Byzantine, Texas

( ROCOR-EAD ) - The Myrrhbearers - A Documentary about the Eastern American Diocesan Holy Myrrhbearers Women's Choir. Produced by the Eastern American Diocesan Media Office in honor of the 15th anniversary of the choir's founding.

Hegumen Philip (Riabykh) ( Pravoslavie ) - April 26, 2012 in Strasbourg, in the spring session of the PA Assembly of the Council of Europe conference "Surrogacy: violation of human rights." The main point of discussion was the report, "Surrogate Motherhood: a human rights violation", prepared by the European Centre for Law and Justice. The document refers to the violation of women's rights arising from their commercial exploitation, but also due to the difficulty in determining parental rights, because in the process of conception, pregnancy and child-rearing may be involved in up to 6 people (two donor gametes, a surrogate mother, her husband, "legal" parents of the child). In addition, the document stresses the problem of subsequent self-identification of a child born to a surrogate mother, and his mental health. The report also provides specific human rights violations related to surrogacy. In discussing the report of the Representative o...

MERCER, PA ( ACROD ) - Camp Nazareth is pleased to offer a new event this year in conjunction with Family Day. The event is called Family Camp and is exactly what it sounds like. Families "camping"together in the Camp cabins and participating in a weekend of services, games, discussions, activities, and challenges that are all designed to help families deepen their relationship with God and with one another. The theme for the weekend is "Living Like the Holy Family" with presentations and discussions led by Very Rev. Jonathan Tobias for the parents, and Rev. Matthew and Pani Eleni Stagon for the children. Family Camp is scheduled for Friday, June 8 – Sunday, June 10, 2012. A variety of activities and events has been planned to allow families the opportunity to learn together, have fun together, pray together and simply be together in the peaceful environment of the Camp. Families will be staying together, and have to themselves, a Camp cabin; plenty of spa...

( GOARCH )- NEW YORK – The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America concluded its regularly scheduled spring meetings and issued the following communiqué: The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Holy Archdiocese of America convened its regular spring meeting on April 25 and 26, 2012 at the Synodal chamber of the Holy Archdiocese in New York, with His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America presiding and the participation of all its members. The day before the official convening of the Synod, April 24, the members of the Synod completed the English translation from the original Greek text of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom which will be submitted to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for approval. The Holy Synod discussed a number of subjects among them the following: Special aspects of pastoral care and administration of the Holy Archdiocese of America related to clergy and laity. Subjects related to the education and training of candidates to the prie...

Last week dear friends of our family lost their baby in delivery. We have added them to the special place in our prayer list for parents who have lost children. Sadly, this list is not a short one. In a recent article I was reminded that the Catholic Church approved prayers in March to be said for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb (see here ). The prayers we have received for our unborn children by the priests we have been blessed to have been spiritual children to are quite fond memories I will keep with me always. I have no idea how widespread the practice is, but every parish we have been parishioners of has made a special effort to pray over the pregnant women of the community at the solea. Below, I post both the new approved Catholic version and an Orthodox version I found at the Saint Gregory Palamas Outreach website (see here ). I would be remiss if I didn't add... If you are a parent that has suffered the loss of your child in the womb, I would like to point you to ...

( mospat.ru ) - On 27 April 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met and talked with His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria and with members of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church.

( MSNBC ) - The Doctor Voino-Yasenecky Saint Luka train serves as a free, mobile consultative and diagnostic medical center that carries medics and medical equipment yearly from the main regional city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia to distant settlements of the Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia regions in Siberia where hospitals and clinics are scarce. The train, named after outstanding Russian surgeon Valentin Voino-Yasenecky, an orthodox bishop and a Gulag prisoner, also has a carriage that operates as a mobile Orthodox church. ( MSNBC ) - An Orthodox priest talks to a woman in front of the church carriage of the Doctor Voino-Yasenecky Saint Luka train, a free mobile consultative and diagnostic medical center, on April 27 at a railway station in Zaozyorny, 81 miles east of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. ( MSNBC ) - An Orthodox priest baptizes a family at the church aboard the Doctor Voino-Yasenecky Saint Luka train, a free and mobile medical center, at a railway station of the t...

The blog Monomakhos has recently highlighted the contentious situation in the OCA's Diocese of the South with the once presumptive new hierarch Bishop Mark (formerly of the Antiochian Archdiocese). I saw first-hand how bad it got before Bp. Mark moved to Florida after the cathedral expressed their rather strong desire that he find somewhere else to take up residence. So now Monomakhos has released a letter from the Dean of the Dallas Deanery. You can read the letter in its entirety here . An excerpt: How does forgiveness compel us to make this man an official candidate? By all means, we urge the battered wife to forgive her battering husband, but does that forgiveness require her to move in again with him before she has seen clear evidence of his repentance? Yet this is precisely what is being asked of us in the Dallas Deanery : we are to forgive and accept a man who for ten months offered no apology to the priest in Dallas nor to the faithful of the cathedral for the scandal ...

Of the numerous hopes I held out for the "Chambésy process," the work of this committee was quite high on my list. There is such variety from jurisdiction to jurisdiction that in the same city the experience of Chrismation, Marriage, and Divorce among other practices can be completely different. So if you want to become Orthodox and the priest you talked to wants you to wait "too long" you can simply go down the street and get received earlier. If one priest won't process your declarations of nullity so you can get married for a third time, just drive to the other side of town and put up with having the service in an uglier building. In short, right now you can shop for the experience you want to have. It makes the rules that govern life of the Church look arbitrary and capricious. It makes the Church look less than One and is a lamentable reality of the current jurisdictionalism. ( AOB ) - Committee for Pastoral Practice 2011 Annual Report Committee Member...

( mospat.ru ) - On St. Thomas Sunday, April 22, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine officiated at the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the Church of Ss Anthony and Theodosius at the Dormition Laura of the Caves in Kiev. Concelebrating with His Beatitude were Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, abbot of the Laura; Archbishop Antoniy of Borispol, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Rector of the Kievan Theological Schools; Archbishop Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevoye, secretary of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; Bishops Nikodim of Zhitomir and Novograd-Volynskiy, Ilariy of Makarov, Panteleimon of Vasilkov, and ordained monks of the Laura. At the Little Entrance, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir elevated Bishop Nikodim of Zhitomir and Novograd-Volynskiy to the rank of archbishop. The office of canonization of Schema-Archbishop Anthony (Abashidze; +1942) as a loc...

Moscow ( AsiaNews ) - As with the Soviet Union, Russia may soon provide the world an alternative to capitalism, now clearly in crisis, according to the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of Department for relations between the Church and society in the patriarchate of Moscow. "During the Soviet Union many good things have been done - he said in a meeting with university students - the heroic feat of Russia in the Second World War, the outstanding results in science and technology and a social model based on the idea of social justice, and that has had a major success worldwide, should be included among our unquestionable results. " According to the religious, the state of the time collapsed because based on an atheist ideology, "but the idea of a society where money, profit, and private economic interests do not dominate was very important," he added. Chaplin explained that the end of the USSR has not buried the search for...

( ACCC ) - Armenians in Jerusalem and around the world marked Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on Tuesday with ceremonies commemorating Armenians in Turkey who were killed between 1915 and 1923. A remembrance service was held in the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the capital’s Old City on Monday night, and a requiem service and holy mass were conducted in the St. James Cathedral of the Armenian Church on Sunday morning, also in the Old City. Armenians say that approximately 1.5 million Armenian people living in the eastern Ottoman Empire died during a series of massacres, killings and death marches into the Syrian Desert, perpetrated by the Young Turk regime of the Ottoman Empire. Modern Turkish governments have however vehemently denied that the killings constituted a genocide and claim that the numbers of Armenians killed were much lower. On Monday evening, ahead of the commemoration services, Archbishop Aris Shirvanian of the Armenian Patriarchate addressed membe...

Topeka, KS, Apr 25, 2012 ( CNA ) - A proposed ordinance in Hutchinson, Kansas could force individuals and institutions – including Catholic churches – to host and participate in events that violate Church teachings on sexuality. “As far as individuals go, there doesn't seem to be any likelihood that there will be a protection or an exemption for them,” said Kansas Catholic Conference Executive Director Michael Schuttloffel, addressing a proposal to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in the city of Hutchinson. “As far as religious institutions, that will depend entirely on what sort of exemption – if any – is put in place (by the city council) … If there is none, then you could conceivably have a Catholic church that is forced to host a ceremony that violates Catholic beliefs.” Schuttloffel spoke to CNA on April 24, as members of Hutchinson's Human Relations Commission prepared for a meeting the following day to finalize their “Proposed Sexual Orientation an...

All the important information can be found on the Young Adult Monastery Pilgrimage Facebook page. ( FB ) - Let's get together for a fun, enriching, and spiritually beneficial road trip/pilgrimage from Northeast PA to Upstate NY! We're trying to get a sense of numbers, and of how many people may be interested. As a pilgrimage, there will be important and heartfelt conversations with spiritual mentors, quiet moments of prayer, and peaceful contemplation at 4 beautiful American monasteries. As a service trip, there will be a lot of hard work to help out at the monasteries we will visit. And like any good summer road trip, there will be fun times on the road, frisbee and soccer wherever there is grass, and bonfires and music during the cool summer nights. Itinerary: Saturday, May 26 Arrival at St. Tikhon’s Monastery Tour of Monastery Clean-up Projects Sunday, May 27 Liturgy at St. John the Baptist in Mayfield Combined Youth Hike from Mayfield to St. Tikhon's...

( Reuters ) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church warned tens of thousands of believers on Sunday they were "under attack by persecutors" on a nationwide day of prayer intended to heal divisions over a protest at the altar by a women's punk band. At least 40,000 (police reports said 65,000) people came to hear Patriarch Kirill lead them in prayer at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, where Pussy Riot performed a "punk prayer" on February 21 deriding the Church's close relationship with President-elect Vladimir Putin. The incident, and the arrest of three band members who face up to seven years in jail for their performance, has ignited a debate about the Church's role in politics and left Kirill open to criticism from inside and outside the Church. "We are under attack by persecutors," said the Patriarch, his bass voice booming out through speakers from an outdoor stage where he stood under the cathedral's steep white wall...

It's simply amazing looking. More photos here . News article explaining the consecration here . Both in Russian.

Thomas touched Your life-giving side with an eager hand, O Christ God, When You did come to Your apostles through closed doors. He cried out with all: You are my Lord and my God! - Kontakion, Tone 8

ATHENS ( National Post ) – Close links between the Greek state and the Orthodox Church are turning from a blessing for the clergy into a curse as the debt-laden government struggles to fund the ancient institution, just as impoverished Greeks need its charitable work most. Starved of money as the state makes huge spending cuts, the deeply conservative church which grew from one of the earliest centres of Christianity is seeking new sources of funds. But despite a new spirit of enterprise, such as at one monastery which wants to build a solar energy farm, numbers of priests are dwindling, those that remain are suffering pay cuts, and the church is fighting to keep soup kitchens open as unemployment soars and poverty deepens. “The tills are empty and the system is collapsing,” said Ignatios Stavropoulos , a modernizing priest who has his own page on LinkedIn, a social website for professionals. Under a 60-year-old treaty, the state agreed to pay priests’ salaries in exchange for...

( Trib LIVE ) - A commercial building in West Mifflin could soon become a monastery. This month, the West Mifflin zoning board approved Niagara Falls, N.Y.-based Holy Cross Orthodox Monastery 's application to put a monastery in a building at 5055 Buttermilk Hollow Road, which is in a residentially zoned area. Holy Cross plans to buy the property from First National Bank of Pennsylvania. It would contain living quarters for three to five monks, a small chapel and a gift shop, according to the application it filed with the borough. "We intend to do spiritual counseling, also reach out to the people who don't have anybody," said the Rev. Nicholas Iuhos , who declined to disclose specifics about Holy Cross' plans. He said nothing has been finalized. Holy Cross does not need any more borough documentation or approvals, other than a certificate of occupancy when it is ready to move in, said Walter "Butch" Anthony, West Mifflin's community develop...

( OrthodoxWiki ) - The Life-Giving Spring or Life-Giving Font of the Mother of God (Greek: Ζωοδόχος Πηγή; Russian: Живоносный Источник) is a feast day in the Orthodox Church that is associated with a historic church just west of Constantinople in Valoukli, as well as an icon of the Theotokos. The feast day of the Life-Giving Spring is commemorated on Bright Friday of each year (the Friday following Pascha), being the only feast day which may be celebrated during Bright Week. As a life-giving fount, thou didst conceive the Dew that is transcendent in essence, O Virgin Maid, and thou hast welled forth for our sakes the nectar of joy eternal, which doth pour forth from thy fount with the water that springeth up unto everlasting life in unending and mighty streams; wherein, taking delight, we all cry out: Rejoice, O thou Spring of life for all men.

( RIA Novosti ) - Thousands of priests are expected to arrive in Moscow on Sunday for a nationwide prayer in defense of the faith and desecrated sacred objects, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said. Legoida, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate's Synodal Information Department, said the Church has been discussing ways to better organize the mass arrival with the Russian capital’s authorities, according to the Ekho Moskvy radio. After a liturgy in downtown Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, bishops and priests led by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will pray in front of sacred objects outside of the cathedral, including ones that were recently desecrated by vandals: a cross from a church in the southern Stavropol Territory and an icon from the northwest Vologda Region, which were damaged by a knife and an ax accordingly. The prayer will start at 1400 Moscow Time (1000 GMT). Everyone will be able to attend the event that will al...

This looks so fun. Maybe the family will drive by this weekend to take a look at the new apiary. Below, Mother Alexandra taking ownership of some new bees (note the post office in the background) and then later removing the queen cage.

Fr. Michael Fulton celebrating the Liturgy in Boston, MA. (Photo credit: Cody Chasen Burkett)

H/T: Pithless Thoughts Hu'ta' QISt! Hu'bejta'! taHbej peplu'ta'!

Compared to other media attempts to cover Orthodox in America, this is an effulgent beacon of cogency and comprehensiveness. Do take the time to read this article if only to have an idea of what the standard for reporting on Orthodoxy should be. This might spoil you the next time you read a fumbling, vanilla article on the Faith, but I think GotReligion would approve. Update (04/29/2012): I was right . ( Post Gazette ) - As Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter today, they have resurrected a movement toward unity in America, where they are divided into a hodgepodge of overlapping ethnic jurisdictions. On orders from patriarchs in Constantinople, Russia, Serbia and elsewhere, all Orthodox bishops in this country are working on a plan for one American Church. The patriarchs say they want to approve such a plan at a yet-unscheduled Great and Holy Council of global Orthodoxy. The last such council was in A.D. 787. In 2010, 66 American bishops formed the Assembly of Canonical Orthodo...

H/T: Logismoi . This is a favorite homily of mine on Christ's actions during Holy Saturday; I used it in Homiletics class for a homily of as yet ungraded success. Take a few minutes to read it. I plan to read it to the family tonight. Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and Hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, He who is both God and the Son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the Cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his bre...

( ROC-USA ) - On the evening of April 12th Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the United States, Archbishop Justinian celebrated Great Friday Matins with the reading of the 12 Holy Passion Gospels our Lord Jesus Christ at St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, assisted by cathedral clergy.

( Hexaemeron ) - Perhaps it was inevitable. The technology has been in place for decades. It was only a matter of time before the sacred art of the icon became an inexpensive do-it-yourself room makeover. For those of us who support sacred arts through training iconographers and encouraging high quality work crafted from noble materials for our churches and homes, the creation and dissemination of icon wallpaper is a cause for mourning. We recently received an advert email for “Priests and Wardens” that touted the benefits of a process for manufacturing “images that go on your church walls like wallpaper. MUCH cheaper than real frescoes!” We were even warned “there is an ‘imposter’ out there using cheaper materials, so be careful!” Imagine, an “imposter” of the “MUCH cheaper than real.” Really? There is a story told about Henry Ford that comes to mind. You remember the businessman from Detroit who made it affordable for just about everyone to own an automobile. After the inv...

During Holy Week the Church remembers the final days of the Savior’s earthly life—His deeds and talks with His disciples, the institution of the Mystery of the Eucharist, Judas’s betrayal, the Lord’s captivity, His sufferings and humiliation, crucifixion, death, and burial. Pravoslavie has a collage of icons from Holy Week with descriptions attached (see here ).

I quite enjoyed singing these today. I thought you might enjoy reading them as well. I wish someone would do a children's book based on the hymnody of Matins and Vespers. There is so much to learn from them and it is so approachable that they would almost certainly get something out of it. The use of parallels, quite important and pervasive in the Psalter is also integral to St. Romanos the Melodist's hymns, helps paint pictures with striking contrasts that young and old can understand. In addition, the imagery comes from different angles so that if one musical picture drawn doesn't make sense, another hopefully will. Someone, please take this on as a labor of love. Enjoy. The Praises v. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His exceeding greatness! (Ps 150:2) A harlot recognized You as God, O Son of the Virgin. With tears equal to her past deeds, she besought You, weeping: “Loose my debt, as I have loosed my hair! Love the woman who, thou...

"I See Your Bridal Chamber," an exapostilarion sung during Holy Week Matins. I see your bridal chamber completely engulfed with light, O my Savior, and I do not have a wedding garment to enter and enjoy your brightness; fill the garment of my soul with light and save me, O Lord.

Previously posted about here . Troparion of Kassiani Sensing Thy divinity, O Lord, a woman of many sins, takes it upon herself to become a myrrh-bearer and in deep mourning brings before Thee fragrant oil in anticipation of Thy burial; crying: "Woe to me! What night falls on me, what dark and moonless madness of wild-desire, this lust for sin. Take my spring of tears Thou Who drawest water from the clouds, bend to me, to the sighing of my heart, Thou who bendedst down the heavens in Thy secret Incarnation, I will wash Thine immaculate feet with kisses and wipe them dry with the locks of my hair; those very feet whose sound Eve heard at the dusk in Paradise and hid herself in terror. Who shall count the multitude of my sins or the depth of Thy judgment, O Saviour of my soul? Do not ignore thy handmaiden, O Thou whose mercy is endless".

( OCA ) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah celebrated the preparatory rites for the Consecration of Holy Chrism on the morning of Great and Holy Monday, April 9, 2012, at Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery. The Rite will conclude with the actual consecration of the sacred oil during the Vesperal Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great on Great and Holy Thursday, April 12. The blessing of the ingredients took place before the celebration of the Hours and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The consecration of Holy Chrism is reserved to autocephalous churches. Parishes receive Holy Chrism for local use from the Primate of their respective autocephalous Church. As such, the distribution of Holy Chrism to parish communities offers a visible sign of unity within the Church. “By God’s all-accomplishing grace and strength, and with the consensus of my brother Hierarchs, I intend to consecrate Holy Chrism at the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great on Great and Holy Thursday at th...

( MSNBC ) - Slovak youths dressed in traditional costumes throw a girl into a creek as part of Easter celebrations in the village of Trencianska Tepla, 145 km (90 miles) north of Bratislava April 9. Girls are doused with water and whipped in a custom believed to ensure a woman's fertility and beauty.

MONTREAL ( ctv.ca ) - Eastern Orthodox worshipers celebrate their holiest days of the year next week but parishioners at one Russian Orthodox Church in Outremont won't be allowed to hold their procession planned for next Saturday night. That's because the borough of Outremont has banned parades and processions, including those for Eastern Orthodox Easter. The ban resulted after strained relations between some Outremont residents and the ultra-orthodox Jewish community of Hasidic Jews. Reverend Michael Metni is disappointed that authorities have outlawed the annual procession, which his St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church on St. Joseph Boulevard has held for 50 years. Metni is encouraging his parishioners to work to reverse the ban by appealing to a higher power. "We tell them pray and the Good Lord will resolve it. Man plants and God unplants, we always say," said Reverend Metini. Parishioners believe that the Outremont borough should not involve their...

( antiochian.org ) - This report was posted on the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, on March 27. The bloodshed in Syria and the need for protection of the Christians in the country as well as in Lebanon, was the theme which concerned today’s Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Church in the Middle East, which took place today, 27th March 2012 in Cyprus. “It is the second time that I am meeting with His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem His Beatitude Ignatios Patriarch of Antioch and His Beatitude Chrysostomos Archbishop of New Justinia and All Cyprus”, said His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, who chaired the meeting at which His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of issues regarding Hellenes abroad, Mr Dimitris Dollis also spoke. On behalf of the Primates His Beatitude expressed the wish and the strong will that they all support the Church of Antioch, His Beati...