Orthodox Benedictine Monastery Receives Favorable Media Coverage

I'm very late in posting this, but I'm thrilled to see Christminster Monastery in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is receiving yet more positive coverage. Reporter Paul Wilson of The Hamilton Spectator recently went inside that holy house and came out with more good news. Below is the article, which appeared in that newspaper on April 3, 2009. It is reprinted here with the author's permission. Christminster is a Benedictine Monastery within the Orthodox Church (ROCOR), which celebrates the Mass of St. Gregory.

Cannon Street's spiritual haven
From coffee shop to reflective monastery
Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
April 3, 2009

Monasteries are in short supply these days, but three out-of-country monks have now found peace, quiet and prayer nine times a day at a new haven on Cannon Street East.

These monks don't mind if you stop by. Somebody did visit on behalf of an online review site called Mystery Worshippers. The guest complains about "a spate of sirens" during the service. But on comfort, he reports "it was probably the best pew I've ever experienced."

And how did the service make him feel? "Ecstatic and, dare I say, a little envious of Orthodox Christians."

So I'm off to Mass, on that struggling stretch of Cannon, just west of Wentworth, at Steven.

For many years there was a coffee shop here, plus a hairdresser and an auto glass company.

But now the corner has been claimed by the new religious settlement. There's fresh brick on the buildings. The sign by the oak double doors, royal blue and gold, declares this to be Our Lady of Glastonbury Orthodox Church. The sign by the steel door beside it, with the image of a robed monk, says Christminster. That's the monastery.

It's 5 p.m. and a service is under way. There usually is.

There's room here for about 30, but today there are five of us. It is a quiet service. Yes, you can hear the traffic, but somehow it seems a long way away.

The man at the front in the black habit -- with the generous profile of Friar Tuck -- is not in a hurry. There are long, quiet pauses. He sings, chants. And then it is over.

There are individual bedside prayers at 5 each morning. More prayers, held in the church, are at 6:15 a.m., 7 a.m., 8:45 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

A lot of prayer. "It's a monastery," says Father James Deschene, abbot of Christminster. "That's what we do."

Pray much, talk little. There is the Great Silence, which begins after the 8:15 evening service. Meals are consumed in silence, though there may be something on the CD player -- classical music or James Earl Jones reading the New Testament.

"We don't want just idle chatter," Father James says. "We feed the mind." Yet he is a man of considerable humour and, when it's OK to do so, quite the talker.

He is 66, grew up in Rhode Island, went to a Roman Catholic seminary for four years.

But later he saw the light. "I explored, and Orthodoxy won. I found truth, the real and original church as it was meant to be, no fiddling with the teachings."

The church has small monasteries in Florida and Tasmania. And there was one in Providence, R.I., just Father James and Father Joseph in a little house, no room to grow.

Enter a local man of means, Bob Sherwood, who runs an operation called the White Rabbit Treatment Homes, owns property on Cannon and has a passion for Orthodox religion.

He came to know of the cramped conditions in Rhode Island and offered to renovate the property here for the monks. He would charge no rent.

He spent $200,000 fixing the place up, because, he says, "it seemed the right thing to do."

Last spring, Fathers James and Joseph moved in. They were joined by Father Michael, a convert from California.

Father James says there is still much about Hamilton unknown to him, though he has been to the Black Forest, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Farmers' Market.

He often goes to Fortinos or Food Basics in his habit and black Crocs. The robe doesn't create a stir.

"I imagine you could wear pretty much anything in Hamilton," he says. "That's not true back in Rhode Island."...

The neighbours have not been hostile...The occasional person has come for a retreat of up to a week, discovering life minus the chatter, the iPod, the TV.

"I'm sure most people would think this doesn't make much sense," Father James says. "But God is real. Our lives are being wasted if He's not."

Their lives are not wasted. Their holy lives are examples for us all, and their holy intercessions open the ears of Heaven to our pleas delayed by our coldness of heart.

Please, never cease to pray for us.

This article and the accompanying photographs appear with the author's permission.

OCA's Met. JONAH Acknowledges the Western Rite

Some of you may be following the back-and-forth between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and North American Orthodox hierarchs; a representative of the Phanar invited all churches of the "diaspora" to "submit" to Constantinople, and His Eminence Metropolitan JONAH, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), responded by citing the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in North American Orthodoxy. Others can focus on the political aspects of this tug-of-war (and have), but we must not pass over another passage of His Eminence's sermon last Sunday. Met. JONAH spoke at St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral in Dallas on April 5, 2009, where he said:

We are a single community of Orthodox Christians, and we are the local Church in Dallas, the local Church in Northeast Texas. It doesn't matter that we have all these various administrative jurisdictions, ultimately, because we gather together as one Body, to pray with one mind and one heart, to celebrate the same Eucharist, to come to the same chalice. It doesn't matter if we Eastern Rite or Western Rite, doesn't matter the language in the service is, but...we are one Church. We are one local Church, and I might add, we are one indigenous Church. (Emphasis added.)

That is, Met. JONAH specifically affirmed the authenticity of Western Rite Orthodoxy. More specifically, members of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate in northeast Texas were in attendance at this sermon. Thus, the head of the OCA said the Western Rite as presently practiced within the AWRV is Orthodox and a part of the indigenous Orthodox Church in North America.

This is significant, since some in the OCA may be ignorant of or antipathetic toward the Western Rite (and these are hardly mutually exclusive). However, affirming the Western Rite and specifically the approach of the AWRV is in keeping with the views — not only of some Russian New-Martyrs, St. Tikhon (Bellavin), St. Nicholas of Japan, and St. Raphael of Brooklyn — but of the OCA's own founding hierarch. Abp. Platon (Rozhdestvensky), who would go on to found the Metropolia, said to a group of Western Christians in 1911: "When we agree concerning dogmas, there will be no need to speak of rites. They will not prevent us from being one in Christ and having the same belief in Christ."

As I noted when he was ordained, Met. JONAH is a former Episcopalian, and may have some understanding of Western prayer and spirituality. Whatever his personal experience, he has made clear in his remarks that the Western Rite has a future in his vision of a unified Orthodox Church in North America, as it did in the original under the Russian Church. You can hear the whole sermon here:

Pan - Orthodox Sermon by His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah @ Yahoo! Video

(Hat tip: Dom James for calling attention to the speech, and Rod Dreher for running the full text)

Well, it's Not Quite the "Holy Hand Grenade," But....

Pastor, Parishoner Arrested for Shooting an Arrow in Church. I guess the pastor of Pentecostals of Sheboygan County (Wisconsin) thought this would be a neat illustration of some sort.

Maybe he was preaching on St. Matthew 18:9?

Murder in an Indian Orthodox Church

It appears a man opened fire in an Indian Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey, killing two people and wounding others. The news account says the suspect, 27-year-old Joseph M. Pallipurath of Sacramento, California, violated his estranged wife's restraining order and tracked her down in New Jersey. When she refused to leave with her husband, who reportedly abused her, he opened fire in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church during Divine Liturgy.

He remains on the loose as of this writing.

His father is begging him to turn himself in. The same story talks about how waves of parishoners protected their priest, risking their own lives to save him. What a touching sign of their faith.

The cousin of the second victim counseled the gunman, "Turn yourself in." He added Pallipurath "has to get his punishment, whether it's from the justice system or from God."

May God lay to rest those who have died, and bring this man to justice. Justice, as the young man in today's news story states, awaits us all, whether at man's hand or that of God. Lord have mercy.

(I'm certain someone somewhere will interpret this charity toward a non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Christian as "proof" of my apostasy and write some rambling blog post against it. Let them. A shooting in any church is an abomination, especially one like this.)

Update: Federal marshals captured Pallipurath in the Atlanta, Georgia, area on November 24. I saw a bulletin on television around 9:30 p.m. Pacific time.

Guess he didn't get the "free gift" part:
Man Accused of Trying to Steal Communion from Priest.

Imagine if they did this in church:
Israeli Soldier Given 21 Days in Prison for Yawning.

Bp. HILARION, on Futile "Dialogue" and Meaningful Action

In a recent interview with Orthodoxy Today, Bp. HILARION (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate noted the long and fruitless time Orthodoxy has spent (and is still wasting) on ecumenical dialogue with the most modernist, most radical of Protestants and proposes again proposes combatting modern anti-Christian forces around the world alongside Roman Catholics and Oriental (Non-Chalcedonian) Orthodox, while retaining our separate ecclesial identities. It is nothing new, but it is well worth a read:

After more than thirteen years of intensive ecumenical involvement I can declare my profound disappointment with the existing forms of “official” ecumenism as represented by the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches, and other similar organizations. My impression is that they have exhausted their initial potential. Theologically they lead us nowhere. They produce texts that, for the most part, are pale and uninspiring. The reason for this is that these organizations include representatives of a wide variety of churches, from the most “conservative” to the most “liberal.” And the diversity of views is so great that they cannot say much in common except for a polite and politically correct talk about “common call to unity,” “mutual commitment” and “shared responsibility.”

This sounds very much like Met. HILARION of ROCOR, who said, "we can see that there is hardly any union reached, and this organization has lost its importance."

I see that there is now a deep-seated discrepancy between those churches which strive to preserve the Holy Tradition and those that constantly revise it to fit modern standards. This divergence is as evident at the level of religious teaching, including doctrine and ecclesiology, as it is at the level of church practice, such as worship and morality.

In my opinion, the recent liberalization of teaching and practice in many Protestant communities has greatly alienated them from both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. It has also undermined the common Christian witness to the secularized world. The voice of Christendom is nowadays deeply disunited: we preach contradictory moral standards, our doctrinal positions are divergent, and our social perspectives vary a great deal. One wonders whether we can still speak at all of “Christianity” or whether it would be more accurate to refer to “Christianities,” that is to say, markedly diverse versions of the Christian faith.

One may go so far as to say what Bp. HILARION leaves implicit: this is less about "Christianities" as Christianity vs. Non-Christianities, which masquerade as Christianity.

Under these circumstances I am not optimistic about the dialogue with the Protestant communities. I am also far less optimistic about the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue than my beloved teacher Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. In my opinion, the only two promising ecumenical dialogues are between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics, and between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox families. While there are well-known theological differences between these three traditions, there is also very much in common: we all believe in Christ as fully human and fully divine, we all uphold the apostolic succession of hierarchy and de facto recognize each others’ sacraments.

The use of the term "de facto" is of importance.

But even with regard to relations between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox, both Eastern and Oriental, we need new forms of dialogue and cooperation. It is not sufficient to come once every two years for a theological discussion on a topic related to controversies that took place fifteen or ten centuries ago. We need to see whether we can form a common front for the defense of traditional Christianity without waiting until all our theological differences will disappear. I call this proposed common front a “strategic alliance” between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox. I deliberately avoid calling it a “union” or a “council,” because I want to avoid any historical reminiscences and ecclesiastical connotations. Mine is not a call for yet another “union” on dogmatic and theological matters. I am rather proposing a new type of partnership based on the understanding that we are no longer enemies or competitors: we are allies and partners facing common challenges, such as militant secularism, aggressive Islam and many others. We can face these challenges together and unite our forces in order to protect traditional Christianity with its doctrinal and moral teaching.

His Grace has long proposed such a strategic alliance, whether formal or informal. At the risk of misinterpreting his comments by tying them together in my own shorthand, those being targeted by encroaching Secular Humanism may better spend their time discussing their defense of the faithful rather than humoring endless, hopeless "dialogue" with those Christians who have so clearly compromised with it. With the deteriorating state of Christendom in the West, especially in the culture of the nations in which Bp. HILARION's spiritual children reside (Western Europe), such an alliance (not "union," "reunion," or "ecumenical council") will come either through its constituent members' deliberate choice or of necessity, as they find themselves sharing a last, desperate foxhole, surrounded by impending darkness.

(Hat Tip: Ad Orientem)

Verified: Six New Sermons from St. Augustine

Remember those new sermons from St. Augustine I mentioned a few months ago? They have been verified as authentic. It seems that Dorothea Weber and Clemens Weidmann:

were able to prove that six of these [26 sermon] texts are by Augustine: a sermon on the martyrdom in Carthage of Perpetua and Felicity, one on the resurrection of the dead. another on Cyprian, the Carthaginian Bishop-Martyr, and three on various aspects of almsgiving.

The parchment manuscript's 264 pages are no bigger than 115 x 95 millimetres and contain about 60 sermons, most of which are already known. They are sermons by Caesarius and the Pseudo John Chrysostom, written for the Lenten Season and for several celebrations in the month of September, and an extraordinary collection of 28 sermons which can be attributed to Augustine. In addition to the abundantly documented texts, there are others that are rare and some until now completely unknown.

...Since the sermons on the Saints concern especially the martyrs venerated in Africa in Augustine's time, one may conclude that the collection was assembled in the fifth century precisely in Roman Africa and from there was moved to safety in Southern Italy, as was Augustine's entire library.

In all likelihood — following the missionary activity started by Gregory the Great — the corpus was taken to England, where it was transcribed in the 12th century. The Erfurt Code derives from this or from another similar copy. Not only is the handwriting in British style but the parallel production of certain texts and textual sequences, such as the famous Worcester Homily, also seem to be of direct or indirect English provenance.

...Three of the six new texts are to be published in the coming weeks...[and three homilies on charity] will be studied and published by the Viennese group in 2009.

St. Augustine of Hippo, ora pro nobis!

Off-Topic: Well, Here's an Irony

Prominent Catholic-Hater Tony Alamo Arrested for Child Sex.

According to Alamo (pronounced "uh-LAW-mo"), once convicted for tax evasion for his money-grubbingmaking practices, the Vatican runs the Illuminati and forged the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to pin its worldwide conspiracy on the Jews....

It's sick to know that while participation in, apology for, or ignoring of child molestation should forever put someone beyond the pale, this won't. Alas, such con men abound. Regardless of how pervasive their misbehavior is and how many times it has been exposed by others, or even if they have been punished for their misbehavior by others before, they may find some way to fool others into letting them persist in the ministry. They're never guilty. They speak constantly of "conspirators" who are "persecuting" them (usually by quoting their own words or drawing attention to their deeds). As noted above, these are usually themselves the biggest liars and persecutors of others. This ploy often allows them to hoodwink people into letting them go on with their sins (and sometimes crimes).

It's nice to see justice wins out, here as at Blanco "Monastery." Even the best liar can't fool all the people all the time.

BTW, is it just me or does it look like these two men were separated at birth?

Roscoe P. Coltrane

Tony Alamo

An Ancient Scottish-Norse Connection?

Here's an interesting companion to this story about ancient Scotland: archeologists wonder if Norsemen evangelized Scotland before the time of St. Columba? Norsemen?? That's what they're investigating. According to the BBC:

A group of archaeologists are trying to establish if Norsemen brought Christianity to Caithness before St Columba arrived on Iona.

The question has arisen after a dig at an ancient church site at the coastal village of Dunbeath.

Pottery dating back to the 6th Century has recently been found in the area.

A University of Nottingham team is to carry out further exploration which they hope could show evidence of an even earlier Christian church.

Used continuously

The dig site is on croft land held by archaeologist Nan Bethune and her husband George.

Mrs Bethune said she was confident further investigation would show remains of a wall will be shown to be those of an early church.

St Columba left Ireland for Scotland in AD 563 and went on to found Manachain monastery on Iona, in Argyll.

Archeology is never dull, at any rate.

9/11: Seven Years On

In remembrance of the seventh anniversary of 9/11, we offer these humbles thoughts and prayers:

Into paradise may the angels lead thee:
At thy coming may the Martyrs receive thee,
And bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
May the Choir of Angels receive thee,
And with Lazarus, one poor, mayest thou have eternal rest.

In paradisum from The Orthodox Ritual

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

And for those who perpetrated this act of terrorism in the name of their God, here's one bit from a portion of Evening Prayer of the "Forms of Prayer to be Used in Families," which the Holy Synod of Russia decreed needed no changes on doctrinal grounds (although I would recommend adding invocation of the saints and angels to the prayers, even in the short form):

Accept, O Lord, our intercessions for all mankind. Let the light of thy Gospel shine upon all nations; and may as many as have received it, live as becomes it. Be gracious unto thy Church; and grant that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may serve thee faithfully. Bless all in authority over us; and so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands, that they may punish wickedness and vice, and maintain thy true religion and virtue. Send down thy blessings, temporal and spiritual, upon all our relations, friends, and neighbours. Reward all who have done us good, and pardon all those who have done or wish us evil, and give them repentance and better minds. Be merciful to all who are in any trouble; and do thou, the God of pity, administer to them according to their several necessities; for his sake who went about doing good, thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

May God be with us all, lay to rest those who perished, comfort those who continue to mourn, pacify the anger and hatred of those who rejoice, turn the hearts of those who wish or plan to perpetrate similar deeds, and reign in the hearts and minds of all His children, to our benefit and our glory. Through Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

(Yes, it's early here; no, I couldn't sleep.)

Unearthing Orthodox Scotland

Archeologists are analyzing a dig of Portmahomack, a pre-Schism monastery in Scotland possibly founded by St. Columba. The British media has reported a number of their surprised findings, including the realization that the Picts were not exactly vicious savages:

A study of one the most important archaeological discoveries in Scotland for 30 years, a Pictish monastery at Portmahomack on the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, has found that they were capable of great art, learning and the use of complex architectural principles.

The monastery – an enclosure centred on a church thought to have housed about 150 monks and workers – was similar to St Columba's religious centre at Iona and there is evidence they would have made gospel books similar to the Book of Kells and religious artefacts such as chalices to supply numerous "daughter monasteries".

And, in a discovery described as "astonishing, mind-blowing" by architectural historians, it appears that the people who built the monastery did so using the proportions of "the Golden Section", or "Divine Proportion" as it became known during the Renaissance hundreds of years later. This ratio of dimensions, 1.618 to one, appears in nature, such as in the spiral of seashells, and the faces of people considered beautiful, such as Marilyn Monroe. It can be seen in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Alhambra palace of Granada in Spain, the Acropolis in Athens and the Egyptian Pyramids, but was thought to have been too advanced for the Picts.

Martin Carver, Archeology professor at York University, adds, "They were the most extraordinary artists....Even the Anglo-Saxons didn't do stone-carving as well as the Picts did...The most important piece had a Latin inscription. That's as common as muck in the Mediterranean, but extremely rare in Scotland."

The story continues:

The monastery at Portmahomack suffered a major fire in the ninth century and several stone sculptures were smashed, suggesting it was sacked by an invading force, likely to be Vikings intent on expanding their territories in northern Scotland. The site continued to be occupied but at this point evidence of a monastic settlement disappears.

So, sculptures were an Orthodox part of the Pictish Church and the pagan Viking iconoclasts did the work of Satan by smashing them.

Carver adds, "Portmahomack got burnt down pretty definitively round about 820. The idea is they were under new masters. It could be the Norse or the Men of Moray, MacBeth and his family. I think Portmahomack was captured by the Men of Moray. The Norse wanted it badly but they didn't get it. There is no Norse material there. There was no more vellum-making and sculpture and it stopped being a monastery. In the ninth to 11th centuries, they are making metal work, but that's the real Dark Age."

Portmahomack: Monastery of the Picts is published by Edinburgh University Press.

A highly interesting report.

(Hat tip: Way of the Fathers)

Pelosi's Patristics

Raise Your Hand if You're a Bad Catholic

(And before I get hate mail, Hitler was a nominal member of the Roman Catholic Church to his death, although he was a practicing pagan and Occultist.)

Forgive the "political" post, but a politician stepped into our territory. Our fearless Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, claimed on Meet the Press that Christianity has no clear teaching on when life begins, and hence on abortion, and St. Augustine denied life began until the end of the first trimester. Tom Brokaw asked her what she would tell Barack Obama if he asked her when human life has its genesis:

I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator--St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose...over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.

She went on to say Christianity has believed life began at conception for "like maybe 50 years or something like that." You can see the disgusting display here.

If she has studied this issue "for a long time," she would have known the Church Fathers had an unbroken teaching on this subject for 2,000 years. Yes, it is true that St. Augustine of Hippo made a distinction between a child before its "quickening" (the time it began to move) and afterwards; so, too, did Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas, who is always cited in these arguments. However, none believed abortion before that time was blameless (!). More importantly, there was a long tradition in the Church that corrected these unrepresentative views, going back to the earliest days of Christianity:

The Didache

"The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child" (Didache 2:1–2 [A.D. 70]).

The Letter of Barnabas

"The way of light, then, is as follows. If anyone desires to travel to the appointed place, he must be zealous in his works. The knowledge, therefore, which is given to us for the purpose of walking in this way, is the following...Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).

The Apocalypse of Peter

"And near that place I saw another strait place...and there sat women...And over against them many children who were born to them out of due time sat crying. And there came forth from them rays of fire and smote the women in the eyes. And these were the accursed who conceived and caused abortion" (The Apocalypse of Peter 25 [A.D. 137]).

Athenagoras

"What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?...[W]hen we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it" (A Plea for the Christians 35 [A.D. 177]).

Tertullian

"In our case, a murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from the other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed" (Apology 9:8 [A.D. 197]).

"Among surgeons’ tools there is a certain instrument, which is formed with a nicely-adjusted flexible frame for opening the uterus first of all and keeping it open; it is further furnished with an annular blade, by means of which the limbs [of the child] within the womb are dissected with anxious but unfaltering care; its last appendage being a blunted or covered hook, wherewith the entire fetus is extracted by a violent delivery.

"There is also [another instrument in the shape of] a copper needle or spike, by which the actual death is managed in this furtive robbery of life: They give it, from its infanticide function, the name of embruosphaktes, [meaning] "the slayer of the infant," which of course was alive...

"[The doctors who performed abortions] all knew well enough that a living being had been conceived, and [they] pitied this most luckless infant state, which had first to be put to death, to escape being tortured alive" (The Soul 25 [A.D. 210]).

"Now we allow that life begins with conception because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does" (ibid., 27).

"The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion [Ex. 21:22–24]" (ibid., 37).

Minucius Felix

"There are some [pagan] women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels and thus commit a parricide before they bring forth. And these things assuredly come down from the teaching of your [false] gods...To us [Christians] it is not lawful either to see or hear of homicide" (Octavius 30 [A.D. 226]).

Hippolytus

"Women who were reputed to be believers began to take drugs to render themselves sterile, and to bind themselves tightly so as to expel what was being conceived, since they would not, on account of relatives and excess wealth, want to have a child by a slave or by any insignificant person. See, then, into what great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by teaching adultery and murder at the same time!" (Refutation of All Heresies [A.D. 228]).

Council of Ancyra

"Concerning women who commit fornication, and destroy that which they have conceived, or who are employed in making drugs for abortion, a former decree excluded them until the hour of death, and to this some have assented. Nevertheless, being desirous to use somewhat greater lenity, we have ordained that they fulfill ten years [of penance], according to the prescribed degrees" (canon 21 [A.D. 314]).

Basil the Great

"Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years’ penance, whether the embryo were perfectly formed, or not" (First Canonical Letter, canon 2 [A.D. 374]).

"He that kills another with a sword, or hurls an axe at his own wife and kills her, is guilty of willful murder; not he who throws a stone at a dog, and unintentionally kills a man, or who corrects one with a rod, or scourge, in order to reform him, or who kills a man in his own defense, when he only designed to hurt him. But the man, or woman, is a murderer that gives a philtrum, if the man that takes it dies upon it; so are they who take medicines to procure abortion; and so are they who kill on the highway, and rapparees" (ibid., canon 8).

John Chrysostom

"Wherefore I beseech you, flee fornication...Why sow where the ground makes it its care to destroy the fruit?—where there are many efforts at abortion?—where there is murder before the birth? For even the harlot you do not let continue a mere harlot, but make her a murderess also. You see how drunkenness leads to prostitution, prostitution to adultery, adultery to murder; or rather to a something even worse than murder. For I have no name to give it, since it does not take off the thing born, but prevents its being born. Why then do thou abuse the gift of God, and fight with his laws, and follow after what is a curse as if a blessing, and make the chamber of procreation a chamber for murder, and arm the woman that was given for childbearing unto slaughter? For with a view to drawing more money by being agreeable and an object of longing to her lovers, even this she is not backward to do, so heaping upon thy head a great pile of fire. For even if the daring deed be hers, yet the causing of it is thine" (Homilies on Romans 24 [A.D. 391]).

Jerome

"I cannot bring myself to speak of the many virgins who daily fall and are lost to the bosom of the Church, their mother...Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when, as often happens, they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder" (Letters 22:13 [A.D. 396]).

The Apostolic Constitutions

"Thou shalt not use magic. Thou shalt not use witchcraft; for he says, ‘You shall not suffer a witch to live’ [Ex. 22:18]. Thou shall not slay thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten...[I]f it be slain, [it] shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed" (Apostolic Constitutions 7:3 [A.D. 400]).

We could add the testimony of St. Gregory of Nyssa, who denied the "quickening" theory: "There is no question about that which is bred in the uterus, both growing, and moving from place to place. It remains, therefore, that we must think that the point of commencement of existence is one and the same for body and soul." (On the Soul and the Resurrection [A.D. 379-80].) This last passage goes on quite a long while.

If Aristibule reads this, maybe he can add more specificity, but I know the Irish penitentials penanced the sin of abortion many, many times. If I remember right, at least one canon prescribed 12 years bread-and-water as a result of an abortion, though others varied merely 1-3 years.

The Church has consistently taught life begins at the moment of conception, and abortion is murder. That's why the question of abortion is not really a political issue at all but one of Orthodox doctrine and morality. One Nancy Pelosi failed miserably. I am not convinced she actually believes this assessment, much less that her screwed up theology has anything to do with her position on abortion. But she is complicit in the murder of millions, and has unconscionably used the saints of the Church for cover. The Catholic Epistle of St. James promises a heavy punishment will be forthcoming in eternity.

As I wrote earlier, this is one of the reasons we don't rely on merely one Church Father for an opinion but rely on the whole mind of the Church. In individual writings (including St. Gregory of Nyssa), mistakes sometimes occur. And sometimes, as in this case, those mistakes give people a convenient cover to believe and act as they wanted to all along.

Ancient Milanese Rite Revived in Milan

It appears the older form of the Ambrosian Mass will soon be celebrated in its former diocese. Although details were not yet fixed, the NLM reports the Roman Catholic hierarchy has granted permission for the older liturgy to be celebrated "at a place within the Archdiocese of Milan, but, as I infer, outside the See city, in addition to the Mass celebrated each Sunday at San Rocco al Gentilino." Tentatively, this will begin this October.

In the Middle Ages, a great proliferation of variants snuck into the celebration of the Mass; often the same nation would have many different forms of the Mass based on diocese. To diminish this chaos, the council of Trent in 1570 specifically authorized all liturgies at least 200 years old at that time to continue, while suppressing medieval innovations. (By the nineteenth century, though, more variant liturgies introduced themselves.) In the years since the 1970 New Order of the Mass, even these retained liturgies have been Novus Ordo-ized. This edict will allow an older tradition to revive. Already, the NLM blog reports, there are requests for a wider usage of the old Ambrosian Mass.

(Hat Tip: The New Liturgical Movement)

The Newest "Threat to Christianity!"

Stop me if you've heard this one before: the secular media report a recent archeological discovery that is supposed to shake Christianity's most sacred doctrines down to their foundation. Except, when one examines the fine print, the facts don't quite add up. It's happened again. (The media earns points for originality by releasing it sometime other than Lent, unlike the last few stories.)

I'd meant to write something about the newest chapter in this saga, but put it off until I heard Dr. Clark Carlton's newest podcast on the subject. Although I frequently find myself differing with him, Carlton hit the nail on the head about this one.

The newest drive-by assault on our religion has to do with the proper interpretation of the Suffering Servant written of in Isaiah 53. (The passage actually begins in the last few verses of chapter 52.)

The London Times headline blares, "Dead Sea tablet 'casts doubt on death and resurrection of Jesus.' " That sounds like they found the Body, doesn't it? So, what's so all-fired important? A recently discovered stone, which is written on and not engraved, contains an apocalyptic text known as "Gabriel's Vision of Revelation." The New York Times says this stone dates from the first century B.C. The media report this text, if correctly interpreted, discusses a Messiah named Simon who suffers and dies for Israel's redemption, then rises after three days.

For one thing, it's not at all clear that the text is correct. You see, "A previous paper published by the scholars Ada Yardeni and Binyamin Elitzur concluded that the most controversial lines were indecipherable." The New York Times adds, "the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate."

But the (London) Times goes forward, "Israel Knohl, a biblical studies professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argued Monday that line 80 of the text revealed Gabriel telling an historic Jewish rebel named Simon, who was killed by the Romans four years before the birth of Christ: 'In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.'" (He also says the tablet calls this leader the "Prince of Princes." This is rather like the Apocalypse's "King of Kings," don't you think?)

The New York Times spins, "If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time." Moreover, this was Knohl's desire. "Mr. Knohl posited in a book published in 2000 the idea of a suffering messiah before Jesus, using a variety of rabbinic and early apocalyptic literature as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But his theory did not shake the world of Christology as he had hoped, partly because he had no textual evidence from before Jesus." (Emphasis added.)

The story continues:

He says further that such a suffering messiah is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah as a triumphal, powerful descendant of King David.

“This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University.

I see. So, an artifact that "is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah" and presents a fundamental contradiction to anti-Messianic polemics voiced in the pitched battles against Christians "should shake our basic view of Christianity"? Gotcha....

Unfortunately for the secular media, Christians have always taught that the Hebrew Scriptures foretold a Suffering Servant, and that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in His life. This tablet, if true, would be the smoking gun to prove Christians were right. If Knohl were correct, this discovery would not shake up Christology but destroy one steadfast argument against a Christological interpretation of the Old Testament.

In fact, it has been an underpinning of certain individuals who oppose Christianity that Judaism had no "suffering servant" view of the Messiah. They insist that Christianity invented this doctrine after the Crucifixion. Take, for instance, Jews for Judaism. Answering the question of whether the prophecy in Isaiah 53 of the Suffering Servant referred to Jesus, the group writes emphatically:

It is apparent from the Gospels that before and for sometime after the crucifixion Jesus' own disciples didn't view Isaiah 53 as referring to a suffering messiah who would die for the sins of the people and then be resurrected. It was only in the post-crucifixion period that these notions developed among the followers of Jesus. There is simply no evidence that this was a Jewish interpretation of the passage. The Question remains as to who are the Jews contemporary with Jesus that supposedly held to what has become the present Christian understanding of the meaning of Isaiah 53? They simply cannot be identified because they never existed.

Thanks be to God the Ethiopian eunuch did not go to them!

But this revisionist viewpoint did not begin with this 21st century group. Origen, later condemned as an heretic, discussed how Jews in his day held "that these predictions bore reference to the whole people, regarded as one individual, and as being in a state of dispersion and suffering, in order that many proselytes might be gained, on account of the dispersion of the Jews among numerous heathen nations."

However, a different interpretation of Isaiah 53 has continued to this day. In fact, Rabbi Alan J. Iser referred to this on one episode of "The Illumined Heart" on Ancient Faith Radio.

On the other hand, Christians have been teaching a Messianic interpretation since the very beginning, both in the New Testament and in the earliest patristic writings.

Some Christian apologists have taught there were two traditions of a Messiah at the time of Christ, but only the second was preached. That was Messiah Ben David, the conquering king. But he was preceded, in Jewish tradition, by Messiah Ben Joseph, who was to be a Suffering Servant, and if this Messiah had been taught, it would have been more obvious that Jesus had come in this role.

What is clear is that this stone casts no doubts on Christianity but affirms one of its central tenets. It undermines arguments against Christianity. And the anti-Christian media spun the story exactly backwords, because that fit their agenda.

(Mind you, there are some "Orthodox" who think the Crucifixion was incidental, and we in no way should value, emphasize, or meditate upon it in conjunction with our ever-present focus on the Resurrection. Maybe this will cause them to rethink their extremist position, as well.)

You can hear Dr. Clark Carlton's podcast here.

Off-Topic: Abortionist Tiller Takes Communion at ELCA Church

Yes, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) considers the partial birth abortionist "Dr." George Tiller, and his wife, members in good standing. His wife even wrote a devotional for the local church's newsletter at one point.

This website has a picture of the man taking communion.

God have mercy on him and the entire ELCA.

Science Proves: Incense is Good for You

Fr. Barry Jeffries censes the people at a Hierarchical (Western Rite Orthodox, ROCOR) Liturgy in London, 2007.

No visitor to either Eastern nor Western Rite fails to notice the presence of incense in our services, frequently in profuse abundance. Scientists have now confirmed: incense is good for your emotional health. An otherwise sarcastic article on MSN Health entitled "Frankincense and Mirth" reports:

Scientific papers aren’t usually tagged with very exciting titles, but recently I came across a real barn burner: Incensole Acetate, an Incense Component, Elicits Psychoactivity by Activating TRPV3 Channels in the Brain.

Whoa.

Reading between the lines of lab-coat lingo, I realized the report was saying that frankincense—the incense traditionally burned in religious ceremonies—can act on the brain to lower anxiety and diminish depression.

As it turns out: "Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Hebrew University administered incensole acetate, a component of frankincense, to lab mice and learned that it lit up areas of their little mouse brains that control emotion, including nerve circuits affecting anxiety and depression."

So, breathe deep, relax, and worship the Holy Trinity.

Again, the wisdom of our spiritual Fathers — Eastern, Western, or from the Old Testament Church — shines forth.

(Hat tip: What Does the Prayer Really Say)

I Hate To Say I Told You So, But....

I'm several days behind, so this may not be news, but I post it because it relates to something I wrote years ago here.

Following the defeat of the "Superbishops" provision for conservative Anglicans, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Burnham, says he may lead a group of Anglicans into communion with Rome. But the Times shows ever-liberalizing Euro-Catholics are discouraging the prospect:

A spokesman for the Catholic Church of England and Wales said all new members are welcome, but added that each must join individually and parishes could not simply convert en masse.

More than a year ago on this blog (and longer ago than that elsewhere), I wondered why Orthodox never seemed to bother making their presence known to Anglicans:

When conservative Anglicans noised about their will to break away from the left-wing Episcopal Church (TEC), then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) wrote a letter supporting their efforts. Now a major realignment may be underway, in which Anglicans may reunite with the Papacy...

Many of us wondered at the time why Orthodox made no similar attempt to establish closer relations with the more conservative Anglicans. Even a token of goodwill from a high enough source would have made an important statement, and Lord willing, it would have meant teaching them what we require for unity on our own terms. Whether the Anglicans accepted the terms or not is less important than that we had the opportunity to make it, as the Lord requires. None was made....

[W]hy did no one on this side of the Bosphorus understand that having a positive relationship with liturgical Christians with some moral values noisily seeking for another church home might be of some use?

Even at this late stage of apostasy, if there has been any Orthodox contact with the communion's remaining Anglo-Catholics (with the exception of one stouthearted priest), I am unaware of it. Even in official reaction, one finds outrage against the problem but no solution for those trapped with it. Fr. Igor Vyzhanov, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, called the decision "painful," adding this move "is further alienating the Anglican community from the Apostolic tradition." The move, though, was "predictable because the tendency of total liberalization unfortunately dominates in many Christian Churches, including the Anglican community." Fr. Igor did observe the decision "is worsening a split among the Anglicans," which historically is "the nearest amongst the western Christian Churches." He notes with sadness, "A very serious dialogue was underway with it in a hope that good relations between the Orthodox and Anglicans would have good prospects."

Bp. HILARION, Moscow Patriarchal Bishop of Vienna and Austria, called this move "the Anglican community's next concession to the modern secular standards." He added, "Centuries-old tradition of Christian Church is denied for political correctness once again." Although Canterbury has invited Orthodox observers to the Lambeth Conference, His Grace wondered aloud if "it makes sense for Orthodox observers to participate in a forum of the Church that takes decisions invariably contradicting Orthodox ecclesiology. And to what extent bilateral Orthodox-Anglican is rational in such a situation. I suppose leaders of local Orthodox Churches should consider these questions seriously again."

Why would the remaining Druids care if "reactionaries" from the East turned away? His Grace is right that it does Orthodox no good to "observe" the Anglican Communion's descent into paganism. In fact, all these statements are true as far as they go. But why be reactive instead of pro-active? What if, instead of merely noting the outrage of Canterbury's long-term apostasy and questioning the future of a moribund ecumenical dialogue, these two statements had included a phrase along these lines (I am trying to stay as close to their original wording as possible): "This latest concession to secular trends calls into question the extent to which bilateral relations with Canterbury remain rational. However, we have long recognized the High Church tradition of Anglo-Catholicism as the closest theology to Orthodoxy among the Western churches. We welcome a very serious dialogue with those unable to consent to this liberalization, who cling to this part of Apostolic tradition, and we believe good relations between Orthodox and conservative Anglicans will have good prospects for our eventual unity."

There was, and is, no such statement, not even a letter expressing sympathy for the Anglo-Catholics' unenviable position. As I wrote last year:

The accord is far from a settled reality. But it's much closer than any similar, massive concordat with Orthodoxy, whether Eastern or Western.

There is not a trace of glee whatever in my saying, "I told you so."

Superbishops

Around the time the Anglican Communion gave the middle finger to its remaining Christians, our friend Ari Adams wrote this about the rejected petition for "Superbishops" (bishops who oversee people outside their geographical dioceses):

Faster than a mass defection.
More powerful than a Jerusalem conference.
Able to leap jurisdictional boundaries in a single bound.

Look! Up in the sky!
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superbishop!

Yes, it's Superbishop - strange visitor from another province who came to the diocese with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary bishops. Superbishop - who can change the course of traditionalist parties, bend dissatisfaction with his bare hands, and who, disguised as a diocesan bishop, mild mannered vicar for a large provincial see, fights the never ending battle of Attrition, Compromise and the Anglican Way.

It seems the Apostate Anglican Communion found the kryptonite. Ari's post is funny because it's true. And because it's true, it's not funny at all....

Assume the Superbishops sideshow had gone through: those upholding the Church's traditional belief on female ordination would be spared being directly ruled by female bishops. However, some of these Superbishops (like the AMiA body) approve of female priestesses. Above all this, one would still be in communion with all these female priestesses and bishopesses, including "Conjoined Twins" Kate; if they appeared at the communion rail with Gene Robinson and John Spong in tow, you would be forced to commune the lot of them.

There's one word for those fighting this fight.

Off-Topic: Greece Has Its First Gay "Marriage"

Performed on Tilos by a "socialist" mayor. Kyrie eleison.

Henry Chadwick, RIP

“Nothing is sadder than someone who has lost his memory,” Chadwick said in a debate at the the Church of England’s General Synod in 1988, “and the Church which has lost its memory is in the same state of senility.”

The Early Church for Pelican/Penguin Books is easily one of the best summations of patristic history. I have not yet read his East and West: the Making of a Rift in the Church.

He also bore the title "Very Reverend."

Here's his obituary. RIP.