The anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision was January 22.   Today, January 25, 2013, will be the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

(AOB) – Forty years ago the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a decision, known as Roe v. Wade, granting a “right” for women of the United States to terminate the lives of their children in the womb. This decision has resulted in some 54 million children’s lives ending almost before they began.

The Holy Orthodox Christian Faith is unabashedly pro-life. The Lord Jesus Christ was recognized and worshipped in His mother’s womb while yet unborn by the Holy Forerunner who was also still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:44); St. Basil the Great (4th Century), one of the universal teachers of the faith, dared to call murderers those who terminate the life of the fetus. The Church has consistently held that children developing in the womb should be afforded every protection given to those outside the womb. There is no moral, religious or scientific rationale which can justify making a distinction between the humanity of the newly-conceived and that of the newly-born.

Abortion on demand not only ends the life of a child, but also injures the mother of that child, often resulting in spiritual, psychological and physical harm. Christians should bring the comfort of the Gospel to women who have had abortions, that our loving God may heal them. The Orthodox Church calls on her children, and indeed all of society, to provide help to pregnant mothers who need assistance brining their children safely into the world and providing these children loving homes.

On the occasion of this sorrowful anniversary, and as we mourn the violence we all too often visit upon one another, as exemplified by the recent mass killings in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut, we pray for an end to the violence of abortion. Surely the many ways in which we as a people diminish the reverence and respect for human life underlie much of this violence. The disrespect for human life in the womb is no small part of this. Let us offer to Almighty God our repentance for the evil of abortion on demand and extend our hearts and hands to embrace life.

On the occasion of this 40th Anniversary of “Roe v. Wade,” we republish the following “Agreed Statement” issued in 1974 by the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Bilateral Consultation in the United States (composed of representatives from the former SCOBA and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops) a statement as timely now as it was then:

AN AGREED STATEMENT ON RESPECT FOR LIFE

We, the members of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Bilateral Consultation in the United States, after extensive discussions on the sanctity of marriage, feel compelled to make a statement concerning the inviolability of human life in all its forms.

We recognize that human life is a gift of God entrusted to mankind and so feel the necessity of expressing our shared conviction about its sacred character in concrete and active ways. It is true that the Christian community’s concern has recently seemed to be selective and disproportionate in this regard, e.g., in the anti-abortion campaign. Too often human life has been threatened or even destroyed, especially during times of war, internal strife, and violence, with little or no protestation from the Christian leadership. Unfortunately, the impression has frequently been given that churchmen are more concerned with establishing the legitimacy of war or capital punishment than with the preservation of human life. We know that this has been a scandal for many, both believers and unbelievers.

We feel constrained at this point in history to affirm that the “right to life” implies a right to a decent life and to full human development, not merely to a marginal existence.

We affirm that the furthering of this goal for the unborn, the mentally handicapped, the aging, and the underprivileged is our duty on a global as well as a domestic scale.

We deplore in particular the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision failing to recognize the rights of the unborn–a decision which has led to widespread indiscriminate early abortion.

We affirm our common Christian tradition with regard to the right of the unborn to life.

We acknowledge our responsibility to mediate the love of Christ, especially to the troubled expectant mother, and thus make possible the transmission and nurturing of new life and its fully human development.

We urge our churches and all believers to take a concrete stand on this matter at this time and to exemplify this evangelical imperative in their personal lives and professional decisions.

Source

The initiation of a newborn child into the Church is a journey into Christ’s own life. This process culminates in the child’s baptism and reception of the Eucharist, but it actually begins shortly after birth, when the priest offers prayers for the physical and spiritual healing of both the mother and child.

Eight days later, it is customary for the father or a godparent to bring the newborn to the Church temple, where we offer prayers for naming. While rooted in the naming both of St. John the Forerunner and the Lord Himself (Luke 1:59-63; 2:21) according to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:1-8), the Orthodox Christian rite of naming is significantly different from that of the Old Testament. For one thing, circumcision is not required, nor does the child necessarily take the name of an ancestor, as seems to have been the custom in ancient Judaism (see Luke 1:61).

When, as Orthodox Christians, we name our children in this way, we are not performing a religious act to justify them before God or make them members of a particular tribe. Rather, we are immersing them in the life of Christ from the beginning, and claiming them for God, who “knows the name and age of each, even from his mother’s womb” (the Anaphora of St. Basil).

Orthodox Christian naming practices vary. A child is sometimes named after the saint commemorated on the day of birth, sometimes in honour of some other saint or biblical figure. Sometimes, however, the child receives the name of a virtue, an ancestor, or some other name entirely (see for example, early saints who were named after pagan philosophers like Plato). There are no “hard and fast” rules (as there might have been in ancient Judaism), except that Christian parents should name their child in a thoughtful and prayerful manner, not whimsically, idly, or merely according to some prevailing fashion. Our names embody our identities and point to our vocation. When we name our children, we should do so as ones who are identifying them as God’s heirs and dedicating them to His service.

Following the eighth day naming, mother and child can enjoy a period of absence from Church community known as “the forty days.” This time, ideally freed from work commitments, is an opportunity for rest, for physically healing, as well as spiritual and emotional bonding. As in the rite of naming, “the forty days” should not be understood as a literal application of a law from the Book of Leviticus; if it were so, the mothers of girls would have to absent themselves for eighty days, as opposed to forty days in the case of boys (see Lev. 12:4-5).

In the Orthodox Christian context, the mothers of both boys and girls participate in the “forty days” in imitation of our Lord’s own Mother and by extension, Jesus Himself. The exact number of days is not legalistically enforced, but offered as an opportunity for a person’s spiritual growth. While forty days is considered an “outer limit” for absence, some women find it spiritually necessary to return sooner, under the pastoral guidance and with the blessing of their pastors.

Following the “forty days,” the mother and child are churched, that is, welcomed back into the community. We ask God’s forgiveness for any sins the mother might have committed during her absence, and the priest then carries the infant in his arms into the Church temple in remembrance of the Lord’s meeting with the Righteous Simeon in the temple. This rite concludes with the recitation of St. Simeon’s Prayer: “Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace…” (Luke 2:22:39)

The end of the mother’s journey of childbearing is her reunion with Christ when she receives the Eucharist at the next liturgy. The end of the child’s journey of being “born in the flesh” is his or her spiritual rebirth in baptism. This rebirth, of course, begins another a journey that has no end, in which a person grows into the fullness of Christ, Eucharist by Eucharist, moment by moment, day by day, and then onwards from glory to glory in the age to come.

Source

Note: The title of this article as been altered from the original for clarity regarding subject matter.

Featured Image believed to be from interfax.ru

So far as we know, the presenter isn’t an Orthodox Christian, but the content is important, so we present it to you here.*

* Video found by Fr. Joseph while following up on a presentation that Fr. John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, had made at the host institution.

A member of St. John’s Shanghai flock, Nicholas Feodorovich Tsepitov, of Revda, Russia, preserved this Pascal Epistle all his life, even after his return to the Soviet Union in 1947. It gave him comfort there also, where more trials awaited him. He gave this epistle for publication to the Fund for the Canonization of St. John Maximovitch in Russia.

Christ is Risen!

Let us arise in the deep dawn,
And instead of myrrh offer a hymn to the Lord.

St. John Maximovitch

We forestall the rising of the sun, and hasten in the depth of night to meet the Sun of Righteousness.

The present night is not an ordinary night! Brighter than day, it fills our souls with light!

The rays of the Sun of the world illumine us and the whole universe, enlightening all who come to His light.

The warmth poured out through His rays penetrates all our members, filling our souls with deep peace, even healing our bodily illnesses.

This warmth melts away our sorrows, and our passions are burned away as by fire.

Enmity and hatred disappear from us, we forget our bitterness, and we do not feel our impoverishment.

The whole world becomes different in this holy and only night!

All nature is changed, and everything is filled with warmth and light.

Just as birds of prey hide at the rising of the sun, and wild beasts disappear into their dens, so does evil flee from every heart illumined today by the Light which radiates from the tomb.

Like the morning dew, now are our tears dried away!

As blossoms unfold at the onset of day, enlivened by the sun’s rays, so do virtues return to us as the Sun rises upon us this morning.

Let us strive to be wholly illuminated by this wondrous light!

When spring comes, we open all the windows and doors of our homes, that the warmth may enter and dry the dankness within.

Now the Divine Light can also enter; but it cannot shine within souls that have closed themselves, and do not want to be illumined by that Light.

Let us open our souls and hearts! Let us hasten with the myrrh-bearers, let us come bearing our lamps to Christ, Who has come forth from the tomb!

Even if you are burdened by sins, do not turn away; for today even those in the bonds of hell hasten to the Light with joyful feet.

Even if you are poor and haven’t the means to buy candles and myrrh, do not turn away. Let our hearts and souls burn in place of candles. There is no impoverishment in the world!

In these past days, we were all called to bring our material offerings and bodily ascetic labors as myrrh.

Now we all are called to partake of spiritual joy. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Instead of myrrh and material offerings, let us bring a hymn to the Lord. Let us sing the praise of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God!

Let us open now the doors and windows of our souls and hearts, that they might be warmed by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness!

From the outermost border of heaven is His going forth, and His goal is unto the outermost part of heaven, and there shall no man hide himself from His heat (Ps. 18:6). Now all things are filled with light: heaven and earth and the nether regions (Ode 3 of the Paschal Canon). Only we are impenetrable if we do not want Him!

If you do not feel this radiant joy today, seek the reason within yourself only.

It would be insane for a man to claim that the sun does not exist, only because he does not see it from within his tightly closed and shuttered dwelling. Pitiable is the blind man who keeps telling everyone that there is no such thing as light, only because he does not see it! It would look very foolish for a man to insist that spring has not come, only because no warmth has penetrated into his locked cellar!

We praise the gentle light, the holy glory of the immortal Heavenly Father—the Resurrected Lord, crying out to Him from the depth of our souls, MEET IT IS FOR THEE AT ALL TIMES TO BE HYMNED!

Then the light of Christ that enlightens all will enlighten even us, and we shall behold Christ the Sun of Righteousness, Who shines upon all life!

Christ is Risen!

The Bright Resurrection of Christ,

+ JOHN, Bishop of Shanghai,

1940, Shanghai

Just after midnight on Easter in Ukraine, people begin to fill the streets and wait for the priest to come and bless their Easter baskets. Thousands of people line the streets. It is an amazing sight. Each basket is placed on the ground with a lit candle. The priest sings songs over the loud speakers and reads prayers. Then he comes by with a bucket of water and a brush and splashes holy water on people and their baskets. This tradition was forbidden under Communist rule. In 1991 Ukraine became independent from USSR. They won their freedom of speech, expression, and religion. Slowly, year after year, people have returned to the streets to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ has risen! He has truly risen!

Image Source for front page “featured” carousel.

by Fr. Gregory Wigenbach

“Do not turn aside too readily from the ancient traditions you have received from the elders, which they in turn learned at their forefathers’ feet…(for) they may still prove profitable to you and yours in your times of need.” Wisdom of Sirach .

If you adopt a new homeland and assimilate its ways and culture into your own, it can certainly be a positive religious and cultural experience. St. Paul’s apostolate among the Greeks, as well as the Byzantine-Greek Christians’ mission among the Slavic people amply illustrates this. An even richer synthesis of cultures can result, helping the Church to witness – that much more effectively – to the Word of God among the native people. However, there is also a “negative assimilation,” which tends to throw aside elements of prime value from the original heritage. Catastrophes in history can do this. The fall of the Byzantine Christian Commonwealth to the conquering Moslem Turks was one such catastrophe whose crippling effects are still with us. Many significant religious traditions were lost or their meanings distorted by “paramythia” [stories or tales]. .

A very ancient custom which “fell by the wayside” among the Greeks as a result of the 400 years of Turkish rule, was the custom of “blessing the family baskets” of Paschal food at Easter. It is still widespread among the Slavic nations who inherited the Orthodox Christian faith and culture from the Byzantine Greeks. Though during my graduate pastoral internship over a dozen years ago, in northern Greece and in the Peloponnesos region, I did come across the custom in two Greek village communities. I also heard mention of it from a few of my fellow priest-classmates at the University of Thessaloniki. .

The custom has its Christian origins from the early Church’s Apostolic and sub-apostolic communities. In those days the faithful, as a matter of course, gathered together as an interdependent “family of families,” sharing all the fruits of their labor as gifts of God to be offered and blessed on the high holydays. The blessing of the grapes and fruits on the Feast of the Transfiguration still survives among some Greek communities. .

The early Christians – whatever their ethnic identity – received the tradition from their Jewish spiritual ancestors. Even the ancient name of “Pascha” was translated directly from the Hebrew “Pesach”, meaning “to pass-over”. Hence, the English name among both Jews and Christians of traditional observance is “The Pasch,” or “The Passover”. .

According to the ancient tradition the mother and father of the family would carefully set aside the best of certain basic foods and drink, or symbolic portions thereof, during Holy Week. These were foods which the family would deny themselves during the whole of the Great Paschal Fast. In certain communities the local basketmaker would make a large, new basket for each of the parish families, as new an offering as the foods and the “spring cleaning” that took place amidst hymn-singing. .

The new basket, finally put together on Holy Saturday morning after the Liturgy of Anticipation [Vesper-Liturgy of St. Basil], normally included the following: (1) The Easter, or Pascha, loaf of bread; (2) A bottle of red wine; (3) Meats and meat products, including lamb, sausages, and ham; (4) dairy products, such as butter, cheese, and eggs; (5) oil and seasonings; and (6) salt, to represent Christians as Christ Himself described them – “the salt that gives the earth its savor.” Depending on the particular region, the eggs would be prepared and dyed “Resurrection red,” and even perhaps marked with a cross, either on Holy Thursday or Holy Saturday morning. .

When all was in readiness, while all of the family were gathered in front of the “home altar” and its icons, the mother – her head covered by a seamless or embroidered white, tasseled veil – would reverently place each foodstuff in the basket. Her husband, the father of the household, led all in the chanting of hymns and the Lord’s Prayer. An embroidered, or specially dyed, cloth emblazoned with the Cross of Christ and the symbol “IC XC/NIKA” (Jesus Christ Conquers) was then placed over the whole [basket]. Just before leaving for the Church the oldest child would place a newly-made candle in the basket to be the family’s own Resurrection “lampada” [candle] in readiness for the triumphal “Passing of the Light of Life” at the Midnight Services in the village church. .

Arriving at the Church the family took the basket to the foot of the Iconostasis. After the Liturgy and all had received holy Communion, the priest or bishop blessed the many baskets and the communal apportionment of the Easter/[Pascha] eggs. Leaving the Church, the whole of the parish or groups of families would gather to share their Easter [Pascha] eggs, soup, breads and cheese. The remainder of the Paschal basket foodstuffs were eaten by the family, usually together with a whole roasted lamb on Easter Sunday and during the “Bright Week” following. .

We can easily see that the blessing of the Paschal/Easter food baskets has a deep liturgical, spiritual and familial meaning. It is indeed a pity that such a profound tradition as this has largely “fallen by the wayside” among many segments of Orthodox Christians. Perhaps the time has come, during this period of time dedicated to the Christian Family, for us to begin reclaiming this and other wonderful traditions that are, after all, our very own! .

This article first appeared in The Orthodox Observer, April 8, 1987. At that time Fr. Gregory was the national director of the Greek Archdiocese Department of Church and Family Life. .

Source

Image Source

Source

by Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov

The Orthodox Church teaches that we do not have two separate lives–a secular one and a spiritual one–but one human life, and that all of it must be holy.  We must not be Christians for just a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, spending the rest of our life godlessly, that is to say, without God.  The person who has united with Christ in the sacrament of baptism cannot be a part-time Christian, but must be faithful to Christ everywhere and at all times–in church, at work, at home, in relationships with other Christians, and in those with non-Christians–we must be faithful to Christ in the fullness of our life.

The Holy Orthodox Church teaches us that a temple is not only a building in which we worship, but that we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16); that the Body of Christ is not only that of which we partake at the Divine Liturgy, but that we are the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27).  And just as the Gifts of the Eucharist are treated with reverence and kept in sanctified vessels in the altar, so should every Christian’s life be full of reverence and sanctity not only during a church service, but likewise outside the walls of the temple.  A Christian’s home must become a small temple, work–labor for the glory of God, and family–a small Church.

The Orthodox Church helps her children strive for holiness in their lives and brings sanctification to every Christian home–a small temple.  The Church blesses the very foundation of a home in the same way that it blesses the foundation of a church, it blesses a new Christian home in the same way that it blesses a new temple, and yearly, after the blessing of a parish temple with the water of Theophany, the Church brings this holy water into the homes of the faithful.  The prayers for the blessing of a temple are different from those for the blessing of a home, because the function of a home is different from that of a temple, but the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit is one.  And just as in the baptism of our Lord all of creation is washed clean and sanctified, every year after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 19, according to the secular calendar) Christians sanctify themselves and their homes with the water of Theophany.

The Church teaches us to sanctify everything: dwellings, places of work, all our pursuits, and the fruits of our labor.  And just as a temple and sacred vessels, once sanctified and set aside for sacred use, can no longer be used for anything profane, in the same way a Christian washed in the baptismal waters, and his home, and all his works can no longer be the dwelling of sin and the works of satan, but only and always–the temple of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the will of our Heavenly Father.  This is why the Church blesses everything that can be found in a Christian home; and if something is not worthy of being blessed, then there should not be a place for it in the home of a Christian. (1)

How Much Does It Cost?

The prayer of the Church is priceless; it can be neither sold nor bought.  The Church equally blesses the home of every Christian, regardless of his financial situation.  However, we must note the obvious: it is not only angels who come to bless our homes, but together with them come the ministers of the altar–people very much like the rest of us, who also must take care of their families, and to whom petrol is dispensed only for money, just like to all of us.  Thus, it is customary to make a donation to the clergy for their time and work.  The amount of this donation is determined solely by each family’s individual circumstances and considerations.

The Blessing of a Home

In order to have your home blessed for the first time or to arrange for a yearly Theophany blessing, you must personally contact the Rector of your parish church.  Historically, clergy could walk to every home in their parish and bless it on the very day of Theophany.  In our current situation in the United States, when many parishioners live tens of miles from the church, it is important to approach the Rector in advance and arrange for an appropriate time for his visit.

For a yearly Theophany blessing of a home prepare a small table in your icon corner covered with a clean cloth, candles, and a vessel with holy water.  For a first-time blessing of a home it is also necessary to prepare a very small amount of pure olive oil.

Although parishioners often wish for the priest to stay for dinner or supper after the blessing of their home, it is necessary to remember that the priest may be blessing several homes in one day and cannot physically eat several dinners and/or suppers in a row.  Do not be offended if the priest must hurry away to another home.  Long spiritual talks over a cup of tea are very important, but it is equally as important to find for them a proper time on a different day, or to ensure in advance that the priest has time after the blessing of your home.

____________________________________________________

(1) Customarily, the water closet is not blessed, because traditionally the toilet was not located inside a human dwelling, but in a separate outhouse away from it.

Source

Featured Image Source