June 29th – Holy Glorious and all praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter & Paul

A Vacation… From Orthodoxy?

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Priest Michael Samokhin

Summer is here. More and more parishioners are approaching me with the request: “Batiushka, bless me to go on vacation.” Following this request, as a rule, come a great many questions about how to combine rest with our faith.

When replying to the majority of these questions, I take a personal approach. The personalities, situations, and state of health of my parishioners vary a great deal. Nonetheless, there are some principles and frequently asked questions that are worth talking about in general, in the hope of making life easier for those going on vacation.

Vassily Nesterenko, „Summer in Jerusalem,” 1996

Taking a rest is not only permissible, but necessary. Ideally, our rest from the vanity of this world should consist of prayer and communion with God. We need a vacation from whatever we consider work. When prayer is a joy, when fasting has become as habitual as breathing, and when we wait impatiently all year to go on pilgrimage, then the question of the compatibility of vacationing and faith simply does not come up – and no rest from faith is required.

The reality is that a certain portion of our spiritual lives is taken up by labor and discipline. Everyone has his own boundary between spiritual joy and ascetic struggle. Therefore, advice should be offered primarily on an individual basis. Continuă să citești →

So Your Child Wants to Become a Monastic

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I should like to ask you to think of something you may not have onsidered before; how would you feel if your son or daughter expressed the desire to enter a monastery? You may be an Orthodox Christian, and very devout; you may be diligent in attending services and reading spiritual books; you may have tried your best to raise your children in an Orthodox Tewahedo manner; you may even admire Monasticism. Nonetheless, how would you really feel?

We live in a time and society quite different from years ago where monasticism was a visible and acceptable part of every day life. It was not uncommon for entire families to make pilgrimages to monasteries. Few people today, in the Western world, however, have any significant exposure to Monasticism and it is little wonder that in our un-Orthodox and even anti-Christian society, the very thought of one’s child becoming a monastic, Monk or Nun, can seem very threatening.

There are a number of reasons one can give for such a reaction. Lack of familiarity breeds fear. Not a few people imagine Monasticism to be very grim and even inhuman. They may envision their child locked behind a grating and subsisting for the rest of his or her life on bread and water. The other extreme is an equally- erroneous view of a romanticized spiritual state in which the child spends his days floating above the ground in an exalted state of endless holiness. In both cases it is imagined that entering a monastery presupposes leaving behind the human race. Continuă să citești →

Interview with Fr. Moses Berry:

„The Church belongs to everyone”

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Fr. Moses Berry, an OCA priest ministering at Theotokos “Unexpected Joy” Orthodox Church in Ash Grove, Missouri, has an unusual story. In 1998, he moved with his family from St. Louis to his family’s farm in Ash Grove, near Springfield. Century Farm has been in the Berry family since 1872; on the property a cemetery dedicated to “Slaves, Paupers, and Indians” needed maintenance and oversight, and so Fr. Moses left a mission in the city to return to his rural boyhood home.

A small group of faithful collected around the new mission, Theotokos “Unexpected Joy.”  The tiny cemetery chapel hosted the first services; in 2000 the mission was received into the Orthodox Church in America, and in 2003 parishioners erected a temple.

Fr. Moses travels widely to give talks on mission and also on local Afro-American history; folks who have met him elsewhere often stop by to worship when they pass through the area. In addition to leading the parish, Fr. Moses also heads up The Brotherhood of St Moses the Black, a pan-Orthodox nonprofit organization which presents an annual conference targeting those who have little exposure to Orthodoxy or its African roots.

Recently, oca.org interviewed Fr. Moses about his unique ministry.

1.  Father, for those who might not be familiar with your background, can you give us a snapshot of how you came to be an OCA priest? Continuă să citești →

Archbishop  Michael Celebrates Liturgy at

Resurrection Church in the Capital of Morocco

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On February 15, 2012, the feast   day of the Meeting of the Lord, His Eminence Archbishop Michael of Geneva   and Western Europe celebrated Divine Liturgy at Resurrection of the   Lord Russian Orthodox Church in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. He was   joined by the parish rector, Priest Maksim Massalitine. This was the   first time a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia   has performed divine services in this church in its 80-year history.

After Liturgy, Vladyka Michael   shared a trapeza with the parishioners, during which he shared his recollections   of one of his spiritual guides, Bishop Mitrophan (Znosko-Borovsky, 1909-2002),   rector for many years of Dormition Church of the Russian Church Abroad   in Casablanca. Bishop Mitrophan died on the very day of the Meeting   of the Lord exactly ten years ago.

As reported by the website   of Resurrection Church in Rabat, Archbishop Michael’s visit to Morocco   from February 15-17 included tending to the pastoral ministry of the   Russian Orthodox community in Casablanca, chaired an extraordinary meeting   of the Parish Association of Dormition Church. The archpastor also met   with the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian   Federation to the Kingdom of Morocco, BF Bolotin, and the Director of   the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Rabat, NV Sukhov.

On February 17, Archbishop   Michael returned to Geneva.

Source: http://www.synod.com

Orthodox Church in America featured in Catholic Near East Association magazine

SYOSSET, NY [OCA]

The Orthodox Church in America is the topic of a feature article in this month’s issue of ONE Magazine, published by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association [CNEWA].
The generally well-written and researched article may be accessed on-line.
The only major criticism that one could raise would be the use of statistics in the second to the last paragraph, in which the author seems to confuse the total estimated number of all Orthodox Christians in North America — “recently, church authorities reported 1,064,000 members,” he notes — with the number of OCA members.  With regard to the latter, the author states that “studies, including one published by the church’s evangelization committee [of the OCA], report much lower figures: no more than 40,000 full members.
“Fluid definitions of membership may also account for the discrepancy,” he adds.
The article is accompanied by a gallery of several excellent photographs.

A companion article highlights the iconographic work of an Orthodox nun in Romania.

Source: http://oca.org

Strong Orthodox Christian presence at annual DC March for Life

WASHINGTON, DC [OCA]

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, together with Their Graces, Bishops Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Michael of New York and New Jersey, and Matthias of Chicago and the Midwest were led hundreds of Orthodox Christian clergy, faithful, and seminarians at the 39th annual March for Life here Monday, January 23, 2012.
According to Archpriest John Kowalczyk, a pro-life activist and co-founder of the Orthodox Presence at the annual gathering, “this was the biggest Orthodox participation ever in the history of the March.”

Metropolitan Jonah spoke at the pre-March program and offered prayers for the opening invocation. At the conclusion of every petition, thousands responded with a heartfelt and enthusiastic “Lord, have mercy!”  Marchers then proceeded up Constitution Avenue to the US Supreme Court, where a Memorial was celebrated for the victims of abortion.
The March was broadcast live on the Eternal Word Television Network [EWTN], which will rebroadcast it’s extensive coverage at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 28.  Check local listings for possible variations.

Source: http://oca.org