Orthodixie

St Romanos Chorale
Christmas Benefit Program

for the

Orthodox Clergy Association
of Greater Houston

Saturday, December 8th – 7:00 PM

Tickets – $10

Refreshments served following the performance.

St George Orthodox Church
5311 Mercer at Bissonnet
713-665-5252

In anticipation of the Nativity of Christ, this concert will expose the beauty and spirituality of Orthodox Christian worship services to non-Orthodox and Orthodox Christians, alike. Proceeds from this concert will help the Orthodox Clergy Association in their joint missionary and outreach projects, especially their broadcast, audio & electronic media efforts.

The purpose of the Orthodox Clergy Association is to find tangible ways to express Orthodox Christian unity, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to facilitate communication and fellowship among the brotherhood of Orthodox Clergy in Southeast Texas.

Thanks for your help!

For tickets & sponsorship info call 713-665-5252.

We hope to see you there!

The new book DEFEATING SIN – Overcoming Our Passions and Changing Forever, by Fr Joseph Huneycutt is an ambitious project which tackles a difficult and complex topic with seeming ease. The topic of the passions occupies many pages of writings by a multitude of Church Fathers and is one of the more difficult to grasp completely.

Fr Joseph has done a masterful job of collecting some of these writings and by weaving together excerpts from Fathers both ancient and modern with commentary of his own, he presents a tapestry that is clear, concise and within the grasp of most readers. He has indeed taken a complex topic and made it very understandable. His presentation is also more than simply an academic treatise on the passions for he weaves in throughout a pastoral understanding of how to use this knowledge in the process of spiritual growth. In reading this book I was inspired by the clear and yet deep picture of the passions, how they affect our lives and how we can conquer them in our own lives.

I would recommend this book as an important part of the library of any Orthodox Christian, and particularly as a resource for pastors as they strive to shepherd their flock into the safe fold of the Kingdom of God.

— Archpriest David Moser,
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church (ROCOR)

Order a signed copy of DEFEATING SIN through PayPal in the side margin (at left) or — unsigned, multiple copies — through the publisher at Regina Orthodox Press.

IVANOVO, Russia (BP)- Southern Baptist missionary Mel Skinner keeps an empty whiskey bottle somewhere in his family’s apartment in central Russia.

In the fall of 1999, local women at a restaurant gave whiskey and chocolate to Skinner and his family as a gift to welcome them to Ivanovo. At the time, the Skinners had just moved from Moscow, where they had been church planters for several years. Though he later dumped out the whiskey, he still tears up at the memory of the gift.

“They came up to the table and said, ‘Excuse me for interrupting your meal,'” he recounts. “‘We just wanted to say thank you for coming to our café. We noticed that our day was better after you’ve been into our café than it was before you came in.’ God used all that to just confirm to us this is the place He wanted us to be.”

Reception to the Gospel in the cities can be as frigid as a typical Russian day in January. But in the middle of a welcomed Russian summer — with temperatures usually in the 70s to low 80s and the sun shining until after 10 p.m. — Skinner brushes off any thoughts about the harsh winters or the struggles to spread the Gospel.

“Somebody once talked about the number of times somebody needs to hear the Gospel to be saved, to make that rational decision to trust your life to Christ,” Skinner says. “I don’t know what that number is, but most of these people have never had any kind of Gospel access.”

Many cling to the Russian Orthodox Church, which Skinner and local believers contend is more about tradition and obligation than true faith.

“Russia is an Orthodox country, but ask them what it means to be Orthodox, and they don’t have an answer,” says a local believer who accepted Christ after developing a friendship with Skinner.

“Why go to the church and light a candle when no one can tell you why they light a candle?” he asks. “They light a candle, go get drunk and don’t remember lighting the candle.”

Rumors about Baptists — and any other group besides Russian Orthodox — often circulate in Russia. Baptists are seen as a cult, Skinner says. Some believe Baptists kill and eat their young.

Read it all here.

I‘ve poked around a bit and, other than those things mentioned below (fear of money, TV, and bar codes), I’ve yet to discover what these folks believe. Sure, we’ve heard they’re all holed up and waiting on Doomsday in May, but why? Are there any news stories that inform us as to how they came up with this forecast?

No, I don’t wish to join … I just get a little weirded out anytime a Government starts calling a religious group a bunch of kooks. And get a load of that pic that accompanies the story (below). Why, gee … isn’t that the image that some outsiders have of Orthodoxy any way? Why on earth would they use that graphic?

I know, I know. It’s All. About. The Children. But you can’t tell me that there’s not other children living in equal squalor (and oddness) somewhere in the USSWere. Something just seems a bit left of kilter here.

Members of the so-called ‘True Russian Orthodox Church’ have shut themselves in Russia’s Penza region for about two weeks now.

Others are now living in a house in nearby Nikolskoye, built by cult leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov

“Pyotr Kuznetsov is a very wise man. He interprets the Bible so well that we believe he’s a prophet,” Nikolay Ponedelnik, a cult member says.

The cult members have rather unusual beliefs: they don’t like to handle money, they refuse to watch television, and they say bar codes and tax codes are a sign of the anti-Christ.

Still, the line between traditional religion and cult organisations is thin. Many define it by the affects had on the people within the organisation rather than by details of belief or conduct.

The whole article.

The movie version of The Golden Compass, the first volume of Philip Pullman’s controversial trilogy entitled “His Dark Materials,” is slated to open nationwide on December 7th. Though the book’s anti-Christian element has been watered down in the movie so as not to offend U.S. audiences, the real danger of the movie is that it may encourage parents to buy and children to read the trilogy which critics say overtly denigrates Christianity and promotes atheism. Even CNN Headline News, a medium not generally recognized as a champion of conservatism, issued a warning about The Golden Compass. This past Friday Mike Galanos, the CNN Prime News correspondent who explores matters of faith, morals and values, said at the end of a review, “Buyer beware, especially if you want to nurture your kids’ faith.”

Here’s an insightful review entitled What Every Parent Should Know About the Golden Compass.

Taken from the Clergy Brotherhood email of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America.

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