LGBT protest met with prayer at San Francisco cathedral

(ROCOR) - Orthodox Christians Respond to an LGBT Protest With Joint Prayer of Clergy and Laity of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and the Russian Church Abroad

Clergymen and laity of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia responded to an LGBT protest with joint prayers.

On Sunday, August 25, 2013, a protest was held before St Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in San Francisco, CA, by local LGBT members against legislation passed in Russia last June banning the propagandizing of homosexuality to children. The day before, blogs on the internet called for supporters of the LGBT community to gather at San Francisco’s Patriarchal cathedral during Divine Liturgy with anti-Orthodox and anti-Russian placards.

With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, clergymen Protopriest Georgy Roshchin, Representative of the International Russian People’s Council to the United Nations, and Hegumen Nikodim (Balyasnikov), both of St Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York City, traveled to San Francisco to support the local parishioners.

On August 25, Archbishop Justinian spoke via telephone to His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America of ROCOR. The archpastors discussed the unfolding situation, after which they came to the decision to hold joint prayers the next day in the Patriarchal cathedral. Priest Leonid Kazakov, Rector of St Nicholas Cathedral, gave advance notice to the planned action to the local police and to Mr Sergei Petrov, Consul General of the Russian Federation in San Francisco.

On the morning of August 25, Archbishop Kyrill and His Grace Bishop Theodosius of Seattle, Vicar Bishop of the Western American Diocese, arrived for the beginning of Divine Liturgy, where they prayed and partook of the Holy Gifts of Christ. For the edification of the worshipers, the archpastors brought with them a reliquary with portions of the relics of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco from the Cathedral of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in San Francisco.

Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Fr Leonid and Hegumen Nikodim. Praying at the service were parishioners of St Nicholas and laity of ROCOR.

After partaking of the Holy Gifts, Archbishop Kyrill and Bishop Theodosius performed a moleben with the other clergymen, during which litanies and supplications from the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy were intoned.

Bishop Theodosius then read a sermon. Fr Leonid welcomed the archpastors on behalf of his parishioners, thanking them for their prayerful support and words of guidance. Protopriest Georgy and Hegumen Nikodim then thanked the hierarchs on behalf of Archbishop Justinian.

By Divine mercy, neither the cathedral nor any parishioners suffered any violence from the protesters. Member of the police secured the protest area and did not permit the breaking of any laws. The clergy and parishioners of St Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral of San Francisco expressed thanks to Archbishop Justinian and Archbishop Kyrill, Bishop Theodosius, the clergymen from New York’s St Nicholas Cathedral, as well as all the other clergymen and laypersons who supported them that day.

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Bethlehem Icon Center trains Palestinians in iconography

(CNEWA) - In a cave-like basement a short walk from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, nine students huddle over Formica tables, patiently practicing their brushwork.

The bearded face of Christ takes shape in burnt sienna on a dozen sheets of white paper: a dozen variations with a dozen irregular sets of features. Some of the students are established artists, others have little or no artistic training, but this new craft is a challenge for all of them. They work through mistakes and false starts, scowling and sighing in frustration.

The instructor is patient, demonstrating the basics again and again — how to draw a line with a brush, how to mix the paint, how to find a face in a sheet of white. “Move the paper so it’s easier to draw,” he explains. “Work to your strengths, and know your weaknesses — which is a good spiritual principle! Because what you’re doing is learning spiritual life, really — in a very practical way.”

The teacher is Ian Knowles, a British iconographer who has been working in churches and convents in the Holy Land since 2008. As an artist, he creates extraordinary, vivid images. Though hewing fast to traditional styles and techniques, his pieces can feel strikingly modern, alive with spiritual purpose. It is this, as much as brushwork and technique, that he is attempting to pass along to his students.

“The purpose of the icon is prayer,” he says. “What you need as you paint Christ is to be with him, to experience him.”

Slowly, in a few places, the holy countenance begins to come to life on paper.

It is October 2012, and this is the first class of the Bethlehem Icon Center, an initiative to train students from Palestine in the ancient art of iconography. It is a project at once modest and ambitious. The classes are small and the curriculum, highly specific. But by helping students reach a high level of craftsmanship, the center’s founders hope to create something lasting and profound: not just the seed of a local craft industry, but an expression of the Holy Land’s ancient Christian culture and its role in the development of Christian art.

“Empowering local Christians, finding a way for them to rediscover their artistic, religious tradition in a very specific way — that’s exciting,” says the Rev. Timothy Lowe, a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and the rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute, which is a partner of the center, along with Mr. Knowles.

The first students are an ecumenical bunch; their number includes two Coptic Orthodox nuns, four students from the Greek Orthodox Church, two from the Syriac Orthodox Church and two Latin Catholics. Half of them are women. The project has already drawn significant support from the community — a temporary classroom has been provided by Bethlehem University in the basement of its Brother Vincent Malham Center, just off Manger Square.

The school’s patron is Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Joseph-Jules Zerey...

Complete article here.

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iPads in the altar

From the Bible Design Blog a post entitled iPads in the Pulpit. I'm actually a long-time reader of this blog as it rather reliably enjoyable reading on what many would think to be a dry, uninteresting topic.

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Writing for the Gospel Coalition blog, Matthew Barrett shared the concern earlier this week that the replacement of physical Bibles with iPads in the pulpit, while a “subtle shift,” comes with several potential dangers. His post –– "Dear Pastor, Bring Your Bible to Church" –– got a lot of people thinking, which is to say, it got them riled up.

An iPad in the pulpit, Barrett contends, sends a different message than a physical Bible to the congregation, because people associate the iPad with media consumption. The physical book we now think of as the text, whereas we still distinguish between the e-reader, a technological device for consuming the text, and the text itself. When the pastor flashes his iPad, we see the device, not the Bible.

Barrett also shares the concern of many culture critics that the use of e-books contributes to the problem of illiteracy. The way we experience the text via a Bible app leaves us with less of a sense of the big picture, how the whole book fits together. And because the virtual text is disembodied, its symbolism seems at odds with Christian theological values: “as physical beings who gather together as an assembly in a tangible place,” isn’t it strange to replace the physical book with a multi-use e-reader? Might not the physicality of baptism and the Lord’s Supper be set in uncomfortable relief when the proclamation of the Word loses its physical touchstone? Not to mention, the use of e-readers removes the physical proclamation inherent in carrying a physical Bible into the world. People see your printed Bible and react to it very differently than they do to your iPad...

Complete post here.

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Priest starts biker's procession in Irkutsk

(irk.aif.ru) - Four years ago in Irkutsk was the first procession on motorcycles. It was initiated by the abbot of St. Alexander Nevsky Church Father Mark.

Then the father, Mark did not dare to sit behind the wheel in a cassock "iron horse" and would prefer to be a passenger. But later still bought the bike and became a full member of the biker movement in Irkutsk.

"The Insider" priest

The one who often looks at the Alexander Nevsky church, motorcycles at the main entrance is surprised. Under a plaque "In Memory of motorcyclists killed" women discuss their problems in life, not paying attention to them passing by men in leather vests and bandanas. Father Mark says that lovers of bikes come in here often. Someone comes for advice, someone in the case - to get married or baptize children.

A few years ago, parishioner - the architect of ice at the Cathedral of the Epiphany of the town and the actor Vadim Semenov bought a motorcycle. Then the prior Mark realized that amateur ride with the wind is formed, mature, accomplished people. After all, for transportation and is not cheap, and it is more difficult to exploit than a car. And he offered Semenov think about Irkutsk to organize a procession on bikes. After a couple of days in the temple of the chairmen of the two motorcycle clubs came and offered their assistance in the unusual event.

- Bishop of Irkutsk and Angarsk Vadim looked at the whole thing, and then asked me for a long time. I said that from childhood on a motorcycle, the category is. And he blessed us. The first two years in the religious processions he even blessed the technique and served as a prayer - says Fr Mark.

The event in 2009 was a success, at least 100 motorcyclists ride through the city under the church banners. Since then, without the blessing of the minister of the Alexander Nevsky church does not open any biker season, and on the Day of Remembrance of motorcyclists in October in a church memorial service is held.

Despite the fact that people are used to seeing priests to help the sick and the poor, the father, Mark does not see anything unusual about his lesson.

- Someone is working with drug addicts, some in areas serves someone helps orphans. The options are many. In any walk of life should be "their" priest - said our hero.

And about the conventional wisdom that bikers - people with frivolous way of life, the abbot answered briefly: "For the Church, too, there are many myths and prejudices."

God's work

Over a lifetime, his father Mark had two motorcycles, "Minsk" in childhood and "Kawasaki" now.

- This type motorcycle "chopper". It is designed for a beautiful ride: slowly and with dignity. In the garb it looks best. In general, the most that neither is a priestly appliances - laughing abbot.

Regrets only that the time for "careless" driving through the city just does not. The work of the priest, so that it is most convenient to travel by bus: constantly need to transport something or someone.

The fact that colleagues can somehow resent the passion motorcycles, Father Mark does not exclude the other. Not to mention, if even the ministers of the house no-no and will express dissatisfaction.

- Yes, some are of the opinion that it is not pleasing to God. Then I suggest to them to justify why they are for God to decide who will be saved and who is not, and the bikers are worse than they are. In this debate, and an end, because here they have nothing to say. Besides the fact that people come to the temple in different categories suggests that the church claimed that he lives a normal life, - said the priest.

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Of flowers and their supposed dangers

I'm quite a fan of The Low Churchman's Guide. The below is an example of its appeal.

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Flowers are the reproductive organs of angiospermic plants. The current consensus opinion among botanists holds that they are necessary to ensure the continued existence of such valuable plants as the apple tree, the rhododendron, the Southern Ironwood, and Heracleum mantegazzianum. For the time being, at least, it seems that flowers are here to stay. It is one thing to admire a row of daisies by the side of the road, however, and quite another to tolerate the deliberate and premeditated arrangement of flowers on the altars of our churches, a custom that strikes at the very roots of the English faith.

There are many reasons for the loyal churchman to be wary of altar flowers. A vase filled with verdant foliage is large enough to hide an even more sinister object from view: a copy of Ritual Notes, perhaps, or the image of the Bishop of Rome. Flowers are also capable of causing discomfort or even physical harm to parishioners; they emit distracting odours and produce a substance called “pollen,” whose primary purpose is to cause death by anaphylactic shock. It is thought that these properties may be related to the carcinogenic qualities of incense, another dangerous substance of botanical origin. Most serious, however, is the potential for the display of flowers to lead English youth astray: the public exhibition of uncovered sexual organs, whatever their species, is sure to undermine the moral standards that we have so carefully instilled in our children.

Although loyal churchmen are opposed to the use of flowers as an altar decoration, some experts believe that flowers can licitly be grown on the parish property at a decent distance from the church itself: such flower arrangements, known as “gardens,” are becoming increasingly popular.

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Pray for our brothers in the Middle East

H/T: Praying with My Feet

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Antiochian hierarchs thank Russian Church for support

(mospat.ru) - His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Great Antioch and All the East sent a message to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, in which he expressed his gratitude for the efforts that the Russian Orthodox Church makes to defend Christians in the Middle East.

In his letter, His Beatitude Patriarch John X mentioned the celebration marking the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism Russia, which was held in Moscow, Kiev and Minsk with the participation of the Primates and representatives of all Local Orthodox Churches, saying in particular, “I was… so happy to see the brothers gathering about the holy Divine Altar and praising the Author of Life, Our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed Russia and the Russian People and granted this great nation all his heavenly blessings to be a true and sincere witness of Christendom. The baptism of Russia is not only an historical event, but it is also a concrete and lived reality that all people and nations can “come and see” (John 1:46) and praise the Lord Jesus Christ.”

According to His Beatitude, “with deep feeling of respect and appreciation” he read the Statement by Heads and Representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches Assembled for the Celebration of the 1025th Anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. The main theme of the joint statement is the situation of Christians in the Middle East.

“I consider it my duty to raise an Antiochian thankful voice to support and share every word of the released statement,” Patriarch John’s letter reads. “Truly, Christians are persecuted and damaged in the Middle East, in the land of Jesus Christ. The salvation of Syria and of all the Middle East comes, as mentioned, through the logic of dialogue and peaceful political settlement. Extremism, fundamentalism and blind radicalism are the most great dangers which threaten not only the Christian presence, but the existence of the States and the peace of all the nations.”

His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Great Antioch and All the East expressed his wish to pay a brotherly visit to the Russian Orthodox Church and said in conclusion of his letter, “May Lord, Jesus Christ, the King of Peace give us His Divine Peace, grant you, the Russian Synod and the Russian People His heavenly blessings and bless the efforts of all the orthodox world to settle the peace in the Middle East and in all the world redeemed by the precious blood of our Savior.”

And also...

(mospat.ru) - His Eminence Philip (Saliba), Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America, head of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, sent a message to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which reads, in particular: “We monitor with gratitude your tireless efforts in support of the Christians, and all the God-fearing people of Syria.”

His Eminence Metropolitan Philip expresses his conviction that the forces responsible for stirring up the conflict in the country “have ulterior motives in mind, not the least of which is to expunge the area of Christians who have been living in that land peacefully with Muslims for many years under the secular government…”

The hierarch of the Church of Antioch thanked the Russian Church for carrying out the fund-raising campaign and sending the money collected “to help the needy, homeless and downtrodden people of Syria” who have been suffering from “the uncivil war that continues to rage.”

“Throughout history, Russia has protected the Orthodox of the Middle East in times of need and it seems history is repeating itself once again,” the letter reads. His Eminence Metropolitan Philip expressed his gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia for his support in this difficult time and asked him “to remember the victims of this barbarism” in his prayers.

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