Orthodixie

Dear Father Huneycutt,

I would like to add my little story among the so many other life stories that you have received.

I am a Greek Orthodox living in Holland. In my present age, being a grand-mother, I look back and see the so many years I lived without God. I wish I could go back and make again my life, but with God in my life.

As it is known, all Greeks are baptized and are Orthodox. I lived my young age going to church, but I did not know who God was not even what was the Holy Communion and confession. I got married and I started to drift completely from my little faith I had. I started thinking like the others that life is here on this earth and that I have to live the life offered by this world as there was no life after death. I stopped going to church. To cut the long story short I started thinking to become a belly dancer. It was then that God came into my life through the messages of True Life in God and has completely changed me. I returned to the church and accepted the holy sacrements and also learned what confession is.

My conversion is taking place every day. I learn with my falls, temptations, and in these messages Jesus teaches us to hung on Him; and I do this and in this way I go on until one day we meet.

This is what Vassula is doing. Just giving us the messages that God, out of His great love for mankind gave to us. Where is the crime? Is it that the people return to the Church? All the priests and everybody else who believe in God must be very happy indeed for this. The world lives in a great apostacy, stepping on God’s Commandments. The knowledge of Good and Bad is disappearing.

Would you allow me to kindly request you to please read carefully these messages with the help of the Holy Spirit and you will feel in your heart that God is indeed talking to you as well.

Many thanks for allowing me to write to you.

May God bless you!

XXXX

(Hyperlinks and withholding of name are my own. Otherwise, I’m not responsible — FrJ+.)

Back in 2003, at the annual March for Life in DC which marked the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I saw a woman carrying a sign that read:

“24 Years Later … My Choice Hurts Me Still.”

Though there were thousands of other slogans, banners, and images, I couldn’t get this woman and her “Scarlet Letter” out of my mind. I was shocked, saddened, and unsure of what to do. Was I supposed to do anything? Thank goodness there were a few hundred people between her and me. That way, I could suffer at a distance.

When you contrast this woman’s honest message with the more strident and sickening visions of separated body parts and grim reaper costumes, you have an image of the two ends of the spectrum in this 30 year campaign. I would guess that it’s easy to dress up like death personified and shock people with your message — an act eagerly anticipated. It takes a whole lot more of something else to wear a big “A” on you chest that says: “I’m sorry. Don’t.”

It’s one thing to oppose, protest, and editorialize. It’s quite another to actually do something. As Orthodox Christians, what should we do? Practicing what we preach is hard. With the horrible practice of abortion, we must educate our children. We have a teaching responsibility about accountability, fidelity, chastity … It’s about sanctity. It’s about life.

Then there’s that woman with her sign. The sad reality is that all around us, even within us, are people scarred by abortion. Shrill rhetoric and staunch opposition without loving action is not the God-pleasing route toward healing.

It’s estimated that there were 200,000 people at that year’s March. Would that we had all parted to opposite sidewalks and, bowing our heads, let this one woman pass through our midst. Or, we could have sat at her feet and listened to her lament.

Then again, I could have simply made my way through the crowd and hugged her and thanked her for being there. In the end, as often happens, we suffer at a distance.

Three years later, that woman’s sign hurts me still.

Fr John Salem wears a St Eelers lapel pin. I grew up a Steeler fan. Fr John is THE Steeler fan. God is always good. But, I’m thankful the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl for many reasons — not least of which is it goes a long way in making a great work environment that much better. I predict, if they win, Fr John will give all of St George parishioners at least $1,000 each.

I realize the Carolina Panthers weren’t 100% yesterday. There’s one thing that has aggravated me for years about them … arm tackling. Whoever coaches them on “tackling” needs to be fired. They are the worst of the better teams. By arm tackling, I’m talking about when a player sort of does a whirl around the ball runner (sort of like an amusement ride) without knocking the heck out of him … or at least “wrapping him up” and falling to the ground. Yesterday, the Panthers played about as good as the Packers.

Go Steelers.

January 22, 2006 marks the 33rd anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court Decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the U.S. This Supreme Court decision overturned all moral and logical reasoning that most citizens of our society held and practiced. Since 1973, over 43 million lives have been aborted. Approximately 93% of the women who have had abortions cited they did so for social reasons (i.e. unready for responsibility, can’t afford the baby, concern over how baby would change her life, etc) as opposed to issues regarding the mother’s health, the baby’s health, rape or incest. These few facts are very alarming for us as Orthodox Christians who hold all life as sacred and holy.

The teens of our archdiocese are very concerned about this issue and desire to do whatever is in their ability to help bring about change that leads to godliness and holiness. The members of the North American Council (NAC) of Teen SOYO, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip, will lead our Archdiocese in observing Sunday, January 22, 2006, as the “Sacred Gift of Life Sunday: Protecting the Life of the Unborn”. Our teens, as part of the celebration of January as Orthodox Education Month, will be furthering their education, understanding and commitment regarding the Orthodox Church’s teaching on the sacred gift of life and abortion. In turn, they will help to bring a greater awareness to the faithful of our parishes and throughout their local communities.

The teens are putting together a list of readings for further study some are listed in this publication. A fuller list is being placed on the Teen SOYO website. In addition, the teens are researching the various Orthodox agencies that support alternatives to abortions. A list of these agencies and links to their websites may also be found on the Teen SOYO website. Various resources will be posted to the Teen SOYO website that will further our education and understanding.

Local Teen SOYO chapters and High School Christian Education classes are encouraged to check out our resources page for materials. Some of the materials include a case study on abortion and the sacred gift of life that was developed by Dr. H. Tristram Engelhardt, an Orthodox Christian and leading Bio-Ethicist. The teens, under the leadership of the pastors and advisors, will have the material necessary to have discussions and further their belief and commitment to the sacred gift of life.

Please join our teens as we recognized the sacred gift of life on Sunday, January 22, 2006 throughout the parishes of the Antiochian Archdiocese.

Taken from the Archdiocese webpage — where you can go for further resources.

“He that COVERETH his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov.28:13).

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is COVERED” (Ps.32:1).

The whole thing lies in a nutshell. The man who covers his sin will have them uncovered by God in the day of judgment, and condemnation must follow.

On the other hand, the man who uncovers them before God will have the happiness of knowing that God has covered them in grace.

Now the choice is very plain.

Cover up your sins and God will uncover them IN JUDGMENT.

Uncover your sins and God will cover them IN GRACE.

You ask, What does it mean by covering sin? It means the refusal of a sinner to really acknowledge his sins in the presence of God. One man covers his sins by indifference, another by a false religion, using it like a cloak. Let all such rest assured that they will not prosper, but that their sins will assuredly by uncovered by God to their everlasting shame.

You ask, What does it mean by uncovering sin? It means a true confession of it in God’s holy presence.

You ask, If I uncover my sin, what do you mean by God covering it? Surely that in virtue of the precious blood of Jesus shed on Calvary He can righteously forgive you all your sins, cover them by the shelter of that precious atoning blood. When God buried Moses it was impossible for any to discover his body, and when God covers your sins it will be impossible for them to be discovered or uncovered.

Now, like a sensible man, weigh this all over in the light of eternity, and never rest till you know for yourself the happiness of the man whose sin is covered, for you may know it.

Taken from an old book, “The Most Useful KNOWLEDGE for the Orthodox Russian-American Young People,” compiled by the Very Rev’d Peter G. Kohanik, 1932-1934.