: "Behold the days are
coming, says the Lord, when I will make with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah a New Covenant, not like the Covenant which I
made with their fathers...This is the Covenant which I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: putting my laws
into their mind, I will also write them on their heart; and I will be a
God to them. And they shall be a people to me. And they shall not teach
everyone his fellow-citizen and everyone his brother saying, 'now the
Lord'; because they will know me (LXX, 38:31-34). The Lord God gave the
Hebrew people His laws o protect them from falling away but he also
gave them His holy Prophets so that they would prepare themselves for
the coming of the New Covenant. The Israelites would fall away many
times but God always preserved a faithful remnant who were true
Israelites: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel" (Romans
9:6). It was to these faithful Israelites, to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law,
and the service of God, and the promises (Romans 9:4).
The Theotokos and the first Christians were the true Israelites who
awaited the "Day of the Lord" (Joel 2:11, Malachi 3:1-2). They
understood the prophecies of the Old Testament which foretold the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Son of God became man the
teachings of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament became evident.
Throughout the books of the New Testament we are constantly reminded
that everything which our Lord and Saviour enacted was "according to
the Prophets" (Luke 24:27, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5). Throughout the Old
Testament we can find Prophecies which refer to the Salvific Acts of
our Lord and Saviour. Our Lord's birth from a Virgin was foretold by
Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14). The curing of many illnesses was
similarly foreseen (Isaiah 61:1-2). Our Saviour's entrance into
Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9), His suffering (Isaiah 50:6), the
parting of His garments (Psalm 22:8), the Crucifixion (Psalms 69:4, 21,
Isaiah 53:3-12 and the power of the Holy Cross over Satan (St. Justin
Martyr, Dialogue 91: 112; 131, Exodus 17:11, the Resurrection (Psalm
3:6, the Ascension (Psalm 23:7) were all known by the Prophets.
The Saints of the Old Covenant knew that one day the Son of God would
become man and as Emmanuel (God is with us--Isaiah 7:14, 8:8-10) would
be with His people as a father is with his children. The whole of the
Old Testament looks towards the day of the New Covenant.
________________________________________________________________________
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5. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
(IHD) IN THE HEART OF THE DESERT: THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE DESERT
FATHERS AND MOTHERS. Fr. John Chryssavgis. A moving account of the
lives and spirituality of the monastic desert dwellers. 163pp Paper
$18.00
(NC) THE NICENE CREED FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH STUDY GUIDE. Fr. Anthony M.
Coniaris. A well-written explanation of the Nicene Creed for
young people. Adults will gain insight from it also. 105pp Paper
e$15.00
(GGT) A GUIDE TO GREEK TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS IN AMERICA, 2nd Edition,
by Marilyn Rouvelas. Once more available, this is the essential
book for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Greek Orthodox
customs and traditions in America, as well as in the diaspora
throughout the world. Most valuable are the descriptions of religious
traditions and customs of everyday life. Profusely illustrated
with line drawings, and well indexed. 411pp. Cloth d$30.00
(AKB) AKATHIST TO ST. BASIL THE GREAT. Contains not only the
Akathist but several additional prayers to St. Basil and the history of
the St. Basil's Church which printed the booklet. 37pp Paper d$3.00