Fr. George Aquaro on recommending a man for seminary

This is the other half of Fr. George Aquaro's advice on seminary. The first installment has drawn a lot of attention and I expect this one to do the same. Enjoy.

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Many of the priests who are reading this are probably more experienced in this area than I am. Hopefully, what I am writing will not leave them wondering how I could dare type such drivel. Others may also read this and think back to their seminary days and say, “Yeah, I’ve seen a few of those guys. They didn’t last.”

While bishops do the ordaining, and most jurisdictions have some kind of bureaucratic process where someone makes a file and stuffs it with paper, the truth is that the bishops rarely know much about the men they ordain beyond the observations of their parish priests, and, to some extent, their minders in seminary. The parish priest’s recommendation is by the far the most authoritative voice in the process.

The parish priest, then, is the real ‘gatekeeper’ to ordination. It is a truly rare occasion when a man will get ordained without his parish priest’s recommendation. It behooves us, then to carefully consider who we recommend. Here are a few things to think about:

1) Have you seen him really stressed?

We can’t really vouch for a man’s character until we have seen him really, really stressed. Stress brings out the worst in people, but it also brings out the truth. If we have not seen him under profound stress, then he has either not been in the Church long enough, or we do not know him well enough, to give him a recommendation.

We know how stressful ministry is, and we have seen plenty of our brothers crushed by it. We have survived, but we can’t assume that everyone else will. Everyone reacts to stress in a different way. We should have observed at least one time where this fellow has been pushed against the wall. How did he handle it, and what is his threshold?

Be careful of men who ‘medicate’ their stress with alcohol, food, or other behaviors that can become addictions if returned to again and again. If we know that he does not deal well with stress, then the priesthood is no place for him.

2) How does he handle disagreement?

Parishes are little arenas of interpersonal conflict. How an ordination candidate handles conflict is important. We have to know how he handles conflict and disagreement before we can vouch for his character to the bishop.

Does he run? We can’t recommend someone who is utterly conflict-averse. He will allow the most contentious people in his parish to run his life and the direction of the parish community. He must be able to say ‘no’ in a firm but kind manner.

Is he the ‘win at all costs’ kind of guy, who does not let go of arguments until he ‘wins’? That’s bad, too. He will end up managing his parish through intimidation and bullying. This is also bad if he looks down on people he disagrees with as ‘stupid’ or ‘uneducated’ or ‘insufficiently Orthodox.’ I’ve seen young men take the latter attitude towards even their own bishops. It is so crazy that it is almost funny. Almost.

Related to this is sentimentalism. A man who is overly sentimental will become overly attached to certain things that he can’t let go of. Sentimental people are dangerous in a parish, because a parish is constantly going through small changes to suit the circumstances of the community. Priests are also subject to transfer, and if the candidate cannot handle life without his ‘special requirements,’ it is better that he stay home and not go to seminary. Otherwise, he will fight with everyone to preserve his attachments even to the point of destroying a parish.

3) Do people like him?

We would think the question is about whether he likes people, but whether people like him or not is actually more important. Sure, a priest should get some kind of joy from being with his parishioners, but the real measure of a successful priest is whether parishioners sense that he identifies with them and loves them. Even an introvert can manage this.

However, there are plenty of people who are ‘outgoing’ in all the wrong ways. Perhaps they only like ‘certain kinds’ of people, like those of a particular age group or ethnic background. This is no good. Parishes need to be open to everyone, and so a priest really can’t exercise ‘selective good will.’ If we notice that the potential candidate only gets along with certain kinds of people, he will eventually drive out all those that he can’t relate to.

A priest who does not relate well with others will destroy a parish community. It is a prerequisite of the job from a common-sense approach. No, it does not say that in the canons but, seriously, who is going to go to church if there’s a creep up front? We can’t expect people to ‘get used to him.’ They won’t… they will leave. They will excuse many other personality quirks if the priest is likeable, but nothing can replace likeability.

Here’s another way to look at it: would you want him to visit you in the hospital? Remember, that’s something he is called to do. If we would not want him to comfort us in the midst of our own pain and suffering, we cannot expect others to.

But, in the end, the true measure of his acceptability is not whether we like him or not, but whether most people like him or not.

4) Would you let him date your daughter?

The question should be answered if we have seen him in a relationship at all. Again, if the answer is no, then we have not known him long enough. We can tell a lot about a man by the kind of woman he dates, and even more when we see him in a marriage.

Marriage is the test of a man’s courage (all of us married fellows agree on this), but also his compassion. Is he domineering, or a doormat? Both bode unwell for ministry. After all, men who bully their wives will likely bully other people, and the doormat will end up letting his wife or someone else run the parish for him.

Bishops’ don’t ordain wives. They ordain men to the priesthood, and they expect the priest to run his personal household in a respectable and decent manner. Many failed priesthoods ended because of the priest’s wife, and that is directly linked to his choice of her and how he treated her (in most cases). So it is vital that any candidate, if he is not already in healthy marriage, at least exercises good judgment with the women he dates and how he treats them.

If he does not seem interested in dating or women, then we may want to look deeper. There are a host of possible reasons, and not all of them are bad. Beware of the ‘false monastic,’ the young man who tries to live a monastic life without a monastery. It is a dangerous game of self-will, and we should urge him to either find a monastery or get some professional counseling to deal with whatever is impeding his ability to form relationships.

He cannot deceive himself into thinking that monasticism without a monastery is possible. Monasticism is hard enough even within a monastery, and a near impossibility outside of it. What relationships provide, either within marriage or the monastery, is day-to-day accountability. He will need this accountability when he is assailed with the temptations that come with the priesthood.

You think I am exaggerating? Just look down the road at the Roman Catholics.

5) Does he have interests other than church?

Many priests recommend a man for seminary because he is always at church. He never misses a service, and seems totally focused on the Orthodox Faith. Yes, those are important things to note, but does he have a life outside of the church? What are his other interests?

People can become ‘obsessed’ with the Church and with religion. This is not the mark of genuine piety, but a pathological problem that should be treated. His life outside the Church is just as important as his life in it, and we should know his entire world before we recommend him.

We all know that our hobbies and non-parish interests often save us from the crushing stress of ministry. We ought to make certain he has his own healthy vents and distractions before he enters ‘the arena.’ Hobbies also help us relate to people outside of the church context.

Even if we don’t recommend him, if we care about him, we should help him to find his life both in and out of the parish walls.

6) Does he have a spiritual life or just a thought life?

Americans are not spiritual people by and large. They crave spirituality, but we live in a very materialistic and, at times, intellectual context as Westerners. Spirituality is one of the hardest things for us to grasp. Very often, we confuse either our thoughts or our emotions with genuine spiritual experiences.

A priest who only thinks is no priest at all. He is not a ‘struggler’ but a ‘thinker.’ Seminaries emphasize thinking because that’s all they are really set up to do. When I was in seminary, the Dean stated to us plainly that it was the bishop’s duty to know whether we were spiritually formed or not. The school could only provide an education of the intellectual variety.

So, the men who graduated and were ordained had to rely on their spiritual condition that they entered seminary with. If we recommend a man, he will go down this same chute. Is he ready? Is he on a path of spiritual development, or is he just into the intellectual bits of the Faith?

We all know that temptation is not combated with thoughts as intellectual problems are. If he is not armed to take on the devil, he will crumple. That preparation for spiritual warfare must begin before seminary. Before we recommend him, we must be certain that he is on the right spiritual path.

Does he know his passions and their causes? Is he aware of his temptations and weaknesses? Is he asking for help from you and others who are spiritually advanced?

Be wary of the potential candidate who is always thinking. In a parish, there is a time to think and a time to do. If he cannot take action because he is lost in thought, his parish will fall victim to the ‘wolf.’ When leading people, we have to be able to react on their timing, rather than only on our own. If he can’t respond to problems without long periods of analyzing and agonizing, he would do better in some other form of ministry.

7) Does he know about the Church other than your parish and you?

Many young men go to seminary having little experience of the Church outside the high walls set by the parish priest. Nowadays, there are more parishes and monasteries to visit, and there are lots more things to see on the internet, but this does not mean one has a wide experience of the Church.

We priests are often guilty of being a little ‘greedy’ with our people. We don’t like them roaming too far from our ‘help.’ We certainly don’t want to lose them as members. And, the way our jurisdictions are organized, each parish is a hermetically-seal capsule of pledging members that only support their own parish and nothing beyond it (this is changing, but slowly).

So, we do not usually encourage young men to explore the Church more fully before we send them off to seminary. When they get to seminary, they discover that there are many different ways our Faith is expressed on the local level. However, there are those who become overwhelmed with find the ‘one right way’ to do everything, and then tune out the rest.

When they get to the parish as new priests, they immediately try to implement their plans hatched in their dorm rooms at seminary. They may try to replicate your parish (the only one they really experienced), or some Franken-parish they dreamed up. They will tend to ignore the actual people and conditions they are in. Disaster ensues.

Seminarians need to be accepting of differences and flexible in their approach to the Church and her parishes. They will only get this when they see the varieties even within a single diocese. We should make sure that any seminarian we recommend has that larger experience, so that he will not be locked into a single ‘mode’ of looking at the world of the Church. Narrow and inflexible men make lousy priests.

8) Is he able to admit that he is wrong?

Admitting we are wrong is hard. It requires humility that our world often discourages. The world fills us with fear, and we cope with it through Pride and a rigid insistence that we are always correct.

Priests know the importance of repentance. We not only need it in our own lives, but we are also called to model it for our parishioners. A priest who cannot admit he is wrong and ask for forgiveness teaches his people hardness of heart. Does our candidate have a hard heart?

New priests and old priests alike make mistakes. We have all had those difficult phone calls or meetings with the bishop. Most of us have experienced those incidents where we did something wrong and were called to account. Most of us also know that an apology goes a long way with bishops. Bishops are not in the business of firing us, especially if we have lots of experience and are still reasonable functional.

If our fellow is one of those ‘I-am-never-wrong’ types, we should do eevryone a favor and let him stay home. He will only embarrass himself, annoy his congregation, and eventually get kicked to the curb if he can’t examine himself and be honest when he screws up.

9) Can he follow instructions?

Here’s another one that is hard for a lot of young people these days. They get so pumped up on their school’s ‘self-esteem’ program that they see no need to listen to anybody.

Humility is the theme here, but also impulse control: can he stop himself from doing what he really wants to do? If he can’t then he is going to get in lots of trouble. Priests are often required to take actions they would prefer not to, or hold back with the knowledge that taking the action we want will get us in trouble.

Seminary can fill us with idealism, but the truth of the matter is that in the parish, the bishop makes the rules. If he can’t follow the rules, the bishop will boot him from the parish. We’ve all seen examples of that.

One thing to look for related to this: does he have ‘daddy issues’? Priests not only try to act as ‘father’ to their parishioners in the sense that they think a father should be, but it is human nature to treat authority figures with a degree of ‘fatherly deference.’ If a man has had a bad relationship with his father, chances are he can develop problems with ‘authority figures.’ In the Church, that means the bishop.

The bishop is the bishop, not a ‘daddy replacement.’ His role is different, and we have to be healthy enough to see the difference. A candidate for ordination should be able to follow the instructions of his hierarch without it dredging up pathological behaviors.

This means you may want to discuss your potential candidate’s job history as well as family of origin. You’ll note the red flags if there are any, like frequent firings.

10) Is he a whiner or a quitter?

We all whine, and are tempted at times to quit. Most of us stop ourselves before it gets too far. If a man can’t stop himself, then he won’t be a very successful priest.

Priests are expected to operate under adverse circumstances. We are not always well-paid, nor are we universally well-respected. We have parishioners who may flat out hate us because of some priest back in 1974. Some of us have bishops with noticeable character defects that burden us.

Life is hard. Whiners make it harder because they can’t stop reminding themselves and us of how soft they are. Yes, whiners are soft. This means they won’t guard the sheep because they are too busy going on about their problems. The Church does not need more effeminate guys trying to be in charge but hating the responsibilities that go with it.

The Orthodox Church does not have ‘male priestesses.’ Our men are real men, and our women are real women. Those who refuse to ‘man up’ under pressure and instead whine like children with scraped knees have no business in the Priesthood.

Quitters are another problem. They can’t handle being flexible, and so they abandon their post even before the boss can fire them. Some actually engineer their failures (usually through whining). Steer clear of the man who storms off from unpleasant situations or gives up on commitments when they go sideways on him.

In conclusion, we all know that this list could be longer or more detailed. The truth is that not only will God judge us for the men that we recommend, but also our brethren. We should always be cautious that, in preparing a young man for seminary, that we are not engaging in a self-cloning experiment. A candidate does not have to look or act like me in order to get my recommendation. To be honest, I’m still wondering how I got ordained to begin with, but that’s another tale.

What’s most important is that the men who begin that long process of being prepared for ministry have the ‘right stuff’ to begin with. Seminary can educate, but it can’t change a bad character. Character can only change through suffering, and real suffering is hard to ‘stage.’

We should also never confuse ‘opportunity’ with ‘treatment.’ Giving a man ‘another chance’ without treatment means that he will only do it again. If a man has a treatable problem, he should be healed before seminary. Do not expect the problem to go away over time. Most wounds infect if left raw.

There are many joys in the Priesthood for those who were prepared for it. The ultimate preparation is repentance and the realization that none of us are worthy, and yet somehow we still permitted to serve.

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Fr. George Aquaro on considering seminary

(GGWB) - I’ve known a lot of men who have deeply yearned to go to seminary. They can all describe in great detail how they felt ‘called’ to become priests, something they sometimes also refer to as ‘ministry’ or ‘ordination to the Holy Priesthood.’

But as we all know, just because you feel something very deeply, that does not make it right or true. All that a feeling tells you is that you feel something. Never forget that.

Most men who think about becoming priests think about the glamorous bits, like serving in front of the Holy Altar or providing wise counsel to those humbled by sin. The more mundane bits, like sitting through endless meetings or being patently ignored by most of the congregation, usually gets swept away with grandiose visions of being the next Elder Paisios or St. John Chrysostom.

I’m not going to tell you to go or not to go, but I am going to say that you need to double- and triple-check yourself before you go off to seminary. If you succeed at passing through seminary (which is almost guaranteed, but more on that later), and are ordained, there will be many people who will be gravely wounded by your failure if you pushed your way into Holy Orders without being honest about who you are and what you are actually there to do.

Being deposed is painful and humiliating not just for you, but for your family and the parishioners whom you once served. Your brother priests will also feel the anguish of seeing one of their own go ‘down in flames.’

So, here are a few things that I have learned along the way. Some of these things I did before I was a seminarian, while others I learned in the ‘trial by fire’ manner. Do I have an exemplary ministry to point to… hardly. I have made a great deal of mistakes and coasted the very shores ‘official sanction.’ Honestly, it is a miracle I’m still functioning as a priest.

More experienced priests will likely have a longer list, and you would do well to talk to the successful men who have served 30 or 40 years. They deserve your admiration and attention for surviving. Many of them were doing things I thought were the byproducts of laziness or incompetence. But, then I started to walk in their shoes and discovered that most long-serving priests as reserves of great knowledge and quite proficient.

Of course, if you are pig-headed and determined to get what you want no matter what, then just skip reading this. You know everything already, and nothing that I have to say will apply to you because you are ‘special.’ But, do remember that special people have special problems, and special problems are always much more difficult to deal with. This is why, as I have gotten older and past that need to be special, that I have yearned to be average. It is much easier to have a disease that is treatable ‘over the counter.’

Here is a list of 10 things to think about before you consider going to seminary:

1) Get a mental health evaluation

You may not be crazy for wanting to be ordained, but it helps to get confirmation on this. But, just as important is getting an outside evaluation on your personality characteristics. Going through such tests as the MMPI and other personality inventories can show you your strengths and weaknesses. If you do not know yourself, you are heading for big trouble.

The stresses of the priesthood are trying, both psychologically and spiritually, and both of these can wreck your body, your mind, and your relationships. The devil will also play soccer with your brain, and so you need to know which buttons the Enemy will push. You should also have a game-plan for stress relief, and don’t think that you are just going to pray your problems away.

It is very important to get an unbiased, outside opinion on your personality. We all tend to exaggerate ourselves, and that is a dangerous thing. We also tend to surround ourselves with friends who will not tell us the hard things. So, find someone who can tell you the most difficult things and then listen to what these things really mean for you.

2) Priests are for parishes

They say that a bishop has a one-track mind… all he thinks is ‘parish.’ He oversees the parishes of his diocese. That’s his job and it is what he will get judged for when we are all called to account. When a bishop sees a priest, he automatically sees that priest in one of his parishes, or he will see how best to avoid having that priest anywhere near one of his parishes.

A bishop is not really interested in things outside the parish. Your visions about teaching at the local college and serving just on Sundays are just absolute jibberish to him even when he nods in agreement and smiles. He has parishes to fill, and he will stop at nothing to push you into a full-time parish ministry if he thinks you will work there.

Sure, you can refuse, but then you become something of a ‘wasted’ effort for him. A priest who cannot serve in a parish is like a hammer without a handle. And, if he has no need for you, don’t expect his attention or any favors. He has a lot of other priests who are serving faithfully and are more deserving of his energy.

And, do remember that parish ministry always takes twice as much time as previously estimated. My phone rings twice as much on my days off as on the days where I diligently watch it, which is why I gave up planned days off. If you want to split your time between the parish and something else, parishioners will always demand the time that you reserve for something other than them.

So, you’d better be ready to commit everything to parish life, and realize that whatever life you have outside of the parish is secondary to the bishop’s concerns. He is not there to make you fulfill your dreams. Remember this, and all of your interactions with the bishop will go much smoother than if you think that he is supposed to respond to your opinions and fantasies. He has plenty of his own to keep him occupied.

Once you make that commitment, and then the parish cannot support you, then you may consider an outside job or commitment. That’s the natural way things work. Outside jobs are to support the ministry, not the other way around.

3) If you can’t obey, then don’t try to play

Obedience is central to the priest. He has no real authority beyond what the bishop grants him, and what Despota giveth, Despota taketh away. As a priest, you are a servant of the Most High through His instrument, the bishop.

This means that when he says jump, you say ‘how high?’ as you are jumping. This also means doing things you hate or even profoundly disagree with. If you can’t manage to violate your own opinions about the ‘right way’ to do things, then don’t give the Priesthood another thought. The bishop has the canonical right to manage his parishes, and if you interfere in his ministry, do not expect him to be pleasant. He’s done your job and his for longer than you have done yours.

You can disagree with him in private, but you’d better obey in public. And, that also means by carrying out these tasks without making a big scene to show your disapproval. If you obey, your bishop will later on take your opinions seriously, but he won’t in the beginning because, after all, you’ll be a ‘baby priest’ and we all know that they are the ecclesiastical version of a puppy.

Some priests will protest and say that the bishop’s demands are unreasonable and that they have a right to disobey. Some can even point to major disobediences that they have done right under the bishop’s nose. This is because

a) experienced priests know how to bend the rules, and
b) experienced priests know that so long as the parish is healthy, the bishop will be far more tolerant of disobedience than he will if the parish is unhealthy or the priest is messing up.

New priests cannot afford to get the reputation of being rebellious. If you get this label, you will end up getting moved from bishop to bishop, and assigned to communities that are totally dysfunctional (i.e. waiting either to be closed down or to receive a real miracle-worker). Now, if you are into fixing broken communities, then go ahead and disobey.

4) You are there to serve these people

While this may be glaringly obvious, it is a major problem that new clergy wrestle with. Usually, immature priests try to implement their visions on their communities without first actually getting to know the people. And, getting to really know the people can take years, because they will not immediately share their secrets with you just because you wear black.

This means that you have to be patient and deal with the parish as it is when you get there, rather than busying yourself to make it more like something you envisioned in seminary. When you immediately launch into a big plan to change things without knowing the people, then they will get the distinct impression that you either don’t respect them or do not even care about them.

Then you won’t be serving them at all.

Most of the time, serving the people is not about hearing confessions and serving the Holy Mysteries. It is about keeping the roof from leaking and the people from killing each other. If you can actually get your parishioners to like each other, you will have done a might act.

Many priests like to think about implementing ‘ministries’ and ‘parish activities’ and ‘more services’ without first getting to know the people and what they need to grow. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to parish life, so get that delusion out of your head right now. People are different, both as individuals and as communities.

If you must change them before you can love them, then you are not cut out for parish life. You have to love them first, and be willing to love them even if they refuse to change, because most of them will not change and will fight any kind of change tooth-and-nail. You must love them as they are, warts and all. Love is the only thing that really changes people.

5) Don’t take yourself seriously

The more serious and rigid you are, the less likely you will be able to receive sound advice and change your tactics to better suit your situation. New priests are just like anyone else who is new at something: awkward. The best thing to do is acknowledge this awkwardness.

Start being humble right now. You don’t have to know everything or be perfect to be a Christian or an effective priest. If you are one of those people who can’t stand being wrong, then you had better fix that before you consider ministry. No amount of study or time in seminary will take away the fact that when you walk into your first parish assignment, you are doing your job for the first time. It will be ugly, so have your apologies ready.

While our culture is overly informal, and the Church is not a place for frivolous informality, there is a difference between being rigid and being guarded. You can never let all of your guard down, but neither should you always be on the defensive. Be compassionate: parishioners don’t need to know all of the priest’s problems, but you can let them know that you have experienced suffering not unlike their own. The details matter little. Rigid priests try to look like nothing’s wrong, and dysfunctional priests spew nothing by their unresolved issues all over the floor. You can let people know you know their pain, but leave it at that.

That means getting help when you need it. Find a confessor, and get counseling if you need to. It is important that you model for your parishioners how they should also deal with their problems. You can be an example to them in this regard. If you act like you have no problems, then the parishioners will not know how to deal with their own. They certainly won’t trust you, because they figure that you won’t understand them at all.

6) People will like you for what you do, not who you are

Parishioners don’t care about your opinions of yourself. They care about finding an end to their suffering. Don’t expect them to appreciate anything about you that is not directly related to what their needs are and what you are doing to help them. Not even being a priest. After all, there are good priests and bad ones. You won’t be their first.

They do not care as much about how many degrees you hold or facts that you have memorized, as much as they are truly concerned as to whether you love them or not. Let’s not forget, the only thing the Church offers people is Love, and a Divine one at that. You must love them through your actions.

Before you think about seminary, you must first be spiritually healed enough to love others. If your impulse is to judge and condemn, then do not even bother to ask about seminary. You will only make things bad for yourself and for others.

To return to the previous point, parishioners know when you are doing something to ‘fix’ them because you don’t like them. The key to ministry is encouraging the people to want to change, and then they will ask you to help them. When you respond to their needs, they see that as love. It is a long process to get people to want to change, so a big part of loving is waiting.

People know this, and they have the highest regard for those who waited for them to become willing. This is the hardest single part of being a priest: watching people suffer and waiting patiently for a moment of willingness.

7) Get a non-religious hobby

Satan’s hobby is religion. That’s because his real job is far darker. As a priest, you cannot have reading religious books as your pastime, because that is part of your job. You will need moments of escape from stress of parish life and religion, which is what a hobby provides.

Do not think that every waking moment will be devoted to perfect prayer, because it will not. We all need to pray and study, but we also need to relax at times.

Parenting is important, but that is also not a hobby. It is important to spend time with the family, but you will also need another way to blow off steam without falling into immorality, the temptation to which will be your constant companion if you become a priest.

There are lots of hobbies out there. Just walk through an art supply shop or the tool isle of the hardware store. You may try three or four before you find the right one, so just keep trying.

If you are going to identify with your parishioners, then you will need to experience their world. Take off the cassock and make friends with non-Orthodox. It is good to be around people who will not judge you the way your parishioners will.

8) Don’t get a priest to mentor you, get three or four

Every experienced priest has his strengths and weaknesses. By getting more than one advisor to help you in your spiritual development and discernment, you are less likely to overlook a serious problem. Advice is good, and more advice is better.

If you do fall down the rabbit-hole and are sent to seminary, it is important to know your bishop’s priorities and preferences, then find priests that he respects to model yourself after. You may find a well-respected priest to mentor you who, while being successful in every other way, is constantly at odds with your bishop. He will likely give you advice that is good, but will set you on the same path of conflict with the hierarch, which for your ‘newbie’ status can spell disaster.

Most ‘successfully rebellious’ priests took years to get to where they are now, and chances are they did none of what they do now when they started. If you try to start off mimicking their behavior, you will find yourself quickly kicked to the curb.

9) Seminary experience is indispensible, but the education is nominal

Seminaries are employment opportunities for faculty, and so they are not in the business of alienating their clients, the bishops. Bishops send ordination candidates to seminaries, and want them sent back in reasonably good shape and prepped for ordination.

That means that the bishop has largely made up his mind that you are a candidate just by approving your application. The seminaries know this and generally don’t try to interfere with the bishop’s decision without his permission. That means that if you give seminary a halfway decent effort, you will pass. Grades are not what you should be looking at.

Seminary is a great time to get rid of your idealism. You will find that what you thought were cut-and-dry theological questions were far murkier and ambiguous. You will also discover that there is more than one way of doing something in the Church

The most important thing to do in seminary is test your own moral mettle. When one of your classmates is struggling, will you help him? Will you learn to drop your rigid opinions and be open to explore the fullness of Orthodoxy in its many ‘flavors?’

Seminary is not about becoming the smartest guy in the room. That’s the professor’s job. Your job is to examine yourself, both in terms of your beliefs, but more especially in terms of your character.

10) Knowledge and morality are different

There’s a popular belief that the more you know, the ‘better choices’ you will make. Well, that’s absurd: smart people have the same temptations as uneducated people do. The difference is that smart people are better at hiding their tracks… most often times from themselves.

Immorality is not treated by education programs. People know when they are sinning, and if given the chance to reflect on themselves, they will admit they know that something is wrong with what they are doing.

The same is true of you: just because you go to seminary does not mean that you will be a better Orthodox Christian. In fact, seminary and ordination can lead you far away from God if you depend on knowledge to justify your actions rather than the fruits of the actions themselves. So, if your sermons are full of facts, but put everyone to sleep, then your sermons are ‘immoral,’ because your job is not to lull people into a stupor, but awaken them to God’s love.

Knowledge of the Faith is important to help encourage people to be united to Christ and be transformed, but memorizing religious facts is not the same as theosis or repentance or even genuine conversion. God rewards mercy and compassion, not how many books you have read or how many Fathers you can quote.

There are more things I could add, but these are the big ones that I have had to deal with in my short time as a priest. If I were to summarize it all, it would be to say this, ‘Stay humble, and you may survive being a priest.’ Pride and arrogance are our temptations and our enemies.

Do not be in a rush, and God will open the right door when the time is ready.

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In 1978 Old Believers discovered in isolated Siberia

(Smithsonian) - Siberian summers do not last long. The snows linger into May, and the cold weather returns again during September, freezing the taiga into a still life awesome in its desolation: endless miles of straggly pine and birch forests scattered with sleeping bears and hungry wolves; steep-sided mountains; white-water rivers that pour in torrents through the valleys; a hundred thousand icy bogs. This forest is the last and greatest of Earth's wildernesses. It stretches from the furthest tip of Russia's arctic regions as far south as Mongolia, and east from the Urals to the Pacific: five million square miles of nothingness, with a population, outside a handful of towns, that amounts to only a few thousand people.

When the warm days do arrive, though, the taiga blooms, and for a few short months it can seem almost welcoming. It is then that man can see most clearly into this hidden world—not on land, for the taiga can swallow whole armies of explorers, but from the air. Siberia is the source of most of Russia's oil and mineral resources, and, over the years, even its most distant parts have been overflown by oil prospectors and surveyors on their way to backwoods camps where the work of extracting wealth is carried on.

Thus it was in the remote south of the forest in the summer of 1978. A helicopter sent to find a safe spot to land a party of geologists was skimming the treeline a hundred or so miles from the Mongolian border when it dropped into the thickly wooded valley of an unnamed tributary of the Abakan, a seething ribbon of water rushing through dangerous terrain. The valley walls were narrow, with sides that were close to vertical in places, and the skinny pine and birch trees swaying in the rotors' downdraft were so thickly clustered that there was no chance of finding a spot to set the aircraft down. But, peering intently through his windscreen in search of a landing place, the pilot saw something that should not have been there. It was a clearing, 6,000 feet up a mountainside, wedged between the pine and larch and scored with what looked like long, dark furrows. The baffled helicopter crew made several passes before reluctantly concluding that this was evidence of human habitation—a garden that, from the size and shape of the clearing, must have been there for a long time.

It was an astounding discovery. The mountain was more than 150 miles from the nearest settlement, in a spot that had never been explored. The Soviet authorities had no records of anyone living in the district.

The four scientists sent into the district to prospect for iron ore were told about the pilots' sighting, and it perplexed and worried them. "It's less dangerous," the writer Vasily Peskov notes of this part of the taiga, "to run across a wild animal than a stranger," and rather than wait at their own temporary base, 10 miles away, the scientists decided to investigate. Led by a geologist named Galina Pismenskaya, they "chose a fine day and put gifts in our packs for our prospective friends"—though, just to be sure, she recalled, "I did check the pistol that hung at my side."

As the intruders scrambled up the mountain, heading for the spot pinpointed by their pilots, they began to come across signs of human activity: a rough path, a staff, a log laid across a stream, and finally a small shed filled with birch-bark containers of cut-up dried potatoes. Then, Pismenskaya said...

Complete story here.

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A reminder: Jordanville needs you

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Old Believers conference held in Moscow

(mospat.ru) - On January 25, 2013, a conference on the Old Rite in the Life of the Russian Orthodox Church: Past and Present was held within the 21st International Christmas Readings at the St. Sergius Chamber of the Church Councils Hall in the Church of Christ the Saviour. The conference held already for the eighth time was chaired by Metropolitan George of Nizhniy Novgorod and Arzamas, member of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations’ commission for Old Belief parishes and cooperation with the Old Belief community. Papers were presented on both historical themes including the First All Russia’s Common Faith Congress, new martyrs from the Common Faith community, relations with the state authorities and some today’s aspects of the life of the Old Rite community in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The conference was followed up by a round table on urgent problems in the life of Old Rite (Common Faith) parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was held on January 26 at the Patriarchal Center of Old Russian Liturgical Tradition at the Church of the Protecting Veil at Rubtsovo near Moscow.

The round table focused on the Divine Liturgy celebrated according to the old rite by Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna on January 12, 2013, at the Kremlin Cathedral of the Assumption. The hierarchal service was held thanks to Patriarch Kirill’s decision who authorized to complete in this way the events held to mark the 100th anniversary of the First All Russia’s Congress of Common Faith Believers.

According to the participants, this event unprecedented for over three and a half centuries became a landmark in the history of the Common Faith community. On the proposal by Rev. Ioann Mirolyubov, head of the Patriarchal Center for Old Russian Liturgical Tradition, who chaired the round table, it was agreed to send Patriarch Kirill the following thank-you letter:

‘Your Holiness,

On behalf of the parishioners and clergy of the Old Rite (Common Faith) parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church, we would like to express deep heartfelt gratitude to Your Holiness for the opportunity you have given us to celebrate the Divine Liturgy according to the old rite at the Kremlin Cathedral of the Assumption on the commemoration day of St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow.

With sincere filial love we dare ask Your Holiness to continue showing your mercy for us so that in the future as well we could have an opportunity to ask for your blessing upon conciliar celebrations according to the old rite at the old time monuments of general significance for the church history.

We express our unanimous wish to ask Your Holiness to lead a prayer service according to the old rite at the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh or other shrine of the Old Russia on a day chosen by Your Holiness’.

The round-table participants also discussed joint plans for celebrations at church-wide shrines and other proposals for further development of the Common Faith movement.

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Enthronement of Met. Tikhon of All America and Canada

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Hour long tour of St. Tikhon's Monastery Museum

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Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy Apostle Peter

Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy Apostle Peter, Troparion, Tone 4

Without leaving Rome thou art come to us in the precious chains which thou didst bear, O first-enthroned of the apostles; and, bowing down before them with faith we pray: through thy supplications unto God grant us great mercy!

Kontakion, Tone 2, "Seeking the highest"

Christ the Rock most splendidly glorifieth the rock of faith, the first-enthroned of His disciples; for He summoneth all to celebrate the wonders of thy precious chains, O Peter, and granteth forgiveness of offenses.

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On the Indian Orthodox Nineveh Fast

NARODA, Ahmedabad (Orthodox Herald) - Pulikkottil Dr Geevarghese Mar Yulios, Metropolitan, Diocese of Ahmedabad, has come out with a four-pronged resolution for Nineveh Fast or the lent of Repentance which is being observed from January 21-23, 2013.

Dr Mar Yulios has called upon all faithful members of Ahmedabad Diocese to observe the lent rigorously and attain from God His abundant grace.

Nineveh Fast, a preparatory period of fasting and prayer, is observed before the Great Lent and the blessed feast of Resurrection of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, which is the basis of Indian Orthodox faith.

The Metropolitan elaborates that “if we compare our modern life with that of the Ninevites we may be eligible for more severe punishments. But as the Ninevites fasted and prayed severely for 40 days and nights and averted God’s anger, we may also transform God’s anger and punishment into mercy and blessings! This year let us observe this lent rigorously and attain from God his abundant grace. Let us look into the matter more spiritually and scientifically.

The young Metropolitan has advised to adopt to ‘Fruitarians’ (consuming only fruits), during the period. Nutritionists say that a diet constituting of fruits for three days was an efficient and assured way of rejuvenating and detoxifying the body. “Let us look into the matter spiritually and scientifically. Those who can fast till afternoon or evening can do so and for three days,” he says.

Dr Mar Yulios has in the Kalpana No 03/13 dated January 18, 2013 also suggests to practice prostration, to pray twice a day and to keep aside a small amount towards charity.

For aiding the less privileged, His Grace has suggested to contribute whole heartedly a sizeable amount saved during the three-day fast and forth coming Great Lent to Prerna Special School for the mentally challenged children, run by STOTS in Kalmeshwar, Nagpur, Maharashtra.

The school is doing a remarkable work in serving the society and extending the comforting hand of Christ to the needy in the society. This is being done through the MGOCSM who has come up with this noble project.

The Bull was issued from St Thomas Bishop’s House, the Head Quarters of Ahmedabad Diocese in Naroda, Gujarat.

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Bp. Michael of NY on separation from the love of Christ

(OCA Wonder) - I grew up in Binghamton, New York, in a parish where the church was the center of my life. I served as an altar boy and went to the Church School, which was huge! We had a teenage Bible Study group; the church had a basketball team (which I was not very good at). I ran the parish library. We had altar boy practice every Saturday – we sang the Liturgy and learned about serving the services – there were as many as 36 altar boys at a time! So, almost every weekend, I was in church for Saturday Liturgy, Vespers, Matins, and Sunday Liturgy… plus holy days, baptisms, weddings, funerals and everything else that came with life in the Church.

After high school, I went to college nearby and lived at home. I never had the problem of wondering, “What do I do when I’m on my own?” I worked out my class schedule so I could be at the Liturgy during the week when there was one. Church was the place to be.

I loved being in church, and I loved what I was doing in church – especially serving in the Altar and learning about the Faith. So it was only logical for me to want to become an imitation of my parish priest, Fr. Stephen Dutko of blessed memory, so that I could have, and give, that same kind of experience. I wanted to be like Father Stephen.

And so I did. I went to seminary right after college. I got married and ordained at 22 years old. I was assigned to my first parish, Saints Peter and Paul Church in Homer City, PA, and I was raring to go.

Then it all changed. After 29 days of marriage, my wife and I were in a car accident. She was killed instantly. I was in the hospital – in a coma. I came out months later, confused and bitter, guilt ridden and doubting. I was feeling all those kinds of things that a person would feel in that horrific situation. Why did God let this happen? It had to be somebody’s fault. All the confusion, all the anger, definitely made me think about not being a priest anymore.

However, I couldn’t conceive of not serving at the Altar. I could not conceive of living my life outside of that experience that I had had all those years. I just could not imagine that.

So, rather than walk away from the Church, I did what I really needed to do – and what I have counseled so many people, of all ages from the youngest to the oldest, to do when we have these terrible, tragic experiences. And that is to draw closer to Christ in the face of pain and agony and loss. When I did that, it was not just an inner, “me and Jesus” kind of experience. The Lord came to me, and began to heal me through the faces, the words, the embraces, the love of His people: the Church.

My spiritual father was one of them. He was tough on me. He told me, “Your faith just has to kick in.” One of the questions I raised was, “Where was God when all this happened?” And he said, “He was in the same place the day that Debbie died that He was on Great and Holy Friday, when His Son died.” He told me that even though that particular Tuesday when we had the accident might have been a Good Friday to me… still, Good Friday is not the end of the story… Pascha is. He reminded me that Christ triumphed over death – and I had to believe that my wife was a sharer in that victory and in the Resurrection.

So, I never left the Church. I never walked away from the priesthood. My first parish as a priest became a replica of what I had experienced in my home parish as a young person… and those people who I served as a young widowed priest helped me nurse back to spiritual health – as well as me helping them in their dark moments and in their difficulties. It wasn’t just me, as their priest, taking care of them. Guided by God, as His family, we cared for each other.

A famous Christian writer named Tertullian, who lived less than 200 years after Jesus, wrote that “A Christian alone is no Christian.” He meant that no one is saved alone… it takes the Church to save a soul. Whenever I look back on that incredibly painful time in my life, I am more and more deeply convinced that I never would have survived – not spiritually, and maybe not literally – without the Church. I do not mean just the Church as a building, although that is the place where we meet and pray and even play together. I mean, the Church as a community; the constant presence of the people of God – my spiritual father, my parishioners, my brother priests and their families, with all of the guidance, the prayers and the love that they have to share.

Even though my hope for you who read this is that you never have to go through what I went through, I pray that somehow, whenever you do experience difficulties, doubts, and obstacles, by God’s grace, your faith will “kick in.” I pray that you will seek, and find, the healing and the love that Our Lord offers us in the faces, the embraces, and the prayers of others — the love of Christ Jesus, shown within the community of His Church.

One of my favorite quotes in the Bible is from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, in which he asks the question, “What can separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35). And he answers that neither height nor depth… nor life nor death… nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thanks to the Church, I am living proof that this is true.

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Chaldean synod to elect new patriarch

(Vatican Radio) The ‘delicate historical moment’ that the ancient Chaldean Church of Babylon is experiencing and the need for unity in its leadership were the chief concerns expressed Monday morning as the Patriarchal Synod opened here in Rome. Emer McCarthy reports:

Convoked by Pope Benedict XVI, under the Presidency of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Synod has the task of electing a new Patriarch, Pater et Caput of the Chaldean Church, to succeed Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly. I'll note where the term "Pater et Caput" (father and head) comes from as it is a distinctive section in the CCEO. From Canon 55: According to the most ancient tradition of the Church, already recognized by the first ecumenical councils, the patriarchal institution has existed in the Church; for this reason a special honor is to be accorded to the patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, each of whom presides over his patriarchal Church as father and head.

Comprised of fifteen men, the bishops come mainly from Iraq, ancestral home of the Chaldean Church, but also from neighbouring Iran, Syria and Lebanon as well as representatives of the growing Chaldean Diaspora in Australia and North America.

Opening proceedings Monday morning, Cardinal Sandri underscored the crucial timing of the Synod. In his brief discourse the prelate, a bridge between the ancient Eastern Churches and Rome, had two main concerns: Firstly the ‘delicate historical moment’ of the Chaldean Church and secondly the need for unity in its leadership.

He stated: “this act of election of a new Patriarch of paramount importance before God, the Church and all the faithful … especially at this delicate historical moment, is the equal responsibility of each bishop”.

On this, he added, depends “the very future of the Chaldean Church, Her tradition and heritage, her ecclesial, social and historical circumstances, the elaboration and application of pastoral guidelines”.

Cardinal Sandri concluded: “The Chaldean Church invites you to make the necessary sacrifices through the eyes of faith, and to lay aside all personal interests for the benefit of your Church and the Universal Church…in the knowledge that what unites you in terms of spiritual, sacramental and pastoral care is far superior to what divides you so that the unity that strengthens is expressed in this election with all its force and effect”.

All 15 men will spend this week in strict segregation at the Sts. John and Paul retreat centre run by the Passionist Fathers on Rome’s Caelian Hill. Their deliberations begin Monday with day of retreat and meditation led by Bishop Enrico Del Covolo, Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University and Archbishop Rhino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

Tuesday will see the first round of debate and discussion on the current situation of the Chaldean Church in the Patriarchal territory and wider Diaspora. While Wednesday will see the first elections take place according to the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches

The 15 participating bishops are:

Mar Hanna Zora, Mar Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, Mar Thomas MERAM, Mar Antoine AUDO, S.J., Mar Ramzi GARMOU, Mar Djabrail KASSAB, Mar Jacques ISHAQ, Mar Michel KASSARJI, Mar Shlemon WARDUNI, Mar Rabban AL-QAS, Mar Sarhad-Yawsef Jammo, Mar Mikha Pola Maqdassi, Mar Louis Sako, Mar Amel Shamon NONA, Mar Bashar Matte WARDA.

Speaking before the Synod opening to Vatican Radio’s Sergio Centofanti, Cardinal Sandri expanded on what he sees as the main challenges facing the centuries old church in this “delicate historical moment’:

“The main challenges are those of the Church in general: the faith and in the particular case of the Chaldean Church, of course, a great importance is given to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. The lack of faith, because Christians are few and many have had to flee, migrate, go elsewhere to seek the peace and security that were missing in their homeland. In this situation of violence and suffering, the faith has faded”.

Q : You visited Iraq recently. What were your impressions?

“My impressions were that despite all we hear from the news, the violence and terrorism, there is a living, vibrant Church in Iraq, which manifests itself through the Chaldean Church and through the Syrian Catholic Church, and through the Latin Church. They are our brothers and sisters who live the Gospel, trying to put all their lives in the hands of the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen this in the Divine liturgies I attended and I was really heartened by their hope for a better future. And then, seeing that they really feel that they belong to the universal Church with all their soul, the Catholic Church, they feel the Pope’s fatherly embrace, they feel close to him, as indeed, he feels close to them.

Q: An Islamist wind is blowing in Arab countries. Is dialogue possible today with the Muslim world?

We share the belief in one God with Muslims. But there is a common commitment that can also be united with this so-called Arab Spring, which is to give importance to the dignity of the human person, the dignity that is manifested in freedom, especially religious freedom, in the protection of fundamental rights of men and women.

Q: But are there fears for the future of Christians?

Christians, living in a predominantly Muslim country, may have fears, but not because of Islam, because Islam is a religion that wants harmony and peace, all that is deformation of Islam such as violence or those who want to impose their religion by force, have nothing to do with Islam. With authentic Islam there is a possibility of genuine dialogue and understanding.

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Met. Tikhon of Washington enthroned OCA primate

(OCA) - On Sunday, January 27, 2013, His Beatitude, the Most Blessed Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, was enthroned at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC.

In attendance at the Enthronement were members of the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops and guests representing several Orthodox Churches in North America and abroad.

Metropolitan Tikhon was elected OCA Primate at the 17th All-American Council held in Parma, OH on Tuesday, November 13, 2012.

Born Marc R. Mollard in Boston, MA on July 15, 1966, Metropolitan Tikhon was the eldest of three children born to Francois and Elizabeth Mollard.

After brief periods living in Connecticut, France, and Missouri, he and his family settled in Reading, PA, where he graduated from Wyomissing High School in 1984. In 1988 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Sociology from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, after which he moved to Chicago.

In 1989 he was received into the Orthodox Church from Episcopalianism and, in the fall of the same year, he began studies at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA. One year later he entered the monastic community at Saint Tikhon’s Monastery as a novice. He was awarded the Master of Divinity degree from Saint Tikhon’s Seminary in 1993, after which he was appointed Instructor in Old Testament and subsequently Senior Lecturer in Old Testament, teaching Master level courses in the Prophets and the Psalms and Wisdom Literature. He also served as an Instructor in the seminary’s Extension Studies program, offering courses in the lives of the Old Testament saints, the liturgical use of the Old Testament, and the Old Testament in patristic literature.

He collaborated with Igumen Alexander [Golitzin]—now Bishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese of the Orthodox Church in America—in the publication of “The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain” by Saint Tikhon’s Seminary Press.

In 1995, he was tonsured to the Lesser Schema with the name Tikhon, in honor of Saint Patriarch Tikhon, Enlightener of North America. Later that year, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and Holy Priesthood at Saint Tikhon’s Monastery. In 1998 he was elevated to the rank of Igumen, and in 2000, to the rank of Archimandrite.

In December 2002, he was named Deputy Abbot of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery. Two years later—on February 14, 2004—he was consecrated to the episcopacy at Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery Church. On May 9, 2012, he was elevated to the dignity of Archbishop.

A full report on the weekend of celebration will appear on the OCA web site during the week of January 28. Meanwhile, a gallery of photos from the Enthronement Divine Liturgy may be viewed on the OCA web site and OCA Facebook page.

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Met. Emmanuel locum tenens of Western Europe exarchate

(exarchat.eu) - In the Patriarchal letter dated 16 January 2013, His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew first announced that, by decision of the Holy Synod, the demand for retirement of His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Comana has been accepted.

His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France is officially "Locum tenens appointed Patriarchal Exarchate of the Ecumenical Throne Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe", in accordance with the request made ​​in this direction by the Council of the Archdiocese. From now until the election of the new Archbishop should be in liturgical celebrations commemorate the name of His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France as Locum Tenens of the archiepiscopal throne.

The Council of the Archdiocese will meet shortly under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Emmanuel to determine the date of the Extraordinary General Assembly to elect a new Archbishop and conditions of appointment of candidates in accordance with § 41 and 42 of the Statute of the Archdiocese. The terms of appointment of parish lay delegates will also be communicated as soon as possible.

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Metropolitan of Ukrainian Church in the USA enthroned

Silver Spring, MD (UOC-USA) - His Eminence Metropolitan Antony was enthroned on January 26, 2013, as the fourth Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA during a magnificent and traditional ceremony at St. Andrew the First Called Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring, MD. The Enthronement services were attended by more than 500 faithful and about 70 clergymen of the Metropolia and many visitors from across the country from various Orthodox and Catholic jurisdictions.

The Enthronement liturgical services began at 6:30 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013 with All-Night Vigil served by Rev. Fr. Anthony Perkins and choir of Holy Archangel Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Woonsocket, RI. With about 200 people in attendance, following a winter storm that brought about 4 inches of snow to Washington, DC Metropolitan area, the hierarchs, clergy and faithful in attendance prayerfully inaugurated the events of Enthronement weekend, preparing themselves and pledging their love and support of the Church for their new spiritual father.

On Saturday morning, the procession of hierarchs took place from the parish residence to the cathedral. In attendance, representing the Orthodox faithful of the North America were His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios – Exharch of the Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Metropolitan Yuriy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada; His Grace Bishop Daniel – President of Consistory and Ruling Hierarch of the Western Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA; His Grace Bishop Andriy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada; His Grace Bishop Pankratiy of Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Mexico; His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese; His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel of Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America; His Grace Bishop Melchizidek, His Grace Bishop Michael, His Grace Bishop Irenee of the Orthodox Church in America. Bishops from the Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic and Ukrainian Catholic churches also were in attendance (Most Rev. Metropolitan Stefan Soroka of Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Most Rev. Bishop Paul Chomnycky of Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, CT; Most Rev. Bishop Basil Losten – bishop-emeritus of Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, CT; Rev. Monsignor Jean-Francois Lantheaume – assistant to the Papal Nuncio; Rev. Avelino Gonzales – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, DC).

Metropolitan Yuriy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada delivered a sermon in both Ukrainian and English languages reflecting upon the sacred vocation of a bishop in the life of the Church and stressing the importance of spiritual fatherhood in the life of parish communities under the spiritual care of Metropolitan Antony.

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, responses to which were chanted by St. Andrew’s choir under the leadership of Hryhoriy Olijnyk, Metropolitan-elect Antony was led to the Ambo of the cathedral and the results of the Extraordinary Sobor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA were pronounced by the President of the Consistory of the UOC of the USA – His Grace Bishop Daniel, who prayerfully exclaimed AXIOS, to which the congregation in unison responded AXIOS. Metropolitan Yuriy and Bishop Daniel formally vested the new Metropolitan in his blue Mantia of the Metropolitan and a white klobuk, a symbol of purity, was presented to the Metropolitan by Bishop Daniel. Finally, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios handed Metropolitan Antony the pastoral staff, signifying his pastoral and disciplinary responsibilities. In conclusion, the Archbishop presented Metropolitan Antony with a letter from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The newly appointed Metropolitan expressed his will and hopes to carry on the remarkable work of his predecessors, especially Metropolitan Constantine of blessed memory, as well as preserving and continuing transmitting the Ukrainian Orthodox traditions and cultural heritage.

“Your Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios, Your Eminence Metropolitan Yurij, Your Grace Bishop Daniel, all my brother hierarchs here sharing in this momentous moment in the life of our Holy Church, my dear brother clergy – priests, deacons, subdeacons, our pani-dobrodiyky, seminarians and all of you, the loving faithful who have come to participate – not just witness – but to participate in this historical day in the life of the Church – not my own life – but the life of the Church.

I thank you for that participation and your proclamation of “Axios”, which translated is “Worthy”. As I was at the moment of my ordination into all the ranks of clergy – the deaconate, the priesthood and the episcopacy – at hearing this proclamation, today I am humbled. Humbled to not just intellectually absorb…but to feel the trust and the hope embodied in that proclamation and I pray to God Almighty that I may – however insignificantly – live up to that trust and that hope. Axios – it is a term filled with meaning (as I once heard or read and I apologize for not remembering where or when). Axios – it is both an affirmation by the clergy and the faithful gathered together at any ordination, but more importantly it is a goal to be achieved! “Worthiness” is not something automatically “given” by those proclaiming it at any given moment, it is a process – a lifelong struggle that is only fully realized in the Kingdom of God. It is a goal and a directive from God. I ask that you be of assistance to me in remembering this – that the “Axios” you proclaimed today is a goal and a directive from God – expressed through you and inspired, hopefully, by the Holy Spirit. I extend my most sincere and heartfelt gratitude to all of you here gathered for the natural completion of our Church’s ancient process of episcopal election – the enthronement of a new Prime Hierarch – Metropolitan.

Since the day of my election during our Special Sobor on 6 October at our Metropolia Center in New Jersey and the official announcement on 31 October at the Patriarchal Seminary in Halki by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in behalf of the Holy Synod of Constantinople of my election, most of you have already expressed you’re your warm personal greetings and more importantly, have not forgotten me in your prayers as I prepared for this day. I have felt the consequences of those prayers in the form of a peace and comfort – in more than a common way – as the initial trepidation and horror of the prospects of entering into this office have melted away into the certain knowledge that you possess such a desire to walk this path at my side.

I would ask that your powerful prayers continue for the salvation of my soul because I need them more than you can possibly imagine. As I said at my election: in my human weakness, I have often been self-assured that I am offering myself as a gift to God in all that I attempt to do as His priest or His Bishop, while in reality, it is GOD, Who gifts Himself to me……and so frequently…..and without hesitation or limitation. When I, a simple human being offer myself to God, there always seem to be limits or contingencies to the offer – but He offers Himself without such. I feel myself at this moment encompassed in His Grace – and I cannot begin to express to you the joy of that feeling. I pray that your joy is as all-encompassing as is mine and that it will abound throughout all the years that I have left to serve Him and you. May we together work in His Name and for His Glory so that, in the words of His All-Holiness, we may experience “growth and strength, from grace to grace”.

A reception for all the faithful and later a banquet, hosted by the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and led by the Master of Ceremonies for the day - Very Rev. Bazyl Zawierucha, followed in the great hall of the cathedral’s community center. Hierarchs of Orthodox and Catholic Churches, Archons of the Ecumenical Throne, Ukrainian diplomats (Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA – His Excellency Oleksander Motsyk), representatives of the Church’s main organizations: Sr. and Jr. Ukrainian Orthodox League, United Ukrainian Orthodox Sisterhoods, St. Andrew Society, and leaders of Ukrainian Diaspora community, among them representatives of Ukrainian National Credit Union, the pastor of St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring, MD Very Rev. Volodymyr Steliak and the parish board of adminsitration of the cathedral congregation greeted Metropolitan Antony and presented him with numerous ecclesiastical gifts.

In conclusion of the banquet, His Grace Bishop Daniel reflected upon the faith journey of Metropolitan Antony and the personal impact that His Eminence had on the formation of priestly life of Bishop Daniel, presenting to those in attendance the newly installed Prime Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA – His Eminence Metropolitan Antony.

“In accepting the leadership of this Metropolia, I accept the yoke of servant-hood… By the grace of God, new opportunities lie ahead for the Metropolia and the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and in Diaspora — new opportunities to encounter our neighbors, new opportunities to evangelize, new opportunities to draw the world into the Apostolic net of salvation. May God grant us the same ambition that burned within Saint Paul, to preach the Gospel where Christ was not previously known.”

On Sunday, January 27, 2013, His Eminence Metropolitan Antony, assisted by His Grace Bishop Daniel and the Clergy of Metropolia, presided over the Divine Liturgy, for the first time as Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.

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Turkish Cultural Community of Austria not fans of Legos

(The Telegraph) - Austria’s Turkish community said the model was based on Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul and that the accompanying figures depicted Asians and Orientals as people with “deceitful and criminal personalities.”

The Turkish Cultural Community of Austria released a statement calling for Lego to apologise for affronting religious and cultural feelings.

The anger was provoked by “Jabba’s Palace”, a model of the home of Jabba the Hutt from Lego’s Star Wars product range based on the blockbusting series of science fiction films.

Jabba is the large slug-like creature who holds Han Solo captive in the film Return of the Jedi, and his palace is the setting for several crucial scenes, including using Princess Leia as his slave.

Jabba’s domed home and accompanying watchtower bear, according to the statement, an unwanted resemblance to Istanbul’s great Hagia Sophia, and another mosque in Beirut. So pareidolia is cause for forced public apologies now? A snide section of my mind is wondering where the apology is for turning the great cathedral into a mosque.

A picture posted on the Cultural Community’s website includes the box for Jabba’s Palace with arrows pointing out similarities to a picture of the Hagia Sofia mosque.

A converted Christian basilica and famed for its massive domed roof, the Hagia Sofia is one of the most famous mosques in the world and served Istanbul’s Muslim community for over 500 years before becoming a museum in 1943. It is also regarded as one of the finest, and largest examples, of Byzantine architecture.

The Jabba case came to light after an Austrian Turk complained to the organisation after his sister had bought his son the box set.

Austria’s Turkish community also took issue with the figures that went with the palace, including Jabba.

“The terrorist Jabba the Hutt likes to smoke a hookah and have his victims killed,” said the statement posted on the organisation’s website.

“It is clear that the ugly figure of Jabba and the whole scene smacks of racial prejudice and vulgar insinuations against Asians and Orientals as people with deceitful and criminal personalities.”

The crimes associated with the figures, the statements adds, include terrorism, slavery, murder and human sacrifice.

Taking into account that many of the Lego figures carry weapons, the Turkish organisation also urged parents “not to buy toys of war or toys of discrimination” as the model goes against the “peaceful coexistence of different cultures in Europe”.

As an indication of the anger felt over Jabba’s Palace, the organisation said it was considering taking legal action against Lego for inciting racial hatred and insulting human dignity.

Katharina Sasse, a public relations manager working on behalf of Lego, denied any link between Jabba’s Palace and the mosque.

“The Lego Star Wars product Jabba´s Palace does not reflect any actually existing buildings, people, or the mentioned mosque,” she said. “The Lego mini-figures are all modelled on characters from the movie.

“We regret that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to come to a wrong interpretation, but point out that when designing the product only the fictional content of the Star Wars saga were referred to.”

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Jordanville hosting men's retreat in April

I'm hoping to go with some friends. Please consider making the journey as well. There's nothing like Jordanville. It's like a metochion of the Russian Church... by way of time travel into the 19^th century.

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(Facebook) - Join us for a two-day men's retreat at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY from Sat. April 13th to Sun. April 14th. This weekend, the fourth of Great Lent commemorating St. John of the Ladder, is also significant as April 13th is the anniversary of the repose of Archbishop Averky, the former abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery from 1960-1976, and a giant of Orthodoxy in the 20th century.

This retreat, sponsored by the Brotherhood of Sts. John the Theologian and Alexander Nevsky in Albany, NY, aims to bring all generations of men together for a weekend of prayer, learning, labor, and fellowship.

A tentative schedule.

Friday April 12

Arrival, accommodations at the Jordanville guest house.

Saturday April 13

6 AM Divine Liturgy

7:30 AM Breakfast

8 AM Tour of Monastery by seminarians

9 AM Talk on the spiritual legacy and writings of Archbishop Averky

12 PM Lunch

After lunch, a panikhida at Archbishop Averky's grave.

Afternoon work project assisting the monastery

7 PM Vigil

Sunday April 14

Divine Liturgy

Lunch

Spiritual Talk/Question and Answer Session

All participants will stay at the monastery guesthouse, which costs $20-30 a night. There is room for 45 people, but if more come we will find a place for them to stay.

There is also a suggested $10-20 donation to cover the cost of food.

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The glass-bead icons of Angelika Artemenko

More photos and an explanation on the estimable Orthodox Arts Journal.

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Icons made by the hands of non-Orthodox

From the blog On Behalf of All, a post entitled "Using colors according to Tradition." My feelings on this topic are well known and are rather congruous with the below. Iconography is more than art and as such resides properly inside the Church. Thoughts?

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A student of Orthodox iconographer Susan Cushman writes an icon of St. Nicholas.

While it has become more and more commonplace in other Christian traditions to allow ecclesiastical artwork (whether statuary or iconography, or even clerical vestments) to be done by the hands of the non-Christian, this has been largely avoided in the Orthodox tradition. I’m sure that there are a few examples out there to the contrary, but the predominate perspective on this within Orthodoxy is that only those who are within the Church should — and perhaps are even only able to — produce such artwork and craft.

Orthodox tradition guides us to reproduce icons ”as they were painted by the ancient and holy iconographers“ (Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon, Vol. 1, p. 11; cf. the Hundred Chapters Council of AD 1551). This imitation, so to speak, goes beyond an imitation of mere form or “style,” as the purpose of iconography is one-and-the-same with the purpose of the holy scriptures, a sacred hymn, or a work of dogmatic theology.

A non-Orthodox artist might be able to replicate perfectly any number of Orthodox and canonical icons, but this does not mean that what they have produced is an icon itself, which are sacred objects of devotion, apocalyptic windows into the heavenly, and a taste of the Transfiguration itself. Just as no one would presume that an unbeliever could compose bits of holy scripture, nor should we presume the same could be done when it comes to iconography. Saint Symeon of Thessalonica once wrote (of icons) to “use colors according to tradition.” In the same context, Ouspensky notes...

Complete post here.

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Muslims wielding hammers and pipes attack Coptic property

The idea that the Copts were going to turn one of their buildings into a church is not a new accusation. Even before the dreaded Arab Spring that catalyzed anti-Christian violence and intimidation in Egypt and across the Middle East the government did not permit the building of new churches (often through delaying tactics). As such, many buildings owned by the church that served other purposes were transitioned to use as a parish to meet the needs of the community.

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(AINA) - Hundreds of Muslims came out of mosques today with hammers and destroyed a social services building belonging to the Coptic Church while chanting Islamic slogans. Security forces arrived after the building was completely razed. A common additional note is that the security forces showed up after the event. They are just as likely to show up and do nothing while the destruction is ongoing. The 100 square meters social services building in the village of Fanous, Tamia district in Fayoum province, 130 KM south west of Cairo, had all the necessary government permits; it had a reception hall on the first floor and a kindergarten on the second.

But the Muslims insisted that it would become a church.

A meeting had taken place beforehand between the village mayor and elders from Muslim and Coptic sides and it was agreed that only the first floor was to remain and the second be demolished.

Mosques in surrounding villages called on their microphones this afternoon on Muslims to go and help their Muslim brethrens in the village of Fanous, because Christians were "building a church." According to rights activist Nader Shukry of Maspero Coptic Youth Organizations, nearly 5000 Muslims took part in demolishing the church property with their hammers, while shouting "Allahu Akbar." He said no one was arrested, not even the imams who called on Muslims to demolish the building; their calls fall under the crime of "enticement to violence."

The district of Tamia and neighboring Senousen is home to a large congregation of Islamists. Shoukry said that the Coptic Church had previously warned the security authorities of the danger of the Islamists provoking sedition in Tamia and neighboring areas.

A witness from Fanous village said they were working on the building site, which had started two months ago, removing the wood which was intended for the second floor when a Muslim man started insulting the Copts, then they were assaulted by the village women. The mob of Muslim men followed with their attack saying that the whole building has to be demolished. He said that the Muslim elders pretended to be peacemakers, but to no avail. "The Muslims with their hammers and spare pipes were demolishing also the walls of the ground floor, leaving nothing standing," said the witness. The village mayor and Muslim elders made excuses for not honoring their agreement of leaving the ground floor intact by saying the "youth take unreasonable actions."

Security authorities arrived after the social services building was demolished.

Some village Copts together with priests from St. George's Church went to the police station to have a report with the incident issued. No Muslim was arrested.

"Although we recognized the village youth who participated in the demolition work we could not name any of them," said a Christian resident, "as we are a minority in the village and we do not want to have problems because we fear for the safety of our children. We go away to work in Cairo leaving our families behind in the village. I believe that as Copts, we are destined to be always persecuted."

According to Shukry, the Copts are staying indoors, afraid to get into any confrontation which might lead to other attacks on their homes and businesses. "This incident will end like all other similar incidents, no one will be arrested and the building will never be rebuilt." He believes that the Copts should stand firm and insist on rebuilding this demolished services building, "otherwise it will be a green light to repeat this incident in the neighboring villages."

In 2007 in the village of Roda in Tamia Muslims demolished the fence of the Protestant church, security initiated a "reconciliation" meeting. The governorate promised to rebuild the fence at its own expenses, and the perpetrators were released. The fence has still not been built.

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Patriarch Kirill of Moscow versus the theomachists

Moscow, January 25 (Interfax) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia has come vigorously against "liberal" anthropocentric philosophies.

"The issue is not those pinpricks that theomachists are trying to inflict on the body of the Church through their various actions. The issue is the future of the world," the Patriarch said at the 21st International Christmas Conference in Moscow on Thursday.

Mankind would not survive without the moral values "that God put into human nature," he said.

Nor would it survive if it goes for the "liberal concept" that each human being is "an alpha and omega, that he is authorized to decide what is good and what is evil, that he can not only decide on his own future but also has the right to exercise any influence he likes on the world surrounding him," the Patriarch said.

"What the Church does today with support from its numerous allies - intellectuals, teachers and so on - means accomplishing the main task that faces people, the task of preserving human civilization," he said.

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Armenian Church elects new Patriarch of Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (Daily Star) - Archbishop Nurhan Manougian has been elected the 97th Armenian Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, one of the five custodians of Christian religious sites in the Holy Land, sources told AFP on Thursday.

Manougian, 65, replaces Torkom Manougian, who died aged 93 in October 2012, after falling into a coma following a stroke.

The new patriarch will lead the small Armenian Orthodox communities in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan, as well as take responsibility for parts of holy sites including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

He was elected with 17 votes in his favour to 15 votes for Archbishop Aris Shirvanian, who had been serving as interim patriarch, a source in the Armenian community said.

Nurhan Manougian was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1948 and ordained in Jerusalem in 1971. His election must be approved by Israel and the Jordanian king.

There are an estimated 2,000 Armenians living in Jerusalem today, down from an estimated 16,000 in 1948 when the state of Israel was created.

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