Orthodixie

Praised are you O Christ our Teacher, for you enrich with absolutely everything those who cleave to you. Lord, if someone gives his possessions to the state, then he receives in return great honour; how much more will you, Lord, magnify and praise that person who offers his whole self to you, possessing nothing besides you!

Make our souls grow by your grace, Lord, so that we may grow in you and give praise to you, for no one can grow except in you, and no one
can excel except in you.

Praise to you, without whom everything is empty; praise to you, for apart from the praise of you, all praise is but idle. Praise to you, the One who magnifies, but it is you who are thereby praised, for you are the object of praise of everything. Praise to you, Perfecter of everything, O Christ. By your divine teaching you gave wisdom to all who are instructed by you to deprive themselves of everything that belongs to this world — then they shall be attached to you. Otherwise, as they traveled after you while still cleaving to the world, they might be drawn back by the world into it. Praise to you who bade us release ourselves and then cleave to you, seeing that, when we are not bound up with anything, nothing will separate us from you.

— John of Apamea, in, “The Syriac Fathers On Prayer And The Spiritual Life,” translated from the original Syriac-Aramaic by Sebastian Brock, Cistercian Publications.

Taken from a Yahoo group on Christian Mysticism.

TO BE READ FROM THE PULPIT AND PUBLISHED IN THE PARISH BULLETIN
July 25, 2006

Brother Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, Esteemed Members of the Archdiocese Board of Trustees, Parish Councils and God-fearing Faithful of our Archdiocese:

Greetings in the name of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I write to you while the bombs are falling on Lebanon. As you have been hearing in the media (i.e. television, newspapers and the internet), Lebanon is being systematically destroyed, both the infrastructure and, more importantly, the people. Everyone agrees that the result is a humanitarian disaster for the people of Lebanon.

As of today, there are close to 400 Lebanese men, women and children who have been killed. The number of displaced Lebanese is approaching one million! We see in the news men, women and children being killed, maimed and burned by phosphate bombs. At the same time, Red Cross ambulances carrying the sick and wounded are being targeted; airports, communications systems, bridges and roads have been destroyed and entire neighborhoods have been leveled. To put things in real and human terms, we were recently informed of one of our faithful from the Archdiocese of Zahle who was driving with his two children. An Israeli bomb hit their car, seriously injuring the father and one child and killing the other, a 15 year old boy. Just yesterday, a family of eight was killed in their home by an Israeli bomb. These are but two stories from among thousands.

My beloved faithful, Lebanon is part of our Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East. So many of the people of our Archdiocese have their spiritual and cultural roots in Lebanon and especially in Beirut and South Lebanon (such as Jdeidet Marj’ayoun) where the majority of the destruction is taking place. Yesterday, I spoke with Metropolitan ELIAS of Beirut and he told me of the deplorable and dire conditions in his archdiocese and the Archdiocese of Tyre and Sidon (South Lebanon). He asked for our fervent prayers and help for Lebanon. I assured him of our unceasing prayers and that we will do our part to help. Therefore, I appeal to you to give generously to help the suffering people of Lebanon.

Finally, as we prepare to begin the Dormition Fast on August 1, let us beseech the most-holy Theotokos to intercede for the suffering people of Lebanon.

Your Father in Christ,

+Metropolitan PHILIP
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North America

Please make your checks payable to your local parish, marking them Lebanon Relief.
_________________________________

358 Mountain Road, P.O. Box 5238, Englewood, NJ 07631-5238
Telephone (201) 871-1355 * Fax (201) 871-7954
Website: http://www.antiochian.org * Email: archdiocese@antiochian.org
_________________________________

Other letters and concerns may be read H E R E.

* * I am posting this FYI; no comments will be posted concerning this post. * *

AN ANCIENT prayer book found in a bog has been hailed as one of Ireland’s most significant discoveries in decades, and perhaps centuries.

“This Irish equivalent to the Dead Sea Scrolls is being hailed by … experts as the greatest find ever from a European bog,” it said.

Source.

HT: Fr Josiah Trenham

Initial impressions placed the composition date of the manuscript at about AD800, a time of Viking raids in Ireland.

Someone over at Free Republic chimed:

“It’s mine. Amazon said they lost the order and credited my account. Now I gotta wait for the paperback.”

That’s my boss, Fr John Salem, in the middle (Fathers Michael Pavez & Thomas Zain flanking).

The Antiochian Archdiocese held its biannual Clergy Symposium last week at Antiochian Village. Yours truly was excused due to 1) travel conflicts, and 2) I’m the assistant!

Rumour has it that the War in the Middle East weighed heavily on the souls at the gathering. (A resolution concerning the war follows.)

Not only that, but the war seems to have affected the thoughts, words, and emotions of us all. This is as it should be. God forbid that such a war were happening and no one cared.

But, much like election time, passions are roused and folks start emoting more than thinking. Friends go at friends, civil discourse becomes difficult … and the war rages on.

I’ve got an old friend in Syria, parishioners in Lebanon and Ramallah. They’re all Orthodox Christians. I wonder what they think of the war.

I don’t watch TV, but have they been interviewing Christians in that area (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine) and soliciting their thoughts?

While on vacation, when the war first started, I only heard voices of Jews and Muslims — and commentators that said a lot of ignorant things.

Appeal for Intervention in the Middle East

On July 20, 2006 the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America appeals to President Bush for intervention in the Crisis in Lebanon and the Middle East.

RESOLUTION

The Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP Saliba, and his diocesan bishops: His Grace Bishop ANTOUN of Miami and the Southeast, His Grace Bishop JOSEPH of Los Angeles and the West, His Grace Bishop BASIL of Wichita and Mid-America, His Grace Bishop THOMAS of Oakland and the East, His Grace Bishop MARK of Toledo and the Mid-West, His Grace Bishop ALEXANDER of Ottawa, Eastern Canada, and Upstate New York, along with the priests and deacons of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, who serve some one million faithful, and who are gathered at the Antiochian Village during their 14th Clergy Symposium make the following resolution:

Whereas for the past 60 years the Middle East region has been one of the most explosive areas in the world, and

Whereas all efforts in the past failed to bring a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and

Whereas the recent hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have brought much bloodshed, death, and destruction to both Lebanon and Israel, and

Whereas the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Fouad Siniora stated recently that over 300 Lebanese have been killed and 500,000 people have become refugees in their own country, and

Whereas much destruction and devastation has occurred to the Lebanese airport, seaports, roads, bridges, and the entire infrastructure of Lebanon that we appeal to the President of the United States of America, Mr. George W. Bush, to use his good office

1) To bring immediate cessation of hostilities on both sides.

2) To help in the exchanging of prisoners of all warring parties in the region.

3) And that her Excellency, the Secretary of State, Dr. Rice, be dispatched to the region to utilize her diplomatic skills to bring about a just and lasting peace for the entire Middle East.

Source.

It was bound to happen,

One day it did …

Orthodox Rap

HT: Greek Pilgrim

And, no, I can’t offer any Mormon Rap.

(That’s just an unrelated pic of Weird Al Yankovic.)

But, this cartoon sure gives Mormons a bad one …

Rap, that is.

What Mormons Believe (Caveat Lector)

Thanks to Keith & Jean-Michel.