The Last Line Made Me Laugh

Moscow, February 5, Interfax – Twenty-five buses with depiction of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Laura and inscription "God EXISTS. Stop worrying and enjoy your life!" will drive London streets.

Thus, Russian-British Russky Chas broadcasting company has launched "a contra campaign" against recent ad action of the British Humanist Association, which put slogans "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" on dozens of buses circulating in the British capital.

"Who says that faith in God prevents from enjoying your life? Our perplexity developed in a contra-campaign of both Russian and universal character. Its slogan will be even more positive and it’s very important in our complicated times. We’re facing intensive 'programming' of crisis and a person should summon up his strength and get an optimistic impulse," the Russky Chas Director Alexander Korobko was cited as saying by the Noviye Izvestia paper on Thursday.

Orthodox banners are twice bigger than atheist ads.

- Interfax, 05 February 2009, 14:12

The Trinty Lavra of St Sergius

Христосъ Крещается!

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 3:17

Today we remember how the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the great mystery of the Trinity were demonstrated. It is also from this that the present feast is called 'Theophany', that is, the divine manifestation, God's appearance among men. On this venerable day the sacred mystery of Christian baptism was inaugurated; henceforth also began the saving preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In commemoration, photography blog Photo Polygon has presented a series of photographs on its celebration across Russia.

Theophany celebrations on the island of Sviyazhsk in Tatarstan

The faithful hurry to collect blessed water in Novosibirsk

In every church, water is blessed (typically in large water tanks) and faithful bring a little home with them. For more daring believers, however, there is a more challenging way to benefit from the sacred waters. Shedding their fur coats and parkas, Russian Christians cross themselves and jump into freezing river, lake or sea water, through a cross-shaped hole cut in the ice.

A young girl prepares to take the plunge in Sestroretsk

People anxiously wait their turn, Vladimir Oblast

A young lady crosses herself before she takes the plunge in Tsaritsiyno

A believer flashes the "horns" as he immerses in the waters of St Petersburg

As one emerges, another prepares to immerse, Moscow

Christians believe that on this day, all water becomes sacred and immersing oneself in it prevents ill health.

Taking the plunge in Volkhov

As some immerse in the water, others collect it

A child hurries out of the icy Istra river near New Jerusalem Monastery

All over Russia believers take a dip three times in icy water through these cross-shaped holes, called 'Jordans' after the Jordan River where Christ was baptised by John the Baptist.

Emerging from freezing waters around Sviyazhsk

This cossack doesn't seem to mind the cold Dnepr

This young lady in Sestroretsk hurries to dry off

An elderly man chooses to collect the blessed water instead of immersing in it

Helping a young lady out (or in, I really can't tell) of the icy waters

Warm refreshments await those who have taken the plunge

You appeared to the world today, and Your light, O Lord, has left its mark upon us. With fuller understanding we sing to You: "You came, You were made manifest, the unapproachable light."

Kontakion of the After-Feast (4th tone)

A Rant about the Constant Orthodox/SSPX Comparisons I Get

Originally posted to Facebook, 10 January 2009

I got another one yesterday. And I've just about had it.

So most of you Roman Catholics seem to either find:
a) the SSPX preferable to Eastern Orthodoxy when converting from a non-Roman Catholic faith
b) the Eastern Orthodox no better than the SSPX (both schismatic, cut from the True Vine, etc)

Well, I did a rudimentary comparison between the two, and here's what initial findings show:

Orthodox Communion
Founded: Pentecost, 33 AD
Rite: Byzantine, "Western"
Liturgical Music: Byzantine, Kievan, Znamenny, Valaam, Georgian, Carpatho-Russian, Galician, Gregorian (Western Rite Orthodox)
No. of Adherents: 225 million
Majority Religion: Belarus (80%), Bulgaria (82.6%), Cyprus (81%), Georgia (83.9%), Greece (98%), Macedonia (66%), Moldova (93.3%), Montenegro (74.24%), Romania (86.7%), Russia (80%), Serbia (84.1%), Ukraine (83%)
Significant Religious Minority: Bosnia & Herzegovina (36%), Croatia (4.4%), Estonia (13.9%), Finland* (1.1%), Kazakhstan (7.8%), Kyrgyzstan (10%), Latvia (6.6%), Lithuania (4.9%), Turkmenistan (9%), Uzbekistan (9%)
Notable Saints: Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Basil the Great, John Climacus, Clement of Alexandria, Nicholas of Myra, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Cassian, Anthony the Great, Maximus the Greek, Cyril of Alexandria, Dorotheus of Gaza, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, John Chrysostom, Sava of Serbia, Gregory Nazianzus, Barlaam of the Kiev Caves, John of Damascus, Dionysius the Areopagite, Seraphim of Sarov, Basil the Confesor, Dimitri of Rostov, Sergius of Radonezh, Olympia the Deaconess, etc
Notable Religious Contributions: First seven Ecumenical Councils, iconography, hesychasm, foolishness for Christ, etc
Notable Literary Works: Philokalia, The Way of a Pilgrim, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, The Spiritual Life
Notable Cultural Contributions: Cyrillic alphabet (used by 11 languages), architecture (Byzantine, Muscovite Baroque, Neo-Byzantine, Russian Revival, etc), Byzantine art, Classical Antique heritage
Notable Culinary Contributions: Paskha, kulich, kutia, kolliva, etc
Notable Churches: Hagia Sophia (Constantinople), St Basil's Cathedral (Moscow), Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Sofia), etc

* Has national church status

Society of St Pius X
Founded: 1970
Rite: Roman
Liturgical Music: Gregorian
No. of Adherents: 150,000 (approx.)
Majority Religion: None
Significant Religious Minority: None; Ecône probably
Notable Saints: None
Notable Religious Contributions: Highlighting the dangers of Modernism & the Novus Ordo mass, insight into what *exactly* constitues a valid mass/whether excommunication was incurred latae sententiae during consecration of bishops (only in 1988), directly/indirectly influencing the issue of Ecclesia Dei/Summorum Pontificum
Notable Literary Works: 100 Years of Modernism, Against the Heresies, Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre
Notable Cultural Contributions: First to put lace on Byzantine vestment (no wait, that was the Greek-Catholics)
Notable Culinary Contributions: Ask Kenny
Notable Churches: St Nicolas du Chardonnet (Paris)

By their fruits, you shall know them, so the good book tells us. I think the results are clear. There is NO comparison. Any comparison done to liken the Orthodox to the SSPX in relation to the Roman Catholic Church is clearly derogatory/offensive and WILL incite anger - so if you absolutely must say it, stay clear of cossacks.

If you are a Roman Catholic who believes points a) and/or b) mentioned earlier, congratulations - you are no better than a racist. You think the Roman rite (it doesn't matter whether it's the Novus Ordo or Tridentine mass) is the ONLY worthy, divinely approved liturgy. The Byzantine liturgies are good too, but only for strange people with beards from the forests of East Europe. Worth a visit, but it's really not for decent, English-speaking, educated folk. Oh, and really, who gives a @#$% about the theological and liturgical contribution of the Orthodox East - heck, who cares about doctrine these days - because we know that once you sever that all-important, life-or-death link with the bishop of Rome, you ain't worth nothing.

Patriarch Aleksey II (1929 – 2008)

Aleksy II, the Russian Orthodox patriarch who led a revival of the Church after the fall of Communism and built close ties to the Kremlin under Vladimir V. Putin, died Friday at his residence in Moscow, news agencies reported.

The patriarch was 79, and the Church did not disclose the cause of death. He had long suffered from heart problems.

- The New York Times, December 5, 2008

Покой, Господи, души усопших раб Твоих.

Сам един еси безсмертный, сотворивый и создавый человека. Земнии убо от земли создахомся, и в землю туюжде пойдем, якоже повелил еси, создавый мя, и рекий ми: Яко земля еси и в землю отыдеши, аможе все человецы пойдем, надгробное рыдание творяще песнь: Аллилуия, аллилуия, аллилуия.

Give rest, O Lord, to the soul of Thy servant.

Thou alone art immortal, who didst make and mould man. But we mortals were formed from earth, and to the earth we return, as Thou who created me did command and say to me, "Thou art earth, and to the earth shall thou return," where all we mortals are going, and for a funeral dirge we make the song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Cheating at Confession

"This was my mother, when she was growing up, her experience of confession.

Small town Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania has lots of small towns - and she was born in the 20s, so this was probably in the 30s - the 1930s - and at that time people went to communion and confession once a year; they went during Great Lent.

So in that little town that had lots of kids of Russian immigrants, had a church - the Russian church, that was called so anyway. Those kids got out of school early that Friday afternoon because they were all going to communion the next day, on Saturday. So that Friday afternoon, they were dismissed early, they all went up to the church and got in line for confession. Problem was, the priest was not English-speaking and the kids didn't know how to speak Russian because at home they spoke a dialect, like from the Ukraine and Poland and so on. So you have a communication problem.

So they put one of the older girls first, who understood Russian - who really understood Russian - and they would listen to her answers. So the priest would say, did you this, did you do this, did you do this, and they were listening.

"Da, da, nyet, da, da, nyet."

So they eavesdropped and they go back and send it to each person in the line, "2 das and a nyet. 2 das and a nyet!"

So everybody memorised the answers to confession."

Mother Christophora, abbess of the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, speaking at the Orthodox Christian Women’s conference in Montreal in March 2008.

Orthodoxy Arrives in Cuba

...most astonishingly, as a gift from the Communist state:

Legendary Actress Laid to Rest

On October 15, Latvia bid farewell to legendary film and theatre actress, Vija Artmane. Fan and mourner alike gathered early morning in the capital's Nativity Cathedral for the funeral, presided over by Metropolitan Alexander Kudryashov. She was laid to rest at the Protection of the Mother of God cemetery. Andrejs Strokins captured the entire event on camera.

Born to a Baltic German father and a Polish mother, Alida Franzevna Artmane was raised in a village near Tukums on July 21, 1929. Fond of wild flowers, she spent her childhood playing the fields, learning to make flower arrangements and dolls. At 10, she became a shepherdess, tending a herd of cows for five years. She graduated from high school a year after the Second World War ended, and had dreams of becoming a lawyer, but thankfully, her passion for acting prevailed and she moved to Riga to study at the Daile Theatre Second Studio. Changing her name to Vija, she was critically acclaimed for her performance as Anna Karenina in the eponymous play by Leo Tolstoy; she also starred in Tolstoy's 'War and Peace', in Gogol's 'Dead Souls', and other classic Russian plays.

She achieved nation-wide fame for her role in the 1963 film, 'Rodnaya Krov', as a loving mother. Her subsequent film career was highlighted with such roles as Veda Kong in 'Tumannost Andromedy', as Catherine the Great in 'Yemelyan Pugachyov' and as Julia Lamber in 'Teatris'. Vija Artmane was honoured with the title, National Actress of Latvia and was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1969. The Culture Ministry of Latvia awarded her for her contribution to theatre and cinema in 1999. She converted to Holy Orthodoxy sometime in the early 2000s and her memoirs were published in 2003. She is survived by two children, a son and a daughter.

Блажени, яже избрал и приял еси, Господи. Память их в род и род.

Blessed are they whom Thou hast chosen and taken, O Lord. Their memory is from generation to generation.

A note to non-Orthodox readers: placed on the forehead of the deceased is a paper chaplet bearing the words of the Trisagion, representing the crown of victory at the end of the contest. The coffin is never closed, because we believe the body to be an honourable and even a holy thing. For us, the body is not something to be hidden away or hurriedly disposed of, and should be treated with reverence. One sometimes gets the impression that in closed-casket funerals, the deceased is the only person who is not present and does not matter.

Metropolitan Alexander Kudryashov presided over the funeral

"Сам, Господи, упокой душы усопших рабов Твоих Вия: в месте светле..."

Give rest, O Lord, to the soul of Vija, in a place of light...

Hundreds of Rigans turned out to say goodbye to Vija

A last kiss

Во блаженном успении вечный покой подаждь, Господи, усопшым рабом Твоим, имена, и сотвори им, вечную память.

Give rest eternal, O Lord, in blessed repose, to the soul of Thy departed servant, and make her memory eternal.

ВЕЧНАЯ ПАМЯТЬ!

Return to Krasnodar

On 15 September 2008, a remarkable, though little-publicized event took place in Prague at the Dormition Chapel, in Olšany Cemetery. There, in the heart of Prague's largest graveyard, Kuban Cossacks gathered to bring the remains of Fyodor Shcherbina, first historian of the Kuban Cossacks, home to Krasnodar, in Russia. A pannikhida (memorial service) was held, and Vova Pomortsev of Photo Polygon was there to capture it all on film.

God's Intention for Man

First of all, one thing must be clear to us: God has created us not for sorrow, but for joy. Where do we see man for the first time? In Paradise!

According to the testimony of the Holy Bible, especially of the New Testament, man is intended for Paradise, not for hell. The fact that many are perishing does not yet mean that such were God's intentions for man.

God is love.

He does not want the death of the sinner, but on the contrary, "will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth".

The following situation is very significant: on Judgment Day, the Saviour will say to the righteous: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world". And He will say to the sinners: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

From this, it is clearly seen that, according to God's plan, Paradise was prepared for men, and hell - for the demons.

Archimantrite Seraphim Aleksiev, 'The Meaning of Suffering', The Christian Message from Moscow

Преобразился еси на горе, Христе Боже...

For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
2 Peter 1:17

You were transfigured on the Mount, Christ God revealing Your glory to Your disciples, insofar as they could comprehend. Illuminate us sinners also with Your everlasting light, through the intercessions of the Theotokos. Giver of light, glory to You.

Apolytikion (Grave Tone)

The Face of 20th Century Russia

Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
(1918 - 2008)

AsiaNews.it's Stefano Caprio offers his obituary:

Religion is a primary element in the message of Solzhenitsyn, a man of faith but hardly sectarian, and a great admirer of the simplicity of the people and of moral rigor, just like Tolstoj, and deeply involved in the turbulent experience of everyone's life, like Dostoevskij. His prophetic, solitary figure allowed him to avoid both excommunication and marriage, leaving room for everyone to participate in his own journey of conversion, beginning from the rediscovery of the dignity of man and culminating in consent to Christian revelation in its historical expression. For him, a follower of the 19th century Slavophiles, this religion was nonetheless Orthodox and national, without any concession to ecumenical rhetoric and the Western banalization of Christianity, of which he was an implacable and uncompromising critic.

Вечная память!

East-West Reunion?

But their respective claims are mutually exclusive, as the former insists on papal supremacy and the latter on the received faith of the ecumenical councils. Thus, despite whatever superficial similarities Rome and Byzantium may have, they are different ways of understanding what it means to be catholic.

- Dan Dunlap

Pilgrimage

So it has been nearly a month since I last posted, and while much has happened since, I'm disinclined to discuss them in detail. Though, I will let readers know I've been working at insurance firm for slightly less than half a month now. Seeing as how it essentially consumes half a day, posting will continue to be sporadic. Anyway, enough of idle chatter; on with the post.

OK, we've all heard about the time-honoured Roman Catholic custom of 'penitential walks', from the centuries-old Way of St James and the Chartres pilgrimage to the smaller, but no less fervent pilgrimages springing up elsewhere in the world. Questions abound about the existence of similar practice in the Christian East.

That said, Memoirs is once again proud to bring you yet another fascinating piece from Photo Polygon; from the lens of Sergey Kozmin.

Pilgrimage - not just for Roman Catholics

In the 14th century, so legend goes, an icon of St Nicholas miraculously appeared on a pine in a forest by the river. Attempts were made to bring this wonder-working icon from the small village of Velikoretskoye to Khiynov (modern-day Kirov), but they all failed - it was only after numerous prayers, as well as promising sincerely to return the icon every year to Velikoretskoye, was its transfer possible. And so it began, the oldest annual pilgrimage in Russia, which begins at Kirov and ends at Velikoretskoye.

The icon leaves Kirov

Since the 1990s, the pilgrimage has been revived after years of Soviet suppression. Pilgrims walk 180 kilometres (approx. 112 miles) for 5 days through the countryside, woods and bogs. Every two hours, the journey stops for a service by the roadside, as well as 30-40 minutes' rest. The day ends at 9 o'clock, and pilgrims spend the night in schools or the huts of local villagers, but most find rest only in the streets. Between 1:30 to 2 in the morning, the pilgrims awake to yet another service. The journey continues shortly afterward.

Pilgrims endure muddy forest paths...

...snow

...and rain.

This year alone, over 20,000 pilgrims participated in the walk from Kirov to Velikoretskoye, and despite every trial nature sends along - snow, heat, rain, hailstones, mosquito swarms, callouses, tired ankles, sleepless nights and unbearable weariness, the majority of pilgrims nevertheless arrive at their destination.

The pilgrimage attracts the young....

...and old

...and monarchists.

To an Orthodox Christian, undertaking the journey to Velikoretskoye is a special act of contrition and purification of the soul. To walk on this pilgrimage is to truly grasp the soul of the Russian people.

More photographs available HERE.

May 29, 1453

God rings the bells, earth rings the bells, the sky itself is ringing,
The Holy Wisdom, the great church, is ringing out the message,
Four hundred sounding boards sound out, and two and sixty bells,
For every bell there is a priest, for every priest a deacon.
To the left the emperor is singing, to the right the patriarch,
And all the columns tremble with the thunder of the chant.
And as the emperor began the hymns to the Cherubim,
A voice came down to them from the sky, from the archangel’s mouth:

Cease the Cherubic hymn, and let the sacred objects bow;
Priests, take the holy things away, extinguish all the candles:
God’s Will has made our city now into a Turkish city.

But send a message to the West, and let them send three ships:
The first to take the cross, the second to remove the Gospel,
The third, the finest shall rescue for us our holy altar.
Lest it all to those dogs, and they defile it and dishonour it.
The Holy Virgin was distressed, the very icons wept.
Be calm, beloved lady, be calm and do not weep for them.
Though years, though centuries shall pass, they shall be yours again.

Anonymous Song of Lamentation
for the Fall of Constantinople in 1453
Translated by Richard Stoneman

Children in Church

From Russian photography blog, Photo Polygon, Elena Devyashina gives us this touching photo-story:

NOTE: The original article was translated, with much help, for the benefit of readers who do not read Russian. I take no credit whatsoever for its content.

Children are children.
Children are children wherever it may be. Children will be children anywhere: be it at school, in the sandbox, hospital or church. They can be jolly or tired, busy with their stuff or listen attentively. They can be everything, yet, they are far more natural than us adults.

Children in church are not an isolated species, succumbed to its own milieu - not at all. They are no different from any normal children we see every now and then, anywhere around us.

10th February 2008
Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Seversk
Darya in Sunday school

The process of dialogue in Sunday school flows freely and quietly, like a stream, as children busily engage in drawing and reading while listening to the priest. This photo-story, however, is not about Sunday school, but rather simply about children in church.

Church of St Sergius of Radonezh, Tomsk
The girls, a little tired from a long service, take a seat

Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Seversk
Palm Sunday

Church of St Sergius of Radonezh, Tomsk
Little sisters





Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Seversk
Before Holy Communion

Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Seversk
Palm Sunday: Darya smiled, posed and presented me with a willow