Tuesday, February 14, 2012

TIM TEBOW IS A FAN OF PETROLOGY

THE BEST FOR THE REST OF US


Tim Tebow doesnt break wind…….thats the air crapping all over itself trying to get out of Tebow’s way..

Killing Tim Tebow doesn’t make him dead. It just makes him angry.

Tim Tebow doesn’t do pushups, he pushes the earth down.

Tim Tebow’s tears cure cancer, to bad he’s never cried.

If Tim Tebow was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he’d shoot Nina twice.

If you wake up in the morning, it’s because Tim Tebow spared your life.
Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas.

If it tastes like chicken, looks like chicken, and feels like chicken, but Tim Tebow says its beef. Then you better believe it’s beef.

When Tebow reads this blog, he bows down to the computer.

As Superman has a weakness, Tim Tebow has a weakness: PESTROGEN

THE GREATEST BUILDING OF ALL TIME AND SHOULD BE GREEK

BASKETBALL POETRY FOR BASKETBALL LOVERS

Basketball for Global Peace
We are basketball players
We are team players

We team with coaches and trainers
To learn about the humanity of the game:
To develop skills, respect players, and enjoy the game

We team with families and friends
To nurture and nourish
The love and passion for the game

We team with nutritionists
To enjoy food with fruits and vegetables

We team with physiotherapists
To learn the art of
Stretching and preventive fitness

We team with sleep
To rest and prepare for training at sunrise

We team with water
For dip of one minute hot,
two minutes cold
To recover and restore muscular flexibility

We team with Mother Earth
To enjoy the beauty of trees 
in the court and in the basketball

We team with coaches and trainers
To welcome family and friends of both teams
To enjoy the game in the spirit of a healthy lifestyle

We team with referees
To validate global justice in the game

We team with coaches and trainers
to shake hands with the opposite team
To reflect the non-violent spirit of the game

We team with each other
To score points
And defend the hoop (basket)

We team with coaches and trainers
to shake hands with the opposite team
To deflate emotions of victory and loss of the game

We are basketball players
We are team players


Basketball Sunflowers
At the beginning of the game
Coaches and Players
Compassionately hold hands
To create a beautiful sunflower
For hope to win the game

At the beginning of the game
Coaches and Players
Shake hands with the opposite team
To reflect the non-violent spirit of the game

At the beginning of the game
Coaches and Players
Welcome family and friends of both teams
To enjoy the game in the spirit of a healthy lifestyle

During the game
Coach Hope and her assistants
Patiently watch their players as they
Score points or miss points in the game

During the game time-out
Coach Hope and her assistants
Support their players
And review tactics to improve the game

During the game
Coach Hope and her assistants
Substitute players on the court
To give all players a chance to play

At the end of the game
Coaches and Players
Shake hands with the opposite team
To deflate emotions of victory and loss of the game
Remember, basketball is a game of healthy lifestyle

At the end of the game
Coaches and Players
Compassionately hold hands
To create a beautiful sunflower
For hope to win the next game

SHOULD BE ASHAMED KILLING YOUR BABIES


“From my mother’s womb, Thou art my God.”
                                                                                                                                             (Psalm 21[22]:9)

Part III - To the Physicians, and their many accomplices, who are paid to kill the pre-born babies.
          This was the most difficult section for me to put into words.  Being – in my core beliefs – a naive idealist, I cannot understand how physicians can become hired killers of innocent babies --- and for profit!  Furthermore, because there are so many types of accomplices to this infanticide, it was necessary for me to place them into a number of groups.  May God have mercy on each one of them, and lead them all to blessed repentance!
          To the abortionists: It truly grieves my soul that a number of men and women, who have received the grace from God to become healers of the body, have chosen instead to become hired killers --- hit-men, who receive money for murdering innocent pre-born – and, occasionally, new-born – children.  You have no excuse.  You know that human life begins at conception, and yet you kill these babies at an average of 4,000 per day.  What has happened to you?  How can you sleep at night? Is your conscience so dead that the sight of the child you have just dismembered does not cause you any pain, any sorrow?  You have lost the right to be called a physician.  You are an abortionist.
          Nevertheless, our All-Compassionate God – Who gave you the knowledge to become a healer, Who took upon our flesh and died on the Cross for you – is ready to forgive you! However, you must first stop performing these murders immediately; and acknowledge your grievous sin.  I pray that you will be blessed with tears of repentance, so that you can seek forgiveness from our All-Merciful Lord Jesus; and dedicate the remaining time of your temporal life to being a physician that brings healing to others, instead of an abortionist that brings death.
          In addition, I suggest that you estimate how much of your earnings have come from performing abortions; so that every month – until you die – you can give a substantial portion of this blood money to support unwed mothers and other worthy pro-life causes.  Furthermore, I entreat you to speak out against abortion; as your voice will have much influence.  Beseech our Lord Jesus to allow you to become His instrument – until your last breath – to convince other doctors to stop participating in this satanic infanticide.
          To the Orthodox Christian physicians-turned-abortionists: I grieve for you the most.  At this moment, you are headed towards eternal damnation!  Please stop murdering babies, immediately; and run to your priest to confess these terrible sins against God.  From the first time you aborted a pre-born child, you excommunicated yourself from your Church.  Therefore, do not receive Holy Communion; until you have gone to confession, and have fulfilled the partaking of the medication (penance) that you will given --- to bring healing to your very sick and wounded soul.
          Do not wait another moment, for no one knows when he will be departing this temporary life.  And if you die before you have repented of this grave sin, where will you spend eternity?  Please hear my sincere plea, in behalf of the salvation of your soul, and come back to Christ and His Church.  If I can be of help in any way, please contact me.
          To the nurses and pharmacists, who facilitate these murders: Although you did not perform the abortions, you share in the sin; as you are definitely active participants in them.  Therefore, much of what I said to the abortionists, also applies to you.
          Nurses, I pain for you.  How can you pass those instruments of death to the abortionist, without experiencing great sorrow within you?  How can you, for example, piece together all of the parts of a child – slaughtered during a D & E abortion – without realizing what had happened moments earlier?  I pray that you will allow God to fill your heart with repentant tears; so that they will wash away the wall, which your indifference to human life has allowed the evil one to place therein.
          Pharmacists, who – for example – fill prescriptions for the RU 486 pill, which induces an abortion, cannot escape direct culpability to the abortion.  At the present time, you still have a right to refuse to dispense such medication, on the basis of your conscience, without losing your position.  However, if – someday – there is a law that forces you to dispense abortion medications, or be fired, would you rather: do it, and keep your temporal job, or refuse, and keep eternal your soul?
          To the psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and clergy, who advise women to go through with their abortions (or convince them that they have a “right to choose”): The innocent blood of those babies is also on your hands.  As is the case with the doctors, nurses and pharmacists, you are aware that every abortion stops the beating heart of a tiny human being.  You know, for example, that the “product” of the abortion of a 16 weeks gestation fetus is a dead baby girl or boy. May you find blessed repentance, and seek God’s forgiveness --- while there is still time to do so.  After you take your final breath in this life, you will no longer have that opportunity.
          I feel that I must give special attention to all those that consider themselves to be Christian clergy, but believe that abortion is a woman’s right/decision.  What god do you profess to worship?  I assure you, that it is not the Jesus Christ, Who shed His precious Blood on the Cross for you.  Rebuke your false gods and repent, while there is still life in your body.
          Forgive me, but I am compelled to reach out more specifically to any Orthodox priest, who has counseled any of his sheep to have an abortion.  What has happened to you, my dear brothers in Christ Jesus?  How can you stand before the Holy altar Table: knowing that you have innocent blood on your hands --- knowing that you may have also caused the death of the souls of the mothers, whom you counseled to abort their children?  And if you simply told the women something like, ‘It is your decision to make’, you are still culpable for your neglect of the Truth.  When you call down the Holy Spirit down upon yourself, and then upon the Holy Gifts, what judgment are you calling down upon your suffering and wounded soul?  I beg you to immediately go to your Bishop, and confess this grave sin.  Please also contact the women, whom you mislead, beg their forgiveness, and do whatever you can to help bring healing to their souls.
          To the fathers of the aborted children:  You are just as responsible as your wife/girlfriend for the murder of your pre-born child, unless you did all that you could to stop her from having the abortion.  In my opinion, those fathers who threatened to leave their girlfriends – unless they had an abortion – are even more accountable than their respective companions.  A true father would never abandon his offspring --- from conception onwards.  Pray that our Lord Jesus will help you to feel the pain within your soul --- caused by the deep wound that you placed therein, when you agreed to the death of your child.  Then you will be given those blessed tears of repentance, and you will run to Him for forgiveness.
          If you have no one to assist you in your ‘return’ to your Saviour and Lord, please contact this unworthy priest.  I pray that you will soon earn the right to be called a father again --- by having other children, and by convincing at least one other man not to allow his pre-born child to be sacrificed upon the satanic altar of pride, privacy and convenience.
          To the grandparents, siblings and/or friends, who: either assisted in the abortion, through their words or actions; or chose “not to get involved:  You are – most assuredly – a participant in these murders, and will have to answer to God on that fearful Day.  Beg our Saviour to fill – both your eyes and your heart – with tears if repentance.  In addition to confession, you need to go to the child’s mother and beg her forgiveness for not trying to stop her from committing this terrible sin.
          To the politicians, lawyers and judges, whose actions support and/or uphold the legalization of this “slaughter of the innocents”:  In my opinion, you are as guilty as the abortionists that perform these murders.  You are the ones that have placed the murder weapons in the hands of the abortionists; and have protected their indiscriminant use of them!  You are the ones that created – and perpetuated – the multi-BILLION dollar industry, whose products are the slaughtered 50 million little babies!  You are the ones that have aided in the deaths of millions of adult souls – including your own – by your diabolical actions!
          Somewhere within your severely wounded soul, I must believe that there is a divine “still small voice” --- calling you to immediately change your demonic attitude, repent, and begin protecting the right to life of EVERY child in the womb.  O how I pray that you will soon “hear” this inner call of your Creator!  If you choose to ignore it, then you shall learn – when your soul separates from your body – that the blood of millions of innocent babies is upon your soul.  However, it will then be too late to repent.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
In the 4th – and final – article, we will provide many suggestions as to how each one of us can do our part to bring and end to this infanticide --- before it is too late!
- Forwarded message ---------- From: Fr. Demetrios Carellas Date: Sun, Aug 2, 2009 at 6:26 PM Subject: "From my mother's womb, Thou art my God - Part III"

The Miracle "þÕÄÏ (2009)" Is not suitable for children!!

As I am watching the movie, the content in the beginning is too strong…

The film is based on the true events that allegedly in 1956 in Kuibyshev. It is the story about a miracle of St Nicholas on December 31, 1955.
Directed by Alexander Proshkin ,in Russian and to my knowledge there are no English subtitles. There is a little partial nudity at the beginning while Zoe prepares to attend a New Year ’s Eve party.
A young girl (Zoe) attends a New Year’s evening party. She is friends with Nicholas, a boy. When the dancing began, Nicholas delayed in asking Zoe to dance.
She said, “If not my Nicholas (the boy), I will dance with Nicholas(meaning the saint)!" Friends were horrified: "Zoe, it's a sin," but she said: "If there is a God, let him punish me! She took the icon of St Nicholas from the wall, pressed it to his chest, entered into the circle of dancers, and suddenly froze, as if glued to the floor. It was not possible to move her or remove the icon from her hands. Quickly the news of this event spread through the city. The police feared to approach the immobilized Zoe, doctors could not help. Her heart was barely audible but had no other signs of life. When the doctors tried to give Zoe an injection, the needle broke and could not penetrate through the skin. The priests came but could not help Zoe. But when Hieromonk Seraphim came, he was able to pull the icon out of the Zoe’s hands and told her that her standing would end on Easter Day. And so it happened, Zoe stood 128 days.
Read more about the story below the video link.
The saints are very real.



Translation of movie

A Strange Miracle of Saint Nicholas in 1956
A true incident which shocked and brought repentance to hundreds of people in the Russian Soviet city of Kuibyshev (modern day Samara), in the year 1956.

In the city of Kuibyshev there lived a family: a pious mother and her daughter Zoë. On the evening of New Years Eve (December 31) of 1956 Zoë invited seven of her girlfriends - and just as many young men - over for dinner and dancing. At that time it was the fast for Christmas* and Zoë’s mother begged her not to plan a dinner, but the daughter insisted on having things her way. That same evening her mother went to church to pray.

All those invited came over, except for Zoë’s fiancé who hadn’t arrived yet. His name was Nicholas. The young ladies and the boys got in pairs and Zoë was left alone. Not knowing what to do and without really thinking, she took down the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the wall and said, “I’ll take this Nicholas and I’ll go dance with them,” not paying any attention to her friends, who advised her not to commit such a blasphemous act. “If God exists, let Him punish me,” she said. And so she started to dance, did two or three twirls, when all of sudden there was a fearful noise in the room, a whirlwind, and a blinding light flashed like lightening.

The former joy turned into fright. Everyone fled from the room scared. Only Zoë stood there motionless, with the icon of St. Nicholas stuck to her chest, petrified and frozen like marble. The doctors, who arrived quickly, were not able to bring her to her senses in spite of their attempts. The injection needles, which they tried to stick in her, bent and broke as they hit her marbleized body! They wanted to take her to the hospital, but were unable to move her from her spot. It was as if her feet were nailed to the floor. But her heart was beating! Zoë was alive. However, she was no longer able to eat or drink…

When her mother came back and saw what had happened, she fell unconscious and they took her to the hospital, which she didn’t leave from for a few days. Her faith in the compassion of God and her warm motherly prayers for the forgiveness of her unfortunate daughter, by the Grace of God, restored her vitality.

Zoë came to consciousness and with tears she sought forgiveness and help.

Zoë’s house was surrounded by a crowd of people for the first few days, faithful who came or, even yet, walked from afar: the curious, doctors, and spiritual personalities. But according to an order from the authorities, the house was quickly closed to visitors. There were always two policemen guarding the house, in alternating eight-hour shifts. Some of the guards’ hair turned white, even though they were still young (28-30), from the fright of hearing the terrifying cries that Zoë made every night.

Night after night her mother was next to her praying.

“Mama, pray! Pray, because I’m lost on account of my sins! Pray!” Zoë would cry out.

Because of all the things that were happening they even informed the Patriarch and asked him to pray for Zoë’s recovery. The Patriarch replied, “The one who is punishing her will also have mercy on her!”

From then on, among those who were allowed to visit Zoë were:

1. A professor of medicine of high prestige who came from Moscow. He had confirmed that her heart did not stop beating.

2. Priests, who the mother had invited in order to take St. Nicholas out of Zoë’s hands. But neither were they able to pull the icon away from Zoë’s petrified hands.

3. The Hieromonk Seraphim from the Glinsk desert, who had come to Kuibyshev for the feast of the Nativity, performed the Holy Water service and had blessed the icon. Afterwards he said, “Now we must wait for some sign at Pascha! If nothing happens, it means that the end of the world is drawing near!” showing by these words his deep faith in miracles.

4. The Metropolitan Nicholas, who also read the Paraklesis and said, “We must wait till Pascha for a new miracle,” repeating the saying of the pious hieromonk.

On the eve of the feast of the Annunciation (which that year fell on the Saturday of the third week of Great Lent) some genial elder approached the guards and asked them to allow him to see Zoë. But the police guards refused to allow it. The elder came again the following day, but neither did those guards allow him. The third time, on the day of the Annunciation, the guards allowed him in. They heard with how much compassion he spoke to Zoë as he entered, “Now then, did you get tired from standing?”

A little time passed and when the guards wanted to kick the elder out, he wasn’t to be found in the room…

Everyone was sure that it was Saint Nicholas himself. Thus, Zoë had stayed there standing for exactly 4 months (128 days) until Pascha, which that year had fallen on April 23 (May 6 on the New Calendar).

On the night of the Glorious Resurrection of Christ Zoë started to cry out especially loud: “Pray!”

The nightshift guards started to tremble and asked, “Why are you crying out so frightfully?” Pay attention to her answer. “How dreadful, the earth is burning! Pray! The whole world is lost because of its sins, pray!” From that moment Zoë was revived, her muscles started to become soft; she came back to life. They eventually put her on a mattress but she continued to cry out and call all to pray for the world which is lost because of its sins, for the earth which is burning because of its lawlessness.

“How did you stay living up till now? Who fed you?” they asked her. “Doves, doves fed me” was her answer. From this it was apparent that she had received mercy and forgiveness from the Right hand of the Lord Almighty. The Lord forgave Zoë’s sins, by the attendance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and because of her great tribulations and her standing for the duration of 128 days.

All of these events shocked the inhabitants of Kuibyshev and the surrounding areas. Many people again found their faith in God, having seen the miracles, hearing her screams and her entreaties for us to pray for the people who are lost on account of their sins. They returned to the Church with repentance. Those who didn’t wear a cross started to wear one, when at that time you might have paid with your life just for that. The return was so en masse that the churches didn’t have enough little crosses for everyone who sought one.

With fear and tears the people sought forgiveness for their sins, repeating Zoë’s words, “How dreadful, the earth is burning, we are lost because of our sins! Pray! The people are lost because of their lawlessness!”

On the third day of Pascha Zoë left for the Lord, since she had traveled the difficult road of standing for 128 days before the face of the Lord for the forgiveness of all of her sins. The Holy Spirit had preserved her life all of these days for the resurrection of her soul from the death of sin, just as in that eternal day to come it will resurrect her bodily for life everlasting; for that matter, just as her name itself means: Zoë.

Note (from the Russian original): In the Soviet press of that time period Zoë’s incident was brought up. Answering the letters that came to the management of a well-known newspaper, one haughty scientist claimed that the occurrence with Zoë is really not that incredible, but he declared that it is one form of muscular rigidity still unknown to science. This falsehood of such a hypothesis is apparent, seeing that: First, with rigidity such a petrified hardness of the skin does not occur, so much so that the doctors are not able to inject the sick. Second, a person infected by such a sickness can be moved from one place to another, while they were not able to move Zoë; she was standing up straight definitely much longer than average people can. Third, a sickness by itself does not return a person to God and does not bring revelations from Heaven. While in Zoë’s case, not only thousands found their faith again in God, but they showed their faith in deed, that is, they were baptized and lived morally. Not only did they believe that God exists, but they became Christians. From this it is clear that we are not talking about some simple illness, but about divine economy. He [God] truly makes fast the faith, to deliver people from their sins and from punishment because of them.

* In Russia the feasts follow the Old Calendar. The Christmas fast lasts from November 28 until January 6 of the following year.


On Penances and their Use

Some of us argue on which penances are appropriate and correct and how come different people get different penances for a similar offence.  There are many proffessional doctors for different health concerns and people react differently to each situation.  The Catholic Church gives the same penances for the same offence.  How is it possible?  As physical specimens of the True God, we all have different needs and react differently to spiritual medicine.  Here are some of the different examples:

Elder Paisios the Athonite


—Geronda, does the precise observance of the commandments help us feel God near us?
—Which commandments? Those of the Mosaic Law?
—No, those of the Gospel.
—The observance of the commandments does help, but it must be a correct and proper observance, for it is actually possible to observe the commandments wrongly. Spiritual life requires divine righteousness, not a dry observance of the law. We see the discernment with which the Holy Fathers guided people even in the application of the Sacred Canons! Saint Basil the Great, the strictest Father of the Church who has written the most demanding canons, refers to a canon that applies to a particular sin, but then he himself adds, Do not examine the time but the manner of repentance. [2] In other words, if two people commit the same sin, the Spiritual Father may impose on one man the penance not to receive Holy Communion for two years, while on the other he may impose only two months. There can be that much of a difference!
—Does penance help one to cast out a passion?
—One must understand that penance is meant to help someone. Otherwise, what can one say? If you attempt to correct someone by physical punishment, you will accomplish nothing. If you try to correct someone by force, Christ will turn to you on Judgment Day and say, “Were you a Diocletian?” To the punished one He will say, “What you achieved, you did so because you were forced to.” We don’t strangle someone in order to ensure Paradise for him; we try to help him seek some fruitful ascetic discipline for himself. He must come to the point of being joyful because he is living, and joyful because he is dying.
Penances are left up to the discernment of the Spiritual Father. The Spiritual Father must be uncompromisingly strict with him who sins callously. The one who is overcome by sin but who repents, becomes humble, and modestly asks for forgiveness, will be helped with discernment by his Spiritual Father to approach God again. This is what many of the Saints did. Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian as a Spiritual Father did not usually give the people penances. He tried to bring them to an awareness so that they themselves, out of philotimo, would choose to do some ascetic discipline or act of charity or other goodness. Whenever he observed a little child who was possessed or paralyzed and understood that the parents were the cause for the child’s suffering, he would first heal the child and then impose a discipline on the parents to make them careful in the future.
Some people say, “Oh, this particular Spiritual Father is very patristic. He is very strict! He is smart, has a good memory, and knows the Pedalion [3] by heart.” A Spiritual Father who applies precisely the rules contained in the Pedalion, however, may harm the Church. Does it do any good when the Spiritual Father takes the Pedalion and begins: “What sin have you committed? This one. What is written here about it? This many years abstention from Holy Communion for you! And what have you done? This. What is written here? This rule applies here!”
—So, Geronda, one must take into account dozens of things.
—Yes, especially in today’s society, one cannot just go and apply the entire canonical tradition of the Church with blind, indiscreet austerity; he should cultivate a sense of philotimo in people. In order to be able to help other souls, the Spiritual Father must first do considerable work on himself; otherwise, he will go around breaking heads.
The Pedalion is called the Rudder because it guides man toward salvation, sometimes in one way and other times in another way, as the captain of the ship turns the rudder to the left or to the right in order to bring the ship to shore. If he were to navigate the ship in a straight line without turning when needed, he would bring it upon the rocks, sink it and everyone on board would drown. If the Spiritual Father uses the Canons of the Church as if they were... loose military cannons—and not with discernment, in accordance with each person’s needs and the repentance demonstrated—then instead of healing souls, he’ll be committing a crime.
Endnotes
2. See Saint Basil the Great, Letter 217, par. 84, PG 32, 808B: “For we do not always judge such things by means of time, but observe rather the manner of the repentance.” (By “time” Saint Basil means the imposed duration of penance.)
3. A collection of the Canons of the Orthodox Church, containing the Sacred Canons of the Oecumenical Councils, the Apostolic Canons, as well as the Canons of the Holy Fathers of the Church, with a brief interpretation. It was compiled in 1793 by Agapios the Priestmonk and Saint Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain.
From Spiritual Struggle, by Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian, 2010), pp. 307-309.
+ + +

Elder Porphyrios of Athens

To begin with, when I first started to hear confessions, I used to really “scald” those who came to make confession. I used to have at my side Saint Nikodemos’s Confessor’s Guide (Exomologitarion) when someone would come for confession. If he confessed a serious sin then I would look up the book and would see that it wrote: “Not to receive Holy Communion for eighteen years.” I didn’t know; I was inexperienced. And so I imposed the corresponding penance. Whatever the book said was law. But then the people would come back the following year—they would come from various places, from various villages, from far and near—and when I asked them, “How long is it since you made confession?’ they would answer, “I confessed to you this time last year.” Then I would ask, “And what did I tell you?” They would reply, “You told me to do a hundred prostrations every night.”
“And did you do them?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Well, you told me that I couldn’t receive Communion for eighteen years so I thought to myself, Since I’m damned anyway, I might as well forget about the whole thing.”
You understand? Then another person would come and say the same thing. So I thought, “What do I do now?” It was then I began to become a little wiser. The confessor has the power to bind and to loose. I remembered one of Saint Basil’s Rules, and I took that as my basic guideline and changed my tactics in confession. The Rule says: “He who receives the power to bind and to loose, when he sees the great remorse of one of the sinners, let him reduce the time of the penance. Don’t let him judge the penances in terms of time, but in terms of disposition.”
And so I started to encourage the people to read the poetic canons written in honor of the saints, to read short prayers, to make prostrations and to read Holy Scripture. And in that way they began to pay attention to the things of our religion. Their hearts were softened and without any external prompting they desired to observe the fasts, to enter the spiritual arena and to come to know Christ. And one thing I have understood is that when someone comes to know Christ and love Him and is loved by Christ, everything thereafter proceeds well in holiness and joy and everything is easy.
From Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios, pp. 43-44. Edited from an archive of notes and recordings by the Sisters of the Holy Convent of Chrysopigi. Translated by John Raffan (2005, Denise Harvey (publisher), Limni, Evia, Greece).

Monday, February 13, 2012

"Evolution NO!" "God Created the Universe YES!" Fr. George Passias tells it like it is!

Orthodox Theology Follows the Scientific Method

By Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos (Vlachos)
From his book “The Person in the Orthodox Tradition,” pages 35 to 36

"[T]heology, as Fr. John Romanides says, resembles the positive sciences, physics and mathematics. In physics we have experiment and theory. In mathematics we have action and the confirmation of action. The same is true in Orthodox Theology. Every modern science has observation and experiment. In Orthodox Theology there is experiment [The Sacramental and Ascetical Life as prescribed by one’s Spiritual Father Confessor]. We accept the experience of the saints and we struggle to make a personal experiment in our life, to apply and confirm that experience. And if we use the appropriate method and appropriate path, and of course if God sends His grace, then we too can be led to the vision of God and to acquire a personal knowledge of God. In the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor experiment is called ‘praxis’ [πράξης] and the vision of God is called ‘theoria’ [θεωρία]. And this Saint claims that ‘praxis’ and ‘theoria’ coexist. Therefore he writes epigrammatically: “Praxis is theoria made manifest in terms of action, and theoria is divinely initiated praxis”13. Thus Orthodox Theology is not at all connected with metaphysics, but with medicine and the natural sciences. We must disconnect Orthodox Theology from Western Theology, which has influenced us in an unfortunate way. Western Theology, which has identified itself with metaphysics, has brought innumerable evils upon the western world. This is not the time to go into that.

So the Orthodox Theologian is a modern man, because he deals with the so-called existential problems which are on people’s minds, but chiefly because he used the most modern method, that of observation and action in order to attain the knowledge of God. And when he reaches and attains the knowledge of God, then he [or she] feels and inner fullness and he [or she] experiences God as love and as lover who moves and is moved.




13 PG 90, 1344 and Philokalia ET vol. 2, p 257, 89


Saturday, February 11, 2012

Pulp Vs. No-Pulp


Where is THE pulp?!

The debate continues. Please vote on poll below. 


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Beautiful Russian Chant





For all the Russians who are viewing our blog, a beautiful chant from the Valaam Monastery.



Be Aware

"The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.

In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for “contraceptive services” including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care.  We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment."

http://assemblyofbishops.org/news/releases/protest-against-hhs

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Prosforo (Offering)

A nice video about making Prosforo (Translation: Offering) which is the bread used in the Eastern Orthodox Liturgies. Unfortunately video is only in Greek.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Five Keys To The Bible And Theology

A bit more serious than a lot of the usual posts, but in line with more recent ones...




The
Five Keys To The Bible And Theology

From the writings of Fr. John Romanides

What is missing in the work of such Biblical scholars and especially of those who work within and under the weight of the Franco-Latin Augustinian tradition, are the following five keys:

1. That the very core of the Biblical tradition is that religion is a specific sickness with a specific cure. This is what the claim “there is no God except Yahweh” means. Not knowing this fundamental first key one cannot know the second key:

2. That there is a clear distinction between Biblical terms which denote that which is “uncreated” and that which is “created.” Not knowing this context one cannot know the third key to Biblical terms:

3. That “it is impossible to express God and even more impossible to conceive Him.” In other words there is no similarity whatsoever “between the created and the uncreated.” Anyone who thinks that Biblical expressions convey concepts about God is sadly mistaken. When used correctly Biblical words and concepts lead one to purification and illumination of the heart which lead to glorification but are not themselves glorification. An integral and essential part of knowing these foregoing three keys is the fourth key:

4. That the cure of the sickness of religion involves at all stages “the transformation of selfish happiness-seeking love” into “the selfless love of one's own crucifixion which is glorification.” This glorification, therefore, is not only that of the Lord of Glory Incarnate, “but also that of all prophets and apostles (sent ones) before and after the Incarnation of the Lord of Glory.” These four keys become the fifth contextual key of cure.

5. That “the expressions about God in the Bible are not intended to convey concepts about God. They act only as means to guide one to the purification and illumination of the heart and finally to glorification by the Pre-Incarnate and Incarnate Lord (Yahweh) of Glory which is to see Him by means of His uncreated glory or rule” and “not by means of ephemeral created symbols and concepts about Him” as is the case in the Augustinian tradition.

In John 17, Christ prays for the cure of the glorification of His disciples and their disciples, not for divided Churches— indeed not for traditions which have not the slightest idea what the cure of glorification is.


Read more: http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.02.en.the_cure_of_the_neurobiological_sickness_of_rel.01.htm#s4