The Shepherd, July 2008
NEWS SECTION
ŒCUMENICAL PATRIARCH IN ROME
HIS ALL-HOLINESS, PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEOS of Constantinople participated in Rome with the Pope Benedict’s XVI’s inauguration of a Pauline Jubilee Year on the Roman Catholic festival of Sts Peter and Paul, 29th June. The Patriarch participated in many of the ceremonies over the festival, joined in prayer and preached at the Mass, apparently saying that the Orthodox Christians would also be keeping a jubilee year! Such participation in prayer services with the non-Orthodox is contrary to the tradition of the Orthodox Church, but such is the Patriarch’s enthusiasm for ecumenism, his doing so is now routine and hardly worthy of note. It does, however, demonstrate the correctness, the necessity and the worth of the traditionalist witness within Orthodoxy.
MOSCOW SOBOR 2008
AS WE are preparing this issue, the Moscow Patriarchate is completing a Sobor, or Assembly, of its hierarchs, convened in the Church of the Saviour between 24th and 29th May. For the first time, hierarchs who were formerly independent in the Russian Church Abroad have been participating in the Assembly. With admirable efficiency, the Sobor website has been posting news of the proceedings day by day. The Assembly ended with a celebration of the 1020th anniversary of the “Baptism of Rus” in the Moscow Kremlin, which was attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who also addressed the hierarchs. Postings on the internet supporting or criticizing statements made at the Assembly are already too numerous to count! Perhaps the wisest course at this juncture is to refrain from any comment, to wait for wiser minds to evaluate the proceedings, to give time for the various pronouncements to be inwardly digested, and more importantly to see how in fact they are implemented in the life of the Patriarchate.
ESPHIGMENOU MONASTERY ON ATHOS
A PRESS RELEASE was published by the Monastery on 2nd June, stating: “Today the Greek government deployed hundreds of armed police to forcibly remove the monks of the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou from their monastery. Under the leadership of foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis, all roads to the monastery have been sealed off and over 200 police in full riot gear are on Mt. Athos, with an additional 400 police deploying to assist in the pending assault. Their expressed plan is to forcibly remove the peaceful and defenseless monks and their long-standing Abbot Methodios from their monastery, and replace them with those who pray in accordance with the dictates of the Greek government. The government has authorized the use of force to resolve a religious dispute after failing to starve the monks into leaving their monastery during a 5-year blockade. In this time, they have denied the monks deliveries of food, medicine, heating oil, and access to medical attention while simultaneously subjecting them to a non-stop campaign of official harassment and intimidation.… The monks have repeatedly requested dialogue with the Greek government as well as Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul to resolve this dispute. The Patriarch, who has declared the monks “schismatic,” has refused to aid in the peaceful reconciliation of this dispute. For the last five years, the U.S. Government has cited Greece for its treatment of the Esphigmenou monks in its International Religious Freedom Report issued by the Department of State.” The fathers at Esphigmenou refuse to commemorate Patriarch Bartholomeos because of his close involvement in the ecumenical movement, and so from his point of view they might be considered schismatic. However, the campaign against them and the use of the armed security services of the secular state hardly seem to be manifestations of Christian love, or even of a tactful of dealing with their separation from him.
FOREST FIRES FORCE MONKS AND NUNS
TO LEAVE THEIR MONASTERIES
FOREST FIRES in California have forced the monks of the St Herman of Alaska Monastery in Platina, California, and the nuns of their sister community, the Saint Xenia Skete in Wildwood, to leave their monasteries, and seek refuge in safety. At the time of our preparing this magazine, it appears that no substantial damage has been done, but the danger is real, and it is reported that ash is failing on the St Xenia Skete. The St Herman Brotherhood is known throughout the Orthodox world as the publisher of the magazine “Orthodox Word,” and as the place where the Ever-memorable Father Seraphim (Rose) struggled in the monastic life. It was founded under the spiritual protection of the Russian Church Abroad in the 1960s, but after Fr Seraphim’s death left, and now, after many years it has established itself within the Serbian Orthodox Church. The prayers of the faithful are asked for the monastics in their time of trouble.
ANCIENT CHURCH DISCOVERED
“THE DAILY TELEGRAPH” (11th June) carried an article by Tim Butcher, reporting that archaeologists in Jordan believe that they have found the remains of the oldest Christian church. Butcher says that an early underground church has been found beneath the Church of Saint Georgeous (sic!) [presumably St George / Georgios], which itself dates back to the early third century. Abdul Qader al-Husan, the head of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies, said, “We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians - the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ.” And thus the church is dated to the first generation after the day of Pentecost. It is not clear on what evidence he bases this claim, but a spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Church nonetheless described the discovery as an “important milestone for Christians all around the world.”
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