Putin Stops Gay Parade In Moscow
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PUTIN STOPS GAY PARADE IN MOSCOW
By Brother Nathanael Kapner, Copyright 2009-2011
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PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR PUTIN WILL NOT TOLERATE that which he deems will undermine the “moral foundations” of Russian society.
For on May 16, 2009, the latest attempt to hold a Gay Pride Parade in Moscow was over before it began.
Moscow police broke up a crowd of gay activists preparing to protest, arresting at least 24 of them, including the event’s organizers, of whom, some were outside agitators from Europe. The activists had gathered in front of Moscow State University in the south-western part of the city.
As the protestors began chanting: “We want the right for same-sex marriage!” – Vladimir Putin instructed the mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, to send in riot police to make the arrests.
Putin did allow, however, an earlier rally in the center of Moscow to take place. This rally was made up of a large number of demonstrators from various Russian Orthodox Christian organizations who denounced homosexuality and lesbianism.
Moscow Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, branded gay parades as “Satanic” and vowed that they would never be permitted in the capital. The Russian Orthodox Church has also vowed to halt any attempt to hold a march in support of gay rights in Russia.
The mayor, reflecting Putin’s view on same-sex marriages, was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying: “Gay pride events destroy the moral foundations of our society.”
Luzhkov promised to continue banning Gay Parades, declaring, “We will ban the propagation of the views of sexual minorities because they are a major factor of the distribution of HIV and AIDS. Some home-brewed democrats may consider that sexual minorities can be the main indicator and symbol of democracy, but we will forbid further dissemination of this erroneous idea.”
IN KEEPING WITH THE MAYOR’S BAN, a Russian lesbian couple was denied their request to marry in Moscow on May 12, 2009. The authorities refused to issue the couple a marriage license, saying that the Russian Family Code does not allow those of the same sex to be married. View Entire Story Here, Here & Here.
At a press conference held at the Kremlin, Putin was asked to comment on the remark by the Moscow mayor that Gay Pride parades were a “satanic act.” Putin answered with a tongue & cheek response which resulted in the packed Kremlin auditorium exploding in laughter and applause:
“My approach to gay parades and sexual minorities is very simple. It is directly linked to my responsibilities. One of the key problems of our country is demographics. We want our nation to grow!” View Entire Story Here.
IRANIAN WAR PLANES DID NOT TAKE OFF FOR AN AIR SHOW on April 18, 2009, due to Putin’s warning that Israel was planning to destroy all 140 fighter-bombers.
The planes were concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base on April 17, 2009, in preparation for an air show over Tehran on Iran’s “Army Day” the following day. Heeding Putin’s warning, the entire fleet was removed to remote bases and the air show was cancelled.
Putin had informed the Iranians that its spy satellites and intelligence sources had picked up preparations at Israeli Air Force bases to destroy the 140 warplanes, (the bulk of the Iranian air force), on the ground the night before the display, leaving its nuclear sites without aerial defense. A similar operation wiped out the entire Egyptian air fleet in the early hours of the 1967 war.
Many in Israel now fear that the Middle East could once again become a theatre for Russia to exert its sphere of influence, both militarily and politically. This fear was raised in August of 2008, when Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, met with Putin in Moscow to conclude a series of military agreements, saying, “We are ready to co-operate with Russia in any project that can strengthen its security.”
RETURNING THE FAVOR, Putin proposed a revival of its Cold War era naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus, giving the Russian Navy its first foothold in the Mediterranean for two decades.
Damascus and Moscow were close allies during the Cold War but the Kremlin’s influence in the region waned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Last summer’s rapprochement between Russia and Syria raised the possibility that Moscow intends to re-create a global anti-Western/anti-Zionist alliance with its former Soviet bloc allies. Some Israeli analysts fear that this rapprochement will encourage Syria to try to take back the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.
On January 12, 2009, Putin’s proposal was put into action. A task force from the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus from Turkey. Syria welcomed Russia’s fleet by hosting a naval exercise with Moscow.
Putin has continued to send a range of vessels to the Syrian port as part of routine maneuvers in the Mediterranean. And, the Russian Navy has been operating a maintenance site at Tartus ever since.
Russian officials say that its Navy plans to modernize Tartus over the next few years in an effort to gain a better foothold in the Mediterranean.
The officials stated that Tartus, designed to accommodate up to a dozen warships, will become the base for the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet. View Entire Story Here, Here & Here.
In Vladimir Putin …
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For More See: Is Putin A True Christian Leader? Click Here
And: A Christian Russia Emerging Click Here
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Brother Nathanael @ May 19, 2009
Hi Everybody Of Our Precious Real Zionist News Family!
I just got back from NYC last nite and I am thrilled to tell you all that the RESPONSE was TREMENDOUSLY positive to the Street Evangelism I conducted!
I went to both Wall Street and Times Sq and the youth MOBBED ME with questions about the Message & Love Of Jesus Christ Our Saviour!
Also, OUR site, Real Zionist News, (formerly Real Jew News), reached an all time high of hits on the last article, “Israel – Death Of The Jewish State.” Many thanks to Nicolae Ibasfalean who has been sending out hundreds of email advertisments a week.
Please consider helping to keep OUR SITE, Real Zionist News online and helping with my Street Evangelism also, as I have already made plans and reservations for a return trip to NYC, July 7-July 14, 2009.
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Your +Brother In Christ Jesus, Nathanael
Hi Br. Nathanael,
What a glorious article! And what a beautiful way to handle the attempt to do a gay pride parade! I cannot describe how I felt when I read about both of these triumphs!
The parade cancellation, and the second part of the article about Iran and the help they got from Russian intelligence, shows what I have been seeing and suspected for some time now. Br. Nathanael has also many times presented articles which support this even more:
It is clear that Russia is right now, one of the most powerful and determined powers (if not the only) to be able and that is planning to resist the coming changes. It is definitely the only Christian power remaining that can do this.
I bet they scare Zionists to no end, and its only getting worse. I also bet some of these Zionist leading people are frothing in anger at Russia and wonder what they can do about it… On the more negative side of things, this also means that we could be looking at some retaliation to Russia’s refusal to fall into the Zionist agenda. Perhaps military or otherwise. But again, Russia is strong and will become stronger as time passes.
Needless to say, I love the fact that it is also an Orthodox Christian Country and which at the moment has Orthodox Leaders, true Patriots, determined and ruthless in telling the truth.
I hope God blesses this great nation and gives them the power, strength and blessing to become the tip of the spear against Zionism!
Stav
As a Catholic, I’m so depressed over our Pope’s obeisance to Israel that I’m almost thinking of attending an Orthodox Church from now on. At least they don’t grovel before the Zionists. Speaking of our Pope groveling, here’s an interesting take on it:
http://truthisbeauty.wordpress.com
The antipope Benedict is owned by the Rothschilds,they control him!!!
In my opinion the United States of America is becomming a sodom and gomorrah. The media has been successful at making homosexuality an “in thing”.
Brother Nathanael writes here that the authorities in Russia denied a gay parade to take place. It sounds like Russia is more Christian than the United States is.
This reminds me of a statement that Edgar Cayce said, “Yet of Russia comes the hope of the world”. Something to check out.
Craig,
I am a fellow catholic and cannot stand the pro israel stance they hold.
I still believe and pray to the Lord but rather than attending church I conduct my beliefs at home.
The Vatican to me appears to be infested with lowlifes who cannot see the truth of what the Zionists are doing to our beloved world.
Dear Damien and Craig,
Please understand that the time through which we are living is exactly what the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church have declared:
“This, our time is the hour of the power of darkness” when antichrist would be given strength over the continual sacrifice and truth shall be cast down on the ground”
Daniel 8:12 – the Easter Sermon 2007.
This time has been long forseen by the saints of the Church and upon this subject, the popes have not been silent.
In 1822, the Alta Vendiata published “Catholicism must be destroyed throughout the world.”
Pope Pius IX identified Judeo-Masonry as “the synagogue of Satan.”
In 1832, Pope Gregory XVI wrote in an encyclical to his bishops “Satan has obtained permission to grind the Elect as wheat…you must diligently take care that the faith may be preserved amidst the great conspiracy of impious men who attempt to tear down and destroy it.”
Mirari Vos, 1832.
And the Synagogue of Satan with the publication of the Catholic world of Mirari Vos, perceivede its time had come.
All right. Obviously, unless you believe the new novus ordo catholic religion, they have the Chair of Peter in Rome. This is not the time to abandon the Church but to stand with the Church.
http://www.thepopeinred.com
Dear Damien and Craig,
I continue.
Because this is the time, long forseen, it means that events will bring to one side decisive victory and to the other final defeat.
We know that it is Our Lady who has the promise to our First Parents that she will crush the head of the Serpent.
The Synagogue of Satan (and the Luciferian Throne of their New World Order) is going to fall as nothing has fallen since Satan. Nothing surer. It is the Church that is going on to marytyrdom and final victory.
Nothing surer.
Hi all,
A quick look at national debt between the USA and Russia will show, that being “hip” and a puppy of Zionism, does not help your country.
A quick comparison of the two countries shows this clearly:
United States | government debt
Result:
$ 8.059 trillion (US dollars)
(http://www79.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=russia+debt)
Russia | government debt
Result:
$ 98.81 billion (US dollars)
(http://www79.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=russia+debt)
This official numbers, show a near 100 times more debt for the USA! That alone is enough to see how much the US has been drained by the US government blind adherence to the Zionist task list.
It is sad to see, as the US started on the right foot…
Russia has both the resources (natural, human and cultural) to Crush any and all tools of the Zionist New World Order, as it takes care of its own, for the sake of its own and the rest of us…
And lets not forget, Russian people are ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN, which means they will also not fall into the traps of the Catholic or any other Christian organization which has made far too many compromises, both doctrinal but also ethical in general.
The combination of their faith and power is one of the few hopes we have left.
And to think that Russia has reached this state in only a few years after the collapse of the Zionist inspired and controlled communist plague that attempted to crush it. Now, they are back with a vengeance, and they know who the enemy is…
Again, may God the Father and Jesus Christ be with, and may the Holy Spirit saturate and guide their every action, so that they become our first and powerful defense against the war that they will wage against humanity. We must all pray for the Russian leaders, and people.
Stav
Kudos to Putin a man that is man.
And Kudos to the Eastern Orthodox Church for being unafraid to take a moral stand unlike other churches that – god forbid – allows even their clergy to engage and even marry in the same gender marriage.
Edgar Cayce said ….
As Russia goes so the rest of the world goes
(or words similar)
Go Putin
I fear we in Australia will be on the wrong side when we fight the evil forces of the world.
I envy the Russian people.
How nice it must be to have a leadership of nationalist who believe their primary responsibility is to their OWN people first and foremost.
Unlike our ‘leadership’ here in the West who have contempt for the people they rule over and who are constantly working at some internationalist agenda.
Ken
In the mid-nineteenth century, Lord Acton, one of the greatest Roman Catholic historians described The Papacy as, “the fiend skulking behind a Crucifix”.
Papal Rome was the cause of 605 years of Inquisition, St.Bartholomew’s Massacre, The Crusades.
The Roman Church has been Apostised for over 193 years.
Dear Lynda,
Agree once more with you.
I’d add Leo XIII efforts to name the worst enemy of the time:
FREEMASONRY.
And,many authors keep saying that in 1822/1823 “Rothschild took over Vatican’s finances”.
I never saw documents proving that assertions.
In the same vein,is FREEMASONRY active in Russia?
Juan
Please don’t fall into the “Putin will save the world” deception. The NWO Zionists always control both sides of any issue. Russia has been under Zionist control since the Bolshevik Revolution, which was 99.99% Jewish in origin. Russia has been a key player in the Zionist-Globalist Conspiracy for almost a hundred years now. The NWO Zionists are trying to make Cold War #2.
The original Cold War was immensely profitable, both financially & geopolitically, for the global elite. The internet has allowed the average global citizen to catch onto the War on Terror ruse. Now the Zionist plot is crystal clear for anyone to see. An Israeli-US attack on Iran or further provocation in the Mid-East will be much more difficult for the NWO Zionists to pull off. So, it looks like Cold War #2 is their answer. Why not? It worked very well for them for almost 50 years.
The salvation of the world will come through dissemination of TRUTH. That’s why the Zionists are unrelenting in shoving Hate-Crime laws down our throats. It’s an excuse to quash free speech & criticism of Zionism. That’s why they control 100% of the media, 100% of politics, 100% of education … ad nauseum.
The TRUTH really will set you free.
Thank you so much for this website – I would prefer to send a check or a money order to you although i cant afford much – do you have an address for this purpose-
Thanks and God bless, stay safe best regards
Dear Lynda,
You hit the nail on the head. This geopolitical psycho-spiritual-societal battle for the minds, hearts, souls and spirits of SIX BILLION PEOPLE currently residing on the surface of this planet earth of God’s creating has now all distilled down to ‘The Keys’ entrusted to St. Peter and his successors.
Those ‘Keys’ have NOT been used since Our Lady of Fatima’s Messages and Instructions.
Hence, that which God is WILLING to unleash as Divine Graces and Supernatural Aids from His Divine Throne in Heaven have been BOUND IN HEAVEN.
Satan has skillfully and cunningly used his agents in the Catholic Church’s Hierarchy from ensuring those KEYS are not inserted into the LOCK which now imprisons and threatens the entire Human Race.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Damien and Craig,
Information for the two of you SO THAT you understand the Spiritual-Combat-Warfare currently being waged by Satan vs. our Human Race and our Lord’s Church Militant here on earth:
1st – Pope Leo XIII’s mystical revelation of 1884 A.D. resulting in the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
http://www.geocities.com/stmichaelsangels/
2nd – A list of Satan’s agents within and throughout our Catholic Church’s Hierarchy
http://www.crossspot.net/ldprophet/Freemasons.htm
3rd – Satan routinely practiced in the precincts of the Vatican
http://www.tldm.org/news/martin.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Damien and Craig,
4th – “A GREAT CRIME has been committed against the Catholic Church and the World at large. The perpetrators of this CRIME are men who hold HIGH OFFICES in the Catholic Hierarchy; their names will be introduced in the course of this presentation.” – beginning paragraph of
‘The Devil’s Final Battle’
http://www.devilsfinalbattle.com/intro.htm
The Most Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Woman of Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12:17 had this to say to Fr. Stephano Gobbi back on December 31, 1997
“Fight, children of the light, because the hour of MY battle has now arrived…et al”
– Fr. Joseph
Every last person currently living and alive on planet earth has a very deep and very personal VESTED INTEREST in seeing to it that the CATHOLIC CHURCH “WINS” this global Spiritual Combat and Global Spiritual World War!
There is NO PLACE to go off running to and HIDE!
And there is NO ONE ELSE who is going TO FIGHT for the survival of the entire Human Race but US, whether you are Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant or of any other religion or entirely non-religious and purely secular, pragmatic materialist, atheist, agnostic, gnostic or whatever else!
“The the All-good God will see THE DOWNFALL OF THE HUMAN RACE…”
– Fr. Joseph
“Christian Pastors, Bishops and Priests will become completely VAIN MEN, completely failing to distinquish the right-hand way from the left. (the Collegial Consecration instructed to take place by the Mother of God as Our Lady of Fatima, 1917 A.D.)
Again,
“Then the All-good God will see THE DOWNFALL OF THE HUMAN RACE…” – citing
St. Nilus – 4th Century Prophecy at
http://www.fisheaters.com/nilus.html
– Fr. Joseph
Good for Russia, someone needs to put these gays in their proper place.
Dear Stav,
Your comment should certainly be welcomed by all those who hold the Catholic faith and by this I do not mean the novus ordo catholic faith officially inaugurated in Vatican II.
Russia is a predestinate nation. It is the power coming from Heaven that is at issue here.
Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Kazan (who still leads Russia to victory) are one and the same. And her words at Fatima were:
“In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me…”
And for what purpose will the Holy Father consecrate Russia?
Because Our Lady has asked it of him
And to give Russia the unique power needed to usher in a (now) unimaginable Triumph for the Russia (of course), for the Church, for the world.
It will mean, however, that the entire Catholic hierarchy: the Holy Father and his bishops will be be publicly revealed to the enemies of the Church and the world. It is not to difficult to see what the price for this will be. But Our Lady said “in the end” they would do it. I believe this.
Dear Juan,
In the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the French Revolugion is called the Great Revolution because it inaugurated a universal Revolution that continues today in its Communist or global phase.
The first stage of the Great Revolution inaugurated 1789 was to overthrow all Catholic nation / states and establish republics. When the Revolution swept through the principalities of the Italian peninsula under Garabaldi, they took the Vatican and the See of Peter and set up their banking system over Italy. Later the Italian republic granted to the Pope and the Church the Vatican as a City State. But they are still under the Rothschild Bank
Even so, the Church was able to define the errors of the Revolution and publish them.
Pope Pius IX defined these errors in Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors.
Pope Pius X ratified these infallible pronouncements in Paschendi, summing them up as Modernism – the sum of all heresies. And he decreed that there would be no quarter given with Modernism.
But what do we find with Gaudium et Spes. According to Benedict (a disciple of Karl Rahner and an architect of the Council), this document which mandates the new world order “is an effort on the part of the Church to reconcile with the new era inaugurated 1789.” This statement is actually quoted in Wikipedia.
There can be no reconciliation with the Revolutionary Era and ITS ERRORS inaugurated in 1789.
Russia will be the light to the Vatican..they know the Zionists for what they are..
An alternative to Rothchild Banking needs to be offered to the Vatican so they can get out from underneath its control…
Dear Juan,
Regarding ‘Vatican FINANCES’, please avail yourself of the on-line article here dealing with the murder of Pope John Paul I, with a special attentive eye to the subsection entitled “The Vatican Wedded to the Mafia, the Bank and the Lodge”
http://www.crc-internet.org/oct84.htm
Other pertinent and useful information that can help “color in” the Big Picture for and with our World of 2009 Anno Domini
http://www.tldm.org/news3/johnpaul1.htm
http://www.tldm.org/News6/exorcism1.htm
Ya know, it sure would be NICE FOR ONCE that people the world over, great and small, in high positions and in the lowest positions, ALL would simply ACT RESPONSIBILY and simply DO those simple tasks right in front of their noses with a degree of honesty, integrity coupled with a simple desire to do a “good job” with what they’ve been entrusted.
Is that TOO MUCH of a thing to ask for or expect from others?
– Fr. Joseph
Sorry for the typo
The Murder of John Paul I
http://www.tldm.org/johnpaulI.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Amanda Rogers,
A donation may be sent safely to:
Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 547; Priest River ID; 83856.
Thank you dear Amanda!
+Brother Nathanael
This Is From “Mack” Who Had Trouble With The Anti-Spam Button:
————————————
Dear Brother Nathanael,
I attempted to post this on your article regarding the Mayor of Moscow blocking the Gay Parade. I kept getting some kind of error message. The text follows my brief note. Thank you ever so much for your work against the Zionist New World Order. May God bless you in your work.
Benny 16 is but another Zionist shill, along with John 23, Paul 6 (rumoured to be of Jewish lineage), John Paul 1, and John Paul 2 the Great Apostate (most likely Jewish).
The Popes up to Pope Pius XII have repeatedly condemned Zionism. Pope St. Pius X was once approached by the founder of the Zionist movement, Theodore Hertzel.
Mr. Hertzel wanted the Pope to recoginise the state of Israel in the Holy Land. Pope St. Pius X told him, “Since the Jews do not recognise Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, We cannot recognise the state of Israel. If the Jews should choose to move to the Holy Land and embrace the Catholic Faith, We will have priests there ready to baptise them.”
What a difference between St. Pius X (1903 – 1914) and the Vatican II apostate “Popes” (1958 – Present), who call the Jews our “Elder Brothers in the Faith” and pray for them to “Grow in the love of God and Faithfulness to His Covenant.”
Let us pray for the faithless Jews, that God may remove the veil from their hearts, so that they too may acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Almighty and eternal God, who drivest not away from Thy mercy even the faithless Jews: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people: that acknowledging the light of Thy truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, for all ages of ages. Amen.
-Traditional Prayer for the Jews on Good Friday
In The Risen Christ,
Mack
Yes, Russia is CORRECT and just to stop the Gay Movement is Russia.
The bastard state of Israel is similiarily filled with homosexuals.
Scripture Condemns the gay lifestyle, especially in the Holy Land.
Almighty Yahweh has now arrayed a FORCE against Israel (which has become the new land of Sodom): Iranian nuclear missiles, which may annihilate the jewish state, as punishment for her SINS.
see the link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/05/2009520153818107760.html
Jonah
Colorado USA
http://jonah.50megs.com
Actually Fr. Joe, the link was wrong again, here’s the correct page I think you were trying to show:
http://www.tldm.org/news3/johnpaulI.htm
🙂
What just happened in Russia would have normal for the police in any country of the world just a few short years ago.
May the good old days come back soon!
Just read the article and I don’t understand why you guys constantly need to hate everyone who doesn’t follow your views. So ok some people don’t follow your views? BIG DEAL, just ignore it, if your religion is right then it won’t be your problem.
Just let people live their lives the way they want. If they listen to your prayers and like the idea of God (not the hate ideas you guys preach, the actual bible/God) then great for them but if they don’t, just seriously back off.
Putin busting Russian Jewish oligarch thieves? WOW!!!
http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:p4JBp-Po5TUJ:www.asiaobserver.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,453/id,8618/catid,22/func,fb_pdf/+%22peter+orszag%22+%2B+%22iceland%22&cd=29&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
This is off topic, but do you think parents should be able to refuse/decide standard medical treatment if they believe otherwise for their children?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090520/ap_on_re_us/us_forced_chemo
The Judge in this case was a Jew.
Thank you Zoobie!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Billy Smith,
Just let people live their lives the way they want.
I suppose that is meant to mean every prison throughout our world ought to immediately release their prisoners.
There is a Moral Order for the Human Race by which our God and Creator expects all of us to live by.
If not, welcome to ‘Hell On Earth’.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Billy Smith,
The are what are called ‘Acts of Mercy’ in the teachings of the Christian Church. There are ‘coporeal’ acts of mercy such as feeding the hungry, educating the ignorant and clothing the naked.
And there are ‘spiritual’ acts of mercy such as warning sinners. For there is a Moral Order according to the Christian God and there are blessings as well as consequences for either following or rejecting that Divine Moral Order.
– Fr. Joseph
There is only ONE HOLY FATHER and HE is in Heaven.
There is only ONE FULL OF GRACE and that is GOD in Heaven.
It is not Mary appearing in such places as Lourdes, Fatima or any other. Those are the spirits of “devils working miracles:- Revelation 16:4.
“Come out of her, my people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues”!!!
Dearest Enya,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the Angel answered, and the Power of the Most High will cover you with Its Shadow. – Luke 1:35
Being COVERED with the Divine Power of our FATHER in Heaven is being “Full of Grace”.
If but only the rest of us members of the Human Race could but obtain a sliver of the amount of Divine Grace granted the Blessed Virgin Mary, we’d ALL be healed – and our World would be healed.
– Fr. Joseph
And dear Billy Smith,
The Ten Commandments is God’s Own Divine Wisdom revealed to Mankind as to HOW to live these lives of ours to their fullest.
John Lennon had a song entitled ‘Imagine’ wherein he does not hold Revealed Religion in very high regard.
But anyways, you can still ‘Imagine’ something on/about the 10 Commandments.
The Commandment is ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor’.
Now ‘Imagine’ the false witness vs. Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and was responsible for the 9-11-2001 “Arab” terrorist attacks NEVER having happened.
What type of ‘World’ would you and the rest of us all have?
The Commandment is ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’.
Now ‘Imagine’ EVERYONE obeying that. How many women would be spared a life being sold into prostution? How many women would not be raped nor have to life in the fear of rape? How many women would live lives in familial security with their husbands, children and families?
The Commandment is ‘Thou shalt not kill.’
Now ‘Imagine’ all the families who have lost their loved ones to senseless crimes of murder, etc?
I think you can ‘Imagine’ what sort of World we’d ALL be able to live in IF everyone simply obeyed the 10 Commandments of God.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Br. Nathanael and RZN Christians,
I appreciate the common sense of the Russian state in upholding standards of public morality which were normative until recently. I also appreciate that they have thus far foiled Zionist attempts to destabilize the region they have military influence within. Indeed, in all ways I appreciate the Russian nation.
However, I too cannot view Russia without a benevolent skepticism, not wanting to be deluded yet again by the smoke and mirrors. I cautiously hope Russia is experiencing a renewal of Christian awareness after the awful era of state-imposed secularism. It would be too soon to judge Russia to be spotless and without Luciferic intrigue inside the halls of power, at least from a standpoint of reasonable prudence. However, Russia’s military has been named by some former Illuminati as a veritable case study in mind-control science.
There are also hereditary power structures which stubbornly resist any attempt for outsiders to comprehend their work. Whether this be for good or bad will eventually be seen, and in the case of hereditary Orthodox Christianity it is positively hopeful the way it has hung on and continued despite martyrdom and state oppression.
What I would like is for a knowledgeable person to make an “apples-to-apples” comparison of the state of genuine personal liberty under the current Russian central government, as compared with how it is here in America. For example: What are personal gun rights in Russia? What kind of taxes do people pay? Are there things you can say here that will land you in a bottomless pit there, and what about the other way around?
I would need someone to describe the differences in a factual way to understand whether there is much difference, or whether man’s condition is essentially the same under either system. By the way, their media sure is titty-dominated, which really does little to assure me that it isn’t Jew run as well.
The Peace of Christ be With You.
Dear Father Joseph,
I’ve already downloaded link contents and reading ‘The Murder of Pope John Paul I”.
I fully appreciate your help.
I’ll like to ask some very basic questions on their doctrinal differences when compared with Roman Catholic Church.
To be more precise,those whom advocate the belief in a “rapture”, sola scripture and salvation by faith alone.
This is a serious problem here in Brazil.
I’m surrounded by these people.
Regards, Juan
Dear Lynda,
So I understand that French Revolution, and consequently Illuminati and Freemasons are behind Garibaldi and they encompassed the Vatican finances.
I remember something regarding Pope Pio IX in 1845 being forced to flee Rome. Something to do with this?
Anyway 1822 is given by many as the year Rothschild Banks started taking care of Vatican’s finances.
Which, if true, puts the Church in direct and heretical contact with the Jews, intermingling their financial affairs with those of the speculative European bankers.
I doubt somebody have examined any documents because I guess nothing can be found in the Rothschild’s Public Library
and much less so on the Vatican’s side dealing with this subject.
Juan
Dear Father Joseph,
Somwhere got lost the subject of my inquire:
“Evangelical Churches”
Juan
Dear Juan,
For those educated (ed-jew-macated) in public school, the national history begins with the Republic. Usually the scenario is the people rose up and took power away from the Church (who persecuted Jews, cracked the heads of the peasants and kept them superstitious, poor and backward) and the Aristocracy (as a the class of parasites on the people). As a product of this 12 years of this crap ed-jew-macated in the U.S.A. I believed all this until about my senior year in high school.
That year I traveled to Mexico and I read the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.
Reading and thinking about the latter can undo 12 years of republican history and soc-ed public education in a matter of weeks.
The history of the French Revolution is in the library, in the encyclopedias and in primary documents and Church history. Multiple, congruent historical evidence.
Above all it is is the Master Plan – the Protocols.
The great school for the Revolutionary Era was laid at the Rue de Cadet about 5 years before 1789 – this was the Grand Orient Lodge, of which all the great Masonic Commanders and Revolutionary Leaders studied praxis of the Revolution inaugurated in France 1789.
These revolutions to overthrow the power of the Church in every Catholic nation state were financed by the House of Rothschild, led by Masonry and fought with mercenaries and such cadres of useful idiots as could be recruited from the nation.
The blood bath in France 1789 is recorded, but you will certainly not be learning about this in any public school because it would contradict the people rose up and overthrew their corrupt leaders (and I do not doubt many were) scenario.
In Brittainy and the Vendee entire peasant populations were massacred wholesale, every parish church desecrated, nuns stripped naked and driven through the street with whips and nailed to barns: cruelty and atrocities that defy imagination. The Catholic nations were put to the sword.
There is no temporal power to protect the hierarchy of the Church. And this was the entire point of the Revolutionary Era 1789-
May I ask you Catholics who post here a serious question?
Can you explain to me why your branch of Christianity(Catholism) contradicts everything the Bible proclaims. For example the Ten Commandments says THOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.
Catholics worship hundreds of “Saints” and idolize them, another anti-Biblical stance is THOU SHALL NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE. Catholics seem to worship many statues of Saints and Mary.
The Bible says anyone adding or deleting words in the Bible will be utterly destroyed by God, the Catholic Bible AS COMPARED TO THE ONE AND ONLY KING JAMES BIBLE HAS THOUSANDS OF WORDS ADDED THAT ARE NOT FROM GOD.
I used to be a Catholic until I found the real truth that God does not inhabit man made temples or religions, and neither does Jesus, therefore the Worlds Religion Structure as it currently exist is Satanically controlled. God exist in our hearts and minds thru his SUPERNATURAL SPIRIT, ONLY THRU ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL SAVIOR CAN ANYONE COME TO KNOW GOD SPIRITUALLY.
That is what the Bible, Gods word says.
Dear Golden Nugget,
In Orthodox Christianity, icons are never worshipped, but they are honored or venerated. In the Catholic Church, they have the tradition of statuary, and other religious art traditions more expansive than Eastern Orthodoxy, but the same principles apply.
Worship is for the Lord God, and He alone. Neither Orthodox nor Catholics mistake the holy saints and martyrs for the Uncreated God.
The Second Commandment says, “you shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” and call it a god as Aaron did with the Golden Calf.
The Golden Calf represented the Egyptian goddess Hathor, I believe. The warning here is that we are not to image things which are limited to heaven and therefore unseen, and 2) we never bow down to or worship created, earthly things such as the Golden Calf. Does this condemn all images in worship? The Bible speaks for itself, and the answer is no.
Just five chapters after the giving of the Ten Commandments, God, as recorded in Exodus 25, gives His divine blueprint for the tabernacle. Specifically in verses 19 and 20, he commands carved and gilded images of cherubim to be placed above the mercy seat. Also, God promises to meet and speak with us through this imagery! (Ex. 25:22).
It is not true imagery which is condemned in Scripture, but false imagery concerning false gods.
In Exodus 26:1, Israel was commanded in no uncertain terms to weave “artistic designs of cherubim” into the tabernacle curtains. Are these images? Absolutely. And they are images which God commanded to be made.
Solomon’s Temple was decorated in all kinds of imagery…pomegranates, palm trees, statuary like the brazen bulls holding the brass lake.
From the beginning the Church has made images of heavenly things BROUGHT TO EARTH: Christ Himself, the Cross (Gal 6:14), and the saints of God (Heb. 11; 12). Worship is reserved for the Holy Trinity alone. But we honor the great men and women of the Faith by remembering them in the Church.
Dear Golden Nugget,
The Scriptures themselves call us to honor other Christians, both the living and the departed.
a) In Acts 28:10, Saint Luke writes, “They also honored us [the apostolic band] in many ways.”
The biblical injunction concerning Mary, “All generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48), is an example of how we are to honor the saints for all time (see also Heb. 11:4-40).
b) We are to honor all believers and true authorities, not just departed ones. This is why St. Paul exhorts us to honor one another (1 Tim. 5:17), and why St. Peter tells husbands to honor their wives (1 Pet. 3:7). We are even called to obey and honor our civil authorities (Rom. 13:1-7).
c.) In Orthodox and Catholic worship, we see pictures or icons of the believers of history all around us. This is, in part, how we honor our forerunners in the Faith.
In Hebrews 12:22-24 we read that in worship we join with the heavenly throng to praise and worship God. We come to join “an innumerable company of angels”, the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven,” and the “spirits of just men made perfect” while on earth.
And as “in spirit and in truth” we join these angelic and redeemed heroes of the Faith, we do give them proper honor, as the Scripture teaches.
d) Modern Christianity tends to give notice primarily to living heroes—often newly believing athletes, beauty queens, and political figures. But throughout Church history, honor went to those who had finished the race (1 Cor 9:24-27), not to those who have merely begun or who are still on the earthly track (Gal. 5:7).
And these saints of old are not dead, but alive in Christ forever!
One last thing, dear Golden Nugget,
The Church sees the Scriptures as inspired and authoritative Holy Tradition: the Word of God. It is crucial to understand how the word “tradition” is used in the New Testament, which condemns the tradition of men but calls us to follow Apostolic or Holy Tradition.
Tradition of men: First of all, Jesus warned against holding to the “tradition of men” and “your tradition” in the strongest possible terms (Mark 7:6-16). All Christians agree: the Bible says “no” to man-made religious teachings and traditions.
Secondly, Saint Paul warns in Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Holy Tradition: In distinction to the tradition of men, the Bible calls us to obey tradition which has God as its source. In 2 Thess 2:15, Saint Paul writes, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” In contrast to man-made tradition, Apostolic Tradition is our foundation in the Church.
Further, in 2 Thess 3:6 we read, “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us”. Here again, we are dealing with Apostolic Tradition, the tradition which God planted in the Church.
Biblically and historically, true worship has consistently been liturgical. “Spontaneous” worship is an innovation of the last 150 years or so.
Liturgical worship, written prayers (the Psalms), and feast days were the norm throughout the history of Israel (Ex. 23:14-19; 24:1, 2).
The worship of heaven is liturgical (Is 6:1-9; Heb 8:1-3; Rev 4).
The foundations of liturgical worship in the Church are apparent in the NT. The most oft-repeated prayer of the Church is there (Matt. 6:9-13). The words we say at baptism are there (Matt. 28:19). The words spoken at Holy Communion are there, with Saint Paul repeating Jesus’ words (1 Cor 11:23-26).
Further the believers in Acts 13:2, about 49 CE, were seen in a liturgical service to the Lord: “As they ministered [Gk. leitourgouaton, the root word for ‘liturgy’] to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said…”.
Note, too, in this passage that the Holy Spirit speaks to us during liturgical worship. Thus praise to God must never become dead form, but rather living worship, “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23, 24).
Some Protestant groups have reacted against Rome for whatever reasons by dismissing liturgical worship (though everyone has patterned worship, “spontaneous” or not!). But the Bible and Church history are clear: liturgical worship is the norm for the people of God.
Documents like the Didache (AD 70) and the writings of St. Justin Martyr (AD 150), and Hippolytus (early 200’s) all show that the worship of the early Church was, without exception, communal and liturgical, and this is a very large and integral part of Apostolic Tradition and Christian spirituality.
Good for Putin!!
It’s about time some one puts a halt on this sick, repulsive, perverted people. They don’t like Christianity pushed in their face, well I don’t like their wickedness pushed in mine.
Wish Putin would come to America and show our cowardly so called leaders how to stand up for whats right!
Want to see how gay men really are? Go to craigslist and look up “men seeking men”. Filthy scum.
Hurray for Mr. Putin!!!
THATS the kind of leadership WE need here in America!!! How about We all get together, en masse, and relocate to RUSSIA!?
It seems to be THE last safe haven for good, White, Christian PEOPLE!!! Promise to help me and my Family to get there, help us out for a while and teach us the language and customs, and WE WILL GLADLY EMIGRATE TO THE GREAT LAND OF RUSSIA!
Putin and Medvedev are AWESOME leaders! God BLESS THEM!
My dear Golden Nugget,
Please do take the time to read KathJuliane’s reply to you. All good factual information.
Some more vital information for you. The books, the writings, you have in your Bible are there on account of the Bishops of the Church at the Church Councils of Carthage and Hippo (circa 397 and 400 AD).
Martin Luther is often referred to as the ‘Father of the Protestant Reformation’.
Luther’s Bible removed the book of Hebrews, the letter of St. James as well as the Book of Revelation from ‘his’ Bible. Additionally, Luther added the word ‘alone’ into the epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (if my memory serves me correctly) in order to promote and justify his doctrinal position that we are “saved by faith ALONE”.
If your congregation’s pastor/preacher asserts that he is a bible-believing Protestant, then ask him why is it that so many Protestant sects such as Pastor Hagee make such use of the ‘Book of Revelation’ to go on and on about ‘The Rapture’ when the Father of the Protestant Reformation THREW OUT the Book of Revelation!
Is your pastor/preacher a CATHOLIC then? Adhering to the Bishops of the Catholic Church Councils of Carthage and Hippo and the CATHOLIC Canon of ‘The Bible’!
Ask your pastor/preacher to MAKE UP HIS or HER MIND!
If the Father of the Protestant Reformation is CORRECT, stop reading and using the Book of Revelation.
If the Bishops of the Catholic Church are CORRECT, then get yourself and your pastor BACK to the Sacraments of the Church which GAVE you and your pastor/preacher ‘The Bible’.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
In many ways, the Protestant Reformation was to the Western-Latin Church very much what the Bolshevik Revolution was to the Eastern Orthodox Church. The results on the morality of the affected citizens as well as on the holdings and physical assets of the Church – both East and West – were very much the same.
The two “pillars” upon which the entire Protestant Reformation rests are 1) ‘Sola Scriptura’ translated means ‘The Bible Alone’ and 2) ‘Sola Fide’ translated means ‘(Saved by) Faith Alone’.
The many and varied protestant sects you have now in Brazil are the end result of no recognized authority in and/or for the Church. Anybody who wants to be a ‘pastor’ or ‘preacher’ can go off and buy a copy of the Bible and start his, her or their church. Whether or not that ‘church’ teaches and preaches what the Lord’s Apostles taught and preached is an entirely different matter.
Not much one can do about all of this now as the ‘Peace of Augsburg’ pretty much granted license to governments, regional leaders and titled nobility to pretty much decide what sort of variants on Christianity they would adopt. When those presecuted by the English King’s Church of England had enough, they fled to the American colonies.
Without a recognized authority in the Church, there is no end to the types of variations, heresies and utterly un-Christian teachings in matters of the Faith, doctrines and morals that can be generated and made manifest.
I cannot recall the research reference at the moment, but that source made a count of the number of protestant denominations in existance in our world. The number was around 27,000.
‘Sola Scriptura’ coupled with ‘Sola Fide’ pretty much make it possible for there to be as many bible-believing denominations as there are people who can read ‘The Bible’ for themselves.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Lynda,
I got the point , and I’m more or less aware of French revolution whereabouts.
So the conclusion here is that 1822 is not certainly relevant, because Rothschild is behind the whole process from the beginning.
In the following link,
http://osdir.com/ml/culture.templar.rosemont/2004-05/msg00036.html
We read:
….”The Italian patriots Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour revived the secret society after 1830, and its members were again found to be ready for any sacrifice for republicanism and rule by the Carbonari. The effect which they had upon the world was considerable: and it continued to be so. For fifty years they had fought in civil war; they spread to many other lands, including Germany, where they were responsible for the Totenbund (the Death League) which was dedicated to assassinating tyrants.)
– Arkon Daraul, Secret Societies
Twelve years later, in 1860, a young man named Giusseppe Garibaldi invaded the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and conquered them with his army that became known as `The One Thousand’. No one expected him to win, his army was made up of mostly teenagers and very young men, far too young everyone believed. But win he did! With the assistance of
some rebels hidden in the hills, Garibaldi accomplished the impossible!
To this day, his victory is considered nothing short of a miracle and a testament to his courage and bravery. Giusseppe Garibaldi became a true Italian hero. The question that has to be asked is: How? How could Garibaldi achieve the impossible? The answer can now be traced to two reasons: (1) The Freemasons; and (2) the Mafia!
When Garibaldi landed at Marsala with his famous `Thousand’ on the 11 May, he found everything ready. Why? First, because the political power and influence of the Freemasons was supporting his quest: Count Camillo Cavour, Prime Minister of King Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont, and Giusseppe Mazzini, had agreed that the destruction of the papacy was the key to the unification of Italy. And believe it or not, Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi were Grand Masters in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rites of Freemasonry!
While exiled in England, Guisseppe Mazzini, the Italian revolutionary, had become friends with one of the most powerful Freemasons in America! United by their common hatred of the Church, the two became fast friends. Mazzini was impressed by the power and influence wielded by Pike, while Pike was impressed by both Mazzini’s passionate fervor and his very skilled abilities in putting words to paper.
And what then was the `Order of the New and Reformed Palladian Rite’? On September 20, 1870, Albert Pike, the most powerful Grand Mason in the United States, and his `friend’, Giusseppe Mazzini, a Grand Mason in his own right, agreed to form a Masonic order which
was to be higher in rank and greater in power than any other Masonic Lodge?in the world!
This new lodge was to be comprised of nothing but the most exemplary Thirty-Third Degree Masons from the Lodges around the world. These `cream of the crop’ Grand Masons would join the `super-secret Ultra-Freemasons Society’ by invitation only. All members in the `Palladian Order’ had to keep their membership a secret on pain of immediate death. There would be no trial and no deliberation, death was quick and merciless.
So secret was the new Lodge that, unless they were members, not even the upper level Freemasons of the other Lodges knew about the `Palladian Order’. As testament to their secrecy, in a book called CYCLOPAEDIA OF FRATERNITIES, the `Palladian Order’ is described as “little known as the number of its members is strictly limited and the deepest secrecy
surrounds all its deliberations.”
Mazzini was, after the formation of the new `Palladian Order’ in 1870, one of the two most powerful Freemasons in the entire world! And it was by no accident. Mazzini had understood that the Freemasons were a powerful influence in the world, but he often saw them fighting and divided. Mazzini believed that by uniting the most powerful Freemasons of the world into one group, they could, essentially, control the events of the world.
And the central, recurrent, all important point of these people is “the hatred against the Roman Catholic Church”, something easily overlooked by modern critics and enemies of the Church.
Yes, we can see the immense power of FREEMASONRY.
And in the context of modern RUSSIA the question remains,
Is FREEMASONRY active there?
Juan
Dear Juan
For your information
‘End Times’
http://www.fisheaters.com/endtimes.html
‘Dispensationalism, Israel & the Church’
http://www.fisheaters.com/dispensationalism.html
– Fr.Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
I learn a lot with you!
Have to find time to read all this material.
I asked Father Joseph on “evangelic Churches” and realized that you also have dealt with the subject before.
Juan
Dear All, and golden*nugget,
I realize this is almost completely off topic, but consider that the Russians, share an Orthodox Christian tradition, and therefore, an understanding of Orthodoxy, its complete adherence to holy tradition is important, to understand Russia also.
In addition to the pretty comprehensive replies of KathJuliane, let me add a few things:
I will answer to your message out of order.
You say:
The Bible says anyone adding or deleting words in the Bible will be utterly destroyed by God, the Catholic Bible AS COMPARED TO THE ONE AND ONLY KING JAMES BIBLE HAS THOUSANDS OF WORDS ADDED THAT ARE NOT FROM GOD.
Be advised, that it is the western world, beginning with the USA that is on the brink of destruction. The orthodox countries, while sometimes quite poor and facing other difficulties and problems, are today not on the brink of destruction but as we see in Russia, probably gaining even more power.This may suggest that it is the western world that in its majority are changing the words of the bible.
I assume that you are Protestant in the wide sense of the word. You need to be aware, first of all, that even the King James version of the Bible, is slightly diluted as compared to the Greek Original. Thus, be careful, even when you read the King James version. Words, translated from the Greek to English, may be “sufficient” but in many cases they also loose their complete POWER that they had in the Greek.
There are just too many examples of this, but for example, take the first lines of Johns Gospel:
“In the beginning was the word.”
The Greek, does not say this. It says:
“En arxi in o logos”
“In the beginning was the Logos”
In Greek, the word “Logos” as used in this sentence, does not only mean “word”. It actually has the following additional meanings:
1) Logic (as in reasoning)
2) Balance (as balance between numbers in mathematics)
3) the Reason (as in the Cause of things)
These three meaning of the word, are in
addition to the meaning used int he KJV which is “Speech or Spoken Word”.
As you may be able to see, the KJV, while not blatantly changing the meaning of the gospel, like other versions are doing, is still lacking in depth.
The line above, “In the beginning was the Word” in its Greek original, has sparked considerable Theological Analysis, some of which is responsible for the Orthodox Version of the Christian Faith.
Thus, before I continue, be careful, when you say that the Old churches, have it wrong, because it does not say it in the Bible. It may be in the bible, but you may not be able to see it in the context of your sources.
Secondly, I cannot speak for the Catholic version of the bible, because:
1) According to the Orthodox, doctrinally they are just as astray as the protestants are. In different ways, but the end result is the same.
2) I simply do not now what version of the bible they use and especially what versions they use in non Latin originated countries. Thus i will not comment on that.
You say:
Can you explain to me why your branch of Christianity(Catholism) contradicts everything the Bible proclaims.
As I have proven above, the matter of fact is, that your own version of Christianity is more likely to contradict many parts of the Bible. If I knew what your particular brand is, I might have been able to point 1-2 out for you.
You Say:
For example the Ten Commandments says THOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.
True, and assure you that the Orthodox do not have any other Gods other than the true God. Catholics also do not worship any other God, regardless of the rest of their doctrinal errors.
You say:
Catholics worship hundreds of “Saints” and idolize them, another anti-Biblical stance is THOU SHALL NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE. Catholics seem to worship many statues of Saints and Mary.
You last statement says it all, you say “seem to worship”. Yes, that’s exactly what it may seem to you, a protestant, who has shed the Old and First tradition out of Christianity. The veneration, kisses and supplications to the saints and the Theotokos (Mary) are NOT worship. They are expressions of honor and requests for intercession.
And this practice of request of intercessions and honoring the Saints, is COMPLETELY based on Biblical understanding. Most especially, in the case of the Virgin Mary Theotokos, it has been demonstrated beyond any doubt in the bible that She can intercede to Jesus Christ her Son, for us, and “convince” Jesus Christ to hasten his help and mercy to us. I can provide example if you want, but the the sake of this post I will try to keep it short. The same exact thing is also true for the Saints.
You say:
I used to be a Catholic until I found the real truth that God does not inhabit man made temples or religions, and neither does Jesus, therefore the Worlds Religion Structure as it currently exist is Satanically controlled. God exist in our hearts and minds thru his SUPERNATURAL SPIRIT, ONLY THRU ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL SAVIOR CAN ANYONE COME TO KNOW GOD SPIRITUALLY.
God is everywhere, including Churches and temples. In fact, one specific mention in Scripture, is:
“Where two or three (or more) are gathered in my name, there I am also”
This is not to say that God is not everywhere, but rather, here we see that the emphasis is applied on the social aspect of gathering in His name. The purpose of this, is for us to see that we are close to God, not only in a personal way, but also in the sense that within the Church we are close to God. This implies, love not only for God, but also for our fellow man. By Jesus’ words the ten commandments, can be condensed into just two:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
—Matthew 22:34-40
Thus one can see, that knowing God and following his commandments, is , on the one hand a personal connection with Christ, but on the other hand, it is a personal connection with our fellow man. And that is the core aspect of why we must gather together to worship.
More on this same subject, I think it is important to mention that if anyone, Orthodox, Catholic or otherwise, considers, Icons, statues or anything else to be idols, or if they think A Saint or the Most Holy Mary the Theotokos to be more than human or view them as a God, they are plain wrong, and regardless of your observations, the Orthodox (and I am assuming the Catholics) view this as a sin and a major heretical view. And i will not lie, some people who belong to these churches, may have these ill-conceived ideas, but that is simply due to ignorance. It is not our faith.
Finally, Let me point out, that the Catholics, who have some serious doctrinal errors, have attached a somewhat elevated importance to Mary, exactly due to these doctrinal errors. It will take to long to explain here, but their Filioque addition to the original Creed, has caused a theological breakdown of the balance of worship towards God the Trinity, which has been expressed by an over the appropriate “worship” of Mary.
The same spirit, has caused them to express their representations of the Saints , Jesus Christ and His Mother and Gos, to also be over the top. These Catholic representations take the form of statues and Paintings (as opposed to icons in Orthodoxy) and are borderline against the spirit of Christianity.
It is important to know, that for anyone who is somehow disgruntled with their form of Christianity, they should look into Orthodoxy, which continues in the tradition and the original Church, without change and without false doctrines. This involves knowing WHO wrote and canonized the bible, WHO established the basic faith dogmas and why. Any honest search of these things, will lead you invariably to Orthodoxy.
Stav
Dear Michael K.
In reply to your post, I have the following to say:
It would be of course completely naive to think that Russia as a whole is completely free of Evils, such as Masonry, Zionist control etc. etc.
However, the track record of their recent time and especially since the arrival of Mr Putin, is one that suggests a very strong and decisive return to Russia’s traditional Orthodox Christian values.
Countless actions and decisions taken by Putin’s Government, are clearly:
1) anti-Zionist
2) truly caring or their own people, and the well being (financial and otherwise)
3) Following indisputable logic (such as the statement that they want Russia to Grow and not to shrink, in the context of homosexuality)
4) Openly state that they are an Orthodox Christian Country and they wish it to remain as such.
There are more points to this, but simply the public expression of these three, show a determination and without shame intention to let the world know where they stand. And we also know that they can uphold these decisions in forceful ways. Thus, one can take for granted that fact that Russia, with all its potential faults will fight for these points.
Stav
Dear Golden Nugget,
O.K. , so first of all, King James was a Catholic.
James Charles Stuart was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany, commonly known as Lord Darnley. He was a descendant of Henry VII through his great-grandmother Margaret Tudor, elder sister of Henry VIII.[9] Mary’s rule over Scotland was insecure, for both she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by the Protestant population. Lord Darnley secretly allied himself with the rebels and murdered the Queen’s private secretary, David Rizzio.[10]
Dear Golden Nugget,
Second, perhaps you are aware that the claims that the KJV supercedes other bibles are based upon the pagan Grail cult. If you do not understand, read the following excerpt from a Grail cult website.
The “Fisher King” lineage is that of the post-Atlantean descendants of the union of The Sons Of God and the daughters of men, the Nefilim. This cult views the royal blood of the Grail lineage to be the determining factor in legitimacy of rulership.
Read the Grail cult view of the KJV:
“What makes the Holy Bible holy?
“The Grail romances claim that there exists in the world an alternative priesthood based upon a sacred lineage. The “Fisher King” or the “Grail King”, as it is in some versions, is depicted as a royal personage, yet a king to be distinguished from the current ruler of the realm. The romances are generally set in the time of King Arthur. He is the ruler of the realm; yet the Fisher King is also a ruler in distinction from Arthur. In some sense, Arthur’s authority is dependent upon the Fisher King; for it is the Fisher King who is in possession of the Holy Grail.
“The Grail castle is an ethereal, mysterious place, which can disappear from ordinary human vision. In this we find the Celtic belief of parallel worlds or dimensions which are connected with each other in some fundamental way: either through ritual unification or angelic-type emissaries. Thus, we might find that the Grail Castle can be interpreted as a spiritual counterpart of Camelot and the Fisher King of Arthur.
“The Fisher King is wounded in the private parts. He cannot be healed by the Church’s Eucharist. The Eucharist sustains him, but it does not heal him. He cannot be healed until someone else who shares his lineage is worthy to become his successor and possess the Holy Grail.
“In this we can sense Arthur’s dilemma. His was a crisis of succession. But it was more than a crisis of kingship. It was a crisis of federal headship. In the Grail romances the ancient view of the king as priest and sacrifice still lingers. This priesthood is one patterned after the Melchisedecal priesthood of the Davidic Covenant which was confirmed in Jesus Christ. Melchisdec was a father to his people and became a father to Abraham (Genesis 14; Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7). This spiritual connection is why in the Grail stories the realm is afflicted with its king and why the land is turning into a haunt of ruin, unless the king can find a worthy successor. The weal of the realm depends upon the integrity of its king-priest.
“In Grail theology the priest of the established Church can never be a federal head of the people, because he is not organically connected to the people. Nor does he share in a sacred lineage, a lineage which organically connects him to the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7). He claims an Apostolic succession, which is valid in terms of ministry, but not headship. He cannot represent the people because he is not one with the people.
“King David was a federal head. He had standing to represent the people in a priestly way. He bore their sins and they bore the consequences of his sins (2 Samuel 24). It was so with his heirs. So it was with Jesus Christ.
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
– Hebrews 2:17-18
“The Atonement of Jesus Christ resolved the issue of sin once and for all (Hebrews 7:24-25). He is the Savior of the world. Rulers do not bear the kind of burdens they once bore. They are vicegerents of Christ’s kingdom.
“Yet, the Covenant continues and so does the Covenant line in the Desposyni. The Messianic kingdom is mediated through them, like it was through the Fisher King. Rulers who are not in communion with the Desposyni risk Divine displeasure. Without the Desposyni, there is no Holy Grail, there is no true Eucharist, and there is no healing for the land. When fellowship is restored, then the land flourishes.
“The Bible is holy, not because it was written by holy men. Holy men have written many things not found in the Bible. Nor is it holy because its message is holy. There are many holy things Jesus taught which are not found in the Bible, either (John 21:25). It is holy because it is the Book of the Covenant. And every translation thereof is holy, as well.
“The King James Version, also called “The Authorized Version”, is a Holy Bible. It contains many flaws. It is not a perfect text. Accuracy is not what gives it its authority.
“The authority of the King James Bible does not rest upon whether King James I was a good king. There are some who argue that he was a bad king.
“The authority of the “The Authorized Bible” rests upon two pillars:
“First, it was a Bible “authorized”, not by a committee, not by a rogue priesthood, but by a Grail King. King James I was a Stuart which finds a lineage with sacred roots.
“Second, it was a Bible of the Covenant. During the time of the Stuart dynasty, the peoples of the British Isles publicly covenanted together to become a Christian people and to be ruled by Christian laws.
“Thus, the King James Bible, unlike the Geneva Bible, the Vulgate Bible or any other Bible at that time, was a Covenant Bible vouchsafed by a representative of the Grail family. For that reason, it was the most blest Bible in Christian history.
“Our modern Bibles are created by committees that carve the text like a cadaver in a laboratory. There is no life in them. Research justifies the study of ancient texts for clarification. The Septuagint was the Bible of the Early Church. So was the Peshitta, translated in recent years into English by George Lamsa (and called “The Lamsa Bible”). These are examples of “Received Texts”. The King James Bible is more than a Received Test. It is the Bible of the Covenant – at least for those nations once ruled by the British Crown – and until the Desposyni sanction a new Bible, it remains the only Bible for the government of the Church.”
So, Golden Nugget, do you rest your faith upon the Apostolic succession and the Holy Ghost to tell you the true story? Or do you prefer to give all scriptural authority to the descendants of fallen angels?
Dear father Joseph
My interest in Evangelic churches has the following reasons:
1-They occupied immensely important space left by Roman Catholic Church.
2-There is a pronounced interest in the people on mystical (esoteric) experience.
3-High percentage of evangelics come from fringe African cults, like macumba, candomble, umbanda, and the so called scientific spiritual groups like Allan Kardec’s and many others and is widely spread among all social classes and races.
4-They are very badly indoctrinated, with gross distortions, especially regarding the Roman Catholic Church.
5-I’m aware of many historical heresies now that am reading the Fathers of The Church and seems that “there is nothing new under the sun” but realize that everyday appears a new interpretation of Scripture and accordingly a new sect.
6-I believe that many in this sects really adores Jesus Christ and are willingly searching for their salvation.
7-There is a strong financial commitment in these churches, insistently asking for tithes even during the celebration of the “cult ”. Curious liturgy that conditions salvation to monetary collaboration!
8-There are all the mayor denominations mostly from the United States, but there are many locals.
9-Their celebrations are a mix of exorcism with much music and singing (local folklore included) and the worst is a heavy reliance on a Jewish Old Testament ,I mean a favorable vision of Israel with much of the decoration you will find in a filthy synagogue (Menorahs, arks of the covenant, even, unbelievable the national State of Israel flag displayed behind the “altar”) .
10-Most of the so called “pastors” are self taught people, there are “seminaries” for all tastes from correspondence courses to 4 years university theology degrees.
11-There is a conception among the pastors that they can freely interpret the Bible. One of these the other day confided that he do not believe in the Trinity…
12-All of them condemn us Roman Catholics for being “Maristas” and being deeply devoted to The Sacred Virgin Mary.
13-As somebody stated above, they accuse us of being heretical due to a false idolatry assumption.
14-Very difficult to show the historical truth , look like they were brain-washed.
15-They are not yet, at least overtly, collecting funds to support the assassin State of Israel, but its well established that some of the largest denominations have been laundering money obtained from tithes to the State of Israel ,specially one called (Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus ,with churches all around the world).
And many ,many other considerations that would be boring to enumerate.
You see ,the problem is not only religious, but evidently is political given the emphasis that Israel acquires in their theology.
There are differences when compared with the American Zionist Christians but in the end they are useful to the Jewish elites.
I would like to be at least in a position to argue regarding the topics I already highlighted to you in the other message.
Your friend,
Juan
KathJuliane,
I must respectfully say that any attempt of explaining away the Catholic and Orthodox tradition of icons and statues will end in a fallacy.
First of all, because Canaanites could have offer just the same explanation of their images of Baal (and Baal was a name also given to the One and Only God of Heaven). But I think you have just solve the riddle when saying “they have the tradition of statuary”… That´s the little word!, “tradition”…
The Lord Jesus came ALSO to the deliver us from traditions of men which posing as very “pious” before men´s eyes, are notwithstanding dead in the eyes of God.
To every law there are exceptions. That of the cherubim warding the ark of the covenant would be such exception of God´s law.
You will find out the truth regarding this only by harmonizing the whole content of the Scriptures, both OT and NT. Were it not for harmonizing the Scriptures with discernment, we would be ransaking entire villages like we see in the book of Joshua. By the way, taking out of context is what Judaics and “Christian Zionist” are doing presently…
That of “the tradition of statuary” is quite similar to a Talmudic clause regarding worship of Moloch: according to Tractate Sanhedrin, it isi OK to worship Moloch WITHOUT passing your children through fire, and it´s also OK to pass your children through fire WITHOUT worshiping Moloch, because the Law of God prohibits to do both as part of the same act.
Blessings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
@Enya
In one breath you’re exclaiming the Rothchild influence of the Vatican and in another coming down on the Vatican for the Inquisition and the Crusades…
Who’s the real Zionist Enya? and what are you trying to say?
@Enya
FYI- One who has been (a child or adult) baptized into Christ is no longer a Jew
Why us??? What have we done?
PERSECUTION Federal prosecutors filed a new 142-count criminal indictment against former managers of Agriprocessors.
http://www.forward.com/articles/106206/
The thing I want to know is… is Putin somehow connected to the original Czar of Russia?
Maybe he has a long standing beef with the Joo world order and wants some payback.. I for one would back him up. it seems like the only solution to the problem right now.
Dear Stav
Agree with you on the drifting off the center subject of this thread.
But, as I said last week, I think that many people, that is not even participating in this section (like me, I stay more than one year silent, just watching whatever you guys had to say), benefit with the wide learning and spirituality that we find among you.
Stav, I’ll humbly ask you to highlight very concisely, let say six major doctrinal deviations of the RCC when compared with the Orthodox Church (hope that are not more than six).
Things that can make you rise your eyebrow and say: That guy is an heretic.
It’s funny, if not tragic, that I was caught thinking on the protestants as heretics, while all of the sudden I’m moved to consider me in the same rank and file!
Honestly, besides differences in the historical political stance taken by the RCC and the obvious degradation of the Papacy from ~500 AD with spots here and there of really saintly pontiffs, I can hardly imagine many great differences albeit liturgical or formal.
But I’m not an specialist, that’s the reason I’m asking your opinion and viewpoint.
You see, we have RCC ingrained in our hearts, is our religious approach to the Almighty, we open our eyes to the world practically inside a church, being baptized as little babies.
Tell you what. When I was 5 years old, (now I’m 55) I remember our good parochial father coming (on foot, my friend) to our home to say “novenas” with my mother and grandmother he even carried a heavy wooden box with sculptures of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ and keep coming during 9 successive days if I’m not mistaken.
I don’t know if this is correct or not but certainly carved a deep impression in my soul.
Cathecism. I was prepared during one whole year to receive what we call “segunda comunión”, now you are a 10 year old guy and goes everyday to the parrochial building to join a group of kids and you are tought whatever you need to know on the very basics tenets of our faith.
If you count we are speaking about 1964-1965, II vatican Council recomendations not yet enforced…
Stav, I feel we do need to find a way to short whatever differences we have.
Ecumenism is going to kill all us. Staying the way we are, separated, will ease our common enemy task.
Hope you felt the inner sentiment of this message.
Thanks in advance
Juan
Dear Father Joseph,
Downloaded “End Times “article.
Due to differences in time zones, there exits a cluster of invisible messages to us while awaiting moderation.
I did not see your reply before sending some comments.
Anyway I think that it’s pretty clear.
Juan
What did Christ say about those who corrupt the little children? The Roman Catholic Church is not the Church that Saint Patrick brought to Ireland.
Dear Juan,
Is Freemasonry active in Russia?
I think it best not to anwer that question directly. As I have said in previous posts, France and Russia are predestinate nations in terms of the role they will play “in the latter times of the world”, they are nations upon whom the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts have great designs.
In a nation like America, for example, the influence and activity of Freemasonry will be decisive over many areas. With France and with Russia this will not be the case.
At present we see the re-establishment of a Christian state. But Tzarist Russia was a Christian state. Catholic Italy was a Christian state – both fell to the power of the Revolution.
More than a Christian foundation or refounding is needed.
Dear Juan,
The gifted writer and scholar, Dr Henry Makow, author of The Illuminati, is currently expounding on many of your questions over at http://www.henrymakow.com.
Dr. Makow identifies himself as ‘an assimilated Jew’. He is presently writing a fascinating commentary on Jyri Lina’s “under the Sign of the Scorpion”.
I can see a decisive and incisive leap in his thinking since he read and reviewed Michael Hoffman’s: Judaisim Discovered: A Study of the Anti Biblical Religion of Racism, Self Worship, Superstition and Deceit. This book is now in its second printing and going out of print. This definitive text is indispensible to the questions you are asking. Please get a copy for your library while you still can. http://www.revisionisthistory.org.
golden*nugget:
It’s good to see that your spelling here is just as bad as it is when you leave your NUMEROUS messages on Hal Turners (a known FBI informant) website.
Let me help you out: Catholicism not “Catholism,” and through not “thru.” The translators of your King James Bible were learned and well educated men–you could learn from their example.
And seriously, stay away from Hal Turner–he is a liar who works for the FBI as an informant.
He’s always trying to get people to provide him with their name and address (remember the offer to provide government officials addresses for $15 and he would only send it to you by return mail?)
Seriously I suspect you have a well meaning heart. Hal Turner isn’t the answer. Spend more time here, read your Bible and follow what it says instead of men.
Dear Juan,
You wrote: Their celebrations are a mix of exorcism with much music and singing (local folklore included) and the worst is a heavy reliance on a Jewish Old Testament ,I mean a favorable vision of Israel with much of the decoration you will find in a filthy synagogue (Menorahs, arks of the covenant, even, unbelievable the national State of Israel flag displayed behind the “altar”) .
Reply: I can most readily agree with this, with the exception of calling certain holy things “filthy”. Profane and blasphemous use of these things might be better as symptoms of the Judaizing of Christianity, and the “Synagogues of Satan” with the flag of Israel prominent goes without saying much.
Just as the Law of Moses is still holy for Christians as it became the foundation of the Law of Christ on the Sermon on the Mount, there are things of old Israel that are still holy as well. The Menorah (Seven-branched lamp-stand of the Temple, and olive oil is still used) is on the altars of Orthodox and Eastern Temples (properly edifices are “temples”, while people are the church); the Syriac and Assyrian Oriental Orthodox use a synagogue form of liturgy that includes the presence of the Ark containing Scripture; there is still a “tabernacle” or “ark” that now houses the symbols of the New Covenant of Christ, ie. the Holy Eucharest.
Also, dear Juan, we are all “heretics” to some degree or another, as we are all fallen and sinful people. Orthodoxy has resisted using three-dimensional objects, like statuary, in religious expression, in that such objects, while often beautiful, also must stay within the parameters of the three-dimensional natural and material, in other words “this worldly”.
Very much like the artwork of Escher who’s genius at capturing multi-dimensional paradoxes on flat surfaces, it is the two-dimensional aspect of iconography and mosaics in the strict iconographic canons relying on sacred mathematics, geometries, proportions and symbolism that convey the “spiritual world” in their own lexicon and grammar, attempting to make visible what is invisible spiritual realities of Christian truth. Even iconography does not go past the bounds of what has been revealed in Scripture.
Three-dimensional art keeps us grounded in the material and worldly, the icons are other-worldly, and act like “windows” into the invisible realm of heaven.
BTW, the Apostles used every means possible to spread the Gospel, including early icons, as the Greeks were famous for their miniature portrait paintings. The Apostle and Evangelist Luke painted the first icon of the Virgin Mary, for example.
In a world of illiteracy, and culture of orality, the Gospel story of Christ can be contained on just 12 icons. A picture says 1,000 words, and be translated into 1,000 languages.
Beyond rational concerns about such things as statuary and particular traditions, what is much more important about your story of your blessed and humble parochial priest was his love for our Lord Jesus Christ and Christian people that he would labor so mightily to bring the beauty of holy things to parish homes.
Dear Enya,
Please don’t fall for the hyper-sensationalizing propaganda generated from the very sorrowful and painful pedophilia and homosexual scandals, and institutional failures of the hierarchy of the RCC by the Jewish-owned MSM in painting all the Catholic Christian faithful as degenerates, including their holy priesthood. We are certainly aware of the Vatican’s worldly issues.
The truth is, less than 2% of the American Catholic priesthood has ever been involved in anything scandalous or immoral. In other words, 98% of Catholic priests are still good men, 98% of Catholics are still good Christians.
Dear Lynda.
I went to henrymakow.com and read :
USSR _Illuminati experiment was “social catastrophe”
To the end of this introductory article we read:
“…Eventually the cost of maintaining the USSR became too heavy, and the new Russia was born, under the Freemasons Yeltzin and Putin….”
Yes, I’ll purchase Hoffman book.
When I think how bad the jewish banker had been in my country, you can’t but pale confronted with the Soviet reality.
“Una verdadera máquina de picar carne humana” that’s to say “a real human flesh grinder”.
I’ve been in Moscow towards the end of the soviet nightmare (1985).
But could see misery not just material but deep spiritual misery, sorrow, saddness, specially in the eyes of old people.
Juan
Dear KathJuliane,
There was no offence intended when mentioned sacred Menorahs, arks of the covenant, remember seen those in a synagogue and never visited an Orthodox temple (pure ignorance of myself).
The problem, I think, is the Evangelic association with those objects.
I believe they are trying to incorporate the more that they possibly can into their liturgy from the jewish synagogue.
Not precisely from the Orthodox Church.
I mean, in the end there is not a clear understanding of the lost covenant by Israel.
The ambient and the message is confusing, they keep saying constantly that they must bless the people of Israel (not the concept that we are Israel after Jesus crucifixion).
This even explain the presence of the flag, why else?
Never saw those objects in a Catholic Church as well.
Understand perfectly the difference between a two-dimensional and a three dimentional object from the point of view of an Orthodox, really interesting.
Thanks KathJuliane
This Comment Is From “Joanne” – A Regular Commentor Who Had Trouble With Anti-Spam:
——————————–
Below are Some comments regarding ADL and homosexuality:
***************
Homosexuality is a curse and is used to Plot against Christ and His Church.
Edgar Bronfman is instructive. He has long been an official of the Anti-Defamation League, the watchdog arm of the exclusively Jewish Freemasonic lodge, B’nai B’rith.
A group of Torah Jews in New York City were authors of the Family Defense Council newsletter. In it they regularly exposed the ADL.
In the past decade, under the misleadership of Abraham Foxman, National Director, the ADL has been allied with “Gay Men and Lesbians” and pro-abortion groups.
Currently, ADL is combating a provision of the Telecommunications Reform Act that is seen as a “significant threat to the continued flow of information about abortion on the electronic superhighway, and could seriously interfere with a woman’s right to receive abortion material on-line.”
In promoting homosexuality, the ADL has submitted amicus curiae briefs where special protection for homosexuals is opposed by a state or local government.
ADL opposed the right of the Boy Scouts of America to exclude a homosexual as adult Scout leader. In its amicus curiae brief, ADL argued that “All traditional organizations do not believe homosexuality is immoral.”
ADL also submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the right of sponsors of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade to exclude an Irish-American “gay and lesbian” group from marching under its own banner.
The Court affirmed the right of the sponsors of the Parade….ADL is now undermining Christian Traditional family values.
While the ADL has concentrated upon uprooting the traditions of Western Christian civilization from public life…, it has not protested as “New Age religion” has been ushered in the back door, now to permeate society.
In fact, while condemning any manifestation of Christianity at every turn, the ADL has used First Amendment arguments in court and elsewhere to defend witchcraft and peyote (an hallucinogen derived from a type of cactus) cults.
Also, The Pink Swastika is a compelling expose of the the Zionist Nazi Party as a male supremacist homosexual elite.
When Zionist Adolf Hitler, [who was part Jewish and doing away with his own brethren] ran for Chancellor of Gemany on a platform of traditional values, he called for a rebirth of the Greek ideal, the New Man. However, Hitler’s ideal was an Aryan nobility of the ancient androgynous race sired by demons, per Genesis 6.
Zionist German National Socialists derived their view of homosexuality as a masculine virtue.
Sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Joanne
Hello. I love this site and everything you do here. I wish to give some testimony as my first comment.
Brother Kapner brought me back to my Bible. I have been reading here for over a year, and then I read the article about the Zionist Heirarchy of control over the media and banks, etc.
At the bottom he said (roughly) “How to defeat the NWO, ” get on a spaceship, fly to another planet; or slow boat to China; or Spread the Word Of Jesus.
I was frustrated, overwhelmed, angry, and broken to the verge of tears thinking about the poor children getting thier limbs blown off by tungsten bombs in Gaza, and the endless deception of the Satanists (That’s what I call the NWO), and how useless I felt thinking there was nothing I could do about it.
So, I reached over and picked up the King James Bible. I started reading at Matthew, as I have done before. BUT THIS TIME It Was Alive.
I know Brother K’s suggestion is a no brainer, but it was the catalyst needed to make me reach out again. Thank you so much. May the Lord bless you and strengthen you through all your endeavors!
Dear Mariano,
I will answer to your post in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Be advised, that the matter of disputing Icons has been addressed in the past and so it is nothing new to an Orthodox. The idea of Icons was fought very violently I might add, and through a series of events, and other reasons it led to the Seventh Ecumenical Council taking a final decision on the matter.
A simple example, which is the use we have today for photos, can be used to explain how the Orthodox view icons. It would be ridiculous, to say that one is “explaining away” his actions if they told you that they do not believe that the photo is not the same thing as what it depicts.
I assure you, the Orthodox, see icons exactly like that, like photos, or representations of the subjects they depict. Nothing more. And to simply this explanation is simply a way to escape the Protestant accusations is hypocritical.
The second matter is tradition.
There are two kinds of tradition. The first is human or worldly traditions, created by man. Then, there is tradition which is entangled irreversibly to the Early Church, and the persons involved in the Early Church. This Holy Tradition, includes first hand experience with Christ, with his Mother, with the Apostles and later with the Martyrs and Saints, the people who practiced the early form of Christianity.
This is something that you you do not know anything of, at least not first hand, because, you have been ripped away from it and thus, your forced ignorance of it makes you believe that it has no value at all.
However, what Protestants in general fail to see, is that they (as much as they like to ignore this fact), rely on Holy Tradition. The simple actions that all Christians take, such as that they read the Bible, even use the word “Church”, have a form of priesthood, stems from this holy tradition.
More specifically, the people who have written the New Testament, were much closer to the Orthodox People that you see today, than ANY, and I mean ANY other Church you see around you. In fact, they actually were Orthodox, in their ways, beliefs etc.
You say:
You will find out the truth regarding this only by harmonizing the whole content of the Scriptures, both OT and NT.
My answer to that, is that you must realize, where the NT and OT comes from. Who wrote it, and under what circumstances. For example, what was included in a day of life of St. John, when he wrote the Apocalypse? Do you think that he wrote it in a nice clean, meticulously clinical environment like most Protestants have today?
No, he was doing all the things Orthodox do today, including the venerating of Icons, partaking in the Liturgy Mystery and other practices that are only (in the purest form) kept in the Orthodox Church.
More over, St. John’s life was COMPLETELY SATURATED in Holy traditions which for him, were his personal memories and the memories of his fellow Christians of the time. THAT is where Holy Tradition stems from. And that, is what Protestants have decided to amputate from the Christian Faith.
And I say amputate, because in reality the Holy Tradition is inseparable from the Scriptures, which you take as your only source of inspiration. The Scriptures, as you read them today are the fruit of the Holy Tradition, of which you no longer know anything about. In short, without the Holy Tradition, your church would not even be there.
You say:
That´s the little word!, “tradition”…
Yes, it is an important word, because it is all we have! As I said earlier, even the bible is part of our Holy Tradition. Unfortunately for you, you are missing the rest of it. And it is a Rich tradition.
You say:
That of “the tradition of statuary” is quite similar to a Talmudic….
This paragraph reminded me of something else: While I do not compare the Holy Tradition with the Luciferian Talmudian one, there is something VERY VERY similar between Judaism and Orthodoxy.
Both Faiths are saturated in Holy Tradition. Therefore, for a Jew, Orthodoxy is in my humble opinion, the most easy to digest Christian version (apart from the fact that it is the only correct one) for a converting Jew, because of these traditions. In the eyes of a practicing Jew, Orthodoxy is a continuation and update if you will to his original faith.
Br. Nathanael, please confirm if I am right.
Orthodox priests, would look familiar to the the old Jews who had priests, exactly because they follow the same covenant after the order Melchizedek and also even appear the same as the ancient Jewish priests did–beard, long hair and all. My point to mentioning this, is to show that this tradition, has been handed down from before the coming of Christ, was update by Christ and continued via the Orthodox Church.
Another example is the Holy Communion. We Orthodox, take part in the Holy Communion, EXACTLY as told in the Bible and EXACTLY as handed down by Holy Tradition. We user Wine and Bread. We ALL partake of this, which IS His Most Holy Body and Blood.
Now compare this, core practice, with the other Churches, even the Catholic. Have you ever wondered why there are so many differences? It is either the corruption or complete lack of the Holy Tradition that causes this.
References:
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/icon_faq.aspx
I guess Orthodox people have no sins…
except for no cultural outreach of anyone, not Russian, Albanian, Coptic or Greek..(the way Catholics do) or no schools (the way Catholics do) –though anyone can go…
Dear Juan,
Again, I must apologize, as this is grossly off topic. I would not complain or blame him in the least, if Br. Nathanael blocks this post, simply for being out of topic.
Stav, I’ll humbly ask you to highlight very concisely, let say six major doctrinal deviations of the RCC when compared with the Orthodox Church (hope that are not more than six).
While I do not claim to be a Theologian nor any expert on this matter, I will try to answer your inquiry. Needless to say, I have a good personal grasp of this matter by I have consulted Greek Orthodox sources for the list I present later on in this post, as I did not want to leave anything out or make any serious ommisions:
First of all, I’d like to say that while there are doctrinal differences, there are also differences of attitude (which stem from the doctrinal ones) and practical ones, (which stem from the attitude differences). Thus we can see that there is a chain of changes, of corruption which evolves and deteriorates any heretical faith over time.
This is also a common occurrence with all heretical views. Heretical views, do not stay confined and isolated. They infect the faith and cross over to differences of attitude and practice, especially after many years pass.
It is interesting to note, that even a single change in doctrine, can lead to dramatic and tragic results, as can be seen not only in the Catholic and Protestant Churches, but also in the history of the Jewish faith, which has deteriorated to a satanic cult, in its most extreme form, due to a single decision taken, which is the dismissal of Jesus Christs’ claim that he is the messiah.
Also the generally characterized as “protestant” branch of Christianity also owes its current corrupted status, to one single premise, that of “sola scriptura”, which then gave birth to a multitude of separate churches and herecies.
Thus, before I list the differences, I would like it it be understood, that seemingly (but not actually) harmless differences in Doctrine, even small ones, can and will lead to catastrophic results.
So here we go::
1) The filioque. A completely arbitrary change added to the Creed or Symbol of the Faith. It was specifically canonized, in previously accepted ecumenical councils that the Creed be not changed by anyone and for any reason. There are some practical issues also involved, because of the lack of specificity int he Latin as compared to the Greek which cased the perpetuation of this change.
The theological differences derived by this insertion of a single three letter word into the creed, have filled centuries worth of writings and inspired countless minor heretical views.
2) The Pope claiming to be first among equals. This, again, was an arbitrary decision, clearly based on intended political power and the display of superiority and authority. It must be noted here, that the first apostles viewed themselves as equals and there was no first among them. This was displayed in practice in the first apostolic synod of 49 ad.
3) The completely unjustified and baseless claim that the Pope is infallible when he speaks as the Pope. No scriptural nor Holy tradition supports this claim. Enough said. The Orthodox consider the Ecumenical councils, to be only infallible human action and again this infallibility is supported and inspired by God.
4) The Uniate Church, or otherwise expressed the Trojan Horse plague, that has afflicted usually the greatly diminished Slavic people, who under the other plague of Communism were nearly destroyed. How can anyone claim that putting on a fake appearance of the Orthodox for the sole purpose of infiltrating traditionally Orthodox countries, in the name of the “Church” is beyond me. It is important to note that many Orthodox Churches and parishes were taken over by Uniates, by force. Other labels for this “church” can be Byzantine Catholic etc. etc.
5) The Celibacy of Priests. Again, this was an arbitrary change from the previously accepted Ecumenical Council decision.
6) Differences in worship. Many arbitrary changes were done to the way Christians worshiped until the schism. The use of unleavened bread and the non-giving of Christ’s Most Holy Blood to the laity, the baptism by sprinkling, the confession behind a screen, the changes in priestly attire, the over realistic icons/paintings and statues etc. were all such arbitrary changes.
All of the above, has had a more profound and visible change in the Catholic Church. The practical changes range from seemingly insignificant changes, to blatant evil behavior. The Catholic Church, slowly took on a church-political attitude, seeking worldly power and control over things. The “holy” inquisitions, the crusades, are examples of this twisted attitude. The more blatant examples of evil behavior, include the attacking of “fellow’ Christians during the Crusades in Constantinople, the congratulating telegraphs sent to Kemal Ataturk by the Catholics after his extermination of the Greek populations in Asia minor etc. etc.
The main practical difference today, is the worldly attachment that the Catholic Church has, which shows through their every action and their refusal to change even their most blatant errors in doctrine.
Stav
Hi All and Maria,
I feel I have to add the following to my previous posts:
1) My personal, I repeat, personal theory on why the Orthodox are Orthodox, starting by my self, is that we simply are the MOST prone to sin. Thus we are the FIRST who need a correct faith, otherwise we would be lost. Given how the Greeks can be, and that is a personal observation, anyone who knows them would agree with me. Then again, I cannot speak for the rest of the Orthodox. I consider my self to be a sinner, and would not try to defend all Orthodox people as perfect. We have plenty of short comings, but one of them is not our Correct Glorification (which is the meaning of the word Orthodoxy) of God.
2) I would also like to add, that again its my personal opinion, that the Orthodox Church can and has something to learn from some of the other Churches. Namely their organized approach, in all respects.
3) Also I admire the knowledge that some Evangelicals have of the Scriptures, although, its funny, because while they know the Scriptures, they sometimes “forget” the passages which do not support some of their positions. It is also sad, because some of them learn the Scriptures from grossly mistranslated sources and thus remain untouched by the message of the Bible.
Stav
Dear Juan,
Other than knowing you are an electrical engineer living there in South America and I’m living here North America, you have to admit the reality of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Reality of the Abiding Divine Grace(s) that are afforded us as a result of the Church’s Sacraments of Baptism, Confession, Confirmation and the Eucharist.
You are I are both seeing “the same thing” in spirit while continents apart, having no other common link other that our spiritual union in the Faith.
We both recognize this HUGE problem our World, its Human Race and Our Lord’s Church are currently engulfed and we both recognize there are just so many blocks, so many obstalces, so many impediments spawned within and throughout the nations and states of our world which all work together to ensure one catastrophy after another befalls us all – whether we like it or not.
– Fr. Joseph
We see here that he that doesn’t believe in God and Son -IS the Antichrist.
We also see that mankinds number is 666.
We see the beast has the same number.
(The actual number means nothing but to ID).
So- we see the beast is MANKIND.
“WE” are the capable beast (or the non- believers anyway)
Dear Juan,
Anti-spam chewed up and spit out yet another one of my postings to you. Oh well. It was another “good” one (grin).
I suppose I just have “too much” I can share with you with regards to the manifold things and evils affecting our contemporary World. To be sure, attribute THAT to the Graces of God working in, on and with me.
Let me give this another try.
Henry Makow just posted an article on the Masonic-Illumist geopolitical and psycho-spiritual conspiracies against God, the Church and the peoples of once very Christian Russia.
Same sort of thing happened to the people of France, Poland, England, Italy and here in the U.S.A. via the Masonic-Illuminist U.S. Supreme Court ruling of 1947 in the Everson v. Board of Education case.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav
Thank you very much indeed!
I’ll be reading this your missive with more attention and due consideration.
Looks clear enough in the first instances.
Juan
Dear Juan,
Anti-spam chewing me up left and right. Once again.
Here in the U.S.A., the Masonic-Illuminist alliance has successfully eradicated Apostolic Christianity from the everyday lives of the vast majority of U.S. citizens by using the Masonic-Illumist U.S Supreme Court of 1947 in its ‘Judicial Fiat’ ruling of Everson v. Board of Education.
Always, the Masonic-Illumnist-Satanic as well as Rosicrucian-Hermetic-Qabbalist spiritual alliance go after the ‘Central Authority’ of the peoples of nations and states. They topple their OWN indiginous governments they’ve errected for themselves and install some sort of vehemently anti-Christ and anti-Church social corporation headed by their own hand selected CEOs, CFOs and COOs who, in turn, use the Executive, Legislative and Judicial sub divisions to ensure the Christian Faith is erradicated, removed – or at least diluted and rendered impotent in the affairs and lives of the peoples of that particular nation-state.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
As you see here on the RZN forums, divide and conquer is the constant and relentless mindset imposed on people the world over TO ENSURE no form of unified spiritual resistance is frothcoming from the “remnants” of the Christian Church.
Henry Makow just posted an article on how the Masons-Illuminists launched their pycho-spiritual assault against the once very Christian nation of Russia.
And just look at the vehement display of the ‘Orthodox’ ensuring they do everything in their power to keep anything ‘Catholic’ as far away from them as if it were a ‘Plague’.
The Most Holy Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God Incarnate Himself, appeared to three children in the VERY Catholic country of Portugal back in 1917 A.D. several monthg BEFORE the actual Bolshevik Revolution TOPPLED the Christian Monarchy of Russia.
In order TO SAVE the people of RUSSIA from the Masonic-Illuminst satanic conspiracy against the Christian Russian Monarchy and the ORTHODOX Church of Russia, see asked for a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart by the BISHOPS of the Catholic Church.
But because of the HOSTILITY between those who want to relish in their Orthodoxy while having nothing to do with the Western Church and because of the fear of the Prelates in the Western Church in complying with the Mother of God’s Fatima Instruction,
MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX loose their lives on account of the Masonic Illuminist Bolshevik Revolution!
Is that “SILLY” or not?
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
So as you continue reading the postings from ‘the Orthodox’ here on RZN, whether they be Russian Orthodox or Serbian Orthodox or Greek Orthodox or Syrian Orthodox – they are ALL in common agreement that they must have NOTHING TO DO WITH the Catholic Church and the Mother of God’s 1917 A.D. Fatima Apparition and Instructions!
So the Serbian Orthodox have to have their brains blown out, their homes and lands BOMBED into the ground because the RUSSIAN Orthodox don’t want anything to do with the Bishop of Rome and the Catholic Church.
The Greek Orthodox and the Syrian Orthodox throughout the Middle East have to endure DECADE after DECADE of wars and deprivations on account of the Zionist State of Israel because both the Serbian and Russian Orthodox continue to remain STUBBORN and hold anything of the Latin Church in contempt – principally the Most Holy Theotokos’ urgent pleas and Message and Instruction per her Fatima Apparitions.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Father Joseph
You speak to my heart, father.
I’ll try to learn and be of some help to someone else.
Thanks,
Your friend, Juan
Mariano: “I must respectfully say that any attempt of explaining away the Catholic and Orthodox tradition of icons and statues will end in a fallacy.”
Response: Bless you for your courteous reply. I have given you an explanation. Whether you choose to consider them “fallacious” or not without at least doing the research that some fine modern Protestant, Evangelical, and Lutheran theologians and scholars are doing looking for the “ancient historical NT Church”, that is up to you.
You are familiar, I am sure, with the great late Frances Shaeffer, one of the best American Christian thinkers I know of. Now ask yourself how is it that his equally brilliant son, the Evangelical Frankie Shaeffer, converted to Orthodoxy?
Please find the authority for me, if you would be so kind, in Holy Scripture that justifies “by Faith alone” (Sola Fide) and “by Scripture Alone” (Sola Scriptura). Sad to say, even these concepts of Martin Luther have been distorted from their original basis.
The “fallacy” is not mine. The Old Testament must be evaluated in the light of the New Testament, not vice versa. The OT is “shadows and types” prophesying the Messiah to Come; the NT is the New Covenant of Christ.
The Orthodox Church governs her life by Apostolic Tradition. The heart of the RCC is also the same Apostolic Tradition, as it is the common Christian tradition of the Roman Empire of the East and West, politically united for 3 centuries after Constantine as Romania. Apostolic Tradition of the Church also governed churches in the territories outside of the borders of the Byzantine Roman Empire, such as in Africa, Persia, and Asia, all of which participated in what is called the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church.
After these Councils, decisions began to be unilaterally made in the West by the Bishop of Rome, one of the Patriarchs of the Pentarchy of the imperial Church of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. “Byzantine Roman Orthodoxy” can roughly describe the period of time of united faith during the first millennium. Whether Celtic-rite Orthodoxy, Latin-rite Orthodoxy or Eastern-rite Orthodoxy, it was the same Apostolic Holy Tradition
After the Schism of the Pope from the Pentarchy, hence from the Eastern Patriarchs, the Latin Church continued to evolve as the Papal monarchy, while the Eastern Churches retained their collegial and concillar nature.
When I speak from the “Orthodox” perspective, it is always in relation to the undivided Church of the first millennium as “the” Apostolic Tradition. Such things as the claims of “Peter’s throne” as the seat of the Papal monarchy based on the spurious “Donation of Constantine”, and the the Popes’ creation of “Christendom” in alliance with the political prowess of the Franks, which was fully realized when Charlemagne accepted a crown from the hands of Pope Leo III in the year 800, are outside of Apostolic Tradition itself in terms of the Church. point marks the political defection of the Pope
Many are confused as to what exactly Holy Tradition is. “Tradition” comes from the Latin ‘traditio’, which is a translation of a Greek word used frequently in the Scriptures, ‘paradosis’. Translated literally, this word means something that is handed on from one person to another, in the same way that a baton is handed over in a relay race. Something that is “traditioned” is passed on from one person or group of people to another, generation to generation. St. Paul clarifies in Galatians 1:11 that the Tradition of the Church is “not according to man”. In other words, it is revealed by God, and not a human product.
Tradition also means an experience, an entire life—not simply a series of teachings, but the living out of those teachings that have come from the God Who has revealed Himself to us. But the best “evangelism” does not come out of Scripture, it comes from the struggling to be a decent imitation of Jesus Christ in life and family.
The books that are in the Holy Scriptures both Old and New Testaments, are there because God’s people, through those who were set aside as having authority to make the decision, decided that these books would be part of the Bible, and other books would not. The Church, as God’s people inspired by God, wrote the Bible, both OT and NT. The Church produced the Bible. The Bible did not produce the Church.
The Holy Scriptures are the principal and most honored written record of God’s revelation to His people. But it is the understanding of the Orthodox that the Holy Scriptures cannot be completely and truthfully understood unless they are understood within the context of the Church that produced them, and declared them to be what they are. Quite often I must use “Orthodox” in order to distinguish from what is “Roman Catholic”, as were are two distinctly separate ecclesiastical communities, despite common Faith.
After the Schism of 1054 when the Papacy went its own monarchial way from the concillar and collegial Pentarchy of the Church, in the RCC the authority now rests in the Magisterium, which follows “development of dogmas”, which the Eastern Churches do not ascribe to. If it is not in Holy Tradition and in accord with the “patristic mind” of the Church of Christ of which Scripture is the primary pillar, then it is “man made tradition”.
Dear Juan,
World Peace is still possible. The thermonuclear devises haven’t been set off as yet.
Heaven’s Key To Peace
http://www.heavenskeytopeace.com/
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Fr Joseph,
There are many agents of mega death in the world, of which thermos are only one.
The peace the world wants is an absence of conflict and business as usual for the powers ruling this age of the world and their populations.
They do not want the peace of Christ the King. Therefore, The Plan of the ruling powers to manifest their authority in New (Old) World Order will continue apace.
Albert Pike said it would take three world wars to “externalize” this ruling hierarchy
IN the final plan, Pike’s letter to Mazzini, he envisioned this as a war to exhaustion between Christinity, Communist / Zionist state and Islam.
That is the plan that is being machinated.
The U.S. of course has enacted every plank in the platform of the Comintern / U.N. and so will line up with Zionism.
But we know from history that, as the polity of Rome was at issue between the Tetrarchs what happened after 3 centuries of Christian martyrdom.
Because Our Lord must reign until all enemies are under his feet, unforseen EVENTS from heaven have a way of occurring at these decisive historical junctures.
In the contest shaping up, one power (as was Constantine) will be given the power to claim victory.
And which one might that be, I wonder
After the Schism of 1054 when the Papacy went its own monarchial way from the concillar and collegial Pentarchy of the Church, in time, the RCC the “teaching authority” of the was dogmatically formalized as the Magisterium in the 16th century , which follows “development of dogmas”, which the Eastern Churches do not follow. If it is not in Holy Tradition, the “patristic mind” of the Church of Christ of which Scripture is the primary pillar, then it is “man made tradition”.
Since about the 9th century, many practices entered the Western Church that are innovations, clearly traceable errors, and this will certainly make my Catholic friends grit their teeth, but heresies as well. Nor is anything I say as an Orthodox ever meant as condemnation of my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ. It is all meant as a long view of ecclesiastical and spiritual history which has led up to the massive shipwreck of Faith in the West. He who does not learn the mistakes of history is doomed to repeat them in the future.
These unilateral changes by the Papacy are not within the dogmatic bounds, and fly into the very face of the historical and authoritative parameters as set by the Seven Ecumenical Synods as to what Holy Apostolic Tradition is, outside of which includes the notion of Papal monarchy itself as a political state.
And, we “stubborn” Orthodox still get it cast into our teeth, yet the proof is Scripturally very simple, our Lord Jesus said “My kingdom (the Church) is not of this world.”
Church, in order to be Church taking care of the spiritual life and the curation of souls, must not be also be anchored to worldly affairs of State and used as a political tool, or have a worldly political desire for temporal power itself. Church, besides preparing souls for Eternity, is supposed to prepare people for a moral and orderly life that can be brought into the temporal and political sphere of a fallen and sinful world. This is how the early Church turned the pagan Roman empire on its head.
By Constantine’s time, from 1/4 to 1/3 of the population were Christian, including the equestrian ranks of the government offices and the military, the Patrician aristocracy, even the Army had legion troops and auxiliary cohorts of Christians, especially in the East. Then, when the Roman elite, up to and including some of the imperial household itself, refused to recant their faith in Christ at the order of the pagan Diocletian, the East broke out in eight years of the worst of the waves of persecutions against Christians in a bloodbath that crossed all classes and castes.
When pagan rage finally exhausted itself at the Christians “stubborn” refusal to sacrifice to the Roman idols in the daily public piety in the Great Persecution, there were more Christians than ever. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” But, on the other hand, Constantine had a Roman government, military and administration that were already partially Christianized to begin with, by the people themselves.
Therefore, under Justinian’s model, the Church institution ideally is not involved directly with temporal, civil and political affairs. The Justinian model is very much in keeping with our Constitutional Fathers’ ideas of no “establishment of religion” because of their direct experience of the established Church of England, headed by the King, which also collected religious taxes apart from civil taxation, ultimately both benefiting the King’s political power, and the Crown Banksters as well.
On the same hand, it does not prevent bishop, such as Bishop Atalla Hanna, a Palestinian advocate, may become involved in the affairs that directly involve his diocese and his Christian people in particular, and the welfare of people in general. Bishop Atalla and the Muslim clerics, have made it quite clear that in his co-labors with the Muslim Palestinian leadership, it is strictly political one behalf of the Palestinian people on the whole..
In the Byzantine Roman Empire of the undivided East and West, the imperial capital of which was Constantinople (Diocletian had disestablished Rome as the capital of the Roman Empire about 295 CE), centuries before the rise of the hybrid political model of “Christendom” along the Papal-Latin Frank axis of two European emperors struggling to gain power over each other, and then ganging up on the remains of the Byzantine Roman Empire, the Justinian Code of the 6th century thoroughly modeled Church and State under his theory of “Symphonia” existing as two separate spheres in mutual submission and obedience to each other concerning the responsibilities of their respective spheres.
Simply put, the Church is “in the world”, “not of the world”. Under the Justinian model, the Basileos (emperor) was the autocrat of the Roman State, and as “Defender of the Faith”, the Basileos was the “Vicar of Christ” in his political role, and as such the Basileos submitted to the Church Pentarchy regarding ecclesiastical and spiritual matters.
The closest thing to “Caesaro-Papism” in the East might have been that of Tzar Peter the Great in dismissing the Patriarch, and placing himself as the head of the Church Synod. However, Tzar Peter was also heavily influenced by Western models of German Monarchy and “Europeanization” desiring to come into the Enlightenment world. But any case, the centuries of warfare and controversy that evolved from struggles of Popes who would be Kings, and Kings who would be Popes in European affairs never occurred in Eastern Church history, nor the “Dark Ages”, or European feudal serfdom as we think of it..
In spring 1917, after the abdication of the most pious and faithful Tzar Nicholas II from the Russian throne, head of the Russian Church and “little Father” to the people, the Russian Synod reinstituted the Patriarchate of Moscow while the country was enmeshed in “soft” revolutionary troubles, and foreseeing the troubles to come of the Bolshevik Revolutionaries, elevated New Martyr-Patriarch Tikhon, formerly Archbishop of the Russian Church in Alaska and America, to be the “little Father” in spiritual leadership and strengthen the Russian people to face the on-coming Red Terror.
But, the Russian Church, with her long Byzantine affiliation with Constantinople, had, by this action, restored something of the ancient model of Justinian’s Symphonia with the elevation of the Patriarch as head and great champion of the Orthodox people through the most horrible circumstances possible. He was executed about 1927.
Enduring her crushing under the Bolsheviki and the Soviet rule, then the Glasnost and perestroika plundering of the FSY by the Clintonista liberal Jewish Yale privateers in league with the Jewish Oligarchs in bringing Zionist “democracy” and “capitalism” to the further tears of the people, finally the “New Russia” of Putin conforms rather closely to the ancient model of Justinian’s Symphonia of the independent, but mutually supportive spheres of Church and State within the constitutional republic with something of an autocratic component and a parliamentary system.
Putin and Medyedev must still go to confession, and submit to the spiritual discipline of their confessors. And they do not confess TO the priest, but Putin prays his confession to Jesus Christ in front of His holy Icon as the King and Judge of all things, to which the priest confessor stands witness. Let me tell you, this is sometimes quite difficult to do, realizing that one’s conscience is buck naked to the gaze of heaven, when icon of Christ is looking back at you with the Book of Life in His hand.
During the Red Terror and the destruction of monasteries, churches, the butchering of the millions, the satanically driven Bolsheviki Jews often gouged out the painted eyes of the icons of the saints and martyrs.
The Papacy has finally acknowledged that the Eastern Orthodox Church has remained completely pure in maintaining the Apostolic Holy Tradition, and teaches no errors concerning Christian Faith, after many centuries of painful history, crusades and persecutions of the Eastern Orthodox people as “heretics”, Now we are merely “schismatic”, and “backwards”.
And, we “stubborn” Orthodox still get it cast into our teeth for being so, as certainly the Orthodox Serbs have experienced most recently in the last century. And this includes the hideously horrible, and well documented persecution, forced conversions, mass slaughters, death camps, and ethnic cleansing by the Fascist Catholic Croats in WW2, with the active collaboration of Croatian bishops, clergy, monks and nuns. Along with the Serbs that perished were the Serbian Jews and the Rom people. Understanding anything about Balkan affairs now as the “faultline of three religions” after the end of Tito’s Communist regime, means going back into history as well to even get a grasp of the enormities.
Kosovo is the cradle of the great monastic Serbian Orthodox civilization, their “Jerusalem”, and this land as well as the territory of Metohija, was granted to them in 1146 by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenos.
Did all the Catholic Croats participate in Fascist Croatia? No, in fact quite a number of Catholic clergy attempted to protect the Serb Orthodox, and sometimes these clergy paid the penalty as well for being enemies of the new Fascist Croat state. Are “all” Catholics implicated in this? No, not unless one approves of what was obviously manifest evil simply because it was “Catholic”.
The proof about separation of “Church” from temporal and political affairs is Scripturally very simple, our Lord Jesus said “My kingdom (the Church) is not of this world.”
From the Protestant side of things especially the great Martin Luther, I have a great deal of respect for his labors attempting to first make reforms within the Catholic Church regarding the numerous excesses he was addressing as a pious Catholic and very learned Augustinian theologian.
After much study of the Greek Orthodox Church and all of the Church Fathers—Latin and Greek—which the West believed was dead in Luther’s time after the Ottoman conquest, and deciding it was truly the “ancient historical Church”, Luther’s original efforts were solely aimed at correcting all of the accretions of the RCC Church to the pristine condition of Latin Orthodoxy before the schism with the East in 1054. The 95 Theses was, in fact, thoroughly grounded in ancient Holy Tradition and the Church Fathers.
“There was no offence intended when mentioned sacred Menorahs, arks of the covenant, remember seen those in a synagogue and never visited an Orthodox temple (pure ignorance of myself).
The problem, I think, is the Evangelic association with those objects.
I believe they are trying to incorporate the more that they possibly can into their liturgy from the jewish synagogue.”
Dear Juan, please forgive me, after re-reading what I wrote, for it was not directed towards you, and as usual, engaged keyboard while exchanging feet, of which one is usually stuck in my mouth at any given time.
What you’ve written is an astute observation, for there is what is called “Jewish Roots” or “Hebrew Roots” movements among some Christian communities. To me, it definitely underscores the fact that right now, America is a “land of dry wells” spiritually. We were created to worship God in a liturgical way, in a community of believers. In and of itself, by attempting to restore some sort of ordered doxology tradition and sense of holiness to their own communities, rather than resorting to “spontaneous” worship, their hearts are in the right place, but going in the wrong direction.
In that way on the surface, Jewish tradition is attractive, as it includes such things as high regard for family and home worship in set prayers, following an ordered calendar, as well as the sense of continuity with the past. But without evaluating what they are doing through very ancient Christian tradition which carried forward the things of Synagogue and Temple by the Apostles themselves, or understanding how very many things were subtly changed or redefined to reflect the Gospel truth in the days of the early Church.
Things like importing tambourines and dance into worship were never a part of the Synagogue. These things were all a part of the “folk festival” aspects, outside of what was supposed to be the more solemn areas of worship and Scripture. Psalms were all chanted without instruments in the Synagogue. At the Temple, there were certain limited times when the Levite musicians played their own instruments, and certainly not when the high priests were conducting the worship inside the Temple itself. When a priest went inside the Sancturary to offer up the sacrifice of incense and his prayers, the most holy portion of the service outside of the Day of Atonement, the congregation outside were actually supposed to be prostrated in complete silence, until the high priest came out with the benedictions for worshippers.
So, it is “zeal not according to knowledge”, and it also comes with the Zionist price tag as well, not to mention submerging themselves in the Rabbinic Pharisee Judaism which our Lord very clearly said made the divine Law of Moses to no effect. So, now we have a hybrid of Judeo-Christianity, or Judaizers among the 31 Flavors of Christian doctrines.
Most assuredly, the basic Bible-believing Christian American definitely knows there is a big problem with this, simply by reading Scripture and taking heed to our Lord Jesus’ words. We might be in a spiritual desert at the moment, but here in America we also do have a great rugged tradition of the circuit riding preacher armed with his Bible, ready to preach a little fire and brimstone when necessary to preach the Truth from right out of Scripture and wake people up.
And we do have some great ones.
For the benefit of Putins detractors. Putin has shown even further through his opposition to the Gay agenda in Russia his anti-Masonic, anti-Zionist character, both of which promote the above.
About Freemasonry and its link to Zionism, El-Azra University in Cairo had this to say about Freemasonry
.“…It is a Jewish organization in its roots. Its secret higher International Administrative board are Jews and it promotes Zionist activities….there is a clear relationship between Freemasonry, Judaism and International Zionism.
It has controlled the activities of high Arab officials in the Palestinian problem. It has limited their duties, obligations and activities for the benefit of Judaism and international Zionism.”
http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/layiktez1.html
Hence – the two beasts of the Apocalypse are intertwined.
“The Venerable Patriarch Sergius with the Clergy and the Official of Byzantium Vonos, endlessly marched along the great walls of Constantinople with an Icon of the Theotokos in hand (a PUBLIC and SOLEMN Consecration of Constantinople to her intercession and protection!)…The miracle came soon after…et al
“Living in these trying times, when we are beseiged by many forces of evil, it is hoped that the Akathist Hymn and other Services (such as yet another PUBLIC and SOLEMN Collegial Consecration to the Theotokos – parens mine) may restore the bullwark to withstand, and indeed to overcome these forces.” – quoting from
http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/Akathist.htm
– Fr. Joseph
11 centuries LATER…
“From in front of the Tabernacle, he (Pope Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome) had heard a confrontation between JESUS and SATAN. Satan was bragging to Jesus that if he had enough time and enough power, HE COULD DESTROY THE CHURCH” – quoting from
http://www.geocities.com/stmichaelsangels
33 years LATER to the very month, the Theotokos APPEARS to three children in Fatima Portugal ADVISING and INSTRUCTING the Bishops of the Church to perform a PUBLIC and SOLEMN Collegial Consecration to HER!
“Living in these trying times, when we are BESEIGED by many forces of EVIL, it is hoped that the Akathist and other Services (such as a PUBLIC and SOLEMN Collegial Consecration not of Constantinople this time, but of Russia – parens mine) may provide the bulwark to withstand, and indeed TO OVERCOME these forces”
http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/Akathist.htm
The AVARS who were about to gain VICTORY over the city of Constantinople were KHAZARS as well as Bulgars!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Avars
– Fr. Joseph
OFF TOPIC – disturbing
Lou Dobbs a CNN commentator of the news show “Lou Dobbs Tonight” runs a nightly poll on his web site ( http://loudobbs.tv.cnn.com/ ) the results of which he reports on his show, here is the one from May 21, 2009.
Would you personally employ torture to save American lives and prevent an attack on this country?
Yes 87% 4726
No 13% 709
Total Votes: 5435
This is not a scientific poll.
From this disturbing information it would seem the Zionist have their affirmation to continue the communist/socialist/fascist rule of this land and the world.
Dear Stav,
First of all, I must clarify that I am not a Protestant. I was born in a Roman Catholic environment and never understood all the traditions Catholics observe, though I supposed that it was God whom I was at odds with because of my “insensibility”. Then, when I was 24, I read the Bible for the very first time and realized that what I had been taught regarding Jesus was totally wrong. One night I had a visitation of the Holy Spirit and wholeheartedly repented of my sinful life and became a new man. And when I say this, I mean it…
Though I identified myself with a Protestant view –maybe due to my Catholic background-, I came to see that Protestantism is as manmade as any other “religion”. Presently, I don’t label myself anything but “a Biblical Christian”. As such, I cannot help but read what the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians in his first letter to them:
“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.
“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 Corinthians 1: 10-17)
I cannot either close my eyes to what the same apostle Paul writes to the brethren in Ephesus:
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:4-6
Talking about Ephesus… How did you come to know that John venerated icons? You cannot know that except through Orthodox account. The problem with Orthodox, Roman Catholic and even Protestant accounts is that they fail to seek a scriptural pattern on which every true born again Christian can rely with safety.
Some years ago I learnt that Luther hated so much the letter of James that he placed it at the very end of its translation of the Bible, following the book of Revelation!
As for Orthodoxy, I felt once attracted to attend a Russian Orthodox liturgy, were a young monk provided my with a few booklets containing teachings that you simply won’t find in the Scriptures. He never asked me regarding my faith in Jesus Christ or whether I had repented of my sins… He only wanted me to be just another son of his “Mother Church” Is that the work of the Spirit? Ca we talk of the church as a mother, when it is only the assembly of the saints, i. e., of people who repented of their sins and embraced the path taught by Jesus and the apostles? Where do the apostles teach that an assembly becomes a mother figure?
Even when I don’t believe in Christian denominations, I don’t judge anyone in my heart because of his or her personal belief regarding them. Instead of that, I am convinced that everyone –including myself- will have to appear before God’s Holy Throne and explain his or her choices of life. It was not Luther who convinced me of this, but the Scriptures themselves. Luther will have to explain why he hated so much James´ letter and why he condoned “holy wars” in Germany, and so on…
You say tradition is all we have… Speak for yourself, Stav; speak for yourself… However, there is one thing I agree with you: in that Judaism is very similar to Orthodoxy, to Roman Catholicism and to Protestantism. All of them are full of traditions of men which have no support in the OT nor in the NT, and oftentimes are even plainly contradicted by them.
The Melchizedek priesthood in Christianity has nothing to do with wearing any kind of robes nor long hair. It has everything to do with a contrite heart and a humble disposition to learn from Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit who is in every true believer in the wonderful and beautiful God’s plan of the ages.
Differences are not caused by not following the Orthodox tradition, but instead by not following the advise of the Spirit through the Scriptures.
There comes a time -and it has yet come for many- when our faith will be tested to the utmost, even unto death. The Pharisees will be again looking for the lives of those who dare to follow “that man” called Jesus. Then it will be seen who is and who is not an overcomer.
I pray for everyone in this forum to be an overcomer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blood on the Mercy Seat
The staggering news that the archeologist Ron Wyatt discovered the Ark of the Covenant in 1982 UNDER the exact spot where the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was when He was crucified stark naked, and His own blood dripped down onto the Mercy Seat, exactly the way Daniel prophesied in the 9th chapter said it would, is just beyond mind blowing!
To think that the Antichrist Jews have kept this news TOP SECRET for these 26 years or so, it is just the kind of thing that drove them to disrupt my internet service from apartment 175 the very night I found out myself. After uploading Pastor Eli James’ page revealing the information, my service went down at 1:24 AM, because my son in law was on the Internet the exact time the neighbors made my system crash.
When the Cox Internet service guy came yesterday he could find nothing wrong with my system and yet they could not make contact with my modem from their office. When he went back out to his van, the Mossad guys next door went outside and watched him and then evidently decided to turn my access back on, for when the Cox Service man came back inside, the system was working just fine. He was dumbfounded but I showed him the picture of their Presario 2700 on my desktop as a “shared” computer, and he was convinced that my neighbors were hacking into my system. You can see that picture on my Mac page.
No wonder the terrorist state of “Israel” wanted that blocked. Not only does all this information prove that they are “unbiblical” as I’ve been saying all along, based on the charts on Daniel 9, but Revelation 17 proves that they and their Rothschild Banking Cartel are the 8th Beast of Revelation. (See charts on my page).
Not only is “Israel” NOT made up of the true Israelites, but we American, British, Swedes, Germans, Norwegians, French and Anglo Saxons, are all the True Israelites and the “so called Jews” are the impostors from Edom. The Edomites. The Synagogue of Satan that our Lord identified in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, and the seed of Cane. They are Canaanites NOT Israelites and Baptists can’t tell the difference.
When Ron Wyatt took the blood he found on the Mercy Sear to a lab in “Israel” they reconstituted the blood and began to examine it. When the guy at the microscope discovered that it had only 23 Chromosomes and only a SINGLE Y, all from a mother and NOTHING from a human father, adding up to ONLY 24 Chromosomes all together, when humans all have 46, he called his boss over and they all began to talk in Hebrew as fast as they could.
Ron had no idea what was going on.
When they got all the scientists together after they’d discovered it was impossible for anybody’s blood to have ONLY 24 Chromosomes, they finally asked Ron Wyatt:
“Whose blood is this?”
“It’s the blood of your Messiah” Ron answered.
To think that “Israel” has kept this secret all these years proves it’s not a hoax like their Holocaust. If it had been a hoax it would have been all over “the news” here in America and around the world where the media is all owned by the Antichrist Jews. The most staggering information to come out in 2000 years, and they don’t tell us!
In 586 BC the prophet hid the Ark away in a cavity on Mount Zion, evidently not knowing that the Lamb of God would one day hang naked on a cross, just above where he had hid the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. God’s Providence is so exact that when He says the blood of His Son will be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, you can trust what YHWH says.
To go to my page featuring Pastor Eli James introduction to Ron’s research into this earth shaking event, and then on to Ron’s video explaining how he found the blood of Christ under the site of the cross, go here:
http://web.me.com/skipbaker5/Welcome/FLASH.html
If you don’t believe me when I say the Mossad is camped next door constantly messing with my uploads, go here:
http://web.me.com/skipbaker5/Welcome/ADL_Watchers.html
Great Babylon, that Great Whore of Revelation 17, is falling! Its evil and plans over the past 2000 years that have been “Mystery Babylon” and they are being exposed for what it all is: The Antichrist. The Talmudists are suffering the exposure of their false religion as a result of what they did to us on 911. Each day more and more people learn what really happened and with the movie Missing Links, the world is waking up.
They are about to install their Mark of the Beast and those who haven’t put their faith in Jesus Christ are going to take the “Mark” in the right hand. It will be just a small chip that will make it so handy for shopping and “buying and selling.” All you’ll need to do is pass your hand over a sensor at the 7/11 and your account will be debited. It will seem so harmless and so handy. The International Antichrist Jewish Bankers will go to a one world currency soon and millions of people are going to accept the Mark of the Beast while millions of others will wake up in time to refuse the Mark.
We are so close to having this happen, yet the whole world is terrified of even saying the word “Jew” that they are going to take their Mark, so as to avoid being called “anti-Semitic.” The thought is so terrifying to most people they’d rather get the “Mark of The Beast” rather than be called a “crazy anti-Semite.” The devil has set up the unfaithful just right, and since they believe the Rapture Doctrine, that the Jews gave them in 1909 in their Scofield Study Bible, the stage is set.
Skip
Whose Idea was it to extend His Divine FORGIVENESS to the entire Human Race? Was it a Patriarch, Metropolitian, Archbishop, Bishop or Theologian’s idea?
Who said
“Yes, GOD loved the world so much
that He gave His Only Son,
so that everyone who believes in Him
may not be lost
but may have Eternal Life.
For GOD sent His Son into the world
not to condemn the world
but so that through Him
THE WORLD MIGHT BE SAVED.”
Answer, Jesus Christ, the Only Eternally Begotten SON of GOD THE FATHER! Jn 3:16-17
And who is responsible for God the Son’s Incarnate Birth into our World so dire in need of being SAVED?
The Woman of Genesis 3:15. The Blessed Virgin Mary. The Most Holy Theotokos.
And the Book of REVELATION reveals this following Divine Mystery and Supernatural Spiritual Truth:
“Then the dragon/serpant was enraged with THE WOMAN and went away TO MAKE WAR on the rest of her children, that is, all who obey God’s Commandments and bear witness for Jesus.” – Revelation 12:17
– Fr. Joseph
My dear children, I have lavished these gifts upon you with special graces for twenty centuries, BUT WITH WHAT MISERABLE RESULTS.
Those are the Words of God YOUR Father in Heaven to Mother Eugenia back on July 1, 1932. On-line in the public domain reference
http://www.theworkofgod.org/Library/Trinity/Father/Message1.htm
In order that the World might know His Anger, the HEAVENLY FATHER is preparing to inflict a Great Chastisment on ALL Mankind.
The words of THE WOMAN, the Mother of God, the Most Holy Theotokos to one Japanese Carmelite Nun, Sr. Agnes back on August 3, 1973. On-line public domain reference:
http://www.theworkofgod.org/aparitns/Akita.htm#messages
– Fr. Joseph
We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY realize this fully. We are now facing the FINAL CONFRONTATION between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church…MUST TAKE UP.”
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla – November 9, 1978
quoting from the on-line public domain reference at
http://www.johnmallon.net/Site/The_Partys_Over.html
– Fr. Joseph
From the Peccatus (Occult) Altar Underground Magazine:
I (SATAN) shall intest Your flock, Lord of Mercy, Your pure of heart are few and weak, and I am strong. They shall fall before me on their knees in worship or they’ll eternally writhe in agony in flaming torment. In a sea of indifferent suffering, Your holy shall flock to me in an orgy of sin and they will realise there is no place of eternal peace. No place at Your side. Only me and my way. I accept them and their souls for they have come willingly I still see the vision of Your holy begotten Son being upon the Cross. Thorns, blood, and flesh. Suffering. The Chosen One, the dying Messiah, glorious was t he day of the first death. Your flock mourned and I rejoiced…and again I rejoice, for have failed…”
“…for have failed…”
WHO has FAILED to do WHAT both in the nations and states of our World as well as IN His Own Church here on earth?
Think on that!
– Fr. Joseph
The Church names the sixth Deadly Sin ACEDIA or Sloth. In the world it calls itself ‘Tolerance’; but in Hell it is called ‘Despair’. It is the accomplice of the other sins and their worst punishment. It is the sin which believes in nothing, cares for nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for. We have known it far too well for many years. The only thing perhaps that we have not known about it is that it is MORTAL SIN!
– Dorothy L. Sayer – “Creed Or Chaos?”
– Fr. Joseph
The appeal of Our Lady of Fatima is so deeply rooted in the Gospel and the Tradition that the Church feels that the Message IMPOSES a commitment on her.
– Pope John Paul II at Fatima
http://www.fatima.org/WEOP/popesays.asp
Our Lady warned that if man did not stop offending God, He would use RUSSIA as His chosen “instrument” to PUNISH the World…
At Fatima, Our Lady (the Most Holy Theotokos) declared: ‘ONLY I CAN HELP YOU.’
http://www.fatima.org/essentials/whatucando/crisis.asp
Heaven’s Key To Peace
http://www.heavenskeytopeace.com
“Do not court DEATH by the errors of your ways, nor invite DESTRUCTION through your own actions. Death was NOT God’s doing…
HE TAKES NO PLEASURE IN THE EXTINCTION OF THE LIVING.” – Wisdom 1:12-13
– Fr. Joseph
So many words!! Which of us has the answer. Are we just groping in the dark?
Brother Nathanael has witnessed for himself just how DESPERATE so many people in and on the streets of New York City want to hear all about and learn all about Jesus.
“…nuclear war plans called for aiming two one-megaton bombs at each of the following; the three airports serving NYC; Wall Street; each major bridge; all major rail centers; all power stations; four NYC area oil refineries; and the NYC port facilities.”
http://www.rense.com/general52/nuc.htm
I work at Newark Liberty Airport in order to earn the money I need to support myself and what I do as a Priest in the Church’s Monastic Brotherhood.
I do not want to see a single child from New York City or from ANY city or place throughout our contemporary World instantenously turned into burning ashes and cinders in an Illuminist initited thermonuclear Third World War.
– Fr. Joseph
There is one Christ, but so many Christian denominations..
But, in the face of the AntiChrist, one world currency, one world government, the Talmudists and the Mark of the Beast, the ANSWER is for all Christian denominations to unite against this threat and leave their other divisions behind..(in this regard)..that’s the ANSWER.
Hi golden nugget,
quote:
Can you explain to me why your branch of Christianity(Catholism) contradicts everything the Bible proclaims. For example the Ten Commandments says THOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.
end of quote
I am kind of curious, given that you refer to the ten commandments.
In Romans 7, Paul discusses a law which has the characteristic of exposing sin – this after Calvary and Christ’s ascension. He quotes from this law: “You shall not covet.” If you look in the margin of your Bible, you can find where he is quoting from – Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, both givings of the ten commandments.
Here is another quote from the biblical ten commandments.
Exodus 20:8-10a
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
golden-nugget – do you try to observe this portion of the ten?
The seventh day was sanctified by God before man even sinned.
Here is an interesting tidbit. The events which this weekly day of rest commemorates DID NOT OCCUR ON THAT DAY! (They occurred on the other six days.) Meanwhile, man does the opposite. He picks a day for the reason that an event (a wonderful event) occurred on.
Just the opposite of the weekly Sabbath.
But, the following may be my favorite facet of the Sabbath.
The death that is the wages of sin and which is described in Romans 7 is one a person experiences while remaining conscious. “The commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” In short, this death is the burden of any painful feeling when one sees his evil.
Christ, though sinless, was burdened with the same. “He despised the shame.” Now, while Jesus felt despair, He did not CONSENT to it. My point is this.
There are two deaths and two resurrections – one physical and the other spiritual. Sunday looks to the physical (shadow). Meanwhile, the spiritual took place just before our Saviour physically died.
Guess which death and resurrection God’s Sabbath, in once again looking backward in time, points to?
Jesus max’ed out shame, guilt, embarrassment, and any other painful feeling. He triumphed by faith within the experience.
And the seventh day Sabbath memorializes that.
Sunday, man’s Sabbath, memorializes shadow while God’s Sabbath points to “very image.”
Blessings,
Tony
Dear KathJuliane,
Sorry for the delay in my response to you. I had a quite busy day…
The first thing I would say is that I never heard of Francis Shaeffer or of his son Frankie until you mentioned them. Actually, I have not to ask myself how is it that Mr. Shaeffer converted to Orthodoxy. I don’t give much importance to this type of “proofs”, for there are also people who convert from any other religion to a different one, distinct from his or her background. Now, what I try to attach myself to is the sound doctrine of the Scriptures. You’ll see, in the Scriptures, there is but one faith and one baptism; one Lord, one Spirit and one body.
Regarding “Sola Fides” and “Sola Scriptura”, I must tell you what I have yet told Stav: I am not a Protestant nor I answer for them. Furthermore, I think the book of James is quite clear that a faith without works inspired by it is like if it was dead. Maybe that is the reason why Luther hated so much the letter of James, I mean, James alone is a refutation of the “Sola Fides” principle as presented by the Protestant world, and especially by the wild versions of it like Calvinism and the “feel good churchianity” you see today in America and the West.
Now, regarding “Sola Scriptura”, how can a true believer ignore what the apostle Paul says to Timothy on this matter?
“…Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:12-17)
If I am not wrong, Timothy came to be in charge of the church in Ephesus. And in the passage above we have a testimony from the apostle Paul that the Scriptures are able to make someone wise for salvation in Jesus Christ. If any other thing would have been so important regarding being a Christian, Paul would have told it to Timothy… For me, the silence of Paul in this is more valuable than a thousand “holy books” written by hermits and other “holy men”.
Monastic life is NEVER mentioned in the New Testament. And the appreciation I have for BR. Nathanael has to do with his courageous evangelistic work in the streets of the devilish nation the USA has become lately. It is a courage that I, a non-denominational Christian, healthy envy, and I hope the Lord gives me the courage and the strength to tell things like they are while walking on the streets of my nations.
As for the “types and shadows”, I think you have misunderstood the meaning of that expression of Paul. Actually, you would have the hardest time in proving that our Lord was done with the OT Scriptures. I could extend on this in a future post, for it is an issue most worthy of being addressed.
Now, regarding Greek words in the Septuagint and in the NT, do you really think the Holy Scriptures were written originally in Greek? Because there are MANY MANY proofs that they were written in Hebrew and Aramaic (OT) and in Aramaic (NT). So if there was to be an Apostolic Tradition in the sense you give to this expression, it should be found in the Church of the East, where the liturgy is read in Syriac Aramaic.
Yet another thing regarding human “experience”. What does the Lord says through the mouth of Jeremiah:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:5)
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9,10)
You say the best evangelism “does not come out of Scripture, it comes from the struggling to be a decent imitation of Jesus Christ in life and family.” But I say instead that you cannot be a decent imitation of Jesus Christ in life and family if you despise his written word.
I could continue, but I think my main point is already quite established. Maybe I could add some more in further posts.
Blessings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hi Mariano,
You say:
First of all, I must clarify that I am not a Protestant. I was born in a Roman Catholic environment…
Point taken. I probably assumed too much, although you stance sounded protestant.
You say:
As such, I cannot help but read what the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians in his first letter to them:
“I appeal to you, brothers…
Yes, one must follow Jesus Christ. But in what way must one follow Him? What does this practically mean? If one is for example a married man, or married woman, this definitely does nto mean that they can copy His life to the exact detail. Thus, one must set some set of rules, which determine how we Follow Christ. And what happens if we decide on different rules?
You quote:
“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?…
Not Christ is not divide, however , us humans are divided. And the reason for this, is because we have set different rules for what it means to be Christian.
You quote:
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism…
How can any Christian refute these words? I for sure don’t. But this still leaves the question standing, what if people decide to separate them selves from a Christian Group? Separation and division of Churches happens. Thus we are left with two facts:
1) Separation of Churches happens,
and
2) The bible says that there is ONE body.
Thus, when the churches separate, from the above, we can determine logically, that ONLY one of the Churches is the true Church. But which one?
You say:
Talking about Ephesus… How did you come to know that John venerated icons?
Well, the fact of the matter is, that this is deduced. The first Christians, did not address the question of icons in an official way, yet they did not divide. Thus one can assume that whatever Christian did in fact have icons, they were not considered heretics, until the question became very public. When this happened, the Church determined that it was not wrong to venerate Icons, but rather it is wrong to worship the wood or any other material thing. In addition of course to worshiping anyone else other than God.
You say:
You cannot know that except through Orthodox account. Have you tried to find out how Orthodox accounts were obtained?
You say:
The problem with Orthodox, Roman Catholic and even Protestant accounts is that they fail to seek a scriptural pattern…
And what is your proof of the above statement? Especially when it comes to the Orthodox? Every single Orthodox doctrine and belief has a heavy and profound scriptural basis. Obviously this is too long to provide proof here, but any honest search for this, even on the internet will provide this for you.
You say:
on which every true born again Christian can rely with safety.
The concept of a Born Again Christian, is a Protestant one. The Orthodox believe that while one can be reborn (through the baptism) the struggle with sin, is one that one must fight every single day, whether reborn or not. In fact, it is the concept of a “saved” and still living Christian is totally against Scripture.
You say:
Some years ago I learnt that Luther hated so much the letter of James that he placed it at the very end of its translation of the Bible, following the book of Revelation!
I am not sure what your point is here.
You say:
As for Orthodoxy, I felt once attracted to attend a Russian Orthodox liturgy, were a young monk provided my with a few booklets containing teachings that you simply won’t find in the Scriptures.
Please supply us with a sample of these “teachings”. I assure you that the vast majority of the teachings of the Orthodox Church is totally supported by Scripture. The rest is implied and derived from common sense and definitely not contrary to the Scriptures.
You say:
He never asked me regarding my faith in Jesus Christ or whether I had repented of my sins…
Repentance of sins is at the Heart of Orthodox practice and it is nearly impossible that you were not exposed to this message. References to repentance are everywhere in the services and tradition on the Orthodox Church, not to name the most common prayers we use.
About the Mother Church issue you mention, I will try to reply later as I do not have too much time today… One thing I am going to say here, is that the Church is viewed as the Body of Christ, in Orthodoxy, and not simply as a collection of people. Also, we do not consider any living person to be a saint, the reason is because before death, there is no predetermined conclusion to one’s life.
You say
You say tradition is all we have… Speak for yourself, Stav; speak for yourself…
I mentioned the fact that the Holy Bible you exclusively trust (by the way, which language and version of the Bible do you read?) is the direct RESULT of tradition. Thus, it is ESPECIALLY you, who has only tradition holding in your hands, when you hold the Bible. Can you refute this fact?
Tradition is the greater sum of the experiences, memories etc. related to the faith. For example, if you had a child of your own, and you taught them about the faith, then, after you were gone, they would have the Bible, AND the memories and experiences you provided for them.
That, is tradition or “Paradosis” as so fantastically presented by KathJuliane in a post above. In this example, what you are essentially saying, is that your child should discount everything you tell them, and only trust the Bible. But then, what if they never get to read the Bible? Or never get to read it when on the right frame of mind? What if they are never taught to pray by example? All of these things are traditions, perhaps small ones, but that’s what they are.
You say:
All of them are full of traditions of men which have no support in the OT nor in the NT, and oftentimes are even plainly contradicted by them.
Please provide some of the traditions that you think have no support in the OT or NT.
You say:
The Melchizedek priesthood in Christianity has nothing to do with wearing any kind of robes nor long hair.
Agreed, I only mentioned these items to denote that even the external appearance has similarities.
You say:
It has everything to do with a contrite heart and a humble disposition to learn from Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit who is in every true believer in the wonderful and beautiful God’s plan of the ages.
Actually the significance of Melchizedek, is more deep than that. This is by the way, a perfect example on how your “Sola Scriptura” mentality has deprived you of important understanding.
Hebrews 7 1¨3
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
Here we see that Melchizedec is the king of Salem (“salem” meaning peace in hebrew). Thus, this is an attribute of Christ.
Further in 3:
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
All of these attributes, are ones of Christ. Thus a priest, after the order of Melchizedec, is a true priest, one that is supposed to be an image of Christ. This is by the way also the premise that implies the non priesthood of women. The hair, beard and even the attire, signify this order. So while it has no doctrinal significance in a practical way, it is still significant in that it reminds us that a priest, follows the order of Melchizedec.
You say:
Differences are not caused by not following the Orthodox tradition, but instead by not following the advise of the Spirit through the Scriptures.
What you fail to see, repeating my self again, is the following things:
1) Even Scripture IS tradition.
2) Holy tradition, is of the Spirit, and it includes more things than just Scripture.
3) Holy(or Apostolic) tradition as presented by Orthodoxy is not contrary to Scripture but rather directly mentioned or implied. In fact it is complementary.
Thus, your statement above, to the Orthodox at least, is not entirely correct in this context.
You say:
There comes a time -and it has yet come for many…The Pharisees will be again looking for the lives of those who dare to follow “that man” called Jesus….
Agreed, as Christians, we must before anything else live together in Brotherly and In Christ love. With this as a premise we can start to settle our differences.
I realize that Orthodoxy can sound, look and feel almost shocking to any other kind of Christian. However if nothing else, be advised that it is the Church which has preserved and keeps the most pure and close to the original Christian faith.
A personal search for this truth will convince you, no one can do this for you. do not take my word for it, look for your self and you will find it. As KathJuliane has already mentioned, this search for the true faith, has led many people to Orthodoxy. Read their stories, and you will find the answers there.
The theological richness and pureness may surprise you, after it you get past the shock and awe of it all…
Stav
http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/
Ron Wyatt Archeaologist and the Ark of the Covenant
“Also in that cave Ron found the seven branch candlestick, a giant sword (with no inscriptions, but possibly Goliath’s), an ephod, the wilderness tabernacle, the altar of incense among other things. Ron has returned to the cave on occasion, and since his first visit the cave has been completely tidied up. Ron has been told (although he stresses he does not hear voices, and is not a prophet) that the time is not yet for the world to see this discovery with their own eyes.
The time is coming when the inhabitants of the world will have a universal, religious law enforced upon them. This law will force man to break God’s law, by penalty of disenfranchisement (being unable to buy or sell, Rev. 13:17).
Some time after this law has been passed, God will allow the tables of stone (The 10 Commandments) and a good clear video of the Ark of the Covenant to be put on public display. (For more information on the proposed law download a small booklet here.) “It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.” Psalm 119:126.
Whilst in the chamber, Ron noticed a dried, black substance in an earthquake crack in the roof, above the Ark of the Covenant. He noticed that this black substance was also on the lid of the cracked stone casing. Obviously, this substance had dripped from the crack in the roof, and provision had been made for it to land on the Ark of the Covenant, as the stone lid had been cracked and moved aside.
Ron wondered what substance could be so sacred, that God made provision for it to land on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. He remembered the earthquake crack at the foot of the cross hole, and suddenly an awesome realization as to what had happened, came over him. Ron traced the earthquake crack, and indeed it was the same crack as the one at the cross hole.
The dried black substance in the crack was tested and proved to be blood, apparently the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that when Jesus died there was an earthquake and the rocks were rent (Matt. 27:51). A Roman soldier speared Christ in His side in order to make sure He was dead, and blood and water poured out (John 19:34). Ron discovered that this same blood and water poured down through the earthquake crack and fell upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.
Human cells normally have 46 chromosomes. These are actually 23 pairs of homologous chromosomes. In each pair of chromosomes, one of the pair is from the mother and the other member is from the father. Therefore, 23 chromosomes come from the mother and 23 from the father. In each set of 23, 22 chromosomes are autosomal and one is sex-determining. The sex-determining ones are the X chromosome and the Y chromosome. Females are XX, so they can only contribute an X chromosome to their offspring, whereas males are XY, which allows them to contribute either an X or a Y. If they contribute an X, the child is female, whereas if they contribute a Y, the child is male.
The fascinating finding in this blood was that instead of 46 chromosomes, there were only 24. There were 22 autosomal chromosomes, one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. This evidences that the person to whom this blood belonged to had a mother but no human father, because the normal contribution of paternal chromosomes is missing.
1John.5.8, 9: “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.” What does Daniel 9:24 mean, when it says, “To anoint the Most Holy.”?
The rest of the verse refers to events that occurred at the cross. Did this also, then occur at Jesus’ crucifixion? The Hebrew word for Most Holy is, “qodesh haq-qodeshim”. It is used several times in the Old Testament and always refers to the Most Holy place, or furniture in the Most Holy place ie. the Ark of the Covenant. This then must be a prophecy that Christ, on the cross, will anoint the Ark of the Covenant, with His blood.”
Dear Skip Baker,
I could not let your shocking revelation go by without comment. Namely the discovery of both the Ark of The Covenant, and the DNA material of our Saviour! I believe that in what you say, that you are completely earnest and without guile, here. However, the standard of proof which the prudent person would presume necessary to verify your report is understandably a high one.
I will read all materials I can find related to the most remarkable evidence you present. Hopefully, you will keep us apprised of any more details as they become available. Thanks for your cutting edge research on this holy subject. Hopefully more links or comment from you will follow, and I wouldn’t expect such an amazing find to recede into the background without more discussion.
The Peace of Christ Be With You.
Dear Stav,
Too many things to be addressed after your latest post.
From all the things you say, I´ll keep for now this one: “A personal search for this truth will convince you, no one can do this for you. do not take my word for it, look for your self and you will find it.”
I think you are a honest man, I didn´t mean to sound gratuitously harsh in my previous post addressing you.
So I will do a search regarding the Orthodox doctrines and then I´ll tell.
Oh, the versions of the Scriptures I read the more are the Reina Valera 1960 (Spanish), the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (a critical edition with a huge critical apparatus) and the Syriac Aramaic Peshitta (both OT and NT). But of course the list goes on…
May the Lord Jesus Christ give us all more light and understanding in these hard times of trial.
Mariano
Homosexuality was forbidden in Germany until the seventies.
Never the National Socialist saw Homosexuality as masculine and nothing to do with a Greek androgyne People.
Dear Mariano,
Agreed, I hope I did not sound too harsh either.
In the Lord Jesus Christ.
Stav
Dear readers of real zionists news .
As I never heard the claims on the alleged findings mentioned above(Skip Baker’s message), I Have taken a couple of minutes to perform a “research” on the Internet.
What I found is mostly refutations regarding Mr. Ron Wyatt discoveries.
I’ll not express my particular opinion, but will kindly ask those interested to make a Google search with:
“Ron Wyatt fake” or “Ron Wyatt hoax”
Or just read links shown in the following:
http://www.newdaynews.com/openhouse/archive.cgi/noframes/read/40649
Note:
As expected, a website like RZN will attract the attention of different kind of people with good will or intentions and others with hidden agendas.
I ‘ll ask Mr Skip Baker to apologize me as there is no offence intended to him or any other person, in writing this message.
On the other hand, and this is exactly my point of view, I guess that the Christian faithful do not need any other hard evidence to assert the Divinity of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Juan
May the following enlighten many a people’s minds with regards to ‘The Bible’ with an eye to the rampant evils swirling about on planet earth an in it’s “World”.
Chapter markers and verse numbers were not included into ‘The Bible’ until around the time of the 12th century and were first included in the Latin Vulgate of the Western Latin Church.
On-line reference
http://www.bible-researcher.com/chapter-verse.html
– Fr. Joseph
Now then, with respect to God’s ARK OF THE COVENANT, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ tells St. John to RECORD the visions he was to receive SO THAT Divine and Supernatural Truths and Realities could be UNVEILED for one and all to see and understand in the Book of ‘Unveiling’ which we all commonly refer to as ‘The Book of REVELATION’.
– Fr. Joseph
The TEXT contained within St. John’s written account of the Supernatural and Divine VISIONS that our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ granted to him by God Incarnate Himself DID NOT have chapter and verse divisions until the Latin Vulgate.
Hence, the following verses from the ‘Book of Revelation’ which can be said to be God the Holy Spirit’s ‘Book of Unveiling Supernatural Truths and Realities’ that we all can now refere to as Revelation 11:19 to Revelation 12:1 ought to be read as a seamless and UNINTERRUPTED thought:
“Then the Sanctuary of God in Heaven OPENED, and the ARK OF THE COVENANT could be seen INSIDE it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake, and violent hail. Now a Sign appeared in Heaven; A WOMAN, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelves stars on her head FOR A CROWN.”
– Fr. Joseph
The Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, the Logos, through Whom ALL THINGS were made, reveals to St. John who then reveals to the rest of us members of the Human Race that the ARK OF THE COVENANT is in God’s Heaven!
And that ARK OF THE COVENANT happens to be A WOMAN!
Please take a moment to consider the mind and thought HALTING significance of the World, THE LOGOS, Supernatually Revealing to St. John that God’s ARK OF THE COVENANT happens to be A WOMAN!
– Fr. Joseph
The ADAMIC Covenant God Himself makes to and on behalf of ALL MANKIND is found in Genesis 3:15 which reads:
“I (God, THE LOGOS) will make enemies of each other;
you (Satan) and THE WOMAN
your offspring and her offspring,
It will crush your head
and you will strike its heel.”
– Fr. Joseph
So THE WOMAN who is Supernaturally revealed by the Risen Lord Jesus Christ (Who is THE LOGOS, that is to say, God Himself Who becomes one of us human beings in His Incarnation) in Revelation 11:19-12:1 is the SAME WOMAN who winds up ENRAGING Satan, the Devil, and who goes off to MAKE WAR against her and HER SPIRITUAL OFFSPRING!
Revelation 12:17 (16 verses AFTER 12:1)
“The the dragon was ENRAGED with THE WOMAN and went away to MAKE WAR (cf. Genesis 3:15) on THE REST OF HER CHILDREN, that is, all who obey God and keep His Commandments.”
– Fr. Joseph
The Family of God here on earth are those who obtain LIFE from this Woman whose First Born Son happens to be THE LOGOS, God Incarnate, the Eternally Begotten Son of God the Father Himself.
This WOMAN happens to be BOTH our Human Race’s “NEW EVE” and also happens to be the Spiritual MOTHER of Christ Jesus’ CHURCH her on earth.
– Fr. Joseph
Back in 1884 A.D., the BISHOP OF ROME, one Pope Leo XIII is granted a mystical revelation much like St. John, the writer and recorder of his Supernatural mystical revelations recorded in what we know call the ‘Book of Revelation’.
That Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo XIII, overhears and personally witnesses a challenge lodged by SATAN against THE LOGOS.
On-line reference for everyone’s reading
http://www.geocities.com/stmichaelsangels
33 years later to the month, THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15, THE WOMAN of Revelation 11:19-12:1, THE WOMAN of Revelation 12:17, appears to three children in Fatima, Portugal as OUR LADY OF FATIMA in 1917 A.D.
– Fr. Joseph
The ARK OF GOD’S OWN COVENANT with all of Mankind from Genesis 3:15 all the way up to Christ Jesus’ Own Personally Instituted NEW COVENANT with all of Mankind, THE WOMAN, instructs the Bishops of THE LOGOS’ Church here on earth to perform a very specific COLLEGIAL CONSECRATION for the entire World to see.
This COLLEGIAL CONSECRATION was to be a GLOBAL public and solemn RELIGIOUS ACT that the entire World would see and witness.
And IF that Collegial Consecration per the very simple and precise Instructions of THE WOMAN of Revelation 12:17 were accomplished by the Appointed Ecclesiastical Authorities in THE LOGOS’ Church here one earth – that is to say those who have VALID Apostolic Succession to THE LOGOS’ Own Chosen APOSTLES – the THE LOGOS would see to it that all of the SPIRITUAL CHILDREN of THE WOMAN here on earth would be granted WORLD PEACE!
– Fr. Joseph
And why would THE LOGOS use His Divine Supernatural Powers to see to it that the entire Human Race would be granted WORLD PEACE, and freed from ALL the evil that the dragon, the serpant, that is to say THE DEVIL, SATAN, is currently DOING TO the Human Race all over our contemporary World of Nations in this year 2009 Anno Domini?
Because, SCRIPTURE HAS IT:
“For THE LORD upholds THE RIGHTS of a Mother over her children!”
– Ecclesiasticus 3:2
– Fr. Joseph
In Old Testament times, WHENEVER the peoples of the OLD TESTAMENT Israel went off to fight A WAR against their enemies, the would DUTIFULLY bring forth the man-made representation of God’s ARK OF THE COVENANT.
The would DUTIFULLY place that man-made represenation of the ARK OF THE COVENANT upon the shoulders of the TEMPLE’S PRIESTS who would then publicly CARRY and DISPLAY that Ark of the Covenant before ALL THE PEOPLE and the entire Army as they went off to CONFRONT, to COMBAT and so as TO DESTROY the manifold enemies arrayed against them.
The PUBLIC and SOLEMN Collegial Consecration instructed by THE WOMAN for the BISHOPS of the LOGOS’ OWN CHURCH here on earth – if not done and carried out in a spirit of obedience to the One Who saved and redeemed the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE – will result in the spiritual victory of THE SERPENT-DRAGON-DEVIL-SATAN over so many millions upon millions of Human Beings of our contemporary World of 2009 Anno Domini.
Without the ARK OF THE COVENANT in God’s Heaven who happens to be THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15, Revelation 12:17, being PUBLICLY and SOLEMNLY called upon and relied on by God’s People of the New Covenant in His Blood shed for all of Mankind on the Roman Cross – His People of the New Covenant have no chance of gaining spiritual victory of THE SERPENT of Genesis 3:15.
– Fr. Joseph
All of the theologians, the pastors, the preachers, the teachers, the Patriarchs, the Metropolitans, the Archbishops, the Bishops, the Priests, the Vowed Religious, the members of the Lay Faithful who DENOUNCE and REJECT and IGNORE what the Mother of THE LOGOS had to say about what to do in order TO DEFEAT her and our spiritual ENEMY in her 1917 A.D. Fatima, Portugal PUBLIC Apparition are all working WITH the Devil, WITH Satan, WITH Lucifer, is seeing to it that Her Son’s Divine Will for all of Mankind is NOT carried out to a successful completion.
They have a great, great, GREAT personal responsibility before the Sight of God Himself, for they are UNDOING what God Himself desired and desires to be done for the Salvation and Redemption of Mankind!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear RZN Christians,
Please take a moment to consider a request sent to me by a friend in true time of need, a Veteran who watched five of his friends die and many more injured when the U.S. ammunition dump in Doha, Quatar unexpectedly, spontaneously exploded due to storage of unstable munitions in uncovered airtight containers, in the desert heat and sun. This friend is loyal and a true soldier:
“Please send this on after a short prayer. Prayer for our
soldiers. Don’t break it!
Prayer:
‘Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as
they protect us Bless them and their families for the
selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.
Prayer Request: When you receive this, please stop for a
moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world.
There is nothing attached. Just send this to people in your
address book. Do not let it stop with you. Of all the gifts
you could give a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman, &
others deployed in harm’s way, prayer is the very best one.
GOD BLESS YOU FOR PASSING IT ON!
Live your life every moment.”
I think that’s all they have, a prayer, so make it a good one.
Whether some guy claims to have found (or not) the blood of Jesus is irrelevant.
What is important is the MESSAGE of Jesus.
Take the Bible, and all early philosophical works, with a grain of salt. They were written metaphorically. The message is what is important, not the “literal” histories of the stories. People can’t see the forest for the trees.
In my opinion, the Bible was written via scribes receiving the Divine Word. God “dictated” his Word in a manner that was applicable to human understanding at the time. The wisdom and guidance found in the Bible is what is important, not whether the stories are literally true.
Not all Christians live a Christian life. And not all atheists/agnostics live a life of debauchery. With time, both “Jack” Christians and atheists alike will awaken to the ultimate purpose of life. God’s plan will be fulfilled.
And yes, Mossad is living next door to you.
Dear Stav,
I have begun some readings on the Greek Orthodox Church. The text I am reading, prepared by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, has to do with monasticism, and you can find it at http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7103.
The first thing I have to say is that there seems to be a misunderstanding regarding the words of Jesus about being in the world but not of the world. In my view, this has nothing to do with monasticism. You can infer this by reading what the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians:
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)
Now, the way in which monks, nuns and hermits try to fulfil Jesus´ advice is by separating themselves from everyone, trying to “leave this world”. If monasticism and eremitism was the intended will of God for his people –or even some of his people-, would the apostle have said to the Corinthians such words? No, on the contrary, he would have encouraged the keeping of distance not only from those who calling themselves brothers live an immoral life, but also from every other people in the world.
The call of Jesus of being in the world but not like the world is a general call to every true believer, and not only to a special and restricted body of people.
The text mentioned above also says: “These people [i.e., monks, nuns and hermits] considered themselves Christians selected to live the life of angels (Matt. 22:30).” But what does the Lord say in Matthew 22:30 when addressing the Sadducees?
“At the RESURRECTION people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30)
Even when it is well known that Jesus was refuting the Sadducees for their denial of a personal, physical resurrection, we can clearly see by his very words that the lack of marriage of the sons of God is intended for the once dead and then resurrected ones.
Furthermore, monasticism as conceived by Orthodox believers also seems to contradict what the apostle Paul taught to the Colossians:
“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:18-23)
In summary, I think it is crystal clear from the Scriptures that monasticism -with all its minutiae and speculations regarding daily life- does not please God and has no value in restraining sensual indulgence. This can only come as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
I will continue reading about Orthodox doctrines and customs and giving my opinion on them –always appealing to the Scriptures which are a common authority among us- in a future post.
Blessings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
Dear Lynda
Back on the 21st, you wrote me ‘There are many agents of mega death in the world, of which thermos are only one.’
That caused me two days worth of ‘flashbacks’ as I served in the U.S.A.F. over three decades ago.
We find these words posted in the public domain:
“He will succeed in seducing the spirits of the great scientists who invent arms, with which it will be possible to destroy a large part of Mankind in a few minutes. Satan wil have in his power the leaders who command the people and who will incite them to produce enormous quantities of arms. …
There will be death everywhere, because of the errors committed by the crazed and the followers of Satan, who will then and only then rule the world.’ – on-line ref
http://www.world-mysteries.com/mdl_12.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Lynda,
The very last USAF weapons system I worked on were these
http://www.a-10.org
It spits out a 1 pound projectile made of DEPLETED URANIUM at a rate of 3,000 to 5,000 rounds a minute. That is, it’s capable of spitting out 1.5 to 2.5 TONS of Depleted Uranium in one single solitary minute.
The Depleted Uranium was meant to be used against the hordes of Warsaw Pact T-62 main battle tanks which outnumbered NATO tanks by about 5 to 1.
They used this stuff against the people of Iraq who had absolutely nothing to do with the bogus, fake and staged 9-11 “Arab” terrorist attacks.
And the Iraqiis did NOT have any weapons of mass destruction despite the constant lying of those in the previous Bush Administration.
This is what Depleted Uranium DOES to people:
http://www.rense.com/general70/deathmde.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Lynda,
Honestly, I tried and tried and tried again to get my U.S Federal and State government officials, U.S. religious leaders of ALL sorts and ALL types to include my own Catholic Church, Federal and State Law Enforcement, Army and Air Force National Guard Commanding Officers, civic organizations, the very Jewish controlled Mass Media outlets – TV, radio and print –
TO STOP & HALT THE DEPLOYMENT OF U.S. ARMED FORCES TO PLACES LIKE IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN on account of the BOGUS ‘INSIDE JOB’ 9-11 ATTACKS!
– Fr. Joseph
This is what a ONE POUND Depleted Uranium projectile looks like, folks.
http://www.a-10.org/photos/p.asp?FileName=05%2Ejpg
In Europe, where the A-10 was intended to stop-halt massive Warsaw Pact T-62 main battle tanks, when an A-10 killed a number of T-62s or whatever, the assigned USAF Forward Air Controller assigned to either a US Army or USMC combat unit which was threatened by massive enemy armor was to RADIO BACK to Battalion headquarters so as to report the area where Depleted Uranium was used.
HQS was to put a bit FAT RED ‘X’ on their battle grid map so as to ensure that NO US Army or USMC ground forces would enter and dwell within the area in the future.
US Army and USMC troops coming back from Iraq and other places are going to become very sick – and some will die – on account of DU.
And they aren’t told about it.
– Fr. Joseph
Weapons systems…weapons systems…weapons systems..mega death…mega death…mega death
We got Weapons of Total Destruction
http://www.viewzone.com/haarp44.html
Scalar Weapons of Total Destruction
http://www.prahlad.org/pub/bearden/scalar_wars.htm
We have JUAN, an electrical engineer here on RZN who can explain to us all what appears in the Gaiacomm Executive Report paragraph contained in parenthesis and which begins with the words
(Generation of geomagnetic-field aligned ionization…et al) from this webpage
http://www.gaiacomminternational.com/popup.php?popup=p1
– Fr. Joseph
Everyone here in the USA can check to see just how close they are to a nuclear target here
http://www.survivalring.org/cd-targets.php
Pictures of what the remains of a nuclear blast on cities and people can be found here
http://www.hiroshima-remembered.com/photos/index.html
– Fr. Joseph
Our Merciful God and Father in Heaven HAS GIVEN ALL OF MANKIND a way “Out” of this global geo-political Satanic Trap, but I can’t get people both INSIDE as well as OUTSIDE of THE LOGOS’ MILITANT CHURCH HERE ON EARTH interested!
Heaven’s Key To Peace
http://www.heavenskeytopeace.com/
So if the Patriarchs and Metropolitans and Archbishops and Bishops and Priests and Monks and Nuns and Sisters and Vow Religious and Lay Faithful – and that INCLUDES the POPES of the Catholic Church – don’t want to pay any and all attention to what is going on in our contemporary World,
then you have the FULFILLMENT of the 4th century prophecy of St. Nilus
“Christian Pastors, Bishops an Priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right hand way from the left….Then the All-good God will see the DOWNFALL OF THE HUMAN RACE…” from
http://www.fisheaters.com/nilus.html
– Fr. Joseph
It’s really, really hard trying to do your duty to ‘God & Country’ when so many here living the Good, Easy and $$$’d life here in the U.S.A. couldn’t are less for either GOD or their Country!
http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/
– Fr. Joseph
September 10, 2008
His Excellency Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev
President of the Russian Federation
Iiinka Street, No. 23
103132, Moscow, Russia
Excellency,
God has given all men free will with the Divine expectation that they will employ wisdom, prudence, charity and justice towards each other. Yet the international events since August 7, 2008 which have adversely affected Russian citizens and the Russian Federation serve to validate the following words spoken by our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ, regarding sinful human natures:
“For from the heart come evil intentions; murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. These are the things that make a man unclean.” – Matthew 15:19
(continuing for anti-spam’s sake)
– Fr. Joseph
http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Prophecy_of_St._Nilus
“The ~Prophecy of St. Nilus~ is an apocryphal work of uncertain origin (thus often referred to as the ~Prophecy of Pseudo-Nilus~) predicting the apocalypse to occur in the 19th or 20th century (depending on the version of the text). As there are serious problems with the text, it is clear that it was either not written by St. Nilus or that it has been altered in translation.
With the advent of the Internet, the work has taken on the status of urban legend.
The Prophecy claims to be written by a saint named Nilus, variously the 4th century St. Nilus the Ascetic, the 17th century St. Nilus the Myrrhstreamer of Mount Athos, or someone from the 14th century.
Problems with the text
The most obvious problem with the text is one of dating. It claims to be regarding either the 19th or 20th centuries with varying levels of internal consistency in the actual text. Some, for instance, read “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 19th century,” which is contradictory, since starting with the year 1901, the 20th century began. Additionally, with several different versions circulating, especially with variances in this key opening phrase, it would seem that the text has been altered, so one cannot be sure about the period it supposedly is addressing.
The claim that the Prophecy is from the 4th century is also problematic, as in the 4th century it was not yet the practice of Christians to date from the birth of Christ, a practice introduced only in the 6th century by Dionysius Exiguus (“the Short”), a Roman monk. In the 4th century, dating was still calculated from the Creation, the founding of Rome, from the accession of the current emperor at Constantinople, or from the time of Diocletian according to the Indiction.
Even after its introduction by Dionysius, it did not come into general use in the West until the 8th century.
Eastern Christians waited even longer to use the Nativity (BC/AD) as a dating point. Most Orthodox Christians began the practice only after the fall of Constantinople, while the Church of Russia introduced it only with the time of Tsar Peter the Great (16th/17th c.).
Even aside from these problems, a “21st century” version has yet to surface, meaning that the Antichrist supposedly appeared around 1950 and has yet to take over the world.
The ethic of the Prophecy has problems, as well. It focuses on external appearances much more than the more serious problems of immorality, which were just as much present (and arguably even more so) in the various eras in which the text was allegedly written.
Further, no known source for this text has yet surfaced.”
September 10, 2008
President Medvedev (con’d)
I’ve enclosed twenty (20) copies of an Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos with the hope that your Excellency will consider distributing these copies to other key leaders and government officials of the Russian Federation. It is my prayer that the Mother of God will grant you and the other leaders and key government officials of the Russian Federation the necessary Divine Graces of her Divine Spouse, God the Holy Spirit, so as to guide the Russian people and their Russian Federation through these most treacherous and difficult times in contemporary international developments and our world’s history.
Aa a former military man myself, having served within the United States Air Force over 30 years ago, I am acutely aware of the indiscriminate destructive powers that can be unleashed by nations, to include the U.S.A. and the Russian Federation, upon each other and the peoples of other nation states. The Old Testament book of Wisdom admonishes all leaders of the nations of the earth to consult with God, appealing to Him for His Wisdom and Guidance, for it is written:
“Do not court death by the errors of your ways, nor invite destruction through your own actions. Death was not God’s doing, He takes no delight in the extinction of the living.” – Wisdom 1:12-13
(continuing)
-Fr. Joseph
September 10, 2008
President Medvedev (continuing)
It seems to me that even since ancient times, those of us who truly wish to live in peace with our neighbors, with our own countrymen and with the peoples of other nations and states, never have the political clout, the economic resources, the financial means, nor the military strenght to make such a vision for ourselves and all others a living reality.
Nevertheless, as a Priest in His Church, I have a moral and spiritual duty and obligation to inform your Excellency that our God and our Creator has made Divine Provisions for His People here on earth to have World Peace amongst all the peoples of our much troubled and suffering world.
Russian intelligence, security and military services along with the Patriarch and Metropolitans of the Russian Orthodox Church can use any public domain sources, such as the Internet, to examine the historical and recorded newspaper/media accounts of the Apparitions of the Most Holy Theotokos as Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal back in October 1917 A.D..
(continuing)
-Fr. Joseph
September 10, 2008
President Medvedev (continuing)
The Mother of God earnestly desires for the Bishops of the Western Church to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart so as to make available every manner of Divine Blessing, Comfort, Protection and Assistance to the Russian people and their Russian nation so as to avoid the trials and sufferings caused by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 A.D.. Additionally, if that Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA were accomplished, our Lord and our God would see to it Himself that the entire World would be granted a Blessed Period of World Peace!
(continuing)
– Fr. Joseph
September 10, 2008
President Medvedev (continuing)
Your Excellency, if you were to confer with the Patriarch and all of the Metropolitans of the Russian Orthodox Church about the possibility of readying the Russian Orthodox Church Hierarchy to make such a religious/spiritual Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of the Most Holy Theotokos along with/in conjuction with the Patriarch of the Western Church, that is, the Bishop of Rome, there exists the very real possibility of bestowing upon all the peoples of Russia as well as the peoples throughout the many nations/states of our contemporary world God’s Own Divine Blessings and His Divine Peace upon them and all of their children!
(continuing)
– Fr. Joseph
September 10, 2008
President Medvedev (continuing)
I am quite confident that if the Patriarch and Metropolitans of the Russian Orthodox Church or, for that matter, all the Patriarchs and Metropolitans of any of the Eastern Orthodox Churches had any questions about this issue regarding the Collegial Consecration of your nation, Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Lord Himself will grant whatever Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom to my own Metropolitan Archbishop to answer any and all of their inquiries.
May the prayers of St. Vladimir, St. Tikhon and St. Seraphim gain you God’s Favor and Assitance in these spiritual and all contemporary global geopolitical matters. Amen.
In the service of our Lord and His Mother, I remain,
Respectfully yours,
+Fr. Joseph
Archimandrite – Nazareth Hermitage – USA
Enclosed
20 Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos
1 Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos dealing with Worldwide Evil
1 Icon of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow
1 Icon of St. Seraphim
1 Image of the Holy Family of Nazareth
Hi Mariano,
Wow, you certainly jumped into the deep end! I mean in this in a joking way, by the way.
I read your comments on it, and on the basis of it, it is quite protestant in its core view. In fact, again, this view is the natural outcome of having no Holy Tradition to rely upon. On the bottom of this page you will find the lives of the saints Anthony and Athanasius which will provide you crucial information about monasticism and its root.
This is part of the tradition I am talking about. Imagine a Christian name such as Anthony, yet western non-Orthodox or non-Catholic Christians know nothing about the man! The same goes with all other Christian names by the way.
In my view, the passage you quote, does not actually infer that the world is for all, nor is it something to be pursued or necessarily joined into. I mean that in the strictly spiritual sense. Nor does it infer that Monasticism, as practiced by the Orthodox is contrary to the Scriptures.
It’s funny, though, because your research today started from a point which may answer many of your questions. Saint Anthony, was the first, great ascetic to organize this practice.
But, he was one of the spiritual Fathers of Saint Athanasius, who was a true Theological Giant and has also documented parts of Saint Anthony’s life. St. Athanasius has a lot of insight has has provided extensive Theological analysis that answer many of today’s “sola scriptura” and general protestant views. Reading the writings of St. Athanasius will give you great insights.
Before I go on about Saint Anthony, may I remind you of the first essential Monk, who is Saint John the Forerunner (Jesus Christs Cousin) who lived his life in the desert, which is also part of the spark that started monasticism.
In Orthodoxy, and in a practical way, we view monasticism as one of two paths that one can take in life. An Orthodox person who decides to become a monk, will typically feel the intense drive to become a monk and leave the world behind. They will then embark in a “scrutinizing” of this feeling, which may take along time, and will take the help of the spiritual father and a lot of prayer and dedication.
If they then decide to actually become monks, again the process is not instant, they will usually go through a trial period and then will at some point become full monks. Many “trial monks” or “Dokimoi” in Greek, will eventually not decide to go through with it, or may take significant time to make their final oath.
Practicing and faithful Orthodox Christian friends and family of the monks to be, will take this final decision with the same happiness that they would if they were to be married. That is the practical aspect.
Also, it is important to note here, that the Orthodox monastic practice, is DRAMATICALLY different to the Catholic one. The main purpose of monasticism in Orthodoxy, is for one to try and do everything possible with the most possible intensity to save their souls. The main focus is not social service (although it may and is usually included in some form, in a monks activities).
This is not to say that one human can save their own souls, but rather, that in Orthodox monasticism, one focuses almost exclusively to a life of prayer, fasting , forgetting about worldly concerns and trying to get closer to Christ.
This is not to say that a married person or a person that is not married but lives in the world, is not supposed to do their best, to come closer to Christ, but rather that a Monk or Nun will drastically remove distractions from this task.
In fact, the Orthodox view is, that can, and should treat their in-the-world-life also similarly to the life in a monastery. Many times, advice from spiritual fathers to family people and Christians in general is to make a monastery in their lives/home.
Most essentially, the core of monasticism is that it is a movement, that is derives by a Holy and burning fever, much like falling in love with a man or woman, but more spiritual and profound, to follow the words of Jesus Christ to the letter. Scriptural references to such words of Christ are characteristically:
1) The whole sermon on the mount.
2) St. Mark 8, 34 to 37 :
34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
There are many more like this. Many people read or hear these and sometimes feel an internal very strong feeling to follow what is implied very very clearly.
For example this:”For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Also I remind you Jesus Christ’s advise to the rich man: “Give away all your belongings and follow me”…
These are a clear reference to the World and that one could gain (some) of it but loose their soul. This is what made and still makes some people to make drastic descisions, and to leave the world behind, as a sign of their very strong intention to have their souls saved, and follow Christ completely.
As you can see, monasticism in this light, is very much supported, even inspired, directly by the Scriptures. This is not to say that some simply have a strong feeling or even personal revelation that this is the best way of life from them.
About St. Anthony:
http://www.roca.org/OA/73/73d.htm
About St. Athanasius:
http://www.roca.org/OA/6/6g.htm
Stav
…(Generation of geomagnetic-field aligned ionization to control the reflection/scattering properties of radio waves will result in a number of outcomes. It will jam unwanted signals, make data stealth, and focus RF signals to localized areas to selectively ignite the surrounding atmosphere, which will create a flash burn effect.
This effect will incinerate all air and ground living and non-living entities. In short, a military weapon of unprecedented proportions with no nuclear radiation generated aftereffects. This device can use the surrounding atmospheric layers to burn off everything in its path without firing a single shot. Localizing atmospheric area techniques to selected targeted areas can also be accomplished with this heating process. In short, using the Compton effect to alter the air to ground electric charge. This is even more effective than EMP during a nuclear blast.)…
Well, these kinds of things could only be the results of a deranged mind. The name and surname of the guy that prides himself with this , speaks thousand words…
Father Joseph, they are using tremendous amount of energy to produce a channeling effect in the ionosphere (from 1 to 2 Gigawatt)
According to this brochure, using strong enough transmitters, apparently they found a method to channel a very low frequency energy and direct it were necessary, using a waveguide like effect of the atmosphere.
Compton effect predicts that an incident photon strikes an electron, and the interaction produces an energetic electron and a scattered photon. So we must have the energetic flash first (photon generation) and a multiplicative effect producing energetic electrons.
During the process tremendous amounts of heat is generated and this, dear father Joseph, is what they want, heat to burn us alive! They can efficiently heat the atmosphere surrounding us.
Dear father is it possible for a Christian human being design a weapon of mass destruction , specially of the kind one under consideration?…
Please pay due attention to the fact that the overwhelming majority of leading scientists in the Manhattan project were Jews.
Obviously the thing had a corresponding similar in the USSR and elsewhere.
And we must not forget the designer of the neutron bomb…
Anyway, as far as my very humble, limited knowledge and wit allow me to envisage, the technological difficulties involved in turning this yet another nightmare into a workable WMD, will surely take much more than the Jewish mastermind suggest.
The whole brochure is more commercial than technical and the guy still seems to be in the investor procurement phase.
Dear Father Joseph,
Regarding Scalar weapons of total destruction, involves Bearden theories and others (Zero point energy,etc) and are still very much speculative because they collide frontally with the established wisdom of classical electromagnetic physics as per Maxwell-Heaviside and Lorentz (wave equation et.al).
Misterious filamentar ethereal entities that apparently permeates the entire cosmos are rather difficult concepts to be accepted by the scientific comunity.
As far as I know, it’s probable that something else is there, hidden from us.
He and others secured an US patent for a motionless electromagnetic generator and claim that generates more electrical output power than given to the input!
Hi Fr Joseph,
I have not previously addressed my self to you directly, but may I say that many of your posts are very informative and very interesting and insightful. It is obvious that there is some tension, expressed mainly in silence, partly due to my critical approach towards Catholicism in the context of Orthodoxy.
Putting this aside, I consider you a worthy and honest man, who fights the same fight most of us do here on this site. I hope that our doctrinal differences may not hinder my, (and I assume your) intention to keep this whole thing in the spirit of Brotherly love and the fact that we do and say all we do in the name of Lord Jesus Christ and for His glory.
Regardless, when it is relevant, I will speak up my concerns or point out the differences between our Churches, but please do not take these comments as personal attacks. These kinds of issues have somehow become my concern, and I feel compelled to respond sometimes, probably due to my raising in a mixed Christian denomination environment, where might I add, after my careful examination I concluded that Orthodoxy is the way to go, if you want to be Christian.
On to my points:
I took the time and read the accounts and story behind the Apparitions in Fatima. My first thoughts about this event, was that after all, The Most Holy Theotokos, will most certainly follow her Son’s commands and principles, and therefore may appear to anyone God’s infinite wisdom judges it to be necessary. Thus, I am not going to be one to discount this apparition as fake or not, simply because it happened in a Catholic setting/context. Nor do I disagree with the core of Her message of repentance and more prayer, which of course is good and urgent advice.
In the Church’s tradition, especially as mentioned in a large number of Lives of the saints and other sources, we have had had seemingly arbitrary apparitions by Jesus Christ Himself to non-Christians even, and there also also stories of Apparitions of His Most Holy Mother and other Saints, to Christians and non-Christians as well.
Thus, my point above, stands, meaning that She can appear to anyone God’s wisdom deems appropriate.
But, I would not nearly anywhere readily accept this event to be some kind of complete and absolute unconditional “endorsement” of all that Catholicism stands for. In fact, as taken directly from the account of the apparition, we do not see any kind of information that “tackles” the doctrinal issues (or errors in my view, which require the collective repentance of the RCC). But that’s as far as I will go about this.
In addition, I’d like to comment to your paragraph of your post:
…Russian Orthodox Church can use any public domain sources, such as the Internet, to examine the historical and recorded newspaper/media accounts of the Apparitions of the Most Holy Theotokos as Our Lady of Fatima,…
I would also recommend for anyone interested, especially ones that are impressed and inspired by the apparitions in Fatima, to examine, investigate and read about the countless apparitions of Christs Most Holy Mother, that have been documented in the context of the Orthodox Church.
Some examples follow (for the sake of shortening this post, please follow up on these by your selves, if you want):
1) Practically all of Mt. Athos monasteries have one or more Icons of the Theotokos, which are connected with miracles and stories, including messages given by the Theotokos:
http://www.mountathos.gr/active.aspx?mode=en{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000005}View
2) The story of the Icon of the Theotokos on the island of Tinos:
http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/03/miraculous-icon-of-theotokos.html
3) Link listing various apparitions (including the Fatima one):
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/mary.htm
I am sure you know that there are many, many apparitions by the Theotokos, but I presented this case here to point out that:
1) The Fatima appearance does not represent an unconditional endorsement of Catholicism, and
2) That there are many more apparitions and communications that have happened, making the Fatima simply one out of many more and not a unique occurrence.
Finally, let me say that the specifics given about Russia etc. as presented in the account of the Fatima apparition, can be interpreted in various ways, not all supporting the Catholic point of view.
It is clear that from what I see as the Russian state progresses through our times, at least the way I interpret this, is that Russia is indeed becoming more Christian everyday, but it is Orthodoxy it is re-embracing.
One more thing, let me remind all of us our “good friend” apollonian by my following statement: That these apparitions (and I include all of them here, contextualized as Orthodox ones and the one in Fatima) are “subjective” in nature, that can readily be denounced by anyone for a variety of reasons (not that I am necessarily one to do so), and in most cases, they deal with urgent messages and mostly do not deal with doctrinal issues.
Acceptance of these kinds of events, is a highly personal matter derived by personal experience, faith and other contextual matters to each person, regardless of their faith flavor.
Thus, it would be inadvisable in my humble opinion, to use them for anything else but personal examination and other reasons applicable to each, individually. It is also therefore inadvisable again IMHO, to use them to convince anyone of anything. It is clearly accepted generally that if one does not intend to believe, they can see miracles and still stay unbelievers.
Stav
Dear Juan,
My, my…got my work cut out for me (as usual) and so little time. Got something for Stav to read, but for the moment –
Everyone can test/try out the New Wonder Weapons “the crazed and followers of Satan” have crafted. Regarding the Compton effect. Here’s The Weapon everyone can use on each other!
“Have Fun!”
http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/ant-city/
The Russians don’t like the New Wonder Game Toy, however…
http://www.rense.com/general28/deathray.htm
Gotta go off to work. See ya later.
– Fr. Joseph
I have faith that God is listening to our prayers. Let’s not let up for a second. He hears us!
Dear Stav,
I understand your point from closer than you could imagine, for before I devoted myself to study the Scriptures seriously -with a practical focus in mind, and far off from any Protestant or whatever bias- I myself felt the appeal of “going out to the desert” to live Jesus´ teachings in a purer way.
I think this came as a result of being a huge reader of Dostoyevsky’s work, specially “Karamazov Bros”, with its main character Alyoscha and the way he treated people, including his infamous father Fyodor Pavlov. I’m talking about my twenties, some eighteen years ago.
I think I understand very well the monk’s mind, and not only by reading Russian novelists… I myself have felt -as I tell you above- the impulse of becoming one to serve the Lord with all my soul. But… would you believe me if I tell you that such inner commotion was something fleshly, even when I would have had myself killed before recognizing such thing?
You mention John the Baptist as an antecedent for Orthodox monasticism. But you should mention Elijah, who lived in the wilderness and went dressed in camel robes, eating weeds and wild honey. And I think you also forgot to mention that John came in the power and the spirit of Elijah, as we read in Luke’s account. In other words, John was not linked to Saint Anthony in the future but to Elijah in the past.
And I insist: if monasticism was so crucial for the Christian life, the passage in Colossians 2 simply wouldn’t be there. It has everything to do with the issue, even if this is troubling for you or for anyone else.
Don’t go and assume that just because I told you that I would read about the Greek Orthodox Church I have never read about it, nor I have never saw and heard things pertaining to it. I am a most prolific reader since I was a teenager, and I never stop until I had “caught” the issue I am interested in. Of course, you couldn’t know this by just reading a few lines from me here at Br. Nathanael’s site; that’s why I am telling it now.
If I quoted the Lord himself and the Apostle Paul in my previous post, it is not because I wanted to “win” a point, but because I SINCERELY believed they were most pertinent in the context of our exchange of views and beliefs. And I still believe it. Please, stop comparing me with the Protestant mind, because that is quite distortive of my actual inner and outer life. I am not an American; much less neither a WASP, nor I feel at home with such worldview. This doesn’t prevent me to be in contact with Protestants, just like I am also in contact with an Orthodox like you.
I would really like to continue my revision of the Greek Orthodox faith in future posts, only that I have a strong conviction about what I read in the Scriptures and I wouldn’t like this exchange with you to become a fleshly attempt of us to “win” the other’s recognition.
Maybe it would be more fruitful to address one thing at the time, and discuss it at length. I don’t know about this… just thinking in a loud voice.
In Christ Jesus,
Mariano
Dear Stav,
Until the end of the Pius XII pontificate (1958), the pope with the bishops (this was a collegial position) had decided that the appearance of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917 was “worthy of credence” and the pronouncements contained nothing contrary to faith or morals.
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and promulgation of this devotion.
They permitted the tremendous response to the Fatima message that occurred on the part of the laiety: the rosaries, the First Saturday Devotions, the petititions for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the pope and all the bishops – the solemn, public, collegial consecration.
As you might be aware, the Russian genocide was suppressed by the Western media. I hope you do not find it offensive that the Roman Catholics (at the behest of Our Lady) were praying for that predestinate nations which has given martyrs to Our Lord Jesus Christ numbered in the tens of millions: Orthodox, Catholic Uniate and Roman Catholic (Ukraine, Baltics) as well as Reformed and Protestant.
So when Our Lady spoke of the “errors of Russia”, by the time of Pope Pius XII, these errors had already taken a fearful toll
To continue,
The Third Secret of Our Lady was to be released in 1960 or at the death of the visionary Sr Lucia (Sr Maria das Dores of Carmel)- whichever came first.
The Vatican, however, has never released it.
Despite much sensationalism of catastophes, even before 1960 it could be deduced that the Third Secret is not concerned with this because Sr Lucia spoke freely and publicly of the Chastisement from Heaven that would come if mankind did not repent and stop offending God, she spoke of the “annhilation of nations”.
Once asked about the Third Secret, ‘cardinal’ Ratzinger (who had read it) replied, “concerns only our faith”. Only. This is vintage Benedict the Minimalist. I am sure everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Because all of Our Lady’s prophecies at Fatima have been precise and those that have been fulfilled have been precisely fulfilled.
But those who can see, perceive by the clear light of the Church’s own Magisterium, that an antipapacy currently occupies the Chair of Peter in Rome.
Historically, the Chair was seized in the 1958 Conclave and the true pope in law taken hostage, Pope Gregory XVII.
Since that time, the antipapacy has gone about the business of extinguishing the sacramental life, the faith and morals of the Church.
The bishops who were ordained prior to the the change in the Rites of Consecraton post Vatican II have valid orders, but their number grows fewer every year.
To continue
The Petrine Succession is now with the Successor of Pope Gregory XVII and his bishops. This is the Roman Catholic hierarchy. There is no temporary state or arm to protect them. However, to the Roman Catholic faithful, they have not been silent on the subject of Fatima.
This event, the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 is Signum Magna, the Woman Clothed with the Sun Rev 12.
Her prophecy over the Church (the Third Secret) fulfills the prayer of Pope Leo XIII who foretold that the Chair of Peter, set up in Rome as a light to the Gentiles would be overturned by impious enemies of the Church and the abomination of their impeity would be placed there.
The Pastor would be struck and the flock scattered.
This prayer appears as the Exorcism Against Satan and the Rebellious Angels May 18, 1890. It was issued in Pope Leo’s ‘moto proprio” 25 Sept 1888 and was published in the Racolta up until 1932 as ‘official prayer’ 407.
Please read this prophetic prayer in full.
A priest of the Roman Catholic Church attatched to the Chair of Peter, the Holy Father in exile, said at the Easter Sermon in 2007 that now “is the hour of the power of darkness” when the power of anti-Christ would be “given strength over the continual sacrifice and truth be cast down to the ground.” Dan 8:12 (Fr Peter Khoat van Tran)
It is recognized that the sacramental life of the Church has been extinguished over entire continents because of the antipapacy.
The faithful are to remain communicatio in sacris, making spiritual communions with the few (very few) valid masses that are still being said, praying the Rosary and taking refuge in the Immaculate Heart of Mary as sufficient grace for us at this time of the Church in Eclipse.
The great cause of our time is ‘to restore all things in Christ: Catholic order and the papacy’. In addition to the corporeal and spiritual works of mercy, this is the apostolic work in which the faithful are bidden to take part.
This is not someone’s private idea, this is the bishops speaking collegially with the Holy Father: Roman Catholics are not bound by Vatican II in any way shape or form. Refuge in the Immaculate Heart of Mary is sufficient grace unto salvation – to sanctify ourselves and obtain graces for many souls many of whom will never have a single valid priest or mass on their entire continent for their entire life.
In the end, when the entire Roman Catholic hierarchy is ready to be martyred for the faith, I am sure they will make the solemn, public collegial consecration
Re:The Serb-Croat antagonism. The documented reality is that the Serbs in both royalist and communist Yugoslavia were the ruling and priviliged nation and that they ran the country with the help of the army and police. It is important to bear in mind that in Serb-dominated communist Yugoslavia history was systematically falsified.
The virus of evil which again emerged in that part of the world in the 1990s of the past century has its roots in Serb territorial expansion and colonisation to the detriment of its neighbours. It is well documented but virtually unknown in the west that Serb forces slaughtered by conservative estimate some 100 thousand Albanians in Kosovo and Albania just during the peacetime period of 1918-1924.
In the most fertile area of Albania 167 villages were reduced to ashes. Tens of thousands of Moslems, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Croats and members of the Hungarian and German minority suffered the same fate. In Croatia in 1935 alone Serb extremists and gendarmes without cause killed 96 Croat peasants and two Catholic priests. While the German invasion of Yugoslavia was under way, before a single Serb was killed by the Ustaša, some well over 300 Croat civilians, including several dozen women and children were killed by Serb troops.
Tens of thousands of Croat civilians and POWs were massacred by Serb partisans and royalists(Četniks) during the war. In the initial stages of the uprising against the Ustaša regime, in July and the first half of August 1941, Serb insurgents massacred some 1.100 Croat civilians and several hundred POWs. An unknown number of Moslems were also killed. During the immediate post war Period, May-Sept. 1945. Titos communist forces, for the most part made up of Serbs, massacred by conservative estimate some 300,000 people, mostly Croats. Thus far in Slovenia(where those turned over by the British were marched through) a total of 654 mass graves have been found, in Croatia 834 and in Bosnia (where no real effort has been made to locate them) c. 100.
The story of the Serbs in the 20th century can best be summed up in the maxim: Tyrannies do not improve, they perish. Perhaps the last stage of that process ended when Montenegro regained its place as a sovereign nation of the European community. The Serb Orthodox Church is more akin to a cult whose central fiure is St. Sava and not the Saviour. Its primary role in history has been to further illegitimate Serb territorial gains as summed up in the motto: whereever there are Serb graves this is Serb land.
I have no illusions about crimes, I’m deeply saddened and ashamed, as are most Croats, by what some Croats did to Serbs during the anarchy and lawlessness in the area during WW II. Yet the overwhelming majority of Serbs remain silent on the hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs who were victims of Serb imperialism. I do not hate Serbs, I pity them.
In a sense, their greatest enemies are their own propagandists who have for decades fed them a steady stream of half-truths and myths. On a personal note, as a member of the Croatian army I was badly wounded and captured in 1992, and spent 15 months in Serb captivity.
Suffice to say as the line from a poem goes: “Worse things than death/await a man within the gates of breath”.
Had I not been put on a prisoner exchange list within 24 hours, I would have been dead within a week. One man was beaten to death on top of me in transport, and that’s merely the beginning of the nightmare (my left ear was immediately cut off after capture). I fared well as opposed to many who are no longer here to tell the tale.
To close, I first and foremost want to express my utmost hearfelt thanks for your site, which I follow “religiously”. Will be sending you some cash when my financial situation improves. I think it would be unwise to demonize all Jews (Im in no way suggesting that you do so). Perhaps the majority remain unaware of the activities of those that are in key govt, cultural, financial, etc. positions. With every best wish and many thanks.
Hi Mariano,
Let’s see, can I keep this short? I am having a real trouble keeping my posts short. I apologize in advance.
You say:
And I insist: if monasticism was so crucial for the Christian life, the passage in Colossians 2…
My answer:
I am telling you as sincerely as possible I do not see the relevance, especially in the light of what I mentioned in my previous post, which proves beyond any doubt the logic and scriptural based and inspired practice of monasticism. I simply do not see the deduction you make there.
About what you mention about Elijah, I agree, that there is obviously a connection with that past, and not only with Elijah, but one cannot refute the connection with the future also, even if it is simply the similarity of St. John’s life and the first ascetics and their spiritual descendants.
Again, a lack of saturation in the holy tradition brings the “impression” on one, that there is no continuity nor any relation to the actions of the first church and the Orthodox, but I assure you, there is, it is just that this continuity has been wiped out in many parts of the Christian world. Unless one consciously seeks the true Holy Tradition this feeling of separateness between today’s Christians and the first Christians, will remain there, with potentially misleading results.
About your request for me to compare you with protestants, OK I will not his for you from now on, as I have no intention to offend you, but let me tell you one last time, as I have been growing up in a mixed denominational environment, I just simply cannot help but see the obvious similarities in your approach and views, with the core attitude of “protestants” (using the word “protestants” very loosely).
At least in my view, you share their practical approach of wiping everything clean and starting with a clean page, while at the same time, during the reconstruction process, the lack of access to passed down information creates a natural effect of relying mainly on Scripture.
Also I realize there are time constraints, but if you like and feel that you want to do this, check out some of the writings of St. Athanasius, as I mentioned before. Apart from being very Orthodox in his views and theology, he was also a Genius worthy of study, for anyone reading a lot about Christianity.
In Christ our Lord,
Stav
Dear Linda,
You say:
…I hope you do not find it offensive that the Roman Catholics (at the behest of Our Lady) were praying for that predestinate nations which has given martyrs to Our Lord Jesus Christ…
My answer:
How can I be possibly offended if one fellow man prays for another?
You say:
The Vatican, however, has never released it.
My answer:
I was under the impression that they did, and I was able to find it on the net. It was also mentioned that the RCC did release it at some point. I lost the link however but it should not be hard to find as it took me only a few clicks from my first search.
The rest of your posts content was quite interesting.
You say:
The great cause of our time is ‘to restore all things in Christ: Catholic order and the papacy’. …
I sincerely wish that the first part of this statement takes place, but as far as the second goes, as an Orthodox, I cannot wish for the “Papacy”. The papacy is viewed as a doctrinal error on the part of the RCC for a variety of sound reasons.
You say:
In the end, when the entire Roman Catholic hierarchy is ready to be martyred for the faith…
My answer:
I do believe that there is a very large part of the RCC that is ready do do this, as are in many other Christian denominations. However I would not say that this is true in the “entirety” of the hierarchy. It has been proven that part of the hierarchy, have other priorities and not Christ.
This, is of course not the exclusive characteristic of the RCC hierarchy, we Orthodox have plenty of that too, perhaps not derived from doctrinal error though. We are all humans after all and we can err, just the same.
Stav
Hi joeglas,
With the risk of firing up a huge controversy here, I have to ask:
“Macedonians”?
Now, _that_ is a blatantly falsified history there for everyone to behold.
There is only one type of Macedonian and they are and always have been Greeks.
Thanks,
Stav
Dear Stav,
“Objectively speaking”, whether one is a Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, Sacred Scripture has these words of St. Paul the Apostle
“For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the Sovereignties and Powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of EVIL in the heavens.” – Ephesians 6:12
Sacred Scripture also has these words of THE LORD Himself
“Every Kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin; and no town, no household divided against itself can stand. Now if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; so how can his kingdom stand?” – Matthew 12:25-26
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
From Sacred Scripture we all read
“The seventy-two can back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said, ‘even the devils SUBMIT TO US when we use Your Name.’
‘HE SAID TO THEM, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I HAVE GIVEN YOU POWER TO TREAD UNDERFOOT SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS AND THE WHOLE STRENGTH OF THE ENEMY!’ – Luke 10:17-20
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
THEN, we have the words of St. Paul instructing the newly ordained BISHOP Timothy:
“You have in you a Spiritual Gift which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the BODY OF ELDERS laid their hands on you; DO NOT LET IT LIE UNUSED!” – 1 Timothy 4:14
The ‘Body of Elders’ were and ARE the Bishops of Christ’s Church here on earth.
Christ Jesus GAVE the power to cast out devils and demons and all of Satan’s strenght to THE BISHOPS of His Church!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
So now, WHO GAVE BIRTH and WHO GAVE HUMAN NATURE to the Eternally Begotten Son of God the Father? Who permitted the Second Person of the Divine Trinity, THE LOGOS, to assume a real human nature like yours, mine and the rest of the 6 billion people living on this planet earth of ours?
WHO???
THE WOMAN we in the Western-Latin Church and “youz guyz” of the Eastern Orthodox Church all call THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, the Mother of God, the Most Holy Theotokos!
And this Christ, the LOGOS through Whom all things were made and are held in being, GAVE the power to trampled down upon ALL of the strenght of Satan and his unseen elemental spiritual minions which, as St. Paul instructs with Apostolic Authority, form the ARMY OF EVIL in the unseen realms!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
Did not complete the thought…
Christ Jesus GAVE the power to trample down SATAN and all of the forces of the ARMY OF EVIL in the unseen spiritual realms to THE BISHOPS of His Church Militant here on earth!
With Apostolic Authority, St. Paul instructs newly ordained BISHOP Timothy to NOT let that Spiritual Gift go UNUSED!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
Now then, was it the BISHOP OF ROME or the CATHOLIC CHURCH which was responsible for the BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION in Russia back in 1917 A.D.?
Or was it SATAN and his hordes of unseen spiritual minions working on, with and throughout human beings who brought down so much DEATH and DESTRUCTION upon the people and nation of RUSSIA and her Orthodox Christian MONARCHY?
A simple answer from you and all of my dearest, friendliest, tenderest ORTHODOX from SERBIA or RUSSIA or GREECE who regularly post lenghty exposes of the utter NASTINESS and the ERRORS of the Catholic Chruch here on RZN forums is in order.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”, the question CAIN throws back in GOD’S FACE after his murdering off of his brother Abel.
So what is the Mother of the Church here on earth supposed to do WHILE all of her spiritual children of the EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCHES are being butchered off by the bushelful? Sit back and IDLY watch from Heaven?
She APPEARS to three children of Fatima, Portugal and gives them a Message to give to the BISHOPS of the Western-Latin Church:
‘HELP OUT YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE BEING MUGGED, ROBBED, KILLED, HAVING THEIR FACES SHOVED INTO THE MUD ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT!’
The Mother of the ALL ORTHODOX Christians the world over asks her Son’s BISHOPS of the Western-Latin Church TO CONSECRATE RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart SO THAT she might use her God-given Intercessory POWERS as the Mother of the Church TO CRUSH the heads of the Serpent and his unseen legions of serpents who are KILLING OFF her spiritual children in and throughout her Son’s EASTERN Church!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
And what is the spiritual RESPONSE from her Son’s Eastern Orthodox Church’s Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, Hiermonks and Theologians to this incredible desire on the part of the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God, the Mother of His Church here on earth?
That Eastern Orthodox response to the desire of the Most Holy Theotokos TO HELP and TO INTERVENE in the Maternal Protection of HER Eastern Church’s spiritual children, to this VERY DAY as witnessed here on RZN is:
“We Don’t Need Your STINKIN’ HELP From Your STINKIN’ Western-Latin Church – thank you very much!”
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
So you are a smart, articulate, logical sort of guy. That kinda-sorta grants you the Divine Grace to be IMPARTIAL in your approach to how to judge things when thrown into the midst of a pack of snarling, biting, unruly pack of people asserting their subjective opinions as objective facts.
Lawyers for both the prosecution and the defendent present their side of ‘The Case’ to what is supposed to be a nuertal and impartial JUDGE.
For these foregoing reasons, please do read the article entitled ‘Now Is The Time – Consecrating Russia Will Help, Not Harm, Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue’ by one Cathy Pearson from this webpage
http://www.fatimacrusader.com
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
Again, trusting in your logic and ability to discern facts in an unbiased and impartial way, I’d like for you to simply VIEW the following on-line documentary entitled ‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’ here
http://www.heavenskeytopeace.com
for a very specific reason – to discuss and ascertain what is truly a private, personal and entirely SUBJECTIVE event vis-a-via a public, universal and OBJECTIVE event.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
One time many years ago, someone made the following comment about me…
‘Ask Joe what time it is and he’ll wind up explaining to you how to build a watch!’
Pretty funny, no?
So onwards to examining the inner ‘spring’ mechanisms contained within and which tick away in OBJECTIVITY as well as SUBJECTIVITY.
Consider for a moment the UTTER SILLINESS of all the peoples of this World of ours, both inside the Church and outside of the Church, who are ALL going on and on and on about the Fatima Apparitions beings an entirely ‘SUBJECTIVE’ event which need NOT be accepted nor believed by any indivdiual or groups of individuals, whether IN and OF the Christian Church or not with the following comparision and example.
Back on 9-11-2001, three thousand people in the World Trade Towers were deliberately murdered, crushed to death, when those Twin Towers were deliberately blown down by detonation devises built into those Towers.
People from all around the entire World were FORCED to see those Twin Towers crumbling down with those 3,000 still inside over and over and over again.
Now I ask you, was that an entirely ‘SUBJECTIVE’ event witnessed by the entire World via the Jewish controlled Mass Media of TV, radio and print? If it were truly ‘SUBJECTIVE’ in nature, does that not imply that NO ONE need to believe that the 9-11-2001 “Arab” terrorist attacks occured?
And if it were ‘SUBJECTIVE’ in nature, then why, o why, are theres so many people dying from these WARS? Why are so many government officials and leaders INSISTING that this entirely ‘SUBJECTIVE’ event actually took place and they ALL THE REST OF US throughout the World have to “Jump Through Hoops” in order TO ACT UPON as if we are to actually believe 9-11 took place??
Now contrast this…
If you watched the Heaven’s Key To Peace on-line documentary, you are told of and show actual PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES of 70,000 people who were at one moment DRENCHED BY RAIN and were standing ankle deep in MUD. And AFTER the Fatima Miracle of the Sun which the Most Holy Theotokos said would take place, all of those 70,000 RAIN-DRETCHED and WALLOWING IN MUD people found themselves INSTANTANEOUSLY dry and standing on DRY solid ground.
‘OBJECTIVELY’ speaking, this Miracle really and truly DID take place via Divine Intervention thus making it NOT of a ‘Subjective’ nature – and if it is NOT of a ‘Subjective’ nature and is TRULY of an Overt Objective Nature, the peoples of the world both inside and outside of the Church ARE REQUIRED TO BELIEVE it really and truly took place!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
What would YOU and the rest of ALL the members of any and all of the Eastern Orthodox Churches throughout the entire World say about ANY and ALL Patriachs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, Bishops, Hiermonks, Theologians of ANY Orthodox Church if ANY ONE OF THEM came out in public, on T.V., before 6 billion human beings on our contemporary planet earth in order to say to ALL the Inhabitants of Planet Earth that…
“THE 9-11-2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE USA DID NOT – REPEAT – DID NOT OCCUR – AND THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHATSOEVER TO BELIEVE THE MEDIA-NEWS REPORTS OF SUCH 9-11 TERRORIST ATTACKS – AND ANYONE WHO CLAIMS OTHERWISE MAKES HIMSELF OR HERSELF A HERETIC OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AND IS HEREBY EXCOMMUNICATED FROM THE SACRAMENTS!”
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
Again, what would YOU and KathJuliane DO if the Orthodox Church’s Hierarchy were to PUBLICLY tell you that the reported upon 9-11-2001 Terrorist Attacks were but a SUBJECTIVE HALUCINATION that you and KathJuliane had experienced – and while it might be a matter of purely PERSONAL and SUBJECTIVE encounter with it in the Mass Media, you and KathJuliane are entirely ABSOLVED from having to bother thinking about it and are STRONGLY encouraged to dismiss the Mass Media reports of the 9-11-2001 Terrorist Attacks?
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
I am entirely capable of WINDING UP the inner ‘Spring’ tighter and tighter and tighter still – but due to the DANGER of actually causing DAMAGE to the Inner Workings of anyone’s Spiritual Springs working within their mind, hearts, souls and spirits, I’ll leave this line of posting alone for a while.
Somebody might actually ‘SNAP’!
– Fr. Joseph
Maybe there is still hope for this world yet. I have been indoctrinated with Anti Russian ( Soviet Union ) propoganda my whole life that it is difficult to believe they are more holy than us(USA).
We are so perverted, immoral, sex crazed, licentious, and homesexual in ths country that it makes you wonder who is really Atheist. Russia or America? America has let the far left Liberal, Communist Zionist Jews remove everything out of this country that is even remotely Christian or religious.
I do believe that since the discovery of America, (The New World) in 1492 up until around the Civil War we were a Christian whole heartedly. But ever since the 1870’s we have been in a slow decline towards paganism. Especially since WWII has been over we have been on fast forward towards Sodom and Gomorah. The DAMN MEDIA!
Greetings in the Lord Jesus from No Calif in US of Talmudistan
Heads up, gentle RZN family, something in the real and practical American world that seriously caught this reader’s attention:
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98895
FAITH UNDER FIRE
Home: No place for Bible study
County demands pastor spend thousands on ‘Major Use’ permit to host friends
Posted: May 22, 2009
5:13 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
A San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.
The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.
“Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say ‘amen’?” the official reportedly asked. “Do you say, ‘Praise the Lord’?”
The pastor’s wife answered yes.
She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding “religious assemblies” until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.
And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, “and then it will get ugly.”
Dean Broyles of the Western Center for Law & Policy, which has been retained to represent the couple, told WND the county’s action not only violates religious land-use laws but also assaults both the First Amendment’s freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.
“The First Amendment, in part, reads, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'” Broyles said. “And that’s the key part: ‘prohibiting the free exercise.’ We believe this is a substantial government burden on the free exercise of religion.”
He continued, “If one’s home is one’s castle, certainly you would the think the free exercise of religion, of all places, could occur in the home.”
Broyles confirmed the county official followed through on his threat. The pastor and his wife received a written warning ordering the couple to “cease/stop religious assembly on parcel or obtain a major use permit.”
“The Western Center for Law and Policy is troubled by this draconian move to suppress home Bible studies,” said the law center in a statement. “If the current trends in our nation continue, churches may be forced underground. If that happens, believers will once again be forced to meet in homes. If homes are already closed by the government to assembly and worship, where then will Christians meet?”
On a personal note, Broyles added, “I’ve been leading Bible studies in my home for 13 years in San Diego County, and I personally believe that home fellowship Bible studies are the past and future of the church. … If you look at China, the church grew from home Bible studies. I’m deeply concerned that if in the U.S. we are not able to meet in our homes and freely practice our religion, then we may be worse off than China.”
Broyles also explained to WND that oppressive governments, such as communist China or Nazi Germany, worked to repress home fellowships, labeling them the “underground church” or “subversive groups,” legally compelling Christians to meet only in sanctioned, government-controlled “official” churches.
“Therein lies my concern,” Broyles said. “If people can’t practice their religious beliefs in the privacy of their own homes with a few of their friends, that’s an egregious First Amendment violation.”
WND contacted a spokeswoman for San Diego County, who acknowledged the description of the incident seemed “bizarre,” but who was unable to locate the details of the account. She simply could not provide comment yet, she said, until she could become familiar with the case.
Broyles said the WCLP is nearly ready to file a demand letter with the county to release the pastor and his wife from the requirement to obtain the expensive permit. If the county refuses, Broyles said, the WCLP will consider a lawsuit in federal court.
Broyles also told WND the pastor and his wife are continuing to hold the Bible study in their home.
Dear Stav,
It is true, the antipapacy in Rome did release some statements that they claimed were ‘the Third Secret of Fatima’ in 2000.
I do not believe that was it
Lynda
Dear Fr Joseph,
Some very good points on the image that God commanded be made of the Ark of the Covenant in Israel.
Of the Ark, it was commanded that it could never be loaded onto a wagon. It had to be personally carried – by priests, the Sons of Zadok. This is a glimpse of the true supernatural reality of the Ark.
And when Luke describes the Archangelic greeting to Our Lady and the Coming of the Holy Spirit to her, he uses the exact words that describe the descent of the Holy Spirit as Shekinah glory upon the Ark in the dedication of the Temple
Can God Suffer?
Written by the Very Rev. John Breck
With the so-called “natural disasters” we have faced this past year, from the tsunami in Southeast Asia to recent tornados in the American Midwest – in addition to Katrina, Rita and the devastating earthquake in Pakistan – it is only reasonable to ask whether we are alone in our suffering and anguish, or if God Himself participates in it.
During these past months countless articles have appeared in the religious press and on the Internet, making the point that God does not inflict natural disasters as punishment. In Orthodox circles, following the Holy Fathers, we make a distinction between God’s “permissive” will and His “intentional” will. As Lord of all, God permits or allows such disasters to happen.
Yet He remains a God of Love, who would never, for any reason, inflict wanton destruction on entire populations. He may allow pain and suffering to visit particular individuals, including you and me. But He does so always for a purpose, often beyond our comprehension. There is no doubt that at times He does so for our good, as a burdensome yet effective pedagogical tool to correct us and lead us to repentance.
Where apparently meaningless suffering afflicts the truly innocent, we can only surrender, in faith and hope, before the impenetrable divine mystery that allows no rational analysis, no figuring out of the whys or wherefores. God, then, is involved in suffering, as He is in every other aspect of created existence.
The image God offers us of Himself in the Gospel takes this conviction a crucial step further. It is the image of a God who not only governs the world and our individual lives, bringing blessings and permitting pain and suffering. This same God makes it clear that He actually shares that suffering with us.
Scripture declares repeatedly that Christ suffered in order to destroy the power of death and enter into glory, and that He did so on our behalf, so that we might share that glory with Him (2 Cor 1:5-7; Phil 3:10; Heb 2:9-10; 1 Pet 1:11, 4:13, 5:1). He assumed the suffering of the Cross, died and descended into Sheol, the realm of death, and there He destroyed death’s power by the greater power of His Resurrection.
Through our baptism we are literally “incorporated” into Him, into His glorified life, but we are also incorporated into His redeeming suffering. “By death He has trampled down death.” This is the most fundamental conviction of our Orthodox faith.
Furthermore, we acknowledge that this suffering is truly victorious, it truly leads to glory, because Christ Himself is God, the eternal Son of the Father and One of the Holy Trinity. The truth is affirmed, then, that Christ our God suffered in order to liberate us from the power of death and to lead us with Himself to the glory of resurrected life.
Yet the question remains: In what sense can we affirm “God suffers,” not only in the historical moment of the Crucifixion, but in the pain and anguish that so often mark our everyday existence? And if indeed God suffers, is that suffering borne only by the Son, or can we affirm that God the Father knows and shares our suffering as well?
Struggling with this question, some third-century theologians developed a heretical doctrine referred to as “patripassionism” (“suffering of the Father”). This is a heresy that refused to accept a Trinitarian conception of God – three divine Persons united in a single divine Essence or Nature – but tended to identify the Father and the Son, so that it could be affirmed that both the Father and the Son suffered on the Cross (“He who is called Father and Son [they, the patripassionists hold] is one and the same, not one from the other, but He from Himself, called by name Father and Son according to the figure of the times…” – Hippolytus, “Refutation of all Heresies,” 9:10).
In reaction to this threat posed to Orthodox Trinitarian theology, the Church condemned “patripassionism” and affirmed that only the Son suffered and died on the Cross.
This is a conviction we must uphold today every bit as much as Orthodox theologians did in the third century. Yet it needs to be stated as well that in a particular sense, God the Father indeed “suffered” at the Crucifixion. A child will ask: “Why did God send His Son to die and not come Himself?” The question reflects a double misunderstanding. On the one hand, He who died on the Cross was indeed God: the eternal Son of the Father. Yet when the apostle Paul speaks of “God” and “Christ,” he is referring respectively to the Father and the Son. Thus he can declare, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor 5:19).
To answer the child’s question, it is enough to point out that no father could sacrifice his son without undergoing the same or even greater suffering than the son himself is called to bear. In other words, God the Father, in His infinite compassion and boundless love, endured a degree of personal suffering at the Crucifixion that was no less than the suffering borne by His Son, Jesus.
That subjective suffering, borne by each Person of the Holy Trinity, is not limited to the historical moment of the Cross. Like divine Love, divine suffering is a reality that characterizes God’s personal existence as He relates to the world He has made. Consequently, there is no human or cosmic suffering that is not part of God’s own personal experience. This is not “patripassionism.” It is the simple Gospel truth that the triune God indeed shares in – He knows and drinks to the bitter dregs – the cup of our suffering, whatever its cause, however devastating to us it might be.
Can God suffer? Does God truly suffer in the suffering of mankind and of each individual bearer of His divine image? Preserving a thoroughly Trinitarian perspective on God’s existence, we can answer that question with a resounding “Yes!” “We see Jesus,” the author of Hebrews declares (2:9), “who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God [the Father] He might taste death for every one.”
That tasting of death was not limited to the Cross. It involves His ongoing suffering in the life of every sparrow that falls to the ground, every victim of a natural disaster, and every tormented soul who contemplates suicide. Christ’s suffering – and with it, the suffering of God the Father – embraces the whole world and every particular life within it, including yours and mine. There is no true love without suffering. And God is and always will be the God of Love.
Hi Fr. Joseph,
WOW, what an avalanche of posts! It will take some time for me to go through it all, as I have some work to so also…
While I understand why you may have posted so much info in one go, I think it would be practical to keep this kind of thing shorter, as the matter of dealing with it, at least from my side has purely practical difficulties, due to a lack of time. I am happy to continue in the spirit of Christ, but perhaps in a slower pace.
For your Posts after my post to you, posts 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 I agree with, I think there is no conflicting information between our views. Other than serving as an introduction to the rest of your posts, I don’t see if there are any points you’d like me to get from them.
For post 8 (I hope I got my numbering right), which states:
That Eastern Orthodox response… …as witnessed here on RZN is:
“We Don’t Need Your STINKIN….
Yes, I actually do NOT agree with the spirit of this kind of response. May I remind you that while I grew in a mixed denominational environment I saw far too much unilateral damage made by such violent and irresponsible approaches between members of my family and close friends. In my view, such approaches server only Satan, who sees it and laughs in satisfaction, because no progress is made and as a matter of fact, things can become worse as rapport is lost, from that point onwards.
My personal view about how to approach people of different faiths, is that it must always be in the thought that they are images of God, and thus deserve our respect as human beings. I will not be one of these people. Rest assured that most of the people who will respond like this, lack also the ability to argue constructively. Regardless to day, it also displays a complete lack of spirituality and loving attitude. Not that I do this perfectly, but I think that kind of response is quite extreme. And don’t worry, there is no way I am going to explode like that against you…
That said, as I have stated before, this is not to stop me from voicing my concerns in an as much as possible logical manner, if I notice something that is a doctrinal error in my view.
You say:
For these foregoing reasons, please do read the article…
I will, thank you for the links. I will also read the ‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’ piece also.
You say:
or a very specific reason – to discuss and ascertain what is truly a private, personal and entirely SUBJECTIVE event vis-a-via a public, universal and OBJECTIVE event.
NOTE: My comment below includes an answer for the first part of your following post to that.
My mention of the word “subjective” was purely from a practical point of view. It was not to say that some events are not truly objective even though they are expressed by some as not being so. In the end, whatever a personal view may express, the actual view it self, however violently expressed, does not change the actual facts. Thus, my advice in the face of such occurrences, would be to remain calm and simply refocus on what (if anything) presented is actually fact, and take things further from there.
Many people respond to supernatural events/apparitions etc. with pure refusal to accept it, even if it happens blatantly right in their faces. The reasons for this are purely personal in nature. That means not necessarily correct, but it happens for personal reasons. That was my point. I also made sure to mention that I am not one of these people. I actually lean towards the position that the Fatima apparitions actually happened in the way described.
Further in that post, you say:
Now I ask you, was that an entirely ‘SUBJECTIVE’ event witnessed… …that the 9-11-2001 “Arab” terrorist attacks occured?
I think that generally speaking, when one is faced with shocking or world-view demolishing information, one must be vigilant in their acceptance of truth, logic and powers of observation and trust God to deliver them after all the shock and awe has died down, to a place of new understanding.
The destruction of the towers, in this example is a fact and can be taken as an objective fact. However, the explanations given by the media you describe so characteristically and correctly, is obviously subjective. This is because it is obvious that they are biased and have ulterior Zionist motives, which I am not going to go into now.
Further in the same post, you say:
…on-line documentary, you are told of and show actual PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES of 70,000 people…
I think I gave you an answer of my personal view of this event above. As I said earlier, I have no problem to accept this event as a genuine one, and I probably do so now, in principle. I have not finalized my position yet but right now and based on my arguments in my previous post, I see no reason why these are not real events. All I was saying, is that internally, I have logically and sensibly correlated this information with my Orthodox viewpoint, which I might add, I have established after careful examination.
Thus, my main point about the whole apparition event, was that while it is almost certainly a real event, it does not show any signs of a complete and unconditional endorsement of everything that the RCC stands for.
In your next post you say:
What would YOU and the rest of ALL the members… …that…
“THE 9-11-2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE USA DID NOT…
Well, again you got my answer earlier. One must stay vigilant and true in their observations and logical deductions. Also, since we are talking about Christian to Christian here, one must pray, trust God’s insights, stay true to scriptural information, and at least the basic doctrines, such as the ten commandments, love of God and the fellow people and the love of truth etc. etc.
If one sticks to these principles, then one can make their own judgment in time and finally make an as possible correct evaluation. Moreover, as an Orthodox, I would add to these principles, some more constraints and practices. But, your example is hypothetical, so I would not like to comment any further with specifics as I actually think that public announcements in the Orthodox Church are a bit of a rarity anyway. (see further for more info on this)
Further, you say:
Again, what would YOU and KathJuliane… …STRONGLY encouraged to dismiss the Mass Media reports of the 9-11-2001 Terrorist Attacks?
My answer:
Well, I cannot possibly speak for others, but, I gave you my answer above. I believe in a logical, truth seeking, humble and orthodox approach to solving such difficult questions. It would also practically depend on many things, such as the actually specific people involved.
But let me give you some insight, on what actually might have happened in an Orthodox setting given your example:
In the Orthodox Church as you may know, we do not have such a decisive and organized hierarchy, in fact, to the western eye, most things may seem quite messy and disorganized in comparison. While there is partly a doctrinal root of this, this fact has also practical ramifications. Thus, as a first point, I would like to say, that I think that most probably no public announcement whatsoever would have been made, no matter how big the scandal or issue involved.
Secondly, the most probable thing to happen (or at least sought after by a practicing Orthodox) would be for one to take personal advise from a spiritual father/confessor about things like that. The Orthodox point of view on this particular practice, is that we will let the Holy Spirit inspire us for a correct answer. My personal experience on this, is that it indeed happens, although for us sinners, it happens in a very subtle way. Usually you realize this quite some time later.
Thus, if after (extensive) discussion a decision by the spiritual father to take the next action has been made, I would most probably completely submit my self to that decision, until further notice. It is my personal experience, that such advises, taken and followed within the context of the Mystery of Confession, will be blessed, regardless of their apparent nature, which to a questioning mind may even seem unrealistic, illogical etc. etc. But in the context of the Mystery of Holy Confession, the point is not action by one self, but rather letting our selves to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Thus, again, for a believer, this is a perfectly logical approach.
So, my main point above is that in the Orthodox Church, it is probably unlikely that such statements would be made publicly. This partly due to the non-centralized and non-existence of a single head of the Church. And partly to the fact that for the interested parties (the practicing faithful) the matter would have probably been rectified by personal advise through the Mystery of Holy Confession via their respective spiritual fathers.
I my view, it is simply your personal angle and point of view that can imagine such an occurrence taking place in the Orthodox Church. In my view, angle and experience, this seems very unlikely.
Finally, you say:
I am entirely capable of WINDING UP… …but due to the DANGER of actually causing DAMAGE… …I’ll leave this line of posting alone for a while.
Somebody might actually ‘SNAP’!
Fr. Joseph, my personal main approach in this message board, is to present logical analysis and conclusions, supported by Scripture and where applicable the holy traditions of the Church. I also aim to provide insights for anyone interested about the Orthodox point of view. Thus naturally, I am going to mention the differences between the Churches, to accomplish my aims.
I am very very far away from reaching a snapping point or have any of what is said here, affect my soul in a Damaging way. I do believe that a Christ and truth loving ethos and attitude, will never fail us, and will always be constructive for all parties involved.
In Christ,
Stav
Dear Father Joseph,
Then you must tell your friends who have been exposed to DU:
“Look, Father, the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal, or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”
Dear Father Joseph,
The Christian house which was living the instructions that Our Lady gave at Fatima ‘just happened’ to be at ground zero in Hiroshima. They were preserved alive and lived in good health into old age. I remember seeing some of those priests on tv in the 1960s. The only thing they had to complain about was that the US gov’t would leave them alone and was trying to study them like lab rats.
Why? Because
“There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we can not resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
Sr Lucia of Fatima (Sr Maria das Dores of Carmel) 1957
Dear Fr Joseph,
Combat focuses the mind and clears it of intellectual static. A person who is dying of DU is not interested in arguments about Cesaro-papaism or why collegiality is the model and pattern of the Church or Lord founded or whether this pattern of the Church militant has a general with the generals and a chain of command. Let him sort that out later.
Let him save his life now by means of the Holy Rosary.
And, it does not matter what is anyone’s opinion.
The bishops of the Petrine Succession have spoken with one voice – the Holy Father and the bishops that Our Lord intends to give his Church a great vicotry to his glory.
Yes, in spite of the Christians and the whole sinful world speeding on the on-ramp to doom.
He is going to give the Church this victory because he intends that it will be his mother’s Triumph.
“By means of the Holy Rosary and the Brown Scapular, I will save the world.”
Just tell them Father. Let them see for themselves.
Dear Lynda,
YES, there is no problem that the Mother of God can’t address and intercede for us all on account of her Divine Appointment of being our universal spiritual Mother as the Human Race’s NEW EVE as well as the Mother of God Incarnate’s CHURCH here on earth.
That’s why I can and do get “hot under the collar” so to speak.
God Himself PUBLICLY ANNOUNCES via His Mother that He, out of His Divine Love for ALL of Mankind, will grant us all WORLD PEACE if but only His Church publicly and solemnly HONORS His Mother with a Collegial Consecrartion of RUSSIA to her – and from every corner of the Church herself comes forth individivuals, their decisions and all sorts of announcements which only cause the possibility of obtaining WORLD PEACE from God Himself thrown into their trash heap.
I served in the Military. I’d LOVE nothing better than to see WORLD PEACE!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
Thank you for permitting and allowing me to BLOW OFF some internal pent up spiritual, intellectual and emotional “steam”.
Ya know, if there were but a wee bit more COURAGE on the part of ALL the members of the Church Militant here on earth, our entire human race would NOT be in the royally fouled up MESS that it now finds itself.!
To TURN DOWN an Offer from God Himself, be that either Eternal Life with Him in Heaven OR World Peace down here on earth while living away from our True and Native Homeland so as to ENSURE every manner of chaos, suffering and mayhem is IMPOSED upon the Human Race (of which I am but ONE individual soul) is something that ANGERS me deep down inside.
If people in the ‘High and Mighty Places’ both within Worldly Governments as well as His Church here on earth LIKE these World Wars and all of these other assorted manifestations of EVIL imposed on Human Beings the world over – that I say let THEM go out into the battlefields. Imagine seeing Bishops donning gas masks to avail inhaling Vx nerve agents while dodging bullets. Or perhaps form Battalions from the many and varied sorts of LEGISLATIVE bodies throughout the World, thrown a M-16 or AK-47 into THEIR hands after dumping them off on some miserable point on earth so as to FIGHT their OWN much desired wars and battles!
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Apparently, lots and lots of those inside and outside of the Church and national governments DON’T THINK SO!
– Fr. Joseph
Father Joseph,
Holy Orthodoxy, ever guided by the Holy Spirit, has always treasured Mary and her intercessory prayers, along with those of the saints and martyrs, for us as a gift from an all gracious and loving God.
Standing firmly on the truth of God, the Orthodox Church alone remains the “pillar of truth”, having never compromised the “deposit of faith” entrusted to her by the Apostles.
Because of the “infallibility” of the Holy Spirit resident in the entire Orthodox Church among all the faithful, although some fallen and sinful people have failed, He, the Spirit of Truth, even spoken by just one person at times, has enabled the Holy Orthodox Church to avoid the excessive devotion born of demonic deceit and hold fast to what is true and God-Pleasing.
In considering an apparition, guided by the working of the Holy Spirit, we examine the message for conformity to the revealed truth of the Gospel of Christ as found in Scripture and Holy Apostolic Tradition, and the infallible “patristic mind” of the Holy Orthodox Church.
When an apparition, or even a physical manifestation is truly Mary (or any other angel or saint of heaven) the hand of God is plain and undeniable. Furthermore, neither the Virgin Mary, nor any other holy saints and martyrs as obedient servants of God, acts without the Divine authority of our Lord Jesus Christ who sends them as He deems fit, and as He directs.
In their obedient love of God, certainly more perfect than we in the world can muster, they do nothing on their own authority, or presume their own authority apart from Jesus Christ. When the apparition is not of God, then this is also is clear to those of spiritual discernment and sound logic, in comparison with Scripture and patristic tradition.
The Third Oecumenical Synod of Ephesus, called in 431 over the Nestorian heresy under St. Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, Celestine, Pope of Rome, and Emperor Theodosius the Younger, with 200 fathers (bishops) in attendance, declared it “unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different (ἑτέραν-heteran-, ie. “heterodox”) Faith as a rival to that established by the Holy Fathers assembled with the Holy Spirit in Nicæa”, as dogmatically defined Nicene-Constantinople Creed as adopted by the First Synod of Nicaea in 325, or as added to and modified by the First Council of Constantinople in 381.
In addition, it condemned Pelagianism, Collyridianism, and Antidicomarianitism.
Eight canons were passed:
Canon 1-5 condemned Nestorius and Caelestius and their followers as heretics.
Canon 6 decreed deposition from clerical office or excommunication for those who did not accept the Synod’s decrees.
Canon 7 condemned any departure from the Creed established by the First Council of Nicaea, in particular an exposition by the priest Charisius.
Canon 8 condemned interference by the Bishop in affairs of the Church in Cyprus and decreed generally, so that no bishop was to “assume control of any province which has not heretofore, from the very beginning, been under his own hand or that of his predecessors … the Canons of the Fathers be transgressed”.
Most of the early heresies were Trinitarian and Christological in nature, but Collyridianism stood alone as a heresy that sought to make a goddess of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Little is known about the movement’s theology. Not even the names of the group’s leaders are mentioned by writers of the time. This sect’s excessive Marian devotion developed into the idolatry of Mary worship. This ancient aberration grew out of the Church’s rightful veneration of Mary as ever-virgin, Theotokos, and powerful heavenly intercessor, but crossed the line of orthodoxy when certain Christians began to worship Mary as divine.
Details about the Collyridians are scanty, but one of the few specifics we know of them is that at their liturgical service bread was offered as a sacrifice directly to Mary. The most diligent opponent of the Collyridians was Epiphanius (315- 403), the bishop of Salamis. He was widely renowned for his learning and holy asceticism and was a close friend of Blessed Jerome.
Epiphanius wrote against the Collyridians in his most important apologetic work, Panarion (Medicine Box [374-377]), a tour-de-force refutation of over eighty heresies known to him.
He refuted the two extreme and diametrically opposed Marian heresies of his day, Collyridianism (which overly exalted Mary) and Antidicomarianitism, an Arabian movement that debased Mary’s status and virtues, to the point of claiming “that holy Mary had intercourse with a man, that is to say, Joseph, after the birth of Christ” (Panarion 78:1).
The Collyridians were primarily women who developed a syncretistic combination of Christian elements and pagan Arab goddess cult customs. After describing the “awful and blasphemous ceremony,” in which they adorn a chair or a square throne and spread a linen cloth over it for their ritual, Epiphanius writes, “Certain women there in Arabia have introduced this absurd teaching from Thracia: how they offer up a sacrifice of bread rolls in the name of the ever-Virgin Mary, and all partake of this bread” ( 78:13).
He emphasizes the difference between Mary and God in no uncertain terms: “It is not right to honor the saints beyond their due” (ibid. 78:23); “Now the body of Mary was indeed holy, but it was not God; the Virgin was indeed a virgin and revered, but she was not given to us for worship, but she herself worshiped Him who was born in the flesh from her…. Honor Mary, but let the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be worshiped, but let no one worship Mary, . . . even though Mary is most beautiful and holy and venerable, yet she is not to be worshiped” (ibid. 79:1, 4).
With Epiphanius we can say that anyone who worships Mary or any other creature instead of God the Creator is committing idolatry and must be rebuked. We should look to Scripture, at the case of the angel who rebuked John for his temptation to idolatry of a heavenly creature: “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am a fellow servant, and of your brethren who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy!'” (Rev.19:10). No doubt, our Lady herself would say this to any who would seek to worship her.
Collyridianism may be seen today in various forms. Those “hyper-Marian” groups and writers who overly exalt Mary and focus on Her to the exclusion (or near exclusion) of Jesus Christ Himself may be guilty of something approaching idolatry, when compared to Scripture and Apostolic Holy Tradition.
Modern feminism is the source of a recycled Collyridianism that worships a “mother goddess” and seeks to “re-image” God in female terms.
According to the Word of God, the devil will manifest himself in the appearance which best suits his unholy purpose. He is the deceiver, the imposter. St. Paul warns us, “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”. (2 Corinthians 11:14).
In 2 Corinthians 11:1-3, Paul compares the reality of the New Covenant to the Garden of Eden, where Christ is Adam and the Church is Eve, and where Satan is up to his same craftiness “so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity and purity that is in Christ”.
The first element of a “chaste virgin” is the purity of Orthodox doctrine. Not human persuasiveness but only Apostolic content is important. Paul is a part of the apostolic college (v.5) which continues in line with the original Twelve Apostles. “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom WE (the college of apostles) have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received [from us], or a different gospel which you have not accepted [from us]—you put up with it easily!”
Although Satan (v. 14) imitates the Kingdom of God, telltale signs reveal his sham, such as nonapostolic doctrine (vv. 4—6) and a lucrative ministry. The Corinthians thought they were wise (v. 19) enough to choose and evaluate Church leaders. They had become enamored with false apostles who championed themselves, using the methods and values of the world, full of outward show and crafty talk.
“Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world…We (the apostles and their followers) are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth from the spirit of error”. (1 John 4:1-6)
Fr. Joseph, for all of these reasons, and many more, Orthodox Christians are taught not to trust in apparitions, the first of which is that Eve herself, was tempted through the eyes.
Through the ages, Orthodoxy has taken very much to heart the anathematized heresy of Collyridianism of Ephesus, and the Eastern Churches have always been very careful to keep the veneration of the Theotokos within a proper proportion, balance and demeanor within the Divine Liturgies and within proper theological bounds of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.
Secondly, is there a particular reason why you feel compelled to write post after post after post on this issue which is a matter ultimately of YOUR personal choice even within the Roman Catholic Church as is very clearly found within the RCC Cathechism itself?
Thirdly, is there a reason for this persistence in insulting and abusing the Orthodox Faithful by calling us heretics, when even your own Magisterium has just this century admitted that the Orthodox Church does NOT teach any heresy at all, never has, and has kept “the deposit of faith” pure and undefiled.
THIS IS AN OPEN FORUM – From Br Nathanael
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Real Zionist News Family,
I want everyone to realize that EVERYBODY regardless of religious persuasion is FREE to comment here their particular views.
Thus, I do NOT delete comments that may differ from my own Orthodox Christian beliefs, as long as there is NO SLANDER against Christ and the Holy Orthodox Christian Church Fathers & saints, AND, our Most Holy Orthodox Christian Church.
If some feel that our Orthodox Christian hierarchs are not doing their job properly, then they have the right to be critical, as long as there is no slander involved. (I myself HONOUR HIGHLY our Russian Orthodox Christian hierarchs and believe that they are doing a good job of maintaing our most Holy Apostolic Faith.)
Again, this VERY POPULAR Comments Section is an OPEN FORUM.
+Brother Nathanael Kapner
Russian Orthodox Christian
Hi Brother Nathanael,
Something to consider regarding the Ark of the Covenant…
The reconstituted Sanhedrin will function as a Senate, House of Representatives and Supreme Court, all rolled into one. And by virtue of the fact that a Jewish Antichrist will rule the world, the Sanhedrin will preside, not only over Israel, but over all mankind.
Within its judicial purview will be the interpretation of the Noahide Laws for the lower courts (‘small Sanhedrins’) to administer to the Gentiles.
Vendyl Jones, who claims to have discovered the Ark of the Covenant under the Temple Mount, says he has received the word from an unidentified “Kabbalist” to reveal the lost Ark by August 14, 2005. Perhaps the unveiling of the alleged Ark, which once held the Ten Commandments, will be conveniently staged just in time to provide Biblical justification for universal enforcement of the Noahide Laws.
Ron Wyatt – Now deceased Seventh Day Adventist who claimed to have discovered the Noah’s Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, The Red Sea Crossing, Mt. Sinai, the Ark of the Covenant and How the Pyramids were built.
Various Creation Science research organizations have stated that Wyatt’s research was at best based only on circumstantial evidence and at worst outright fraudulent. Ron Wyatt and his organization presented false information about his scientific background and spent tens of thousands of investors’ dollars on bogus schemes.
Sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Joanne
Dear Joanne –
Did you get my latest email to you?
I tried to call you but I keep getting a message that you are “not available” – yet there is no way to leave a message on the phone…
+BN
Dear joeglas,
Tyrannies do not improve, they perish. Perhaps the last stage of that process ended when Montenegro regained its place as a sovereign nation of the European community. The Serb Orthodox Church is more akin to a cult whose central fiure is St. Sava and not the Saviour. Its primary role in history has been to further illegitimate Serb territorial gains as summed up in the motto: whereever there are Serb graves this is Serb land.
Response:
As an American and a convert to the Serbian Orthodox Church, speaking only on my own, of course, very safe and very far from the overwhelming heartbreak of Balkan history over the past thousand years, and to present day, let me address this first about St. Sava who is my patron saint of my adopted second homeland. He is no “cult figure” and for this we must go far back in history to the Byzantine Christian Era before the Ottoman yoke. I offer this for your consideration.
St. Sava, in terms of national identity, is to the Serbs is what St. Patrick is to the Irish, Emperor Constantine is to the Greco-Roman world, Prince Vladimir is to Russia and the Ukraine, or say in the more modern sense, what George Washington, a deeply devout man, is to “Christian America”. They are founders of Christian civilizations, and very much a part of the ethnic identity and the fabric of faith of each peoples. They are fathers of their respective nations.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is first and foremost in Orthodoxy and always will be. The Cross is everything to the Eastern Orthodox.
St. Sava is the father of Christian Serb civilization which was part of the “Byzantine Commonwealth” centered in Constantinople as well as linked by Faith to Kievan Russia, and therefore he is a holy saint of the entire Eastern Orthodox people worldwide. To Serbs, St. Sava embodied all the virtues of the Church’s saints.
St. Sava’s father, King Stephen Nemanja, later the devout and ascetical monastic St. Simeon, was inspired by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine’s example who founded the imperial city on pure love of the Christian faith. King Stephen, who was the first royalty to be named after St. Stephen the Protomartyr, followed this example by building churches, monasteries and schools, throughout not just Serbia but throughout the Byzantine lands, establishing Orthodoxy as the basis for Serbian culture and society. No other country of the Byzantine Commonwealth could claim as many monasteries as the kingdom of Serbia.
Originally, the Kingdom of Serbia was founded upon the principle of Svetosavlye, taught by St. Sava himself, whereby the basis for royal leadership and all aspects of life in the kingdom of Serbia was the Orthodox Faith and holy life of the Church. St. Sava was a man of very deep prayer and ascetical struggle, as was his father. He was always humble before the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople, wishing to maintain and foster the unity of the Orthodox Churches in the Byzantine Empire.
Sava was the son of Stephen I, founder of the Nemanjdes dynasty, and also known as Sabas. He became a monk on Mount Athos in Greece when he was seventeen. With his father, who abdicated in 1196, he founded Khilandrai Monastery on Mount Athos for Serbian monks and became Abbot.
He returned home in 1207 when his brothers, Stephen II and Vulkan, began to quarrel, and civil war broke out. Sava brought many of his monks with him, and from the headquarters he established at Studenitsa Monastery, he founded several monasteries and began the reformation and education of the country, where religion and education had fallen to a low estate.
He was named metropolitan of a new Serbian hierarchy by Byzantine Emperor Theodore II Laskaris at Nicaea; was consecrated, though for political reasons unwillingly, by Patriarch Manuel I in 1219; returned home bringing more monks from Mount Athos; and in 1222 crowned his brother Stephen II King of Serbia.
Through his efforts, St. Sava finished the uniting of his people that had been begun by his father, King Stephen, translated religious works into Serbian, and gave his people a native clergy and hierarchy. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was later sent on a second visit there on an ecclesiastical mission, and died on the way back at Tirnovo.
Historically, in 1146 the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenos gave, in a gesture of peace, to King Stephen I the Byzantine Greek lands of Kosovo and Metohija.
Dear KathJuliane,
Way back when when I made my religious profession into the Lay Order of CARMELITES, I had this trite personal saying of mine I would say to myself when I would obtain a Moment of Grace from God the Holy Spirit Who showed me some aspect or facet of the Truth and Reality of Our Lord and Savior’s Divine Revelation and Teaching. It went/goes like this
“The MORE OBVIOUS something is, the MORE LIKELY it will be overlooked.”
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
So I make these postings of mine SHORT so as to circumvent their being prevented from being posted by RZN’s anti-spam feature.
Now YOUR knowledge regarding so many aspects of Church History is unsurpassed here on RZN. You are, in a way, a living and breathing LIBRARY when it comes to matters of Church History and the Patristics of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Now THAT is a Gift from our Lord.
It was St. John of the Cross, Carmelite Saint and Mystical Doctor of the Catholic Church who said in his work entitled ‘The Ascent of Mount Carmel’ that to turn to and lock onto any PARTICULAR aspect within God’s creation is to CEASE turning one’s mind and heart from gazing upon this “ALL” of His Creating.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
So in combining my own trite ‘The more obvious something is, the more likely it will be OVERLOOKED.’ coupled with the Mystical Doctor St. John of the Cross’ EXPERT spiritual wisdom and advise about NOT becoming fixated on some particular ASPECT so as to LOOSE SIGHT of the Big Picture, here is what I’d like for you to take aside privately during the course of your day to PRAYEFULLY consider.
The Byzantine Empire is no longer with us.
The Roman Empire is no longer with us.
The Church Fathers and the Bishops of the Church “way back when” took ACTIVE NOTICE of the manifold evils and troubles and obstacles that were confronting both THE CHURCH as well as the PEOPLE of their ‘World’ way back when 1700-1800 years ago…and…
THE ALL MET TOGETHER under the GUIDANCE OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT and COLLEGIALLY ACTED UPON implementing THE SOLUTION(S) the various DIVINE GRACES that were given to them AT those CHURCH COUNCILS.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
Now the PROBLEMS facing both the CHURCH MILITANT here on earth as well as about 6 billion human souls ALL created in the Image and Likeness of GOD for Whom His Only Eternally Begotten Son took on our human nature in the INCARNATION which was made solely possible by the FIAT the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, the Most Holy Theotokos and for whom He, as God Incarnate DIED on a Roman Cross via the Roman CRUCIFIXION – those Problems confronting and engulfing THE CHURCH as well as our entire Human Race for whom CHRIST JESUS’ DIED so as to save and redeem are VASTLY DIFFERENT IN SCOPE & NATURE than those problems and dangers facing THE CHURCH of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries.
“The more OBVIOUS something is, the MORE LIKELY it will be overlooked.”
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
So “way back when”, 1700-1800 years ago, THE BISHOPS of the Church from the far flung provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire and from the far flung provices of the Western Roman Empire – now get this –
THEY ALL ASSEMBLED TOGETHER – from the far East and the far West – in a COLLEGIAL FASHION – and promulgated PUBLIC and SOLEMN actions and announcements TO ADDRESS the many and varied PROBLEMS confronting the Church and by extention the manifold societal and psycho-spiritual problems confronting the members of the Human Race under the Church’s jurisdication.
And it was CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF Who commissioned His Apostles and their Successors to go out to ALL the nations of the World. Not just Serbia. Not just Greece. Not just Syria. Not just Rus. So as to bring the peoples of Rus, the peoples of Serbia, the peoples of Greece the peoples of Syria His Own Divine SALVATION and His Teaching to bring about Mankind’s REDEMPTION.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
In giving GREAT REVERENCE to how Christ Jesus and His Holy Spirit chose TO WORK WITH the Church Fathers and the Bishops of the Early Church – that is IF we want to show GREAT REVERENCE to our Lord, the Holy Spirit and the WAY in which Divinity chooses TO WORK with His Church and ALL OF MANKIND – we simply MUST recognize that in times of great peril, confusion and uncertainty within His Church and amongst Mankind in general…
…OUR LORD CALLS FOR THE BISHOPS OF HIS CHURCH TOGETHER IN ORDER TO “REGROUP” AND TO ACCEPT THAT WHICH GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES PERFECTLY AND CLEARLY OVERTLY MANIFEST AS DIVINE GUIDANCE TO THE CHURCH AND FOR ALL OF MANKIND’S SALVATION AND REDEMPTIONS’ SAKE!
“The MORE OBVIOUS something is, the MORE LIKELY it will be overlooked.”
We CANNOT become ‘fixated’ in our spiritual gaze upon what happened 1700-1800 year ago as if the problems of 17 centuries ago and their solutions back then ARE the solutions to the problems 17 centuries LATER.
To do THAT is to DENY the Lord Jesus Christ is LORD over all – to include future times – and to show a LACK OF FAITH in His Divine Goodness and His Divine PROVIDENCE for all manner of things we human beings might encounter IN THE FUTURE!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
Divine Providence DID NOT have Satan appearing to the Church Fathers and Bishops 1700 years ago in order for THEM to witness and overhear Satan’s challenge to THE LORD that he, Satan, challenged THE LORD that he would and could DESTROY the Church.
Divine Providence had the Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo XIII, back in 1884 A.D. receive that bit of Preternatural v. Supernatural Challenge knowledge.
So THE PROBLEMS what would ARISE from this Mystical Manifestation to the Bishop of Rome back in 1884 A.D. were NOT given the Divine Solution way back when in the 2nd and 3rd century Church Councils.
The Divine Solution to THE PROBLEMS what would ARISE from the Satanic challenge levied against THE LORD and His Church here on earth would have to OUT OF NECESSITY be given TO THE CHURCH something AFTER 1884 A.D..
To DENY that THE LORD would permit HIS CHURCH to be assailed by SATAN without the Divine Solution, the Divine Answer is to DENY the Divine Love that THE LORD has for His Bride here on earth – HIS CHURCH!
To assume the position that THE LORD would allow HIS CHURCH to become “blind-sided” by His and our common malicious spiritual enemy by NOT informing His Church and by NOT providing His Bride here on earth with AN ANSWER OR WAY to defend herself and to protect herself is to unwittingly asserting that THE LORD can’t be TRUSTED and is UNFAITHFUL to His Bride, His Church Militant here on earth!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
Maybe I’m wrong to view the Orthodox position that the Lord WOULD willingly abandon His Church to the viles and destructive desires of Satan for that is what I, as a Catholic Christian of the Western-Latin Church, CONCLUDE from your collective Orthodox REJECTION of the Most Holy Theotokos’ Apparitions, Messages and Instructions to THE BISHOPS of the Church as gleemed from the postings from you Orthodox here on RZN.
And so, yeah, I get a little “hot under the collar” on account of your individual and collective REJECTION of the Lord’s Chosen SOLUTION and RESPONSE to the Satanic challenge witnessed by the Bishop of Rome back in 1884 A.D.
And you Eastern Orthodox Church Christians simply REJECT what was given to the Bishop of Rome back in 1884 A.D. precisely because you all call the Bishop of Rome AN APOSTATE as well as A HERETIC!
And don’t you DARE tell me that isn’t the TRUTH of the matter regarding this long non-sensical hostility from you ‘Byzantiums’ vs. the ‘Romans’!!!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear joeglas,
Marxism in the Ghettos
Revolutionary political activities in the ghettos began to be organized in the early part of the 19th century. So “promising” was the ghetto force that Heinrich Heine, Jewish-German poet, leader of the Communist youth and collaborator of Karl Marx, foretold with breathtaking, if supremely sadistic, accuracy in the 1840’s the future destruction of Orthodox Russia by Judeo-Communism:
“Communism, though little discussed now and loitering in hidden garrets…is the dark hero destined for a great, if temporary, role in the modern tragedy….
It would be war, the ghastliest war of destruction…The second act is the European and the World Revolution, the great duel between the “destitute” (masses) and the aristocracy of wealth; and in that there will be no mention of either nationality or religion; there will be only one fatherland, the globe, and only one faith, that in happiness on earth…How could the drama end?
I do not know; but I think that eventually the great sea serpent [Britain] will have its head crushed and the skin of the Northern bear [Russia] will be pulled over its ears. There may be only one flock and one shepherd—on free shepherd with an iron staff, and a shorn-alike, bleating alike human herd!…
“…The Gods are veiling their faces in pity on the children of man, their long-time charges, and perhaps over their own fate. The future smells of Russian leather, blood, godlessness and many whippings. I should advise our [Jewish] grandchildren to be born with very thick skins on their backs,:
In this statement and subsequent developments we recognize the essential nature and objectives of Communism: It is to destroy the nations (which are gentile institutions, except for the recently born Zionist “international nation,” Israhell; to destroy religions and national and racial identities and to scorn national and race consciousness so that “there will be no mention” of such things. The poor, as in political labor unions, are turned against productive leadership, but rarely against the wealthy Jews as a means of making us destroy ourselves. The whole world must become a formless human flock, utterly disunited.
Communism, Heine said, is to serve a temporary role. We see by inspection since then that its role is to destroy the Christian order and people. After that is accomplished there will remain no organized resistance to the invisible power.
We see now that as Communism nearly accomplished this purpose in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and its far advancement before and after WW2 in the matter of subverting America, intimidating Americans and Judaizing Christianity along the lines of Fabian Socialism and the subversion of Christianity to Zionist causes, that Jewish unity, fervor and political and financial power reached unimaginable new heights under Zionist propaganda and organizing.
Communism, then, exists to destroy the existing gentile world; Zionism is to build the “new order”, the one world government, police backed, a dictatorship, with Jewish financiers and political laders steering it, principally through proselytes. Communists open call for world dictatorship; Zionists speak of it in the more subtle terms of “world government, police backed.”
Hi all, Br. Nathanael and KathJuliane,
This post is mainly for my fellow Orthodox.
KathJuliane says:
“Holy Orthodoxy, ever guided by the Holy Spirit, has always treasured Mary and her intercessory prayers, along with those of the saints and martyrs, for us as a gift from an all gracious and loving God.
Standing firmly on the truth of God, the Orthodox Church alone remains the β��pillar of truthβ��, having never compromised the β��deposit of faithβ�� entrusted to her by the Apostles.”
I couldn’t possibly put it more aptly. I agree with that statement completely.
I only wanted to say here that my mention about (some specific) Hierarchs in the Orthodox Church having their share of errors, was mainly due to the recent scandals here in Greece, which revealed a few wrong-doings committee by a small minority of them, which from time to time appear to happen. It would be foolish in my opinion to present every single person who is Orthodox as absolutely perfect in every way.
However, I obviously still believe that the Orthodox Hierarchs, generally speaking but especially when they act or decide in their totality act primarily by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is simply because as again very aptly put by KathJuliane:
“Because of the β��infallibilityβ�� of the Holy Spirit resident in the entire Orthodox Church”
Thus I would like to say clearly here that while I have seen some isolated errors being committed, I absolutely trust that our Orthodox Hierarchy in it whole is protected because they reside in the body of the true and pure Orthodox Church.
One more note here, about errors that may be committed from time to time by our leaders in the Orthodox Church. We as the Orthodox body of the Church, are instructed to be vigilant and point out such errors, in the proper manner.
This, by it self suggests that such things will happen, however scarcely, and that we need to speak up and chastise the people in the hierarchy who may be in error. If errors were never committed, then there would also not be a need for the body of the Church to chastise some of the members when necessary.
I really did not want to give the wrong impression, especially to the non-Orthodox. I as an Orthodox, view the body of our Hierarchy and the great people comprising it, with great respect and honor.
My only point was that very occasionally, some individuals of the Hierarchy when acting on their own and not within the councils, may become misguided. It is our job then, with the help of the full body of the council of the Hierarchs to chastise them.
This is also a fool proof mechanism of ensuring that the Body of the Church remains healthy, even if a particular individual may err. Has anyone imagined when would happen if anyone decided to chastise the Pope? Well, in the Orthodox Church it is possible, if error is involved ANYONE can be chastised if there is sufficient proof of their errors.
That is not to say that this happens very often if at all, with regard to the Patriarchs, however this principle of all the Patriarchs being equals, also derives from the fact that even they are human and potentially fallible, and this makes their mutual “control” much easier to perform if the need ever came.
Finally to conclude, let me sum all this up:
1) Exactly in contrast with the RCC we Orthodox have no belief in the infallibility of any single human being. Thus, ALL of us, are and will sometimes err, in big or small ways.
2) The body of our Orthodox Hierarchy however, is infallible, due to their immersion in the Holy Spirit and because of our pure faith, As very aptly explained above by KathJuliane.
3) Since, individually one can err, even occasionally a Hierarch, (as very recently seen in Greece) I would say that immediate chastisement is necessary (and so it happened) in order to heal the body of the Church.
4) Thus, I fully trust and respect the fullness of our hierarchy and I also respect them individually.
It is important I my view, to present our Holy Orthodox Faith and its Body of Christ in its entirety in the best possible way, scripturally, doctrinally etc. to the non-Orthodox. And given our pure and perfect Faith, that is not hard, especially for the honest inquirer, to see.
However, it is my personal observation, that trying to pass a false impression that once orthodox, you are also automatically a saint or perfect, has detrimental effects. It is also very difficult to explain away the occasional individual errors that one may encounter.
Stav
Dear Fr. Joseph,
I can fully understand the way you feel and the reasons why you feel little “hot under the collar” as you put it.
I am not blaming you for that. it is annoying to say the least to personally accept something as a revelation and then see people who at least at the surface of it, seem to have the same beliefs, to ignore it or actively refute it. Look the way I see it is like this:
Most of your posts above, contain good and agreeable information and very Christian and at times even Orthodox sounding expressions in your paragraphs. However, you must realize that for the consciously Orthodox, the common ground is there and is acknowledged, but it is overshadowed by the differences. Also, the matter of difference between the RCC and the OC has not much to do (in the end) with which empire they originated or where connected to. That much is absolutely clear. The important consideration is the doctrinal differences. Trust me, it is not Romans vs Byzantines.
So, essentially you express views, that are 99% correct. Not 100% though. And that 1% difference is what matters to us Orthodox. Yes, we share a common heritage, your respect and honoring of the Mother of God, yes we know and believe that the Church is the body of Christ, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. and you keep talking and bringing all of these common things up.
I am afraid, however, that the 1% difference is so key and so important, that as I said before it simply overshadows all the common ground. As far as reconciling goes, one must in the end focus on the differences. These differences have been mentioned before, and no amount of mentioning our common heritage or common beliefs or using our common language addresses these differences.
Stav
…And so, this is a tricky situation, because while busy trying to prove one’s worthiness by putting forward the coinciding points of the faith, the differences are set aside. And to us, Orthodox, the differences have a DRAMATIC effect on the faith as a whole.
In a way, the Theological approach to this point is as meticulous and rigid and absolute as mathematics is. The comparison may seem a little over the top, but it is not. Theological definitions have taken a very very considerable amount of thought and meticulous analysis so that they are fool proof. Thus, changing a doctrine even in a small way (such as adding a simply “and” somewhere in a definition), has the same kind of effect as changing the value of Pi by a few decimal values for example in mathematics.
The main effect is that once such a basic doctrine ,or “value” as it can be very simply put, has been changed even slightly, then any theory based on these change values will be skewed. This is a very real and very practical reason why doctrines must not be changed.
Thus, one must address in an as honest as possible manner, why the RCC for example, arbitrarily decided to add the “filioque” to the Creed and when corrected by the Orthodox decided to keep it in officially. Or, why, again arbitrarily, they decided that one single person can be infallible, no matter what the circumstances.
These, and the rest of the doctrinal differences are points which are heretic. It is the Roman church who decided to heretic, not the other way around. The word heretic simply means “to choose” and the RCC decided to choose to change the creed and a number of other things, which had been decided by ecumenical councils.
What more can be said to make this even clearer, there is simply no way around this one, the RCC has views that changed from the original faith, and no amount of historical reviewing or mentioning our common ground will diminish this point. The only way is to address them directly.
Stav
…
as I have repeated and will again, even apparitions do not address these heretical points of view. Thus, unfortunately, yes, the Pope is an heretic as far as the Orthodox go. Period. Nothing more to say on this point. Nothing more to say that can take away the focus from this for an Orthodox who talks to a Catholic. No point in bringing up common ground, common beliefs, or whatever else. The question still stands, why has the RCC adopted heretical views and decided to stick with them when they were pointed out? Why? Unless the heretical points are dealt with, nothing can change that. NOTHING.
And that is that, by the definition of the word Herecy, the Roman Church became heretical when they changed the descisions of the whole body of the Church. Shall I repeat my self again? How can anyone refute this? How? Why on earth add something to the creed? Why? What can possibly support this action? How does a factually working mind accept this action as non heretical, when this exactly the typical action that makes one a heretic?
And this goes on, in exactly the same fashion with all the other differences that were introduced by the RCC. Why change the way the Most Holy Body of Christ is delivered to the people? Why? Why change it at all? Why change attire and attitude, to look Orthodox, when they are not, simply to deceive (Unites)? Why on EAarth do this?
Why choose to change? Why choose to deceive? How much more simply and clearly can one put it? Why change and become the only Church of the sister Churches to say and do certain key things differently? How can anyone not see this as the typical archetype of what a herecy is?
As I said, there is simply no way around these questions, except the acceptance of ones errors, and return to the Original, God inspired faith. Nothing.
Stav
…and so, the matter has nothing to do with Byzantium or Rome. Not where it matters. It may be a niggling consideration for Greeks, who lost this old glory, but the main matter to any thinking and Faithful Orthodox, at hand is the doctrinal issues.
The reason for the apparent rigidness is exactly what I explained above. Arbitrary changes to doctrine, CHANGES IRRECOVERABLY THE FAITH. And that is herecy. As I said, in mathematical or logical terms these are deviations, errors which in turn are error inducing. Pretty basic logical practice if one looks at it like that, but most importantly one set there by the Holy Spirit via the councils to keep the faith pure.
All of the above, does not mean that the named apparitions are not real, it just means, that they are beside the point in this context that I present in this post.
All of the above, does not take away from that fact that the Theotokos may appear anywhere God’s providence may want Her to.
All Of the above, does not take away the fact, that many Catholics may give their lives for Christ.
All of the above, does not take away that many Catholics may do great works, or help their fellow man in various ways.
All of the above, does not take away the fact that the RCC has common roots with the Orthodox.
Etc. etc.
But what it says, is that regardless of all of that, the RCC is doctrinally NOT healthy, NOT perfect. Again, there is no way around that.
Stav
…And so finally, if you can still think clearly and calmly after reading all of the above, you can possibly understand why the Orthodox Hierarchy will not publicly confirm the apparitions you have so many times mentioned. It will not collectively endorse the Catholic Church, at all costs, because the RCC is in error in some basic doctrinal issues, which have “contaminated” many parts of it. It will not throw oil into the fire which is its heresy, by accepting it collectively. Period.
And before you pick on my statement “at all costs” let me tell you. The message in Fatima was essentially for people to do more prayer. Well, we have had this message give to us, directly many times, before and after the apparition you mention. Also, the holy tradition teaches us to do so. Thus, I fail to see, if anything, what the Orthodox would gain by this apparition made public. Come over to Greece, or speak to a Russian or Other Orthodox.
There are always a wealth of various apparitions that can be used to draw from in the Orthodox world. There is an extremely rich availability of this and much much more, which I am not going to go into.
And to tell you the truth, RCC will ignore these Orthodox apparitions and messages too. In fact, they are either oblivious of them or intentionally do not mention them to their flock. Have you heard of Father Paisios? Father Porfyrios? The prophecies of Saint Cosmas? The countless stories connecting various icons of the Theotokos to apparitions messages etc. etc.? Why not?
The RCC will not collectively and openly endorse or even simply comment on all of these thousands of things either. Why not? Don’t they believe in the Theotokos being capable of appearing? Yes of course they do, but that reason for them not mentioning anything about the countless apparitions to the Orthodox, has nothing to do with that. They simply do not want to be seen endorsing something they are no longer part of.
I don’t blame them for that, but I do think that its a bit over the top, to ask someone to accept unconditionally their experiences while totally ignoring the other side’s.
Stav
St. Peter spoke up to answer the Lord’s Question regarding His Own Identity. St. Peter answered ‘Your are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’
Chirst Jesus affirmed that St. Peter was INFALLIBLY CORRECT – and that is something the other Apostles, such as St. Andrew who went off to preach the Gospel to the people of Rus, contemporary Russia, took with them to the peoples of the nations of the entire world.
St. Peter had proclaimed an INFALLIBLE Doctrine and Dogma via the Inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. And the Early Church Christians in the Balkans, in Russia, in Greece, in North Africa, throughout Europe and even as far as the Malabar coast of India ALL equally shared the Faith and the Doctrine and Dogma of the Indentify of Christ Jesus on account of St. Peter’s INFALLIBLE public pronouncement.
– Fr. Joseph
Hence, to properly understand what the Supernatural Gift granted to the successor to the Seat of St. Peter which is called ‘Infallibility’, when there is a matter concerning the FAITH as well as the MORALS of the Universal Christian Church which needs to be settled once-and-for-all, the Apostolic Responsibility to publicly AFFIRM what the ‘Church’s Answer’ to any and all questions regarding the Teachings and/or the Revelation of Christ Jesus, that Apostolic Responsibility is assigned to the successor to the Seat of St. Peter.
To be sure, there was nothing TO STOP the other Apostles from contradicting or ignoring what was proclaimed from the mouth of St. Peter.
But they didn’t.
They ALL accepted the Lord’s Own Personal Divine Affirmation that St. Peter was INFALLIBLY CORRECT.
– Fr. Joseph
Now then, having said that, did or did not St. Peter PUBLICLY DENY the same Lord Jesus Christ Who affirmed that St. Peter’s answer to the Doctrinal-Dogmatic Question posed to ALL of the assembled Apostles was from God the Holy Spirit Himself?
Yes, St. Peter DENIED the Lord.
Therein lies the vast difference between the Bishop of Rome being INFALLIBLE in matters of the Christian Faith and Morals and the Bishop of Rome’s ERROR in denying the Instructions given to him via the Fatima Apparitions and Messages.
– Fr. Joseph
Sacred Christian Scripture has St. Paul the Apostle saying this:
There is ONE Lord, ONE Faith, ONE Baptism, and ONE God Who Is FATHER of all, over all, through all and within all. – Ephesians 4:5
Perhaps we, as Christians throughout the World, have FORGOTTEN how Christ Jesus’ “Thing” are SUPPOSED TO WORK.
After all, there are websites such as this one which CLEARLY EXPLAIN ‘How Stuff Works’
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
– Fr. Joseph
Now regarding this ‘One Faith’ Supernatural and Divine Business.
If God Incarnate HIMSELF came into our World to amongst us of the Human Race to ‘Divinely Reveal’ that THE SQUARE ROOT OF 144 IS 12
what sort of LUNACY would it be for the people of Russia to say that the square root of 144 is 11, the people of Greece to say the square root of 144 is 10, the people of Asia to assert that the square root of 144 is 9, the people of Africa to assert that the square root of 144 is 5 and on and on it goes with every last human being coming up with ANY NUMBER other than 12 in answer to what the square root of 144 really and truly actually IS despite God Himself saying that the Correct Answer is 12!
So, with regards to Christ’s Revealed Religion, we either ACCEPT the Correct and Divine Answer that it is 12 that is the square root of 144 or we wind up conjuring up and promoting ANY OTHER NUMBER other than 12 being the correct answer.
Allow me to share with you an itsy-bitsy little story about ‘HOW STUFF OUGHT TO WORK’ in Christ Jesus’ Own Church Militant here on earth.
– Fr. Joseph
The following is an absolutely true and factual story relayed to me by my brother not too long ago.
It was Sunday and he had not yet been to Mass. It was late in the day, around 8:00 pm and he know that the majority of the Catholic Churchs did not have such late Masses.
Neverhtheless, he opened up the phone directory and found a small KOREAN Catholic Church parish on the other side of town having a Sunday night Mass at 9:00 p.m.
Now I and my brother are of EUROPEAN and POLISH descent. We stand about 6 feet tall each, have a very CAUCASIAN complexion.
As my brother just made it to this Korean Catholic parish. As he entered the back of the Church, the VERY Korean looking and VERY Korean speaking Catholic Priest was already seated at the Altar and there were nothing but VERY Korean looking and speaking members of the Laity in attendance.
As my brother walked into the back of this VERY Korean Church, the VERY Korean Priest took notice of my brother and stirred in his seat to gaze intently upon this 6 foot tall white complexion Caucasian from European heritage coming INTO the midst of his VERY Korean Mass and VERY Korean congregration.
The other VERY Korean congregants likewise looked upon my brother’s entrance with attentive suspicion as well….
– Fr. Joseph
When my bother genuflected and quietly took is place amid the Korean congregation in the back of this very Korean Church, the Korean Priest and the congregation “relaxed” and proceeded on with Mass.
The entire Liturgy of the Mass was in KOREAN and my brother didn’t understand a blessed word of the Liturgy or of the Priest’s homily.
When time came for reception of the Holy Eucharist, my brother took his place towards the back of the line of the Korean Lay Faithful.
As he approached the Altar, he could hear the Priest and members of the Lay Faithful speaking to each other in Korean.
As my brother came to receive the Holy Eucharist, this Korean Priest carefully selected a Host, held it up before my brother’s eyes and this Korean Priest looked my brother straight in the eyes and in a LOUD voice so as to ensure all the other members of the Korean congregation could hear him, said aloud
‘CORPUS CHRISTI’
The universal Latin of the Western Church which means
‘The Body of Christ’
Now THAT is HOW STUFF SHOULD WORK in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
ONE FAITH and all of us SHARING IN that One Faith.
– Fr. Joseph
Hi Fr. Joseph,
I think here, pure logic can serve us,
You say:
‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ Christ Jesus affirmed that St. Peter was INFALLIBLY CORRECT
True, He did. But it is clear that His affirmation was confined to that particular statement. A small child can make this deduction. This is because Christs affirmation was a direct response to St. Peter’s. What makes you think that His affirmation of that particular statement was universally applied to all of St. Peter’s statements, before and after that event?
Moreover, even if we accept that Christ’s affirmation was to be applied universal to all of St. Peters’ statements, which I do not and logic does not, what makes you think that this characterization is transferred to every Pope?
Stav
Dear Stav,
You ask “..tranferred to every Pope?”
Sacred Christian Scripture, Inspired to be recorded by God the Holy Spirit, has recorded St. Peter speaking these words in the Assembly of the Apostles
“Now in the Book of Psalms it says…LET SOMEONE ELSE TAKE HIS OFFICE.”
St. Peter winds up ‘BARKING PAPAL MONARCHIAL ORDERS’ (big grin) to the other Patriarchs and Metropolitans of the Lord’s Church in the Inspired by God the Holy Spirit Sacred Christian Scriptures as found in
1 Peter 5:1-4
Who is this Papist Peter trying to tell the other Patriarchs and Metropolitans what and what NOT to do, right?
– Fr. Joseph
Okay, okay – EVERYONE wants to be the visible Head of Christ’s Church here on earth. Pastor Hagee wants it. Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart do to.
The Queen of England IS the visible head of the Church of England.
Calvin. Luther. Zwingli. Knox. Smythe.
Gosh, everyone wants to be the ‘King Tuna’ so that NOBODY has to “take orders” from anyone else.
Com’on, let’s cut throw all the polite niceties so as to clearly examine the BRUTAL and HOSTILE TRUTH of what is going on in our World and in His Church for once in our lives.
Might help.
So while the CHURCH gets chewed up and spit out England, where in the heck is the Queen of England and ALL of the bishops of the Church of England? Hiding out is some nice English estate out in the English countryside?
How about all of the ‘Bishops’ and ‘Pastors’ of the 52,000 denominations here in the USA. Don’t they know there is a vicious ZIONIST INSPIRED war going on vs. Iraq and the Palestinian people?
“La-De-Da”.
– Fr. Joseph
So while the CHRISTIAN FAITH of the Lord’s Own Apostles gets summarily ground into the dust in and among the nations the world over, shall we not all retreat into the Religous-Science-Fiction of the make-me-feel good versions of Christ’s Teachings while our entire world goes to hell in a handbasket?
As Soreen Kierkegaard summarized after his extensive study of the doctrines and dogmas of the Protestant Reformation
“They have turned Christianity into too much of a CONSOLATION and have forgotten that it makes A DEMAND on them all.”
“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and NOT DO what I say?”
– Fr. Joseph
Get the BISHOP OF ROME to tell ALL of the other ‘leaders’ of whatever type throughout our World to GET OUT IN PUBLIC before ALL THE PEOPLES of this World and make a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculte Heart of God Incarnate’s MOTHER – and you just watch how SATAN, his unseen legions of malicious elemental spiritual demons and devils, along with the entire phalanx of human stooges, dupes and allies of any and all satanic-inspired activities throughout our entire World all comes UNDONE so fast – that it’ll make your heads spin!
– Fr. Joseph
OK, Lets put this whole story in a very simplistic way, so that even a child could understand it:
A group of people all gather collectively in the name of God, several times in fact, and decide certain doctrines. The meeting begins as such:
Hi everybody, we have set a certain collection of things given to us by our predecessors, to do with our faith in God to focus on, because we have determined that these are the things that are of the highest value and nothing in the world is of higher value. It seems there are many of us, who have questions on how to specifically organize all this heritage we have. We must do this organizing. Agreed?
Yes we agree unanimously.
OK then, let’s set a number of principles or doctrines which are going to assure us that our focus will remain unchanged and pure. Let’s do this in the name of God and via the help of the Holy Spirit. We trust that the Holy Spirit will help us define the Truth as purely as possible and put it down on paper, so we have a documented set of rules and principles to guide us in the future. Also this is going to help us NOT FORGET where and why all of this started. Also lets pray with all our hears during this effort, so that God may help us with this task.
Agreed?
Yes, we agree unanimously!
After many days, a lot of prayer and debating…:
OK we have arrived unanimously at doctrines: 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.
All of this this is to ensure our focus, and purpose. Agreed?
Yes, we agree unanimously!
Now, let’s add one more thing, what if one of us now or in the future, decides to change or add to these doctrines?
Answer:
We all decide unanimously, that in that case they are the ones who changed and thus they are the heretics and by doing so they automatically cut themselves off the original group.
Agreed?
Yes we agree unanimously!
After a few years, a few of the original group, say:
It looks as if we are the most powerful force in the world today, let’s change doctrines 3, 4 and lets add new doctrines 7 and 8. That will sure make our faith have a more agreeable face value. We’re sure everybody else will follow us, because of this worldly power we now possess.
Then the rest say:
Why did you change 3 and 4, don’t you remember we gave specific reasons why we should not change any of this? Did we not all agree that such changes will be anathema? Don’t you remember that this was the will of the Holy Spirit, to put down things in exactly that way? Do you not see that your changes will change your ideas and views for years to come because you are now using a different basis?
And why did you add 7 and 8? Don;t you think that if they were that significant, they would have been added from the beginning? Remember, our council’s descisions were of the Holy Spirit.
The sub-set of the original group which changed the original doctrines then responds:
Well, yeah, but we thought this is better. It does not really change things that much… And if you want reasons, here are reasons a,b,c etc.
The Original group then says:
Yeah but the reasons a and b, where addressed and proven wrong in the original councils and explained in a logical manner and you even, agreed to these. Furthermore, reason c you state makes no sense even in the light of all the doctrines you still share with us. In addition, perhaps most importantly, we made the original doctrinal definitions in their entirety, absolute via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How can you change them now?
The sub-set then responds:
We are sorry, but we have come this far now, and we will not take back what we have changed. Besides, there are many of us now, we do not actually really need you to continue.
The Original then says:
Well in that case, based on the laws and cannons you also helped define, we have no choice but to define you as heretics, which means as the ones who changed things from the Original state to something different. We warn you, the changes you made, will contaminate the faith and your group in ways you cannot predict, to your detriment.
The sub-set then answers:
Point taken, but we will not change. In fact, we are now pronouncing that WE are the Original group! You are not worthy to keep this title anomore, because we reside in a more powerful country!
The Original group:
-Speechless…
OK, your arguments are irrefutable not because of their correctness, but because of their absurdness.
And thus the contamination spreads within the sub-group until today…
Years pass… Many things happen in between, and sometimes they cross paths.
Occasionally, the two groups meet, and the following discussion commences, invariably:
Original group:
Hi, how’s it going? I see you have changed a lot since we were still one body…
The sub-set:
Very well thank you, things are going well, it seems our changes have given us more flexibility and we have achieved many things. Especially the new doctrine ‘a’ we have added, which gives us centralized control, has served us very well and kept the power with us at all times. On the other hand, I see that you have not changed much at all…
Original group:
Yes, it is apparent that your compromises give you an advantage in the material world. We are still concerned about you, and the Original doctrines that you have compromised. Do you remember the doctrines that were set originally and our descisions not to change any of it? Why did you change them?
The sub-set:
No response to that,
But we have reasons d,e which prove that we were right after all. More over, we have accomplished f and g, which proves that we were right after all.
Original Group:
But what about your continually changing relation to the original values we set? Don’t you see how much different you are today than when we started?
The sub-set:
Well, to tell you the truth, we are not too concerned about this anymore, because as you can see, we have done pretty well in the world. If you want, we will even occasionally accept some of the original doctrines, f that makes you happy, but our focus is no longer the same… It does no longer really matter to us that much…
The Original group:
By the way, we have had reports, that you are posing as the Original group to some people , trying to pass as if you were us (Unites), you seem to wear the same clothes as us and use our ways, yet you only do this to appear more familiar to some people. Don’t you think that is a bit misleading? Please stop it.
The sub-group:
No response..
(they continue to do the same thing.)
The Original:
You see, we told you your focus is going to change! You are doing things that are completely contrary to our original values, sure you can see that now?
The sub-set:
Well I am not sure about that, but anyway, look at all the nice things we have gained in the world, we are happy with our current mix of things! Why change?
Stav
Hi Fr. Joseph,
I did not see a response to my basic argument, that Jesus Christ’s statement was very obviously specific to THAT particular statement of St. Peter.
What is your logic that shows that this affirmation by Christ was anything other than that?
My guess, is that you read the passage, but you read it under the heavy influence of you your predetermined premises. Namely the “story” of how the Pope and every Pope came to be infallible. Thus you fail to simply read the words, like a 4 year old would, in innocence.
Regardless, You say:
You ask “..tranferred to every Pope?”
Sacred Christian Scripture… …has recorded St. Peter speaking these words…
“Now in the Book of Psalms it says…LET SOMEONE ELSE TAKE HIS OFFICE.”
Tell me, then, as I do not think you have answered my question, how does this prove that this supposed general infallibility of St. Peter was transferred to the Pope? Does the Office also include this supposed infallibility as a transferable bonus?
You say:
St. Peter winds up ‘BARKING PAPAL MONARCHIAL ORDERS’ (big grin)….
Unfortunately, the rest of your post simply returns back to your own premise, which is to accept by face value, the RCC doctrines. Thus to me, the rest of the text in that post do not carry much value.
If you were to answer my arguments however, see above, we could have a serious discussion about this.
It is clear that again, this is ending up to be a circular discussion. You are claiming that you are right, because you are claiming that you are right and anything I say gets ignored.
If this seems to continue, then I have no purpose in responding to this again, as it will only guarantee a return to the errors of the false premises of the RCC again.
Stav
Dear Stav,
Thank you. Yes, let us NOT CHANGE what was handed down to us from the APOSTLES.
Now who gets TO CHOOSE who becomes a BISHOP in the Church or not.
Did the Emporer of the ROMAN Empire of Christ Jesus’ Time obtain DIVINE PERMISSION to ordain and install BISHOPS in the Church? Well, did he? Or was the appointment and ordiation of Bishops in the Church given to the APOSTLES?
WHO?
Does the Emporer of the Byzantine Empire DUMP a duly ordained BISHOP who has FULL APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION from the Apostlic lineage in order TO APPOINT his own Byzanitine Emporer BISHOP for his own POLITIAL PURPOSES in dealing the the powers to his south in IRAQ per Christ’s Designs for His Church?
Now YOU tell me – who CHANGES things!
You and all of the rest of the Orthodox Church here in the United States of America would HOWL BLOODY MURDER if President Obama decided that the Empire of Zionist America can DEPOSE of all of Orthodox BISHOPS here in the USA so as in order to install more “politically correct” ecclesiastics who would SUPPORT the expansion of Empire USA throughout the world.
So WHO gets to APPOINT Bishops in the Lord’s Church. Now tell me.
Do BYZATINE EMPIRE EMPORERS get to do that OR do OTHER BISHOPS of the Church get to do that?
Who is charging who with CHANGING all manner of things in and with THE CHURCH?
– Fr. Joseph
Many problems developed in the Corinthian Church during the time of St. Paul due to believers not submitting and obeying the ORDAINED LEGAL BISHOP then exiling him and some priests. – from
http://www.suscopts.org/pdf/copticchurch/patrology5.pdf
– Fr. Joseph
The Letter of POPE St. Clement to the Corinthian Church which had DEPOSED of their LEGALLY ORDAINED & APPOINTED BISHOP and some of his priests.
http://philthompson.net/pages/library/1clement.htm
About Pope St. Clement of Rome – 95 A.D. (a couple of years BEFORE the year 1054 A.D.)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04012c.htm
and
http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_author/43/St._Clement_of_Rome.html
– Fr. Joseph
Pope St. Clement of Rome wrote HIS letter concerning the flagrant ABUSES lodged upon the LEGALLY APPOINTED BISHOP of the Church in Corinth in the year 95 A.D.
He was the FOURTH Bishop of Rome, St. Peter being the first.
When St. Clement BISHOP of Rome wrote his ‘Papal Monarchial’ letter to the Corinthian Church in order to CORRECT that Church in have DEPOSED of the legally ordained and appointe BISHOP of Corinth, let it be known that the APOSTLE ST. JOHN was still alive and living in Ephesus.
EPHESUS is much more CLOSER to Corinth that is Rome.
Ya gotta take a BOAT and go over the Meditterean Sea in order to get to Corinth.
St. John THE APOSTLE was living but a hop, skip and a jump from Corinth in Ephesus by comparison.
So WHO winds up exercising Apostolic Authority OVER and IN the Church with regards to the TROUBLES caused by the Corinthian Church.
Was it the nearby APOSTLE St. John – OR – was it the successor to ST. PETER???
WHO???
– Fr. Joseph
But out goes “logic” when one chooses to utterly OVERLOOK and DENY historical facts and obvious truthful deductions.
If the 1st century Church in Corinthian is CORRECTED by the Bishop of Rome while the Apostle St. John is STILL ALIVE in Ephesus for GETTING RID OF the legally ordained and appointed Bishop of Corinth – let 9 more centuries go by and, viola, THE GREAT CHANGE is permitted…
A Byzatine Empire Emporer gets to DUMP a legally ordained and appointed Bishop is HIS ‘neck of the woods’ so as to INSTALL his own personally desired individual as ‘Bishop’.
Oh yeah. Sure, sure, sure.
Let’s keep APOSTOLIC TRADITION by allowing Byzantine Emporers choosing who is Bishop and who is not.
So much for all of this “logic”.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Stav,
Get with KathJuliane who is a living, breating library of information on Church history, heresies, Councils etc. and if the TWO OF YOU would do me a great big favor.
With all the logic and all of the information between the two of you (add in Fr. John if you want) would you PLEASE tell me at WHICH of the mutually accepted Ecumenical Councils of the Lord’s Church here on earth where the Church Fathers unanimously granted EMPORERS the Divine Right to depose of and then select who would be BISHOPS in the Apostolic Church.
Thank you.
– Fr. Joseph
See my short final post about this in the new article posted by Br. Nathanael. I will leave this whole subject for now, to let things cool down.
Stav
Or how about this doozy – of all the doozies on both sides of the Great Schism – this is one of the dooziest and illustrates to a T – ‘Ceasaro-papism’ or the Cesar’s pope (although I think in this case it should be patriarch)
Constans II (a Monothelite) opposes the stand taken by Pope Martin I (later Pope St Martin I) against the Monothelites.
So he red rover, red rover sends exarch Theodore Calliopas right over to Rome with an armed contingent to seize the pope and oversee the election of another.
To avoid bloodshed and riots in Rome, Pope Martin I forbade resistance of the populace and declared himself the Emperor’s prisoner. He was taken to Constantiople, branded a heretic by the Patriarch and his bishops, paraded through the streets for the wrath of the mod, condemned for treason and exiled to the Crimea where he died in prison. His letters tell how his bishops and clergy in Rome deserted him and his friends forgot him.
So much for Emperors dictating theology to bishops.
Just a couple of thoughts.
KathJuliane, what does liturgical mean to you?
About Mary being described as “mother of God.” To be the mother of someone is to be the source of that one’s very existence AS that one is described (in this particular case – God). Mary is 0% the mother of God. She is 100% the mother of the Son of God in His incarnate state – son of man. If this title is not thought through, it easily suggests really false theology and it elevates Mary to a status I do not see the Bible giving her.
When Jesus told Peter the church would stand against the very gates of hell, what was the institutional level of that church at that time (that time being the most accurate context of His words)?
Pretty much no institutionalism whatsoever.
Israel was steeped in institutionalism. Has there ever been a single example of a church institution coming into existence, declaring its creed, and then having the flexibility to accommodate any expansion in truth?
I’ll bet not once. If Israel is any example, they always killed the prophets.
The idea that any church institution will be on the side of Christ in the end seems unlikely to me and support of this idea thru Scripture, seems totally outside the context of the true church when Christ spoke His words, this being a time He and His disciples were devoid of institutionalism while the true church’s adversaries were highly institutional.
Tony
Dear Tony,
Our Holy Orthodox Fathers, particularly St Cyril of Alexandria of the 5th Century and at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, affirmed the title, “Theotokos,” that is, “God Birth Giver,” to our Precious and Holy, Virgin Mariam..
This title explains the whole mystery of our salvation: God Who Existed From All Eternity Was Given Birth In Assumed Human Flesh By The Virgin Who Would Bring Forth, “Emanuel,” that is, “God With Us.”
The Virgin Mariam DID NOT give birth to a mere man, BUT to the Eternal Son Of God Who Existed From All Eternity AND for us men and our salvation, **assumed impersonal humanity** from the flesh of the Most Pure Virgin Mariam, so that He might suffer in the flesh for our sins and deify our assumed flesh through His Incarnation and subsequent Resurrection and Ascension, which we Orthodox Christians will celebrate this coming Thursday.
This is why our Most Precious Virgin Mariam is entitled by our Holy Orthodox Christian Fathers, with the Worthy & Most Appropriate Title, “Theotokos,” that is “God Birth Giver.” (Please allow your brain to expand a bit dear Tony to grasp this most sublime Truth.)
And we, as the Holy Scriptures exhort, “call her blessed,” YES, Every generation of Orthodox Christians does so in keeping with the Biblical exhortation and prophecy. Thus, we Orthodox Christians as TRUE “Bible believers.”
Do you understand this dear Tony? Or is this too lofty for your limited understanding? (I hope not.)
AND – THIS WILL BE THE END OF THIS DISCUSSION AS YOU EITHER ACCEPT THIS BIBLICAL TRUTH OR REJECT IT. (Do not argue against the Truth of the “Theotokos” or your Comment Will BE DELETED.)
+Brother Nathanael Kapner
Russian Orthodox Christian
Dear Tony,
Women the world over, by Almighty God’s Own DIVINE and SUPERNATURAL Powers as God, are His chosen Personally Appointed Divine “instruments” to give BIRTH to PERSONS – and NOT ‘natures’!
Real life HUMAN BEINGS are created in the Image and Likeness of GOD HIMSELF! And in their ability to GIVE BIRTH which is but the God-like ability to bring forth NEW LIFE is how, in their special and unique way, that WOMEN all over our World ARE created in the Image and Likeness of God.
We Human Beings are of a God-created and ordained RACE of “Incarnate Spirits”. That means we have our own very personal and very DISTINCTLY IDENTIFIABLE ‘SPIRIT’.
There are CREATED spirits who are CREATED “form out of nothing” by the Creative Omnipotence of God Himself and who are then UNITED to a physical human nature in A BODY.
But when the Eternal Uncreated and Divine Spirit of the Second Person of the Divine and Most Holy Trinity – Who IS God Himself -takes on OUR human nature, His Eternal and Uncreated Divine Spirit is UNITED to a Human Body.
Now THAT is what is known in the Christian Church as ‘THE INCARNATION’.
The WOMAN who cooperated with God Himself in allowing her WOMANLY NATURE to conceive a Child Whose Own Spirit is Divine and Eternal is PROPERLY ‘The Mother of God’!
That Child is really and truly HER Child – and no one elses.
And that’s the way it was, the way it is and the way it will FOREVER….precisely BECAUSE the Incarnation of God the Father’s Only Eternally Begotten Son took place in Human History on account of this WOMAN who consented to CONCEIVING A CHILD by the Divine Power of God the Holy Spirit.
I hope that help you APPRECIATE just exactly WHO this ‘Woman’ we all know as the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Most Holy Theotokos really and truly IS!
– Fr. Joseph
Regarding the Ecumenical Councils of many centuries ago.
Is there any Ecumenical Council wherein the Church Fathers with full Apostolic Authority dogmatically state that when a NUCLEAR BOMB goes off, those of the ORTHODOX Church will not and cannot suffer any adverse effects?
In the Western-Latin Church, there is this Canonical Principle which sums up the totality of the Divine Mission of Christ our Lord. That Latin phrase is:
“Salus animarum suprema lex” which when translated into English means
“The Supreme Law is the salvation of souls.”
Now THAT is “supremely BINDING” on both the Catholic as well as Orthodox Church. And if there is going TO EVER be any real and true spiritual reconcilation BETWEEN THE TWO, the Orthodox Church must submit to that Principle and the Catholic Church must submit to that Principle.
Nuclear bombs going off in Europe WILL most assuredly harm any number of the Orthodox Faithful, their Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Hiermonks and great numbers of the simple Orthodox Lay Faithful. The exact same hold true for Catholic Christians of the ROMAN Rite, the BYZANTINE Rite, the MALABAR Rite, the MELKITE Rite, etc.
Fr. Andrei, an ORTHODOX Priest and Rector onf the Orthodox Church on-the-waters in Murmansk RUSSIA is seeing the PROBLEMS caused by Satan and his minions:
http://www.fatima.org/news/newsviews/satanism.asp
And RUSSIAN Special Security Forces of the nation-state of RUSSIA wherein the RUSSIAN Orthodox Church has its Patriarchs and Metropolitians and Bishops and Clergy and Orthodox Lay Faithful clearly acknowledge the rise of Satanism amid the Russian nation and Russian populace
http://www.fatima.or/news/newsviews/satanism2.asp
Now please DO NOTE the Satanic slogan therein
“Death To All Things Living!”
Satan WANTS the Patriarch and Hierarchy of the RUSSIAN Orthodox Church DEAD. Satan WANTS the Russian Orthdox Church’s Lay Faithful DEAD. And Satan wants ALL of the Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox Church’s Patriarchs, Hierarchy and Orthodox Lay Faithful DEAD!
Now as a Catholic Priest ordained into the Church’s Monastic Brotherhood, I don’t fancy the idea of Satan and his minions wanting TO KILL OFF, HARM, DESTORY or DESCECRATE ANYTHING SACRED within the Orthodox Church nor a single member of ANY of the Orthodox Church.
One tries and tries and tries again TO INFORM the Orthodox Church Hierarchy and Lay Faithful that GOD HIMSELF has given to His Church THE ABILITY to summarily CRUSH the head of Satan so as to DEFEAT every last satanic enemy of His Church and of our Human Race created in the Image and Likeness of God, but…
…we simply have to STOP this endless and perpetually instigated TURF & DOCTRINAL WARS over “Jurisdication” and “Filioque” so that we can get the minds, hearts, souls and spirits of ALL of the Orthodox Church to PAY ATTENTION to what the Mother of God herself DESIRES for HER CHURCH here on earth TO DO so as to WIN this spiritual battle against Satan and his seen and unseen hordes!
– Fr. Joseph
Lets get our selective religious ideas, notions, pre-conceived ideas as well as personal pet-peeve religious and psycho-spiritual PREJUDICES OFF the errors, mistakes, gross injustices that have occured IN THE PAST by those who had the wonderful opporunity of living in much more simpler and benign World WITHOUT Weapons of Mass and Total Destruction so that ALL OF US might use these God-given minds and hearts of ours to look directly and attentively to what is confronting ALL OF US RIGHT NOW in this year 2009 Anno Domini!
The Ecumenical Councils of the past are SUBORDINATE TO the Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Teachings regardless of what any theologian might asert otherwise.
The Ecumenical Councils are NOT on the same footing as the Divinely Inspired Canon of Sacred Christian Scirptures! The Ecumenical Councils of the Church Fathers are meant to be THE SERVANTS TO and SERVANTS OF the Divinely Inspired and Apostolic Teachings Scriptures.
From the Gospel of St. John, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants the world over (to include their respective ‘hierarchies’) can all read
“In the beginning was the Word (the LOGOS)
the Word (LOGOS) was with God
and the Word (LOGOS) was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him ALL THINGS came to be,
not one thing had its being but through Him
St. John then continues his Divinely Inspired full of Apostolic Authority discourse and teaching
“The Word (LOGOS) was made flesh
He lived among us,
and we saw His (Divine) Glory
the (Divine) Glory that is His
AS THE ONLY SON OF THE FATHER
full of Grace and Truth.”
The LOGOS is responsible for the NUMBER OF ATOMS that make up and comprise our physical universe.
The LOGOS is responsible for how much SPACE our physical universe contains.
The LOGOS decided what was going to the speed of light.
The LOGOS created Gravity, Time, Space, Matter and Energy.
And the LOGOS took on our HUMAN NATURE and walked amongst our Human Race AS one of us 2,000 years ago.
Now this same LOGOS, God Incarnate, through Whom all things visible and invisible came into our World TO SAVE as well as TO REDEEM Mankind so as to REGAIN the type of lives and living that His Divine Father and our Divine Heaven ORGINALLY intended for us all.
THE LOGOS wants for the entire World and for the entire Human Race for which He took on OUR human nature in order TO SAVE and TO REDEEM all of Mankind out of Divine Obedience to His Eternal and Divine FATHER in Heaven.
Then there will be WORLD PEACE.
And THEN, every last living human being on planet earth will fully realize and comprenend the Utter Goodness of their God and Father in Heaven Who Himself said
“I will make you enemies of each other
you (Satan) and the Woman your offspring and HER offspring
It (her Church) WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD
and you will strike its heel.”
– THE ADAMIC COVENANT – Genesis 3:15
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Fr Joseph,
May I respectfully remind you that the “salvation of souls” is dependent on “right dogma.”
And this is why I am in the “Orthodox” Christian Church, for our “right worship” for the “salvation of our souls” is based on “right dogma.”
Much Love To You In Christ Our Saviour,
+Brother Nathanael Kapner
Russian Orthodox Christan
Part of the “right worship” consists of NOT slandering to causing division that impedes the “salvation of souls”.
“Right Worship” also consists in our becoming DOCILE and ATTENTIVE to what the Saving Graces imparted onto and into us, both indivdually as well as collectively, call forth from us what sort of SERVICE we are to render unto God and His Divine Will.
Hence, one way or another, these man-made squabbles, problems, difficulties and deliberate obstacles to what it is that God Wants Done down here on earth have to be addressed.
– Fr. Joseph
Are people DOCILE and ATTENTIVE enough, and do they have a WILLING HEART, to consider some historical TRUTH regarding ‘filioque’?
As Johannes Grohe has pointed out, a regional council in PERSIA in 410 introduced one of the earliest forms of the “filioque” in the Creed; the council qualifiedd that the Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son”. Coming from the rich theology of early EAST SYRIAN CHRISTIANITY, this expression in this ocntext is authentically EASTERN. Therefore, the ‘filioque’ CANNOT be attacked as a SOLELY WESTERN INNOVATION, nor as something created by the Pope.” ref.
http://www.americancatholicpress.org/Father_%20Gilligan_Filioque_clause_page1.html
– Fr. Joseph
“Right Worship” also consists of confessing our sins to our Lord, God, Savior and King.
In Latin, that sorrowful lament goes like this
‘Mae culpa, mae culpa, mae maxima culpa’
‘Through MY fault, through MY fault, through MY MOST GRIEVEOUS fault’.
‘I CONFESS TO ALMIGHTY GOD, and to YOU, my brothers and my sisters, that I HAVE SINNED through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my DEEDS, it what I HAVE DONE and in what I HAVE FAILED TO DO.’
To REFUSE seeking RECONCILATION with those one has WRONGED is not “right worship”.
To CONTINUE IN promoting the grave errors and grave injustice of OTHERS who have preceded us in life is likewise not “right worship”.
– Fr. Joseph
For we are ALL called by our Merciful and All-Good and Loving God TO WORSHIP in “spirit and in truth”.
Not on this mountain. Not to that mountain.
But in spirit and in TRUTH.
That’s what the Father wants. That type of worship, so says the Lord.
– Fr. Joseph
My dearest Brother Nathanael,
One would have to be blind as a bat to NOT see the Divine Grace(s) of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ NOT working in, with and through you. And where, or better yet, from WHOM have you obtained those Graces?
Answer is simple: from the Lord.
To be sure, you obtain those Graces via your prayers, your fasts, your Lectio Divina which is your attentive meditation and thinking about WHAT is written in Sacred Christian Scripture. And most assuredly, those Graces are granted to you on a One-to-one basis via the Lord’s SACRAMENTS He has given to and entrusted to His Church here on earth.
No bunch of theologians or any sorts have granted you those Graces. And no bunch of commentators giving their personal opinions has granted you those Graces.
Those Divine Graces, those Divine Spiritual GIFTS that are lavished upon you are on account of GOD’S LOVE for you which you return in your spiritual and loving embrace of Him.
THAT is worship in ‘spirit and truth’.
– Fr. Joseph
My dear Brother Nathanael,
So whether you recognize it or not, the GREATER witness you are giving to the entire World via your RZN website is NOT in exposing what these Christ-hating Zionists have done and are doing. Your GREATER witness to the whole-wide-world is the Divine TRUTH that God DOES impart His Divine and Unseen Spiritual Life-giving Graces and Gifts into and onto INDIVDIUALS, such as yourself.
And it is THAT which causes so many young people from NYC and the world over to be DRAWN to your street ministry AS WELL AS to RZN.
People ‘on the streets’ and all across this World of our personally, deeply, initimately and in a very real and very vital SPIRITUAL WAY know deep down inside of themselves they are being DECEIVED, they are being USED, they are being ENSLAVED, they are being DEPRIVED of the sort of Life and Living that OUR Father in Heaven desires for them to really and truly DO have!
They intuitively KNOW deep down inside of themselves that there simply MUST be a much more better sort of Life and Living, for their very spirits GROAN within themselves under these manifold geo-political BURDENS and OBSTACLES imposed on them. And they CANNOT HELP BUT hear the ‘groaning’ eminating from their own God-given spirits.
– Fr. Joseph
My dear Brother Nathanael,
And by gosh, by golly, my dear Brother, it is our Father in Heaven who is HOPING that you and I and whoever else who MIGHT wish to help out to get these people BACK INTO spiritual common-union with their God and Father in Heaven.
These people who are, for the most part, deprived of religious training and the fruits of religous life are looking to US to help them find their way BACK to God – and here we are, giving a ‘public witness’ to the manifold sources of purely man-made HOSTILITIES within and amongst those of us who call ourselves members of ‘The Church’.
These sad DIVISIONS brought about the pride in men’s minds and hearts in ages gone past only serve to further CONFUSE and DEMORALIZE many a soul from finding their way out of this ‘Rat Maze’ called the World.
Let us NOT forget this fact – that we are very capable of INFECTING PEOPLE with all manner of confusion and doubt and our own unwitting ignornace.
Yet, we must NOT back off nor coward away from CONFRONTING THOSE who would mischeiviously attempt to thrown obstacles in the way of those whom THE LORD desires to return to His Father’s Home.
And THAT is reason He grants us His Divine Graces and Gifts – to be of TRUTHFUL SERVICE to others, for their sakes and for His Sake. Amen.
– Fr. Joseph
Hi Brother Kapner,
I do not believe Mary’s giving birth to the Son of God in any way contributed to the Son of God being the Son of God.
I do not know if the above is viewed by you as heresy or not.
Given that Paul foresaw a great falling away and even the Church of Ephesus in Revelation “lost her first love,” I will not see infallibility in an ecumenical council that took place a full 400+ years after Jesus walked this earth.
Seeing infallibility in ecumenical councils requires extrapolation with a certain specific interpretation of Scripture, it seems to me.
I hope to stand firmly on the Bible and the Bible only, in terms of written text about God. In saying this, I am not suggesting I should not give consideration to other sources or to anything communicated through any man or to the impressions of the Holy Spirit or to what God may speak to me through the manifestation of His created word.
I do hope to be teachable.
Thanks and Blessings,
Tony
Dear Tony,
“The More Obvious Something Is, The More Likely It Will Be Overlooked”
If you are going to be “ruthlessly truthful” to and with yourself, you have ALREADY ACCEPTED the Teaching Authority vested in THE BISHOPS of the Christian Church granted to them by your Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
For it was THE BISHOPS of His Church at the Councils of Carthage and Hippo (397 & 400 A.D. respectively) who defined and declared WHICH BOOKS/WRITINGS were to be included in that Bible that you read from and rely on.
Now then, if you will not accept the Teaching Authority vested in the Bishops of the Church at the Councils of the Church – then please tell us all ON WHAT GROUNDS are you relying on ‘The Bible’ that you have since it was THE BISHOPS who AUTHORIZED ‘The Bible’ into existance.
Now FYI, the Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture was defined for a very specific reason.
To give Christians VALID and AUTHENTIC Apostolic Teachings DURING the Liturgy of the Word which is contained in BOTH the Catholic Church Mass and the Divine Liturgies of the Eastern Church.
Now what are you going to do with that Bible of yours?
If you ACCEPT ‘The Bible’, then like it or not, you ARE accepting the Councils of the Church. No two ways around it.
Sorry, that’s just the way it is!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Brother Nathanael,
Just F.Y.I. – New York City has implemented a new pedestrian plan on Broadway. Sections of Broadway are CLOSED DOWN to permit the entire street to be used by pedestrians to walk on.
The next time you go to NYC, consider Times Square and Broadway.
And might I suggest containing the Orthodox community in NYC so that you can have an Orthodox Priest on hand.
You can teach all of the youth how to say the Lord’s Prayer in unison out loud and your Orthodox Priest can then administer Sacraments to those who’ve gathered around you.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Tony,
“I do not believe Mary’s giving birth to the Son of God in any way contributed to the Son of God being the Son of God.”
It’s all in Scripture in very plain words at Luke 1:26-38, the very heart-story of Christian faith and the Gospel that of the Incarnation of the Son of God–the Word or Logos became flesh.
Just read the passages in Luke as they are without worrying about all of the discussions about the Virgin Mary, and you’ll see it just fine.
It’s all about the Son of God taking on human flesh in God’s act of a special creation. You are correct in that God-Self-existing and Uncreated, does not have a human mother.
But Jesus Christ as the Son of God is both fully human and fully divine in one Person.
Mary is the mother of His human nature. She gave birth to Him, and so the Son of God became fully Man. Says so, right in Luke.
As for her title of “Theotokos”, or “birth-giver of God”, that came later when controversies arose around a heresy which denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ when He became incarnate. It’s a title that says nothing else other than what Luke writes, or implies that Mary was more than a human woman.
Scripture is the core of all true theology.
At 1:28 Mary is greeted with an exalted salutation from the angel Gabriel because, in her destiny to be the mother of Christ, she is the most blessed woman of all time.
At 1:35 ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘power of the Highest’ are synonymous; this is a case of repetition for emphasis. ‘Holy One’ is a messianic title. That He is to be born of Mary (Is 7:14) demonstrates Jesus Christ’s fully human nature. But that the Virgin will conceive and bear the Son of God reveals the divine nature of Christ. (Is. 7:14, but also read the titles of divinity found in Isaiah. At that time, Isaiah described or named the future Child as Immanuel–“God with us.”)
We note especially the reference to the Holy Triunity: God the Father (the Highest), the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Yours in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior
Human mothers do not simply give birth to human natures which happen to be attached to umbilical cords.
Human mothers give birth to PERSONS who have a human nature.
The human spirit residing within the physical manifesation of the body confers human “personhood”, and human mothers give birth to human persons.
The entire spectrum of spiritual beings who are all individual persons in their own right is summaried thusly by St. Thomas Aquinas
There are those who have a beginning and who have an end.
There are those who have a beginning and who have no end
There are those who have no beginning and who have no end.
The first line describes us human beings livng in space/time/matter/energy.
The second line describes those who have an angelic nature.
The last line describes those who have the Divine Nature.
– Fr. Joseph
All of us human beings have life on account of God first conceiving His Thought about us as an individual person. God, Who is Love, loves that Thought of us so much that He employs His Divine Omnipotence to WILL us into existance and confer upon all of us LIFE. Hence, God creates our spirits and unites those spirits to a body within the womb of our mothers.
Without a spirit, we are not members of the race of incarnate spirits known as the Human Race.
The Human Race is composed of human persons.
All members of the Human Race have a mother.
When God conceived His Thought to send His Son into our World in the Incarnation, God the Father selected the Woman who would be Mother to His Divine Son.
The Blessed Virgin Mary’s Son, however, did not have a CREATED spirit. His was an Uncreated and Eternal Spirit being the Second Eternal Person of the Blessed Trinity.
God became man. That Man has a Mother.
– Fr. Joseph
The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is aware His Eternal Divinity is the result of the First Person of the Blessed Trinity. Hence, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity properly addresses the First Person of the Blessed Trinity as ‘FATHER’.
The Son of God Who took on our humanity instructs all of us who have a CREATED spirit in the Image and Likeness of God Himself to call up, refer to and PRAY to God thusly
‘OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME…et al’.
God is our Father in Heaven precisely on account of His Conceiving a Divine Thought about us all and loving that Thought of His about us SO MUCH that He Wills us into existance.
We are “created” by the Love of God.
The Eternal Son of God the Father was not “created”, but Eternally Begotten, One in Being with the Father via the Divine Love the Father confers upon His Divine Son.
– Fr. Joseph
The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed and Divine Trinity, is confered upon us – and it is that Holy Spirit Who allows us all to put on the Mind of Christ so as to gain an at-one-ment with Him.
It is that Holy Spirit Who eternally abides in the Son of God Who grants us the Grace to be able to recoginze, reverence, approach, love and dutifully serve His Eternal Father Who is our Father in Heaven.
The Holy Spirit’s graces and gifts upon our minds and hearts causes us to spring forth new inner spiritual life within our very selves, within our very own unique personhoods, and confers upon us the actual inner spiritual experience of being able to call out to God with heartfelt prayer words such as ‘ABBA!’ ‘FATHER!’.
– Fr. Joseph
That’s the culmination, that’s the goal, that’s the entire mission and purpose of our spiritual lives being human beings created in the Image and Likeness of God.
To recognize and enter into spiritual intimacy as a son or daughter in an abiding, loving, filial union of intimacy with OUR FATHER in Heaven – that’s why we are all here for. That’s the ultimate meaning and purpose for ALL of ours lives.
– Fr. Joseph
From the Holy Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the dominant Liturgy of the Eastern Church:
Priest: Especially fo our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary.
People: It is truly right to bless you, Theotokos, ever blessed, most pure, AND MOTHER OF OUR GOD. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption YOU GAVE BIRTH TO GOD THE WORD. We magnify you, the true Theotokos.
– Just for the public record here –
– Fr. Joseph
Just striving to hold and preserve THE UNITY between the Western and Eastern Church here in my own small way.
Regarding the Divinity of Christ, His humanity, our humanity and the Divine Will of God our Father in Heaven…
From the very simple Roman rite of the Mass of the Western Church, the simple prayers of the Priest during the preparation of wine prior to the Consecration/Eucharistic Prayers includes these words MEANT to be heard audibly FOR THE SAKE OF those in attendence.
The Priest pours but a drop of water into the Chalice of wine and DECLARES to the Christian congregation:
“By the mystery of this water and wine, may WE come to share in the Divinity of Christ Who humbled Himself TO SHARE IN OUR HUMANITY.”
– Fr. Joseph
There’s gotta be a Priest from the Eastern Church who can remind me where we find the Eastern Church’s similiar assertion of the Faith
“O happy fault of Adam which caused such a glorious exchange”
It was something along that line of thought.
For from the INFALLIBLE Apostolic Teaching of St. Peter as found in his second epistle
“By His Divine Power, He has given us all the things that we need for Life and for True Devotion, bringing us to know God Himself, Who has called us by His Own Glory and Goodness. In making these gifts, He has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come; through them you will be able to SHARE IN THE DIVINE NATURE and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.” – 2 Peter 1:3-4
That’s the REAL ‘Good News’, the REAL ‘Gospel’
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Fr Joseph – Times Sq & Broadway is EXACLTY where I go all the time.
I stand with the Cross Held High right smack in the middle of Broadway on a wide Median Strip.
But thanks for the suggest… +BN
Dear KathJulaianne –
Fr Joseph is quite right in regard to his correction of you stating that “the virgin Mary gave birth to Christ’s human nature,” that the “Virgin Mary is the mother of Christ’s human nature.”
This is not what the Orthodox Church teaches and you should please clarify and correct this statement that you made.
The Virgin Mary is the “Theotokos,” that is, the “God Birth Giver,” NOT, the “Nature of man Birth giver.”
Thus you fall into a type of heresy close to that of Nestorios who stated that the Virgin Mary gave birth to “Christ the man” calling her, “Christotokos” and later on Christ was adopted by grace into the Divine nature by the Eternal Son of God coming to dwell in the “Christ.” The Council of Ephesus in the 6th Century condemned this teaching and affirmed the title, “Theotokos,” “GOD BIRTH-GIVER” as she who gave birth to the PERSON, the full PERSON of the Eternal Son of God who assumed impersonal flesh from her.
I outlined this in my first response to Tony and really there was *no need* for you to further attempt to elucidate what I had already stated quite succinctly and in full conformity to the Nicene Creed and Orthodox teaching. Because you felt a need to further explain what I had already explained sufficiently, you only confused the matter and you made a statement that was in error…not Orthodox… (perhaps it was a typo?)
The Orthodox Church teaches (and really you should know this and thus perhaps you made a typo error in your statement) that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the *PERSON* OF THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD who was incarnate of her, NOT giving birth to a human nature.
And a correction was made to this statement of yours by Fr Joseph who wrote, “Mothers do not give birth to natures but to persons.”
Please make the necessary clarification dear Katherine, my dear Orthodox Christian sister.
I kindly and respectfully ask you not to add to my words in the future when I explain the Orthodox position to someone sufficiently.
Much Love In Christ Our Saviour and His Holy Precious Mother Whom “All Generations Call Blessed” As She Prophecied in the Gospel of St Luke,
+Brother Nathanael Kapner
Russian Orthodox Christian
Dear BN and Father Joseph,
Bless you both. What I wrote was not what I meant, and that does look almost Nestorianish the way I wrote it. And yes, please forgive the error and the trespass, BN.
Fr Joseph is quite right in regard to his correction of you stating that “the virgin Mary gave birth to Christ’s human nature,” that the “Virgin Mary is the mother of Christ’s human nature.”
This is not what the Orthodox Church teaches and you should please clarify and correct this statement that you made.
The Virgin Mary is the “Theotokos,” that is, the “God Birth Giver,” NOT, the “Nature of man Birth giver.”
“Virgin Mary is the mother of Christ’s human nature.”–Fr. J. This is most certainly what I meant, thank you.
“Our God Jesus Christ was in the womb of Mary”; “God took flesh of the Virgin Mary” (St. Ignatius, St. Irenaeus).
“If anyone will not confess that Immanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is Theotokos, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh: let him be anathema.” St. Cyril of Alexandra; accepted and confirmed by the Third Ecumenical Council.
Dear Tony,
You say:
>>Seeing infallibility in ecumenical councils requires extrapolation with a certain specific interpretation of Scripture, it seems to me.
>>I hope to stand firmly on the Bible and the Bible only, …
And where, do you think the Bible, as you know it today, came from? Who put it together and by what process?
Your logic is flawed, mainly because it is out of timely order. The Bible canon was put together via the mechanism (if you can call it that) of the Councils. And thus, to say that the Councils took the Scriptures and interpreted them in some way to support their actions makes no sense.
The Holy Orthodox Church, puts Holy Traditions First, because it actually CAME FIRST AND IS THE CAUSE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE SCRIPTURES (BIBLE) TODAY.
In short, the Bible, which you see as your only source of inspiration, is the result of the Councils, and NOT the other way around. Your argument is a very typical result of your the completely forgotten (by you and your heritage) Holy and Apostolic tradition.
It makes no sense to completely trust the Bible and on the other hand to doubt the methods and practices of the people who put it together.
If you trust the Bible only, then for your own sake, research on how it came together and by who. Then, read some more on what else these people who put the Bible together wrote and said. You will find that the people who put it together, also put together a number of other things, which you now either are completely ignorant of, or reject. Why?
I DO NOT suggest this as something to do, but: The most logical and appropriate action to take as somebody who denounces the Councils, is to reject all of its accomplishes, INCLUDING the Bible. In fact, if you do not believe in Councils, then you should reject all councils, including councils and decisions taken by councils, through out history in the various churches, including the protestant, evangelical, etc etc. ones.
You see how your logic is flawed here, by lack of knowledge of the facts and selective deduction?
Stav
Dear Tony,
That last post, if of course in addition to the response that was given to you by Fr. Joseph.
The first church selected and put the books of the bible together, not the other way around.
The chain of causality is:
God the Father–>Jesus Christ–> The Church–> The Councils–> The Bible.
For some “reason”, you cut out and rejected the middle bits.
Stav
Dear Tony,
And by a strange coincidence, anyone’s path towards God The Father must take the reverse path aswell:
Read The Bible –> Find and understand its roots the Councils and their descisions –> Find The true Church through the Councils and their descisions –> Find Jesus Christ by being part of the true Church –> Reach God The Father through Christ!
You my friend, are stuck in step 1,The Bible, and you will be stuck there, until you realize that the next thing to “check out” is the Councils.
Stav
Hi All,
The following is an excerpt of a letter I wrote to an eastern orthodox father. The first sentence is a quote of something he wrote to me…
However, the scripture that you cling to, we consecrated as OUR scripture
Hmmmmm.
Well, I once heard a person talk about how sometimes there are differences of understanding and folks are split on two possibilities, when all the while there was a third option that they were not aware of.
As an example, did Israel of old canonize Jeremiah with the discernment that it was for them and them alone? Does God use people even though they are not perfect and yet, might some of HIS purposes be accomplished?
Look at Jeremiah. Deliverance from Babylon. 70 years of captivity. And yet, a larger theme seems to be the following problem, “How long will evil thoughts lodge within you?” As well as a solution to this other sort of captivity, “I will write My laws in your heart.” No need for teachers (coupling with Ephesians 4, the usefulness of teachers until perfection).
Did those folks that “canonized” Jeremiah see beyond their denomination, their captivity, and their need for deliverance? Was their vision circumscribed? At least possibly?
What is my point?
Well, if I am philosophical about it all, it seems you are making assumptions. WE canonized it according to OUR understanding, etc.
I offer a different line of reasoning. Folks of faith but not perfect faith were used by God to do something wonderful. Their vision around what they were doing was circumscribed. It was limited in scope and understanding.
But, God has other ideas. He used these people to canonize this “Book.” Just as Jeremiah was hardly limited to some nation/denomination 3000 years ago (or whenever it was), it was good they did so, even though they lacked a full understanding of the message contained within what they were canonizing.
Why cannot the same be true of whomever canonized the books that would become the Bible? Why can’t God have used these people all the while He saw a different use for what they were doing?
Can you refute this alternative premise? If you can, I would like to see this refutation.
One other thought. I think in a lot of respects, the message that is in the Bible is self evident and is a result of folks comparing spiritual with spiritual. If people love His word, they will see things in it. If so, I suggest perhaps the biggest criteria for the Bible and its scope is the entirety of truth latent in it. I would further suggest that to say “OUR interpretation” might be as flawed as a Jew canonizing Jeremiah holding to HIS interpretation. After all, they canonized it so we better limit ourselves to their understanding.
God might have other things in mind.
Blessings,
Tony
Anyway, to summarize my main point:
There is a logical fallacy going on here. It is this:
Premise:
We canonized these books.
Conclusion:
Therefore, the entirety of our apostolic procession and our councils is 100% inspired.
That is an unprovable conclusion.
Actually, stuff like this happens all the time. Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ. Later he tells Him He must not go to Calvary.
It is a logical fallacy to state that given a collection of people were 100% inspired in the process of canonization must mean their councils were 100% inspired or their interpretation of what they canonized was complete.
It is an assertion. It is plausible, but it is not logically imperative.
Blessings,
Tony
Dear Tony,
Truthfully, between you and I, I can understand your implicit “hostility” are personal rejection of what is generically called ‘organized/instituionalized religion’.
Your personal response – a truthful, sincere response – is the only “natural” response one can expect from people who truthfully look at and/or experience both the hostility and chaos the DISUNITY of the Christian Church wherein everyone who wants to be a somebody can go off bellowing all manner of strange thing and doctrine ‘in the Name of God’.
Every living person created in the Image and Likeness of God has a “Divine RIGHT” to learn the clear, concise, truthful and factual Teachings and Revelations of Christ Jesus.
Hence, what you see and what you witness is but the mutually antagonistic claims, which seen never-ending and perpetually going around in spinning circles, that accompany Christ’s Teachings and the Apostolic Faith.
– Fr. Joseph
The Bible says that knowledge shall increase in the last days. Oh sure, this might mean people can make more powerful microprocessors, but isn’t it likely this knowledge is primarily about God? Daniel is sealed until the end. Many believe Revelation’s primary purpose is to unseal Daniel.
Is it not plausible that incredible theological expansion will be the order of the day as we approach The Day?
I grew up Catholic. I was always taught the Ten Commandments were a big thing.
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, p. 133
The Church has power from God to make laws and to change laws that it makes. It has no power, however, over the laws of God themselves. The Church can never change them
In the book of Daniel, a succession of four earthly powers is described. Daniel lives during the existence of the first two – Babylon and Media-Persia. He is told what the fourth power is – Greece. He is not told the name of the fourth beast, but any historian knows. It is Rome.
The tenor of the book’s description of these earthly powers is secular. But, a dramatic shift occurs when A POWER STRUCTURE THAT IS A SUBSET OF ROME HITS THE SCENE.
The little horn. This power structure is fraught with religious overtones. It is a subset of Rome and yet emerges some time after Rome emerged. It comes later. If you compare spiritual with spiritual, the little horn is also the beast that rises up out of the sea in Revelation 11.
Everyone knows that a power structure can change its own laws. But, there is an interesting tidbit about this power. It THINKS to change times and laws. THINKS to. (Daniel 7:25)
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism, p. 118
The Church commands us to keep Sunday as the Lord’s day because on Sunday Christ rose from the dead, and on Sunday the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles.
For these reasons the Church changed the Lord’s day from Saturday to Sunday.
Jesus: Not one jot or one tittle.
Revelation: Here are they who keep the commandments of GOD and have the faith of Jesus.
I already wrote on the Sabbath. Another resurrection took place before Jesus rested on the seventh day of Passion week.
Things are circumscribed. People look to shadow, but the seventh day Sabbath points to very image and only very image will be able to produce the long awaited perfection God will produce in that Day.
Those councils may carry some weight, but I highly doubt they will pack the truth-carrying punch to persuade me to keep the commandments of men instead of the commandments of God.
Blessings,
Tony
Dear Tony –
You do NOT know the Holy Scriptures.
The apostles worshiped on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, as ST Paul stated in his second letter to the Church at Corinth and St John of the Apocalypse stated in the Revelation, calling it the “Lord’s Day.”
The FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK is the fulfillment of the foreshadowing “8th day” which the Holy Prophets in the OT spoke of.
The “8th” day is the Day of the NEW CREATION which the Lord Jesus Christ ushered in through His Resurrection on the FIRST/EIGHTH DAY, the “Lord’s Day.” THIS IS WHY WE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS set aside Sunday, the FIRST/EIGHTH Day of the week calling it the DAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
This is why St Paul says that we are NEW CREATIONS in Christ.
You DO NOT KNOW the Holy Scriptures but are a one man interpreter of scant passages tossed to and fro in your heretical & seeming limited mind.
I WILL NOT allow you to make heretical statements any longer on this Comments Section as if you were some authority, WHICH YOU OBVIOUSLY ARE NOT. You doubtless have many unconfessed sins since heretics refuse to see the LOGS in their own eyes.
ALL heretical statements made by you in the future WILL BE DELETED. If you persist, then you will be banned from ever commenting here again.
+Brother Nathanael Kapner
Russian Orthodox Christian
Dear Tony,
Well, thank you. Everyone’s “true colors” come up at some point in time (grin).
So you’re probably a Seventh Day Adventist.
And you grew up Catholic.
And your conditioned-indoctrinated response is to be expected.
My gosh, who in blue blazes do you UNDO all that IS DONE to legions of people in the name of religion via the utter ABUSE and MISUSE of the Church’s Own Canon of Sacred Scirpture?
So we have to go on and on and on with Daniel, with the Book of Revelation while these cults and sects CRUCIFY TO THEIR BLOODY DEATHS the Gospels, the Lord’s Own Words and Teachings, His very Own Apostle’s epistles..
…all for the cult/sect ‘Religious Glory’ of making their own Religious Science Fiction superior to God Incarnate’s Own Teachings and Divine Revelation.
I am TIRED!
Twenty five years of apologetics work, going ’round and ’round and ’round in circles getting nowhere fast as our world continues on its relentless march in REJECTING the expressed Divine Teachings and Divine Will of God Incarnate Himself.
– Fr. Joseph
Hi Tony,
You say:
Premise:
We canonized these books.
Conclusion:
Therefore, the entirety of our apostolic procession and our councils is 100% inspired.
That is an unprovable conclusion.
These statements presented on their own, without additional information, “sound” logical. However, your personal decision to accept only the Bible canon and nothing else, according to the above statements, has the exact same error. One could very slightly rephrase the above as:
Premise:
We canonized these books.
Conclusion:
Therefore, _a portion_ of our apostolic procession and our councils is 45% inspired.
That is an unprovable conclusion.
Exactly, as you can see above, this is something that you claim. Thus, your conclusion, based on your own argument is also unprovable. Yet, you are absolutely sure about your conclusion to trust only the Bible.
So what must we do? What we must do, is to enrich our knowledge and understanding of the entire situation and circumstances, and arrive at a more informed and complete answer.
This is why I recommended, that you check out for your self, who the people how composed the canon were, where they came from, what their influences and heritage was, and what else did they produce in these councils.
An honest approach will ensure that you see the pureness of their results. However if you approach the conclusions of the Councils already convinced that they were wrong , even if partially, then, you will automatically ignore facts, and logically presented evidence and theology which supports their conclusions.
Thus, in a nutshell, your reasons for not trusting the entirety of the Councils (and I am talking about the 1st through the 7th, as the other ones were not Ecumenical by definition), are the same reasons for which you should not trust ANY of it, including the canons.
Do you have any proof, from your point of view, that the Bible was inspired but the rest of the activities performed at the same time were not?
It is clear from whatever response you give to that, that you need to examine the matter more closely and in more impartial detail, if you are concerned with this. As I have said before, the info is out there, have a greater selection to work from and you will see what I mean.
Stav
‘O Luther, Luther. How great is your responsibility’ – Soreen Kierkegaard – Danish theologian’s comment after an extensive study of the Protestant Reformation
‘Sola Scriptura! Sola Fide!’
“These are the points that uneducated and unbalanced people DISTORT, in the same way as they DISTORT THE REST OF SCRIPTURE – a fatal thing for to do. You have been WARNED ABOUT THIS, my friends; be careful not to get carried away by THE ERRORS of unprincipled people, from the FIRM GROUND (ROCK) that you are standing on.”
– St. Peter THE ROCK Apostle – 2 Peter 3:16
– Fr. Joseph
Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience – but do all with patience and with the intention of TEACHING.
The time is sure to come when, far from being content with SOUND TEACHING, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then, instead of listening to the Truth, they will turn to myths (such as Pastor Hagee and his Isreali-Zionist First ‘Gospel’ in conjunction with the vast assortment of ‘Prosperity Gospel’ so-called Bible believing pastors and mega-chuches here in the USA).
St. Paul to Bishop Timothy – 2 Tim.4:1-4
– Fr. Joseph
Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the (Apostolic) TRADITION that WE taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we urge you, brothers, TO STAY AWAY FROM any of the brothers who refuses to work or to live according to the (Apostolic) TRADITION we (Apostles) passed on to you.
St. Paul the Apostle – 1 Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6
Do I get a share of ‘The Tithes’ from the plates of the so called ‘christian zionist’ church collections everyone gives out there???
I know. No. No. No.
– Fr. Joseph
I have written a note for the members of the Church, BUT DIOTREPHES, who seems TO ENJOY being in charge of it, refuses to accept us. – The Apostle St. John, 3 Jn 9
If St. John THE APOSTLE were alive and kickin’ in this year of 2009 Anno Domini,
everyone’s Bible would read thusly:
I have written a note for the members of the Church,
BUT THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS
THE CALVINIST BAPTISTS
THE UNIFICATION CHURCH OF SUN YONG MOON
THE CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS THE WORLD OVER
THE BOARD OF THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
MADAME BLAVATSKY, THE MASONS, THE ROSICRUCIANS, THE HERMETIC ORDERS, THE KABBALISTS
THE NEW AGERS
THE WHATEVER ELSE THAT EXISTS SPEAKING ON AND ABOUT DIVINE THINGS
and who seem TO ENJOY being in charge of their cult/sect, REFUSES to accept us.
– Fr. Joseph
“Alexander the coppersmith has done me a lot of harm; the Lord will repay him for what he has done. Be on guard against him yourself; BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN BITTERLY CONTESTING EVERYTHING THAT WE (APOSTLES) SAY.” – 2 Timothy 4:14
My brothers, if one of you strays from the Truth, and another brings him back to it…et al. St. James THE APOSTLE James5:19
– Fr. Joseph
It is not those who say to Me ‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the Will of My Father in Heaven.
When that Day comes many will say to Me ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name? Cast out demons in Your Name? Work many miracles in Your Name?’
Then I shall tell them to their faces; I have never known you; away from Me, you evil men!’ –
Jesus Christ’s Own Words –
The Gospel according to St. Matthew
Matthew 7:21-23
– Fr. Joseph
It’s all in the public domain.
“Believe Me, if you had begun to honour Me with a special devotion from the times of the early Church, after twenty centuries few men would remain living in idolatry, in paganism and in so many FALSE and EVIL sects, in which man is running blindly towards the abyss of eternal fire!”
God the Father to Mother Eugenia July 1932
http://www.theworkofgod.org/Library/Trinity/Father/Message1.htm
– Fr. Joseph
It’s all in the public domain.
Those FALSE and EVIL sects can all go read Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Teachings via the Church Fathers (if they wished to)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/
– Fr. Joseph
It’s all in the public domain.
All the pastors of all these FALSE and EVIL sects can open their Bibles are read Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20, John 6:30-71 and then 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, then examine what is found on this public domain webpage
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html
if they wished to. But they don’t.
– Fr. Joseph
It’s all in the public domain.
The pastors and preachers and leaders of all of these FALSE and EVIL sects could, if they wanted to, go view and study what occurs in Jerusalem every Easter here
http://www.holyfire.org/eng/
But they don’t.
The pastors and preachers and leaders of all of these FALSE and EVIL sects the world over could, if they wanted to, watch this video and then go PREACH and WARN their congregations the world over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EolbO0AWE
But they don’t.
– Fr. Joseph
It’s all in the public domain.
The pastors, preachers and leaders of these FALSE and EVIL sects are all on the verge of enduring and suffering a Third World War.
They could, if they wanted to, watch this video on how World Peace is still possible.
http://heavenskeytopeace.com
But they don’t.
– Fr. Joseph
It’s all in the public domain.
The pastors, preachers, leaders of these FALSE and EVIL sects the world over in conjunction with the pastors, preachers and leaders of the Apostolic Church could ALL go read what St. Nilus has to say about the ‘State of the Church’ in our century and its FULFILLMENT going on right now in the front of their eyes
http://www.fisheaters.com/nilus.html
But they don’t.
– Fr. Joseph
What other possible conclusion can one come to besides affirming that both the ‘states’ of our World along with the myriad of ‘churches’ in our World have NO INTENTION of complying with and implementing God’s Will here on earth.
A Divine Will, I might add, that is always carried out in His Divine Heavenly Realms.
What’s left for the rest of us to do other than, perhaps, break out the pop-corn, sit back in a comfy-cozy seat while we all wait for the ‘Great Entertainment Spectacle’ – the Downfall of the Human Race and very likely by a thermonuclear Third World War.
No one is listening. No one is moving or acting TO DO anything about any of this.
– Fr. Joseph
Special Notice To Fr Joseph & Stav –
I have BANNED “Tony.”
He would not give Fr Joseph a straight answer about him being a Seventh Day Adventist. And he gave Stav short shrift.
Tony is playing very coy and I deleted his last comment and BANNED him from our Comments section.
Tony pretends to be a Christian which he is NOT and came on to our Real Zionist News family to disrupt.
Tony’s gone…
+Brother Nathanael Kapner
Publisher Of Real Zionist News
It’s time for all of these FALSE and EVIL sects running around in our contemporary World to close their Book of Daniel and Book of Revelation in order to open up the Book of Ezekiel so as to read Ezekiel 33, verses 7 through 9,
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2033:7-9;&version=31;
Just as THE LORD has assigned Brother Nathanael his Mission with RZN and his street evangelism, Ezekiel 33:7-9 was the Mission assigned to me by THE LORD back in September, 1993 A.D.
From my Carmelite hermitage
http://www.catholic-church.org/apcarmel/heritage.htm
I sure do wish that MANY OF YOU repent, get to the Sacrament of Confession-Reconciliation with THE LORD GOD and get yourselves and your families to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
And at this point-in-time, it matters very little IF you receive His Body and Blood at a Catholic Mass OR at an Orthodox Divine Liturgy.
– Fr. Joseph
“John Michael of the Incarnation” T.O.Carm.
St. Gregory of Nyssa – Church Father – “On The Holy Spirit”
…what else is shown from this but that the Holy Spirit is NOT SEPARATED from ANY operation which is wrought by the Father AND THE SON?
Everyone here on RZN can read St. Gregory of Nyssa’s comment for themselves here
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2904.htm
– Fr. Joseph
May our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit help ALL OF US OUT of this global ‘Trap’ set for ALL OF US by Satan. Amen
But Church Fathers can be argued with, they are not undisputable.
Holy Scriptures and doctrines – not.
And it does matter a great deal, whether a person is on Catholic Mass or in Orthodox Liturgy.
If it was the same thing they would not be separate. I don’t understand why Catholics are always acting this way on political level ‘lets ignore the differences’. We don’t need that.
Isn’t Pope and (even the idea of Pope) in some way like an antiChrist, declaring himself pure and sinless, while only Christ himself is this way and ALL people are helpless sinners without Him??
“One does not dispatch fools with arguments, but with FACTS.” – Josephus, Judean General
Kt,
To whom did OUR LORD appoint and commission to be the LEADERS of His Church here on earth?
He gave that Commission to HIS APOSTLES and through them, the Church’s BISHOPS derive THEIR SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY over God’s Own Church here on earth.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Kt,
“Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they shall be called sons of God.” – Our Lord
Peacemakers – how in blue blazes can I do that with this getting so “hot under the collar” temperment I have to wrestle with every day of my life.
Then, please, for the sake of PEACE and UNITY within the Lord’s Church of 2009 Anno Domini, I refer you to the Church Council of Laodicea, 360 A.D., a full 694 years BEFORE the year 1054 A.D..
Would you PLEASE read Canon 12 of that Church Council here
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm
Thank you. And may THE LORD grant you copious amounts of His Divine Grace upon you and your loved ones. Amen. +
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Kt,
Did you know that under the PAGAN Roman Emporers, until the time of Constantine and his co-Eastern Roman Empire’s emporer EDICT OF MILAN, that being ordained to be the Bishop of Rome was the equivalent of a DEATH SENTENCE??
Do you know how many BISHOPS OF ROME lost the lives to the PAGAN POWERS of the Roman Empire?
Did you know that? To accept ordination to become Bishop of Rome meant CERTAIN DEATH at the hands of the EMPORERS???
Anyways, did ANY of the Roman Empire EMPORERS have any authority or divine right to appoint THEIR OWN Bishop as to assume the BISHOP OF ROME’S office per Canon 12 of the Church’s Council of Laodicea of 360 A.D.
YES or NO?
– Fr. Joseph
If per Canon 12 of the Church Council of Laodicea of 360 A.D. PROHIBITS Kings and Political Parties and Emporers from appointing their own personally selected and desired individuals as BISHOPS so as to promote their own perosnally desired political aims and territorial plans of expansion to increase the size and scope of their own personal influence upon the peoples of the natios of our World…
…then can a Byzantine Emporer depose of ANY Bishop of the Church in order to install his own personal choice of an indivdiual to the office of Bishop?
– Fr. Joseph
Are we not hypocritical when we assert Apostolic Tradition, when we assert Apostolic Teachings, when we assert the validity of the Church Councils on account of BISHOPS ALONE having jurisdiction over the Lord’s Church, when we deliberately call into doubt the Patristic Writings of Saintly Church Fathers BECAUSE that does not fit nice and neatly into what WE want to assert as ‘The Truth’ regarding Human Salvation History down through the centuries of Human History?
Who is causing all of these divisions and problems for the Lord and His Church and the Holy Spirit?
– Fr. Joseph
Per Canon 12 of the Church Council of Ladicea of 360 A.D., the Emporer of the Roman Empire was SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED per the Bishops of the Lord’s Church Militant here on earth from appointing Bishops TO His Church.
When the Roman Empire was divided into TWO parts, the WESTERN Roman Empire and the EASTERN Roman Empire, did Canon 12 of the Church Council of Laodicea of 360 A.D. CEASE TO RULE/GUIDE the Lord’s Church Militant here on earth?
Could the Emperor of what was the WESTERN Roman Empire appoint Bishops to His Church.
Could the Emporer of the what was the EASTERN Roman Empire appoint Bishops of His Church?
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Kt,
In the book written by the CHURCH FATHER you might know as St. Augustine entitled ‘The City of God’, in his book 19 of ‘The City of God’, St. Augustine – CHURCH FATHER – explains to the inhabitants of the WESTERN Roman Empire WHY their half of the WESTERN Roman Empire collasped and was unrun by hordes from Germany, why their capitol of ROME was sacked and WHY they were being PUNISHED so thusly.
St. Augustine EXPLAINS to the inhabitants of the WESTERN Roman Empire it was on account of their DECADENT, SINFUL AND GOD-LESS WAYS OF LIVING (despite the FACT there was a Bishop of Rome, his Bishops, the Church’s clergy, etc.).
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Kt,
And did you know that this CHURCH FATHER in his book ‘The City of God’ relays – in book 19 once again – that while the HORDES broke into and sacked the capitol of the WESTERN Roman Empire – ROME – that those same HORDES, while they RAPED and KILLED and PLUNDERED Rome with wild abandoned – they SPARED, they DID NOT TOUCH, the Christian Church buildings throughout Rome.
Anyone in Rome who FLED TO and SOUGHT REFUGE IN any of the ROMAN Christian Churches we spared and were left UNHARMED.
Even the PAGANS of Rome when fleeing to these sanctuaries of the ROMAN Christian Churches in Rome!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Kt,
Anyways, back to Canon 12 of the Church Council of Laodicea of 360 A.D..
Was Apostolic Succession LOST in the Western Roman Empire AFTER the collapse of the Western Roman Empire as recorded by St. Augustine – CHURCH FATHER – in his book ‘The City of God’?
– Fr. Joseph
One last time – I have to get some sleep now as I’m going to work later tonight. Sacrificed a good 4 hours worth of my sleep in order to help you understand and see certain ‘things’ in order to promote PEACE and REAL CONCILIATION between the Catholic and Orthodox here on RZN.
After ALL that I’ve just shared with you by typing on this PC’s keyboard of mine here at my hermitage, would you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE answer me a very, very SIMPLE question with a very, very SIMPLE answer of either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
Per Canon 12 of the Church Coucil of Laodicea of 360 A.D…
Can a BYZANTINE EMPEROR appoint his personally selected BISHOPS to the Church.
‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
That’s enough…I’m burned out…it’s ZZZZ time.
– Fr. Joseph
What makes the Ecumenical Councils of the early Church valid is that they had a representative of the Bishop of Rome during the Council, and the Bishop of Rome accepted the outcome of those Councils.
The Council of Nicea was NOT initiated by ANY Bishop of either the Church in the West or the East. It was initiated by Emporer Constantine.
The Bishop of Rome made the Council of Nicea VALID by his accepting and approving the Council of Nicea.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Fr. Joseph,
Thank you for your efforts. I don’t know Church history well enough so to be able to argue on that level and do research they way you do it. As an Orthodox I take all OUR (Orthodox) canons as Yes by default.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
By a “supernatural sense of faith” the People of God, under the guidance of the Church’s living Magesterium, “UNFAILINGLY ADHERES TO HIS FAITH.”
# The doctrine of the Infallibility of the Pope does not teach that the pope is sinless or impeccable, but only infallible.
# The Pope is infallible only when he deals on matters WITHIN FAITH OR MORALS.
That just means, for him faith and morals are somehow separate from the rest of life. For me as a Christian this does not make sense, for our faith is our life. How can a man be infallible on anything, especially on faith and ‘morals’? It’s impossible.
Thank you.
“One does not dispatch fools with arguments, but with FACTS.” – Josephus, Judean General
Thank you. And may THE LORD grant you copious amounts of His Divine Grace upon you and your loved ones. Amen. +
I am sorry, but why do you refer to me as a fool and then try to bless me?
Are we not hypocritical when we assert Apostolic Tradition, when we assert Apostolic Teachings, when we assert the validity of the Church Councils on account of BISHOPS ALONE having jurisdiction over the Lord’s Church, when we deliberately call into doubt the Patristic Writings of Saintly Church Fathers BECAUSE that does not fit nice and neatly into what WE want to assert as ‘The Truth’ regarding Human Salvation History down through the centuries of Human History?
Dear Fr. Joseph,
Church Fathers are not necessarily canonical and questioning their writings is not hypocritical. Though personally when I read them I never had any issues. And its not as if I call to question, but I am replying to one of your posts, that you cannot base such an important aspect of the Holy Spirit coming from the Son AND the Father, on a writing of a Church Father.
That is something that is to be decided officially in a Council, whether it’s a heresy or not.
P.S. Please don’t spend too much time on replying to my posts, as my time is very tight and I would not be able to answer your question in such detail as to keep the discussion leveled this way. I do appreciate your dedication though! Thank you.
So IF allowed ourselves the right, the duty, the spiritual responsibility to prayerfully contemplate on this particular discourse of St. Gregory of Nyssa, giving him the respect of being a Church Father, giving him the benefit of the doubt that Christ’s Graces did and were working within him, and we take what he says and compare it to the Apostolic Tradition as found in the Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture in order TO SEE with our own minds and hearts that what St. Gregory of Nyssa has to SAY and to TEACH about God the Holy Spirit has some REAL and SUBSTANTIAL MERIT!
Consider what Sacred Scripture has Christ Jesus saying about Himself and God the Holy Spirit here
http://www.americancatholicpress.org/Father_%20Gilligan_Filioque_clause.page1.html
– Fr. Joseph
And from that same webpage I’ve just referenced, we have no option but to start doubting and debating with the Church Father, St. Augustine, who writes
“I will say, however, with absolute confidence that Father and Son and Holy Spirit, God the Creator, of one and the same (Divine) substance, the Almighty Three, ACT INSEPARABLY.”
If we begin at the beginning with the Book of Genesis, we can’t help but to read
“GOD said, ‘Let US make man in OUR Own Image, in the Likeness of OURSELVES.”
– Genesis 1:26
That’s what Sacred Scripture has to say, folks.
– Fr. Joseph
After issuing the Edict of Milan, Constantine when to examine a Cathedral church building being built with the Empire’s money.
Bishop St. Ambrose was THE BISHOP of Milan at that time.
When Constantine and his Empire’s entourage arrived at the Cathedral building, Bishop St. Ambrose was in the middle of giving a homily to the Lay Faithful attending a ROMAN RITE MASS of the Catholic Church.
Constantine and his entourage caused much disruption as he and they entered the Church, so much so that the Lay Faithful were paying MORE ATTENTION to Constantine than to what THE BISHOP was instructing the Lay Faithful in regarding matters of the Faith and Morals of Christians.
Bishop St. Ambrose then spoke out directly from the front of the Church these words directed to Constantine himself
“Even EMPORERS need to hear and learn the Word of God.”
Upon hearing Bishop St. Ambrose directing those words at him personally, Constantine stood still for a moment in personal reflection, then he fell down to one knee and entered into a pew in the BACK of the Church.
Bishop St. Ambrose then continued on with his homily and the Mass.
– Fr. Joseph
Could someone from the RUSSIAN Orthodox Church obtain an ‘authorized version’ of the Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture and open to the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 28, verse 19 and see if their English or Russian Bible reads
“Go, therefore, make disiples of the RUSSIAN nation, baptise them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
For those of you in the GREEK or SERBIAN or SYRIAN Orthodox Church, could you do the same with an ‘authorized version’ in your respective Church body to see if Matthew 28:19 reads
“Go, therefore, make disciples of the GREEK, the SERBIAN, the SYRIAN nation…et al”
Thank you.
– Fr. Joseph
Gosh, I thought I’d get an answer to my simple question – censorship is alive and well in His Church even in our own day and age.
Question to anyone who might care to give a Truthful Answer, recalling that God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of TRUTH!
Q. Can an Emporer installed his own personally selected Bishop(s) per Canon 12 of the very Apostolic Church’s Council of Laodicea of 360 A.D.?
Yes or no.
– Fr. Joseph
It was in the writings of St. Margaret Mary (if I recall correctly as it’s been some time since I read this particular book) that the Saint relayed the life of St. Joseph, the foster-father of the Christ Child born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the Blessed Virgin Mary who relayed to the Saint the “hidden” life of St. Joseph.
St. Joseph, the Mother of God relayed through this Saint, had his own personal saying which he said out loud many a time during the course of the days of his life
“May I only live to see the Will of God done.”
There is speculation that this constant personal-private daily prayer/devotion (much like the Eastern Church’s ‘Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.’) of St. Joseph, the foster-father of the Christ Child, was responsible for and carried over into his Son’s Divine Mission and in His Teaching all of us HOW TO PRAY
‘Thy Will BE DONE on earth as it is in Heaven.’
– Fr. Joseph
It sure would be nice, for once in about 1,000 years, that all of us of His Church, whether we hold the highly exaulted and pubicly esteemed title/office of Patriarch, Metropolitan, Archbishop, Bishop or if we are but one of those undifferianted individuals ‘in the rank and file’ if ALL OF US would each take the time to pray as the Body of Christ here on earth
‘May WE only live to see the Will of God done here on earth.’
THAT might settle many of these centuries old needless divisions and antagonisms which only serve TO DELAY the Divine Will of God the Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and OUR Father in Heaven from being DONE here on earth FOR THE SAKE OF the entire Human Race God desires SAVED and REDEEMED!
– Fr. Joseph
‘The first among equals’ vs ‘papal primacy’.
Over and over and over and over endlessly does it go on.
In the Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture, we can all read for ourselves how the LORD of His Own Church Divinely Shephards His Own fledgling Apostolic Flock of SHEEP
“Simon, Simon! Satan, YOU must know, has got his wish TO SIFT YOU ALL like wheat; but I have prayed for YOU Simon, that your faith many NOT FAIL, and once you have recovered, you in YOUR turn MUST STRENGHTEN your brothers.” – Luke 22:31-33
That’s Sacred Scripture, folks, inspired to be written and recorded by God the Holy Spirit!
Now then, with that in mine, Satan gets his wish TO SIFT the Apostles ONCE AGAIN like wheat in 1884 A.D..
To WHOM does the Lord grant a Divine ‘Heads Up’ Warning?
You get to read it for yourselves here
http://www.geocities.com/stmichaelsangels
– Fr. Joseph
“It was TO UNDO ALL that the devil has done
that the SON OF GOD appeared.”
– St. John the Apostle – 1 John 3:8
Christian Catechism Question:
‘HOW did the Son of God appear so as TO UNDO ALL that the devil has done to our Human Race?’
Answer: The Son of God took on our humanity by being CONCEIVED by a Woman who gave BIRTH to her Son.
– Fr. Joseph
Per God’s Own Adamic Covenant with ALL of Mankind, it is the WILL OF GOD to use this WOMAN and her Offspring TO CRUSH the head of Satan and all satanic-luciferian offspring.
Why will NOT the members of the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church PERMIT the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of THIS WOMAN chosen by GOD HIMSELF to crush the head of satan and satanic offspring?
This is the reason:
http://www.crossspot.net/ldprophet/Freemasons.htm
Why will the Hierarchy of the ORTHODOX CHURCH do everything in their power TO PREVENT a Collegial Consecration of Russia to THIS WOMAN’S Immaculate Heart per her 1917 A.D. Apparitions and Instructions.
You of the ORTHODOX CHURCH are ‘the experts’ to determine if the following information is TRUE and FACTUAL
http://www.genuineorthodoxchurch.net/worldorthodoxy.html
– Fr. Joseph
SATANISM is practiced in the Vatican
http://www.tldm.org/news/martin.htm
RUSSIAN SPECIAL FORCES note that in recent years the number of SATAN WORSHIPPERS in Russia has been growing exponentially. from
http://www.fatima.org/news/newsviews/satanism2.asp
– Fr. Joseph
The report gave no overall figures for SATANISTS IN FRANCE, but said Satanism was also on the rise in SCANDINAVIA, ITALY, GERMANY, SPAIN, GREECE and POLAND. – from
http://www.wwm.org/article.php?idd=16074&sec=39&con=2
And regarding SATANISM on the continent of Australia
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11819
– Fr. Joseph
So the satan-lucifer worshippers in Bishops garb in the Catholic Church are preventing their HEADS from being CRUSHED by the Woman of Genesis 3:15, while the satan-lucifer worshippers if Orthodox garb in the Orthodox Church are preventing their HEADS from being CRUSHED by the Woman of Genesis 3:15.
And these satan-lucifer worshippers in BOTH the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church ensure that Catholics and Orthodox are perpetually LOCKED in theological impasses such as the 1,000 century ‘filioque’ – and hence, the chances of THE BISHOPS of the Church uniting with the successor of St. Peter to utilized and implement the ADAMIC COVENANT for the entire Human Race never happens.
And hence, Satan will have succeeded in ‘undoing ALL that the Son of God has done that Satan has appeared’.
– Fr. Joseph
Father Joseph,
The Fatima article on Satanism in Russia is about 10 years old. It exists there just as at exists here in the US, so what is your point?
By the way, the traditionalist Orthodox website you also posted elsewhere says nothing about Fatima, so it is somewhat confusing as to why you included it.
Here is some more background info from about the same time, along with incidents of church burnings, vandalisms, burning crosses, animal sacrifices, and the martyrdom of a couple of monks, to name a few things that were occuring.
Your Fatima article also pointed out that there were perhaps about 10,000 people out of 160 million or more in the FSU that were practicing Satanists, and since then Russia has been taking very firm police measures to keep criminal activity suppressed.
http://www.dci.dk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=651:satanism-is-no-longer-a-harmless-game&catid=127&Itemid=37
(1999)Satanism Is No Longer a Harmless Game
Sergei Chapnin, chief editor of the religious Russian Press service “Metafrasis”, writes about the increasing militant activities of Satanism in Russia and Beloruss
Spontaneous incidents of “spiritual” propaganda in Russia at the end of the eighties were obviously a consequence of the fact that the Communist Party lost its ideological monopoly. But coinciding with the rebirth of traditional religion – first and foremost the Orthodox Russian Church – the general whim of fashion led to a stormy growth of sects and Occult groups.
It was characteristic that people going to a sect made the decision “with or without Christ.” Manifest anti-Christian sects could not count on progress at that time.
Worship of Satan and obvious services to the powers of darkness seemed insane even to non-religious people. But within five years the situation changed dramatically, and in the middle of the nineties in the former Soviet a sudden change occurred in the activities of the Satanic groups.
Quite undisguised the Satanists appeared in the former Soviet areas. Profanation of Christian sacred things, anonymous threatening calls to the addresses of the clergy, blasphemous publications in the press – all of this has happened several times recently. Here we are going to mention only a few cases. (See website).
http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/patrology/stylianos_peter_conscience.htm
“Depart from me, for I am
a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8)
When we speak about the Apostle Peter, our mind usually goes to the plethoric and dynamic Apostle, who stood out among the Twelve as ‘the head Apostle’. For we remember how often we see him from within the sacred texts, being the leader in various activities, acting also on behalf of the rest of the Apostles, yet without separating himself from them.
…
Among the many passages that describe characteristic aspects of St Peter’s life, the most moving is neither his confession at Caesaria of Philippi, which we have already mentioned, nor his bitter tears after the momentary betrayal at the courtyard of the high priest. For both the confession and the repentance were within the immediate logic of things for all the Apostles who lived the mystery of the direct presence of the God-Man.
What was beyond this “logic of things”, which constitutes perhaps the even more moving biographical element of St Peter, is the fact that at a certain time he felt his unworthiness to humiliate him. And he was not at all ashamed to declare it before Christ, thus making it a landmark of humility for all times.
It was the moment when he saw the Teacher to work wonders even on the illogical nature by filling the nets with fish precisely where there was no fish a little before. And it was not the first time he saw Jesus perform miracles and doing good for people: making paralytics to walk, blind men to see again, dead people to rise.
However, in the sight of these great and unheard of miracles St Peter stands with awe and wonder, just as the other disciples also do, yet there is no mention here of contrition and sense of sinfulness.
How are we to explain this paradox? The only explanation one could give is that those people who are deeply suffering from pain and illness are offered benefits. They have surely been and purified, so that in some way have become worthy of divine mercy.
But in the case of the sterile night at sea there was no particular reason for Christ to feel sympathetic towards St Peter and the other disciples who were with him.
There were many people who toiled for endless hours in those parts without catching anything! Did Christ do any miracle for them all? Why, then, should he show particular sympathy towards Peter?
It appears that these ‘Whys’ had silently revolted his conscience, and since he could not find any answer and excuse, he felt even greater the need to confess his sinfulness towards the all-knowing Lord: “depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.
Who else from the Twelve Apostles ever dared to make such a confession? Who else ever made such a comparison? Who else considered himself humbler than the others, and unworthy even for such a “lucky'” catch of fish?
This means that the “leader” of the Apostles was at the same time the humblest and the most contrite of all the other Disciples of Christ. What could such a type of Peter have in common with the one whom the West created in imagination as the “Prince of the Apostles”?
It is, then, this true Peter, the person of contrition and humility, the one who in the end truly sacrificed his life for Christ, precisely as he had promised it to Him, that is worth looking again at the “head” of the Apostles for all his gifts. And we should love him precisely as he has taught us to do with his Catholic Epistles, namely, to love him earnestly” as a brother.(1 Peter 1:22).
from Voice of Orthodoxy, vol 11/11, November 1990
the official publication of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia
KathJuliane,
You make me feel as though I’ve utterly wasted my time here on RZN.
And you, likewise, will NOT answer my simple question:
Can an Emporerer depose of and appoint his own personally selected individual to the office of BISHOP in the Church per that same Apostolic Church’s Council of Laodicea, Canon 12?
– Fr. Joseph
There is an insurance company that touts its on-line purchase of insurance policies to the public in advertisements featuring a CAVEMAN coupled with the slogan
‘Even a CAVEMAN can do it!’
What might we ALL learn from Apostolic Tradition in the Lord’s One, Holy, Catholic and APOSTOLIC Church?
After the martyrdom of St. Peter, THE CHURCH appointed St. Linus to the office of Bishop.
After the martyrdom of St. Linus, THE CHURCH appointed St. Cletus to the office of Bishop.
After the martyrdom of St. Cletus, THE CHURCH appointed St. Clement to the office of Bishop.
Now consider, IF the Roman EMPORER got good and sick and tired of all these CHURCH APPOINTED Bishops to the office of Bishop or Rome and had St. Clement killed off and the Roman EMPORER came up with the idea
‘Hey! I’ll select and appoint a BISHOP to this troublesome Church in MY Empire and I’ll have this Bishop promote, teach and ASSERT that there is NO SUCH PERSON as God the Holy Spirit!’
Well, what is EVERYONE’S OPINION out there in RZN cyber-land?
Would THAT be a good idea? And would THAT be entirely in keeping with the Church’s own APOSTOLIC TRADITION???
– Fr. Joseph
So, in summary, it was the BISHOP OF ROME back in 1884 A.D. who was granted the Supernatural-Mystical Gift of witnessing SATAN challenging CHRIST JESUS that Satan was going to do everything in his power to destroy all that Christ had done for His Church and for all of Mankind.
Christ Jesus had His Mother, the WOMAN of Genesis 3:15 appear to children in Fatima and this same God of ours performed a public miracle for 70,000 people.
His Mother gave instructions to His Son’s Church’s BISHOPS to preform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of a very particular NATION here on earth about to undergo the SATANIC ATTACK of the Bolshevik Revolution.
If that Collegial Consecration were DONE, her Divine Son, THE LOGOS, would give the entire world WORLD PEACE.
Christ Jesus IS the King of Peace, might I remind everyone.
– Fr. Joseph
Priests of His Church are ordained into Christ’s Priesthood which is line with the priesthood of Order of Melchizedek, KING OF SALEM (Salem meaning ‘well-being’ and ‘peace’).
It is His BISHOPS of His Church who have the fullness of this Priesthood here on earth. Hence, Bishops ordain their Priests to ASSIST THEM in bringing forth this Divine Well-Being and Divine Peace FOR THE SAKE OF all of Mankind.
For THAT is the Expressed and Desired Divine Will of THE LOGOS Who came to us in His Incarnation TO SAVE as well as TO REDEEM all of Mankind due to the Divine Love God Himself HAS for all of Mankind.
As a Priest – I want to see God’s Divine and Holy Will DONE and ACCOMPLISHED and ACQUIRED for all of Mankind.
That’s His Church’s REASON for its very existance in this World of ours!
Maybe we all need to be reminded of THAT Fact as well.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Father Joseph,
You wrote: “Can an Emporerer depose of and appoint his own personally selected individual to the office of BISHOP in the Church per that same Apostolic Church’s Council of Laodicea, Canon 12?”
Answer: Presuming you are referring to St. Photius, ever the bone of contention in Papal teeth, in answer to your question, Patriarch Photius was restored by an unenumerated “Eighth” Ecumenical Council, or the “Photius Council” in which there were bishops from both the “Latin West” and the “Greek East”, and not as “a personally selected individual” of the Emperor.
Please review the overall very scholarly work found at this website from which these excerpts are drawn, regarding what appears to be from you a persistently papo-centric, Orthodox-phobic, and not fully informed simplistic view of the concillar history of the Orthodox Church, and our blessed St. Photius, great defender of Orthodox Christianity.
http://www.geocities.com/trvalentine/orthodox/dragas_eighth.html
Clarifications concerning the Eighth Ecumenical Council
As far as Ecumenical Councils go the Greek Orthodox East and the Latin West appear to be divided at the point where the Eighth Ecumenical Council is introduced. Both Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics accept the first Seven Ecumenical Councils.1 Beyond these Seven Councils, however, the Roman Catholics enumerate several others, which bring the total number to 21 — Vatican II being the latest.2
The Orthodox Church does not enumerate any more beyond the Seven, although she accepts several Councils which occurred afterwards and call themselves “Ecumenical” (as their minutes show). One of them is the so-called Eighth Ecumenical or Constantinople IV (879-880).3
Roman Catholic scholars have repeatedly remarked that the Orthodox have not had — and for that matter, could not have had — any further Ecumenical Councils beyond the first Seven after their separation from the Roman See in 1054. This is totally unjustified and misleading. Lack of enumeration does not imply lack of application.
Orthodox conciliar history and relevant conciliar documents, clearly indicate the existence of several Ecumenical Councils after the first Seven, which carry on the conciliar life of the Church in history in a way which is much more rigorous than that of the Latin Church.
The case of the Eighth Ecumenical Council provides the occasion not only for clarifying this divergence, but also for indicating the arbitrary conciliar development of the Church of Rome after its separation from the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
For Roman Catholics the Eighth Ecumenical Council is a Council that was held in Constantinople in 869/870 — also known as the Ignatian Council, because it restored Ignatios to the Patriarchal throne [with Papal interference] — which among other matters procured the condemnation of Ecumenical Patriarch Photios.6
It is clearly confirmed by modern scholarship, however, that this Ignatian Council was rejected by another Constantinopolitan Council which was held exactly ten years later in 879/880. This Council is also known as the Photian Council, because it exonerated and restored to the Throne of Constantinople St. Photios and his fellow Hierarchs and was signed by both Easterners and Westerners.7
How did it happen that Roman Catholics came to ignore this conciliar fact? Following Papadopoulos Kerameus, Johan Meijer — author of a most thorough study of the Constantinopolitan Council of 879/880 — has pointed out that Roman Catholic canonists first referred to their Eighth Ecumenical Council (the Ignatian one) in the beginning of the twelfth century.
In line with Dvornic and others, Meijer also explained that this was done deliberately because these canonists needed at that time canon 22 of that [Ignatian] Council. In point of fact, however, they overlooked the fact that “this Council had been cancelled by another, the Photian Synod of 879-880 — the acts of which were also kept in the pontifical archives.”8
It is interesting to note that later on the Roman Catholics called this Photian Council “Conciliabulum Oecumenicum Pseudooctavum”, thereby acknowledging it implicitly as another Eighth Council rival to that of their own choice!9
KathJuliane,
No. Answer the question.
Can an Emporer DEPOSE of a sitting Bishop of the Church.
Yes or no.
Now THAT is the question – and NOT whether or not both the Latin and Greek Churches “later on” AGREED to accept the fact that an Emporer DID depose of a sitting Bishop of the Church in utter and overt violation of the Council of Laodicea’s 12th Canon.
Don’t skip the issue and don’t try to COVER UP a blatant violation and interference in the Church by an Emporer.
So if the KHAZARS came in a toppled the Emporer and then THEY wanted to install yet another NEW Bishop, I presume you would deem that perfectibly acceptable ‘just so as long’ as the Latin and Greek Church both agreed that the Khazars could do that.
– Fr. Joseph
It might come to some here on RZN as well as, I suppose, to many of the members of the Church Hierarchy, both of the Orthodox Church as well as the Catholic Church, that I really DON’T BELIEVE nor do I HOLD FAST TO the idea that the Reason why God created the Human Race in its manifold races, languages and national origins was so that the Human Race would build thousands of nuclear weapons with the full intention of utilizing those same weapons on each other.
But then again, probably one of the most holiest of all Orthodox saints, St. Seraphim of Sarvov might help ALL OF US to understand what ‘The Gospel’ is really and truly all about
“The TRUE AIM of our Chrisitan life is of the ACQUISTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD.”
– St. Seraphim of Sarov
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/sermon_st_seraphim.htm
– Fr. Joseph
The problem with our Human Race is threefold
1) it does not know where it comes from
2) it does not know what it is to supposed to do with these lives of theirs
3) it hasn’t a clue as to what awaits them upon their mortal death
Now GOD remedied all of that.
God sent His Only Eternally Begotten Son, THE LOGOS, into our world taking on our humanity in the womb of A WOMAN.
He informs us all that we obtain our life and existance from GOD OUR FATHER in Heaven.
He informs us that we are to use these lives of ours and this Creation of His in order to be creative and DO GOOD to and for one another.
Now then, building thousands upon thousands of nuclear weapons and aiming them at each other is NOT ‘The Gospel’.
– Fr. Joseph
I am quite certain that there will be absolutely NO ARGUMENT with what I’ve just posted from the Patriarchs of all the Orthodox Churchs throughout the world. And I’m pretty sure that there will be absolutely NO ARGUMENT as well from the Bishop of Rome, the Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops of the Catholic Church.
So for the time being – perhaps it would be WISE to get our heads out of ‘filioque’ sands in order to look around at our contemporary world – nearly 1,000 years AFTER a certain Byzantine Emporer and the layman he desired to raise to office of Bishop in the Church – and take NOTICE of these thousands upon thousands of nuclear warheads all about ourselves and to what is CURRENTLY going in and around our world.
“Romanticizing About The Glorious By-Gone Days Of The Pious Past”, the days of Empires and whatnot, is NOT what the Leaders and Lay Faithful of the contemporary Church are called to do in this year 2009 Anno Domini.
– Fr. Joseph
St. Seraphim of the ORTHODOX Church called the devils and the demons, the evil elemental spirits to use accurate theological terms, “the despicable ones”.
Now then, “the despicable ones” were overheard by one Pope Leo XIII as challenging OUR LORD back in 1884 A.D. that they would destroy His Church as well as Mankind with a century’s worth of time and more power over those who would give themselves over to them.
Thirty-three years later, the Mother of THE LOGOS appears in Fatima, Portugal informing THE BISHOPS of the Church to publicly and solemnly Collegially Consecrate a certain NATION whose name must not be mentioned here which was about to undergo massive SATANIC attack via what historians call ‘The Bolshevik Revolution’.
Are the Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archhbishops, Bishops and Clergy of BOTH the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church FAMILIAR WITH the Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verse 17.
If so, then why on earth are we still STUCK ON ‘filioque’, going around and around and around like the same old grounds like a scratche LP vinyl record?
The Fatima Appariations are 900 years MORE CURRENT to what is going on IN our contemporary world than what a Byzatine Emporer did and wanted to do back in 1054!
– Fr. Joseph
My dear, dear KathJuliane,
Let me try this one more time…
Brother Nathanael, by the Grace of God the Holy Spirit working in HIS life during the past years has him working furiously here with his RZN website TO EXPOSE what the ZIONISTS have done, are doing and will continue to do in OUR world.
Now then, I trust you do know and acknowledge that there are people in our World who couldn’t care less about St. Photius and the ‘filioque’ phrase. And they couldn’t care less about the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Ressurection, the Ascension and – today being Pentecost Sunday for those of us in the Western Latin Church – the DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Now these people who really and truly DO NOT CARE about anything at all regarding God, His Divine Revelation to Mankind and His Divine Desire TO SAVE and REDEEM all of Mankind have their own personal ‘Agendas’ to impose on Mankind as well.
They say
“THE THIRD WORLD WAR must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences by the ‘agentur’ of the “Illuminati” between the political ZIONISTS and the leaders of Islamic World.” – citing from
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike2.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
I served in the United States Air Force. And we have every manner of ZIONIST influence and control being imposed on this U.S.A. nation of mine.
I truly affirm to you that there are these various sorts of WEAPONS that are attached to and launched from missiles that can reach other continents on our planet earth as well as from the wings and bomb bays of all sorts of USAF military aircraft.
And when these ‘things’ GO OFF…well…there isn’t very much left of the environment, of the man-made structures nor of the men, women and children who lived in those structures and in that environment.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
Please DO try to understand my point-of-view both as a Priest in the Church’s Monastic Brotherhood as well as a citizen of these United States of America.
I have a ‘Duty’ to the Church (and that includes YOU) as well as to what is left of this dying, if not now entirely dead, Constitutional Republic as a former, honorably discharged NCO of the USAF to DEFEND BOTH from its foreign and domestic enemies.
If these ‘things’ GO OFF, let me assure you of something – there are going to be very, VERY FEW PEOPLE who are going to left to care about continuing on with this 1,000 year ARGUMENT caused by a layman raised to the office of Bishop by a Byzantine Emporer.
Those people remaining will be entirely consumed with trying to find FRESH WATER to drink and something to eat while devising ways to wash off PLUTONIUM FALL OUT off of their skin and the skin of their children.
– Fr. Joseph
And perhaps I am wrote TO ASSUME that there is no Patriarch or Metropolitan of either the Russian, Serbian, Syrian or Greek Orthodox Church who would publicly come out to inform the Orthodox Faithful that GOD has simply ‘forgotten’ about the entire Human Race here on planet earth.
No, God has NOT forgotten either His Church OR the Human Race He came to SAVE and REDEEM. And don’t get me ANGRY by trying to tell me that He HAS forgotten His Church and the Human Race of the 20th century!
God has given both the Church and all of Mankind A WAY OUT of this 3rd World War satanic trap.
Watch this video documentary entitled ‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’ while thinking prayerfully on Genesis 3:15
http://www.heavenskeytopeace.com/
– Fr. Joseph
Canon 12 of Laodicea
Bishops are to be appointed to the ecclesiastical government by the judgment of the metropolitans and neighbouring bishops, after having been long proved both in the foundation of their faith and in the conversation of an honest life.
Dear Father Joseph,
Our great Patriarch Photius, as the Bishop of Constantinople, was properly elected “by the judgment of the metropolitans and neighboring bishops”, not “appointed by the Byzantine emperor”.
Ignatius resigned his office on the advice of bishops who were anxious to prevent a conflict between the Church and the government and asked his adherents to select a new patriarch. In a local SYNOD the bishops of both parties recommended to the Emperor the layman Photius, avoiding the election of bishops from the rival parties. Photius was recognized as legitimate patriarch by all the bishops, even the five most faithful supporters of Ignatius, after he had given them certain guarantees concerning the position of Ignatius after his abdication.
You can additionally read here the entire story but these are some highlights:
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Photius_the_Great
Photius convened a COUNCIL in the Church of the Holy Apostles in 859. The intent was to stop the controversy about his appointment. This COUNCIL found that Ignatius had not been elected by a synod and therefore his election to the patriarchate was illegal. He had been appointed by Empress Theodora.
Pope Nicholas felt that the appointment needed the consent of Rome [Papal supremacy is NOT in Laodicea 12] and objected to the fact that Photius was a layperson even though there was [considerable] precedence for this in both the Western and Eastern churches.
He also demanded that the Byzantine Emperor give back to Rome the territories of Calabria and Sicily. [This was a long-standing ethnarchy of Greek-speaking Romans with their own Greek bishops.]
In 861, with approval of Photius, Emperor Michael CONVENED A GENERAL COUNCIL in the Church of the Holy Apostles, known as the First-Second Synod. The POPE was invited, and he was glad to send his delegates. He sent them with the instruction to investigate the ELECTION [not the “appointment” by the emperor] of Photius in relation to the canons and and to demand that Illyricum and southern Italy be given to Rome. [Convening a council is NOT the same as “appointing”.]
This SYNOD ratified the actions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council condemning iconoclasm. Also, Photius was AFFIRMED as the lawful and canonical patriarch. The western delegation accepted the legality of Photius’ appointment. Ignatius appeared before the SYNOD and was deposed.
When the delegates returned to Rome and that Nicholas found that his demands for territorial rights were not considered, he became angry and excommunicated his delegates. He convened a council in Rome in 863 in which he deposed and excommunicated Photius on the basis that his appointment was uncanonical. He chose to recognize Ignatius as the legitimate patriarch. [Even though it was Ignatius that had originally been illegally appointed by the empress.]
In 867, a COUNCIL was held with over a THOUSAND clergymen attending. This COUNCIL excommunicated Nicholas, condemned the pope’s claims of primacy, his interference in Bulgaria, and the innovative addition of the filioque clause to the creed.
The letters of both Nicholas and Photius were read at this COUNCIL. The situation was additionally complicated by the question of papal authority over the entire Church and by disputed jurisdiction over newly converted Bulgaria. It pronounced that the Latin interference in the affairs of the Byzantine Church was unlawful. The German Emperor Louis II was asked to intervene and depose Pope Nicholas, but he died that same year.
Photius was deposed because Basil I (the usurper) was seeking an alliance with the Pope and the western emperor [of the Franks]. Photius was removed from his office and banished around the end of September 867, and Ignatius was reinstated on November 23.
After Ignatius reposed, Photius was reinstated as the Patriarch.
Dear KathJuliane,
Every case brought before a Judge has two sides, each with their own story to tell the Judge.
http://mb-soft.com/believe/txs/photius.htm
All of that which occured nearly 1,000 years AGO does not affect the reality of our World, 2009 Anno Domini, wherein there are thousands upon thousands of nuclear warhead equipped weapons stockpiled all over this world of ours – and they are very capable of PUTTING TO AN END – once and for all – all the arguments for and against St. Photius and the ‘filioque’ controversy.
I can only hope and pray that the Patriarchs of the Orthodox Church and the Bishops of the Catholic Church are both AWARE of that simple, truthful FACT OF LIFE in this year 2009 Anno Domini.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
In the Gospel of St. John, we find the following recorded and written under the Inspiration of God the Holy Spirit:
“Philip said, ‘LORD, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip’ SAID JESUS to him, ‘AN YOU STILL DO NOT KNOW ME?’
Who is doing the Answering to St. Philip?
Is it JESUS? Or is it GOD THE FATHER?
Later on, in the Gospel of St. John, we read
‘Still I must tell you THE (DIVINE) TRUTH
it is for your own good that I am going
because unless I (Jesus Christ) go,
the Advocate will not come to you;
but if I (Jesus Christ) go,
I WILL SEND HIM TO YOU.’ – John 14:7
Now WHO is going TO SEND the Holy Spirit?
It is going to be GOD THE FATHER alone?
Or is it going to be JESUS CHRIST alone?
Or are BOTH going to send the Holy Spirit?
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane
Sacred Scripture has it
“EMPIRE passes from nation to nation
because of injustice, arrogance and money.”
– Ecclesiasticus 10:8 –
What irritates me personally is that, in this year 2009 Anno Domini fraught with so many increasing satanic-inspired threats and dangers to both the Church and too all of Mankind, so much energy and focus is placed on what others did so long ago without nearly any equal amount of concern on what is taking place NOW in the Church and amongst all of Mankind!
Eastern Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware on all of this:
http://www.stpaulsirvine.org/html/TheGreatSchism.htm
If this satanic-luciferian thermonuclear Third World War gets launched with the Bishops and Laity of the Church preferring to NOT ulitize and implement what THE LORD has given to the Church and Mankind so as to AVOID & DISARM this satanic-luciferian thermonuclear Third World War, then it will be GOD’S PUNISHMENT on both His Church and all of Mankind for IGNORING Him and His Own Divine Will for His Church and all of Mankind.
If you study Psalm 2, you will NOT find any worldly emporer, king, ruler of any nation or empire, being the one installed on God’s Holy Mountain as His King!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
The Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity places GOD HIMSELF ‘in the public domain’ for one and all to see and learn from!
The Hierarchies, the Theologians and Lay Faithful of BOTH the Orthodox and Catholic Church can all go READ about Albert Pike and Three World Wars – it’s also in ‘the public domain’
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike.htm
That’s IF they want to.
And with respect to the ZIONISTS who will be used in order to start this thermonuclear Third World War, the Hierarchies, the Theologians and the Lay Faithful of BOTH the Orthodox and Catholic Churches can read all about THEM here
http://www.nowarforisrael.com
That is, IF they want to.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
And the Hierarchies, the Theologians and the Lay Faithful of BOTH the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church can ALL learn how 9-11-2001 was an ‘Inside Job’ pulled off by these ZIONISTS who will be used to initiate a thermonuclear Third World War by watching this documentary ‘in the public domain’ here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3oIbO0AWE
That is, IF they wanted to.
And God Himself has given His Church and all of Mankind A WAY OUT of this global satanic-luciferian thermonuclear Third World War TRAP he has set for BOTH the Church and all of Mankind. The Hierarchies, the Theologians and the Lay Faithful of BOTH the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church and learn all about the WAY OUT by watching this video documentary entitled ‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’ here
http://www.heavenskeytopeace.com/
That is, IF they wanted to.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
It’s ALL ‘in the Public Domain’ for all of the Hierarchies, the Theologians, the Lay Faithful of BOTH the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church to read for themselves – as well as for every last member of the Human Race who is NOT Orthodox or Catholic for that matter.
Genesis 3:15 is in the public domain.
Isaiah 7:14 is in the public domain.
Psalm 45:10-17 is in the public domain.
Luke 1:46-55 is in the public domain.
John 19:25-27 is in the public domain.
Revelation 12:17 is in the public domain.
Luke 10:17-20 is in the public domain.
One can only bang one’s head against a STONE WALL so many times before one gets the idea that the Hierarchies of both the Orthodox and Catholic Church along with their legions of Theologians and their respective Lay Faithful simply DO NOT WANT TO BE BOTHERED WITH WHAT GOD WANTS DONE HERE ON EARTH FOR THE SAKE OF HIS CHURCH AND ALL OF MANKIND!
I’m going to find a couple of asprin to take.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Father Joseph,
Surely I’ve been following with interest your exchange with our dear and learned KathJuliane.
But your last post mentioned something simple but decisive:
“…What irritates me personally is that, in this year 2009 Anno Domini fraught with so many increasing satanic-inspired threats and dangers to both the Church and too all of Mankind, so much energy and focus is placed on what others did so long ago without nearly any equal amount of concern on what is taking place NOW in the Church and amongst all of Mankind!…”
Not only the danger of a thermonuclear holocaust has to be considered.
“Small” genocides like the one in Gaza and the ongoing one in Sri Lanka (Ceilán) that conservatively took 20000 human lives.
The now apparently tacit approval of indiscriminate “final solutions” all around the world,are issues of the higest concern for all us, specially we, Christians.
If the jews are getting nervous with a “final solution” in Europe, what about the rest of us with the american-jewish controlled preventive wars???
With esteem,
Juan
Dear Juan,
Yes, there are ‘small’ genocides and then there are ‘total’ genocides.
Who instigates these things?
The elemental spirits under the direction of Satan in conjunction with those incarnate spirits who have given themselves over to him AS PER the Divine Revelation given to one Pope Leo XIII back in 1884 A.D. are the ones responsible.
Elemental spirits, unlike we incarnate spirits, are NOT BOUND by space, time, matter and energy.
And just as you and I can inform, antagonize and influence EACH OTHER as incarnate spirits in a myriad of ways, so can and do the elemental spirits – but they get to do that by their STEALTH as we cannot see them BUT we can witness their spiritual affect and influence on members of OUR race of incarante spirits.
So the spiritual ‘whispers’ imposed on members and leaders of the Human Race here on the American continent land mass can virtually instantaneously impose ‘whispers’ on the members and leaders of the Human Race living on the European continent, African continent, Asian continent, Australian contintent.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
So then, Who has THE POWER to stop all of these evil and malicious elemental spirits and their influence, control and power they weild over their subordinated/dominated incarnate spirits of OUR Human Race?
Well, the Answer is Obvious.
THE CREATOR of both the race of elemental spirits as well as our race of incarnate spirits!
Now then, THE LOGOS Who just so happens to be THE CREATOR of all that is seen and Unseen took on our Humanity and became a real and true MEMBER of our Human Race to SAVE US ALL from these unseen evil elementals and their influence over and upon us by His Divine Gifts of Grace and Assistance of the Holy & Divine Spirit of God.
THE LOGOS Who took on our Humanity thus really and truly becoming one of us did so via THE FIAT of THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
So as you yourself can see here on RZN, we are apparently hopelessly and perpetually rendered spiritually impotent on account of these obsessive fixation on what a certain Emporer did long ago, what a certain Bishop or Theologian did long ago, what some Legate or member of some Noble Family or Families did long long ago.
Emporers and Bishops and their Legates and their subordinates going back and forth at each other while both ‘Rome’, ‘Constaninople’ and the entire ‘Human Race’ winds up BURNING to the ground.
Yet the EMPORER of all that is seen and Unseen sends His Own MOTHER as a Direct Divine LEGATE to the Emporers and Bishops and Legates and Officials of His Own Church and His Own Human Race with His Own DIVINE WISDOM as to what TO DO for the sake of His Church and His Human Race, what happens??
We are tossed right back into this never ending boiling CAULDRON which has been boiling for 1,000 years.
People got to get used to Reality of the Divine Truth of the matter:
We AIN’T getting out of this mess UNTIL we have paid the last penny!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
What’s your own personal opinion? Do you really think that Church Patriarchs “bless” these sorts of things
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/rs-24.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Father Joseph,
Hope that no.
When you do not believe in the transcendence of human life, when you don’t believe in God you will design and bless those WMD.
Its all kabbalah, its all immanence.
I, man am supreme, I can be God…
I am the destroyer of worlds…
By the way, one of those rockets was known as SS-18 SATAN. Very appropriate, isn’t it?
Regards, Juan
Greetings in our Lord Jesus, dear Juan:
“By the way, one of those rockets was known as SS-18 SATAN. Very appropriate, isn’t it?”
“Satan” is a NATO code name, and probably not one the Russians tagged their missile series with.
Considering the nuclear ICBM saturated ‘NATO-stan’ of the EU, the Balkans, Ukraine, Republic of Georgia, the Baltic States, Poland, Turkey, etc, and combined with the ‘apocalyptic prophetic fever’ of the Christian Zionists and other Russophobes who firmly believe that the biblical “Gog and Magog” is modern Russia who will bring on ‘Armageddon’, and also considering that the Jewish-owned press regularly howls about “the new Cold War” between Putin and the US, and the tensions in the ME and Central Asia, the propaganda value of NATO’s naming of Russia’s missile series ‘Satan’ seems rather clear.
Dear KathJuliane,
You are right.But apparently the communist soviets felt confortable with the NATO name:
http://warfare.ru/?catid=265&linkid=1702
“…During the Cold War the SS-18 was perhaps the most feared of Russian strategic systems (hence its demonic NATO designation) because of the supposed threat it posed to U.S. ICBM silos…”
I guess that those MIRVs are rather obsolete now given the interception capabilities of the US air defence systems(uncovered on flight and when deploying each warhead).
Anyway ALL WMD stored in each and every arsenal around the world is SATANIC.
Dear Juan,
You wrote: Everybody suspect that the Conquest and “adelantados” were nothing more than crypto Jews expanding their reach into the New World.
It’s widely acknowledged that most of the “illustrious” and traditional “catholic” families are of Jewish convert lineage.
Those are the same families that hold the riches and power of the land in their hands until today.”
It took me a while to find an old book of mine you may be interested in, called “Secrecy and Deceit: Religion of the Crypto-Jews” by Gitlitz–Jewish Publication Society. It’s thorough, even-handed, academic research quality publication, documents the religious customs of the crypto-Jewish culture in Spain, Portugal, their American colonies, principally Mexico, Peru and Brazil.
It’s a massive compilation of the religious customs of the Marranos that Gitlitz culled from major primary and secondary sources, such as the various Inquisition records, chronicles, eyewitness accounts, religious books which he puts into its larger cultural, social and historical new-Christian contexts, both in Europe and the New World.
The work very clearly points out the disastrous handling by the Crowns and the RCC concerning the expulsions of the Jews on the one hand, and offering instant conversions on the other out of political and economic motives. The Jews and the neo-Christians were the wealthiest block of society, then when “racial purity laws” went into effect, the new-Christians and Marranos were “encouraged” to colonize in the Americas. What a mess.
He categorized the ‘new-Christian’ social caste into roughly five groups, from those sincere, usually volunteer converts who fully assimilated into the larger Catholic culture altogether leaving Jewish roots behind, to those who were truly sincere Christians, but still had significant Jewish family ties and insignificant “Judaizing” habits, like an aversion to pork, to those who were the die-hard Christ-hating Marranos.
“Were any of the colonizers Judaizing new-Christians? Yes, and in hefty numbers. They were strongest in Brazil and Mexico and to a somewhat lesser extent in Peru and Chile.”
Gilitz used a lot of data from New World Inquisition records, so there is probably quite a bit that can be gleaned about the new-Christians and Marranos in Brazil, their occupations, their habits, social life, etc.
Dear KathJuliane,
Yes I’m very interested in this book.
I’ve been reading the Autos de Fé and other documents, most of them coming from the Viceroy of Perú, at that time taking care of the whole South American continent not only for political but religious matters also.
Inquisition offenders were taken to Lima in order to be summoned by the ecclesiastical authorities.
But you will probably be surprised acknowledging that even the Argentinean landowner’s families had a foot in judea, as we usually say.
Given that education and learning structure was vertical, from top to bottom, it makes a little easier to understand why we got judaized and lost almost all our christian values, traditions, etc with time.
Important is to note, that in the argentinean case, freemasonry had a powerful and crucial role in education, specially after 1880.
Dear Juan,
It was THE LORD who told Sr. Lucy
“Make it known to My ministers that given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, that they will follow him into misfortune. It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.” – quoting
http://www.fatimapriest.com/work05.html
Surely, you are familiar with the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Messages, as Our Lady of Akita to Sr. Agnes here
http://www.theworkofgod.org/aparitns/Akita.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
So, apparently, I’ve been WRONG all of these years – that the Prelates and Patriarchs and Metropolitans and Archbishops TALK and CONFER and SHARE with one another on such things as the Fatima Apparitions and the Akita Apparitions, etc.
Apparently, they DON’T.
Here WE are discussing the manifold dangers and evils lurking to pounce on nations and states and all of Mankind – and we have show very HEATED open and public DEBATES about all of these very sobering and serious sorts of things going on in our World.
But apparently, the Patriarchs and Metropolitans and Church Prelates don’t say or share a word to one another and to their Flock.
Anyways, there is this ‘Itsy-Bitsy’ bit of stunning/shocking NEWS regarding the Bishop of Rome and the Fatima Message on how to SAVE both the Church and all of Mankind from all sorts of things – to include SS-18 SATAN missile launches.
Check out ‘A Reversal Of The Party Line’ here
http://fatima.org/perspective/gn/perspective588.asp
A ray of hope for all of us!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
Sorry for the typo. It’s getting late for me.
‘A Reversal Of The Party Line’
http://fatima.org/perspectives/gn/perspective588.asp
And the reason why I brought up the SS-18 ‘Satan’ missile was NOT on account of my wanting to side with the Zionist West. It was to inform people that IF the Illuminati get the Zionist West to initiate a WAR, the Russians have lots and lots of ICBMs that carry MIRVs – Multiple Independent Re-Entry Vehicles.
200 SS-18 ‘Satan’ missiles with 10 warheads each translates to 2,000 thermonuclear warheads.
Drop but ONE mutli-mega ton warhead on EACH of the top 40 most populated cities here in the USA, and you’ve effectively killed off 1/2 of the population of the USA.
And that’s not counting the whole array of OTHER ICBMs aimed our way here in the USA.
I don’t fancy these satanic-luciferian Zio-Nuts getting me, my family and my loved ones ROASTED ALIVE.
Hence, I want their satanic-luciferian HEADS CRUSHED by THE WOMAN chosen by God Himself TO DO that particular Divine Deed.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
“One foot in Judea”, lol, so very, very true, and this book will only confirm it. The author, Gitlitz, a PhD, is a genuine academic on Sephardic historical topics, Spanish Golden Age literature, etc. Much appreciated is the lack of Jewish ego or hysteria, nor is it particularly hostile to Christianity. He is actually rather dry and clinical laying out the historical facts for his reconstruction of crypto-Jewish religious and social customs.
“Inquisition” is like the red cape in front of the bull. Gitlitz makes it quite clear that the Inquisition in Europe was all about heresy in general, of which baptized conversos and Judaizers were a part, while in the New World the focus was more on the new-Christians, and not Jews in general.
He also runs through summaries of the demographics of the various Inquisitions, and the actual percentages of Judaizers given the death penalty is proportionately small. He also cuts off right away any nonsense about the Inquisition documents, defending their overall reliability and accuracy as primary evidence sources from which a socio-cultural portrait of the new-Christians and Marranos could be drawn from in his methodology.
“…Simply stated, the question about the Inquisition documents…is whether they tell the truth or whether they exaggerate, misrepresent, or falsify outright their reports of the new-Christian experience. My answer is qualified confidence in the documents: most of what they report is mostly accurate, and while occasional individual records may be suspect, in the aggregate the portrait of crypto-Jewish life that they reveal is reasonably truthful.”
And then he explains several reasons why in terms of forensics, protocols and court procedure. One particularly notable statement Gilitz makes is “Inquisition officials were invariably churchmen whose professional sense of fairness and accuracy has to be considered within the context of their commitment to eradicate heresy.”
Gerlitz then says “Fortunately, in addition to an enormous corpus of Inquisition documents of qualified reliability and representativeness, historians have a large number of other sources available to them… None of these is without its idiosyncratic biases, but again, in the aggregate, they are reasonably consistent with the data…found in Inquisition records…”
He unflinchingly presents the various attitudes towards Christian beliefs among crypto-Jews, some of which are quite offensive and sacrilegious, and also gives credit to the authentic new-Christians who became genuinely great Catholics, like Theresa of Avila.
I hope the book gives you a good headstart. It was an eye-opener for me concerning the Iberian/Sephardic vector of Judaizers, especially when most of what we are dealing with up here is the Anglo-Dutch-British-German-Polish Ashkenazim.
Dear Father Joseph
Yeh, let’s do our best to avoid the sure chastisement.
Anyway it will be HIS divine will…
I was not aware of Akida aparition. Read your material.
So it appears we have a spade over our heads.
What else can we do in order that the bishops of the Church to publicly and solemnly Collegially Consecrate Russia to the Sacred Heart??
Just pray, I guess.
Juan
Dear Juan,
What else can we do? Borrowing from the religious Motto of the Benedictine Order
‘Ora et labora’
My own rather ‘loose’ translation from the Latin to the English would be
‘Pray like everything depends on the Omnipotence of God and DO SOMETHING like everything under the sun depended on you.’
But of course, we simply MUST badger and plead with God with our sincere, heartfelt prayers and express our own personal anguish, distress, disgust and CONTEMPT for everything these satanic-luciferians have done, are doing and will continue to do to HIS Divine Will for the Church and for all of Mankind. That includes hours of Adoration, the Mass, the Sacraments, principlely Confession-Reconciliation and yes, the Rosary.
In the ‘temporal’ realm, everybody can tell Pope Benedict XVI something like ‘the jig is up’ – that is, the Masonic Prelates in the Vatican having BURIED and DENIED the Mother of God’s personal Instruction and Request to have Russia consecrated to her Immaculate Heart.
It’s a long time OVERDUE and the damage to the Russian people as well as to peoples all across our World has been done – BUT – God does NOT take back His Gifts and His Graces.
People, to include Vatican Prelates (as well as the Patriarchs of the entire Church) CAN REJECT and CAN REFUSE those Divine Gifts and Graces.
Hence, people the world over CAN e-mail Pope Benedict XVI directly telling him the foregoing at
benedictxvi@vatican.va
A short note with a prayerful intention might do the trick.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
And on account of your asking about what we can do with an eye to the Akita Warnings given to the Church and all Mankind, you don’t mind if as a Priest, I make a ‘confession’ to YOU about something I did a couple of years ago that still weighs heavily within me causing me to, many a time, get angry and ‘hostile’, thus causing me to become foolishly VERY uncharitable to some of the most wonderful people I ever met in this World.
I made copies of the DVD ‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’ and mailed them out along with a personal letter to BISHOPS all throughout these United States of America.
The Lord informed me, through MY Bishop, my mailings did NOT have the personally desired affect and results.
– Fr. Joseph
Well here is another suggestion on how RZN readers might assist in brining about World Peace.
Folks can simply e-mail the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI at
benedictxvi@vatican.va
inviting the Bishop or Rome and any or all Vatican Prelates to read the many well researched articles by Brother Nathanael here on RZN and to continually check in to find out any and all ‘new developments’ running amok in our contemporary World of 2009 Anno Domini making World Peace IMPOSSIBLE for 6 billion human souls ALL created in the Image and Likeness of God Himself and for whom the Son of God endured Crucifixion to make the forgiveness of SINS possible for all of Mankind.
– Fr. Joseph
For everyone in the World’s information and deeply personal, private and prayerful consideration – regarding the DIVINE NECESSITY of dutifully and obediently complying with the Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, per her 1917 A.D. Fatima Apparition’s Messges and Instructions, one need only to dwell upon this TRUTH regarding our entire Human Race:
“What does it matter WHAT people believe IF it isn’t the truth?”
Juan, our resident RZN electrical engineer EXPERT will most solemnly affirm the TRUTH to each and every last human being on our planet earth that it but takes 1/10th of an AMP to electrocute a person TO DEATH. By asserting that simple TRUTH, Juan can become the ‘savior’ of the human race vs. those legions of people who might go around telling men, women and children BY THE MILLIONS that ELECTRICITY is perfectly harmless and does NOT pose any dangers or threats to people living amongst UNINSULATED high tension power lines at ground level throughout their neighborhoods.
So, yes, it DOES MATTER to a most solemn, sober and DREADFULLY SERIOUS DEGREE what people believe!
– Fr. Joseph
“What does it matter WHAT people believe IF it isn’t the truth?”
With regards to the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God per her 1917 A.D. Fatima Messages.
Truly, IF there be but ONE member of our human race – a non-Divine member of our Human Race – who TRULY KNOWS the Truth of all manner of Divine Things both in the seen and Unseen Realms – that ONE member of our human race IS the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
And she KNOWS Divine Truth on account of her Spiritual Spousal Relationship with GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT Who He Himself IS God’s Own Spirit of Truth!
If the Mother of God as Our Lady of Fatima informs the Bishops of the Church to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immucalate Heart as the NEW EVE and NEW MOTHER of all of Mankind – and IF that is done – her Divine Son, Christ the King, will see to it that ALL OF US will then be Divinely Blessed with WORLD PEACE – there is no possible way she is LYING to any of us members of our Human Race of 2009 Anno Domini!
– Fr. Joseph
“What does it matter WHAT people believe IF it isn’t the truth?”
In the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles ALONG WITH the Mother of God pray for the Descent of God the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of TRUTH – and peoples from all nations, races, languages, heritages are ALL CONFIRMED SIMULTANEOUSLY in the TRUTH of God’s Revelation and Teachings to ALL of Mankind.
From the Gospel of St. John:
“I shall ask the Father
and He will give you another Advocate
to be with you forever
that SPIRIT OF TRUTH
Whom the World can never receive
since it neither sees nor knows Him.”
Consider what the Divine Impact it would be for our contemporary World and its current 6 billion human souls if EVERYONE were confirmed in what is TRUE and what is the TRUTH by God Himself?
Everyone on planet earth WOULD have the same Knowledge, the same Understanding and be granted the same sorts of Divine Wisdom TO LIVE WITH ONE ANOTHER as our All-good God and FATHER IN HEAVEN would want all of us, His spiritual children, to live!
Would not THAT really and truly bring about WORLD PEACE for every last living man, woman and child here in our World of 2009 Anno Domini.
Surely, people the world over can easily see that THAT is precisely the Divine Solution to our human race’s satanic-luciferian global conspiracy AGAINST our entire Human Race!
A Global Second Pentecost!
And in order for us to OBTAIN this Second Pentecost for all of us members of the Human Race, the MOTHER OF GOD wants THE BISHOPS of her Son’s Church Militant here on earth to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaulate Heart as God’s Own NEW EVE and NEW MOTHER of the entire human race!
– Fr. Joseph
To continue on with the Divine Reason FOR a Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of God’s Own MOTHER per her 1917 A.D. Fatima Apparitions’ Instructions.
Consider for but ONE brief, silent and undisturbed moment this Fact Of Living Life:
God’s Own Divine WISDOM is Preeminently and Impeccably PRACTICAL!
Assemble ALL of our world’s cosmologists, astrophysicists, physicists, PhD’s of every natural SCIENCE – and ALL OF THEM are “great minds” precisely on account of their pondering upon and recognizing just how PRACTICAL everything in this seen side of God’s Creation WORKS TOGETHER and FITS PERFECTLY together.
Gravity works hand in hand perfectly with the nuclear forces which in turn work perfectly with electromagnetic forces which all work together with all forms of matter in the periodic charts which work perfectly together with time and space – and seeds of both plant and animal life work perfectly with the foregoing and..well..THIS WHOLE ‘BALL OF WAX’, so to speak, in which we all move, live and have our being relentlessly exhibits the Impeccable and Utterly Reliable & Trustworthy DIVINE WISDOM of our Creator and our God.
– Fr. Joseph
Now turning our minds and thoughts onto the PRACTICAL REASON why the Mother of God would instruct the BISHOPS of the Catholic Church to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration to her Immaculate Heart as God’s NEW EVE and NEW MOTHER of all of Mankind
Practically speaking, you are NOT going to ask for a GLOBAL SIMULTANEOUS and UNIFIED religious Collegial Consecration of ANYTHING AT ALL from Christian Churches which DO NOT HAVE a centralized administration and which has its own recognized indigenous LEADER!
Practically speaking, you are NOT going to ask for such a GLOBAL SIMULTANEOUS and UNIFIED religious Collegial Consecration from Bishops with valid Apostolic Authority and Apostolic Succesion when the Cathedrals and Churches within their own country are being TORN DOWN, BURNED, SACKED, DESTROYED and the members of their Flock being butchered off by the millions!
Go right ahead. TRY to tell a people who are in a TRAIN WRECK, an AIRCRAFT CRASH, the 3,000 people in the NYC Twin Trade Towers in the process of being BLOWN DOWN TO THE GROUND to go to the supermarket for you and go buy a quart of milk because the neighbors next door are out of milk!
Practically speaking, you are NOT going to ask the pastors, preachers, teachers of ANY of the 27,000 protestant denominations to “do you a BIG FAVOR” when the vast majority of those bible-believing denominations actually preach and teach that the Catholic Church considers you A GODDESS!
And you are most ASSUREDLY NOT going to ask these pastors, preachers and teachers with their ‘Bibles’ falsely accusing the Catholic Church of worshipping you as a GODDESS when they use their own personally desired interpretations of ‘the Bible’ to instigate ZIONIST INSPIRED WARS all across this planet earth of ours against peoples of any nation-state who are all created in the Image and Likeness of God for Whom you own Son died a most MISERABLE death via Roman Crucifixion!
– Fr. Joseph
So, PRACTICALLY SPEAKING, if you were the Mother of God, you’re going to have to find some people who are entirely INNOCENT and who have NO IDEA, NO CLUE as to the manifold EVILS being planned and perpetrated AGAINST your own spiritual children here on earth as God’s Own NEW EVE and God’s New MOTHER of all of Mankind.
And VIOLA!
You wind up appearing to THREE LITTLE CHILDREN out in the isolated countryside of a very NON-worldly power country such as PORTUGAL – and as the New Eve to all of Mankind as well as THE MOTHER of the entire Christian Church – you INSTRUCT these totally innocent children TO INFORM the Bishop of Rome to preform a PUBLIC and SOLEMN religious Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA which is about to undergo some of the most HORRENDOUS Christ-hating jewish bolsheviks inspired by their jewish satanic worshipping idealogue founder Karl Marx ATTACKS against the Church in Russia and her Russian people.
After all, as THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15, it is God Himself Who has chosen you and who has empowered you TO CRUSH THE HEAD of the Serpent and serpents who want to sink their venomous SATANIC-FANGS into your own children!
– Fr. Joseph
So again, PRACTICALLY SPEAKING, why does the Mother of God and Mother of the Church and God’s New Eve to and for ALL of Mankind insist that the Bishops of her own Son’s Church here on earth perform a PUBLIC and SOLEMN world-wide and seen-by-all Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart that is hers as THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15?
Because…IF you are baptized member of that Church, you get to refer to the Catechism of the CATHOLIC CHURCH wherein everyone one on planet earth can obtain from ‘the public domain’ and READ for yourselves and to your own BISHOPS:
882. The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, ‘is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful’. For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.
883 ‘The COLLEGE OR BODY OF BISHOPS’ has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, as its head’ As such, this college has ‘supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised WITHOUT THE AGREEMENT of the Roman Pontiff’.
884 ‘The COLLEGE OF BISHOPS exercises power over the Universal Church in a solemn manner in an Ecumenical Council’ But ‘there never is an Ecumenical Council which is not confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peters’ successor’
So, in closing, while individual Patriarchs and Bishops can REFUSE COMPLYING WITH the Mother of God’s Instructions for a public and solemn religious Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15, the BISHOP OF ROME CAN “ORDER” all the Bishops of the Universal Church TO PEFORM a Collegial Consecration of Russia ALONG WITH/IN CONJUCTION WITH him, the Bishop of Rome!
And if the Bishop of Rome thus ORDERS all the Bishops of the Universal Church TO COMPLY with the Mother of God’s Fatima Instructions – and they REFUSE – well then, that is going to be a very DIVINE and PERSONAL MATTER that the Divine Head of His Own Church will address in His Own Divine Way(s).
Preventing and being an OBSTACLE to God Himself Who wants TO SAVE and TO REDEEM the entire Human Race is tantamount to SIDING WITH SATAN!
– Fr. Joseph
RZN gets I don’t how many readers nowadays, but it’s a sure bet that a majority of RZN readers haven’t received proper or adequate instruction in the Apostolic Christian Faith, they are not biblical scholars, the haven’t a clue nor interest in Church history and are, in fact, pretty much saturated into and indoctrinated by the global banking-corporate interests ‘SECULAR’ world view of human life and living.
Fine. No problem!
Chirst Jesus Himself used PARABLES to explain and illustrate Divine Truths. Let me see if I can use SECULAR-MINDED parables of sorts TO EXPLAIN the utter Divine Significance of this ‘Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of God’s Own Mother’ for one and all.
– Fr. Joseph
SCIENCE FICTION is probably the single greatest indulged in form of mass communication throughout our contemporary World’s manifold outlets of the Mass Media’s entertainment displacing studies in and attention to Theology by about a factor of 1 billion or better.
To those who have NO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION or INSTRUCTION, you all can readily understand the significance of the ‘Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Jesus Christ’s Own Mother’ by recalling your EXPOSURE TO contemporary Science Fiction.
In the ‘STAR WARS’ movies, there was this DEATH STAR constructed by ‘The Empire’ and which was about to UTTERLY DESTROY the planet of the Ewoks and the Rebel’s base of operations thereupon.
Luke Skywalker and THE REBEL FORCES holding out against ‘The Empire’ and its desire TO ENSLAVE or DESTROY the Human Race launch a desperate attack against the DEATH STAR in their X-Wing fighters.
The ultimate goal is to fire off A MISSILE down the DEATH STAR’S ventilation shaft.
DARTH VADER whom you can consider to be ‘Satan’ does everything in the DEATH STAR’S power to destroy the fleet of ATTACK X-wing fighters – and they are BLASTED left and right, culling the ATTACKING Rebel Force’s fighter squardons.
Luke Skywalker persists to the ATTACK with Darth Vader in close pursuit – and Luke Skywalker relying solely on the INSPIRATION of ‘The Force’ in FAITH fires off his last X-wing fighters LONE MISSILE.
And that MISSILE finds its intented target – and the whole DEATH STAR goes up in a ball of flames.
– Fr. Joseph
God Himself, via His Mother, has given the BISHOP OF ROME a single, solitary DIVINELY ENGINEERED & INSTALLED ‘MISSILE’ attached to his X-Wing Fighter which is his Office of BISHOP.
But the BISHOP OF ROME needs the covering fire, the combat support and those who will “take the necessary enemy HITS” in order TO LAUNCH that Divine Missile against this Satanic DEATH STAR ready to open fire upon all of Mankind on our planet earth.
But then again, IF the Bishop of Rome “PULLS ON THE DIVINE TRIGGER” launching this DIVINE FATIMA MISSILE against Satan’s Death Star at the precise TARGET CO-ORDINATES (Consecrating RUSSIA to the Mother of God) – then Satan’s Death Star vs. our Human Race will go up IN A BALL OF FLAMES, DESTROYED ONCE AND FOR ALL!
– Fr. Joseph
Yet another SCIENCE FICTION religious catechism class for all of you SECULARIZED readers of RZN throughout our World.
In the Sci-Fi movie ‘DUNE MESSIAH’, the Cartel has exploited the desert planet for its SPICE. The human subterranian rebels launch a FINAL ASSAULT against ‘The Cartel’ and its manifold forms of ‘scient’ beings, some human, some very un-human beings.
But there is this ONE HUGE PROBLEM and STRATEGIC OBSTACLE.
The great walls of THE FORTRESS COMPOUND headquarters to ‘The Cartel’ and their Ruling Elites.
The native desert planet’s EARTH WORMS and their human rebel riders approach the Fortress Compound’s GREAT WALLS, and a Commanding Officer of this combined Earthworm and human assault against the Fortress cries out
‘ATOMICS!’
And the ‘atomics’ blast a huge breach in the Fortress’ Wall allowing the human riders of the Earthworms to SWARM INTO the Fortress and defeat ‘The Cartel’.
– Fr. Joseph
The Bishop of Rome IS the Commanding Office of those of us ATTEMPTING to destroy ‘The Cartel’ holding the Human Race prisoner on THEIR OWN PLANET EARTH!
We can try over and over again all sorts of ‘assaults’ against the current reigning CARTEL, but no matter what we might attempt to do in the ‘secular/temporal’ way via political action, protests, petitioning, etc. – we ain’t going to be much of a global threat to the RULING ELITE and their PLANET WIDE ‘CARTEL’ until we get some
‘ATOMICS!’
to blast a huge gapping hole in their Spiritual Fortress’s WALL!
The Bishop of Rome can call for ‘DIVINE ATOMICS’ for the sake of our entire Human Race by issuing AN ORDER to the Bishops of God Incarnate’s Church HERE ON EARTH to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of God’s Own Mother.
‘RUSSIA’ is the specific PLACE in the Cartel’s Fortress Spiritual Wall that MUST BE BLOWN OUT by ‘Divine Atomics’.
Then – all the angelic powers of Heaven will swoop down ALONG WITH US ALL to utterly destroy Satan’s ‘Cartel’ here on our planet earth.
Is that clear to all of you?
– Fr. Joseph
The recent movie release of ‘STARSHIP TROOPERS’ is based on one Mr. Robert Heinlein’s book of the same title. I gotta admit, Denise Richards is a very beautiful woman (grin). Anyways, discounting all of the boozing and illicit lusty sex scenes which ALWAYS must dilute brilliant socio-political insights as found in the actual science fiction writer’s BOOK, the Human Race (called the ‘Terran’s) are in MORTAL COMBAT for their Race’s very survival against the intergalactic ALIEN RACE known as ‘The Arachnids’ – referred to by the Terran Fighting Forces as ‘THE BUGS’.
In order to launch a SUCCESSFUL final invation of THE BUG’S home planet of Klendathu, the TERRANS have to CAPTURE a ‘BUG BRAIN’. If they cannot or will not capture a ‘BUG BRAIN’, then there is no way a SUCCESSFUL counterattack ON the Bug’s Own HOME PLANET so as to END THIS WAR can occur.
The BISHOP OF ROME as Commander of the Spiritual TERRAN Forces, unless he gives the ORDER for a Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of God Incarnate’s MOTHER, will have FAILED in acheiving THE CAPTURE of the SATANIC-ARACHNID ‘BRAIN’ – and we, the TERRANS, will LOOSE to our Race’s sworn mortal spiritual enemies from an ‘Alien Planet’.
“BUGS, MR. RICO! ZILLIONS OF THEM!” quoting from Mr. Heinlein’s book – the shocked and dismayed words of a TERRAN Mobile Infantryman (a Priest of the Church) radioing his scouting report and WARNING to his own Terran Commanding Office (back in Rome).
– Fr. Joseph
Yet more Apostolic Church ‘catechism’ lessons that can be gleemed from SCIENCE FICTION movies for the sake of those of you without the benefit of a proper religious education.
From the 1970’s movie make by Disney Productions entitled ‘TRON’.
In order TO FREE the enslaved ‘Individual Programs’ within the Cyber-Computer World in which he finds himself, the character ‘TRON’ must confront ‘THE MASTER PROGRAM’.
He but only has this ‘energy disk’ with which to combat and destroy ‘THE MASTER PROGRAM’.
‘THE MASTER PROGRAM’ which has ENSLAVED everyone and everything within Cyber-Computer World started off as a CHESS PLAYING PROGRAM – and in grew and grew and grew.
Much like those indivduals many centuries ago (who ALSO were known to play Chess) who figured out who TO ENSLAVE nation after nation of people with FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING and FIAT-SCRIPT CURRENCY – this science-fiction MASTER PROGRAM controlled the ‘life blood’ of ALL entities within Cyber-Computer World.
TRON battles the immense powers of THE MASTER PROGRAM which gets PROXIES to fight its battles.
TRON tossing his small and seemingly insignificant ‘energy packet’ INTO the Master Program and that packet LODGES WITHIN the critical self-perpetuating APEX of the Master Program.
And by that SINGLE seemingly insignificant ACT – the Master Program SPINS DOWN to a dead stop – and DIES, thus freeing ALL of the inhabitants of Cyber-Computer World.
THE BISHOP OF ROME holds in his hand a ‘Divine Energy Disk’ in the form of ordering a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of Jesus Christ’s Own MOTHER!
That ‘tossing’ of the Divine Energy Disk at this world’s Master Programmers and their Master Programs by THE BISHOP OF ROME will KILL OFF the source of that which ENSLAVES our entire human race in this year 2009 A.D.
– Fr. Joseph
Then there is the recent world-wide SMASH HIT of a Science Fiction movie entitled ‘THE MATRIX’ – and THAT movie pretty much paints a very real and spiritually ACCURATE TO A FAULT picture of our contempary Human Race’s situation and dilemma.
In the last espisode of THE MATRIX trilogy,
the (satanic) Machines HAVE bored down and broken into ‘The Dome’ with their (spiritually satanic) BORING MACHINES – and into this BREACH of our Human Race’s ‘DOME’ are pouring forth swarms of (spiritual satanic) SENTINELS!
Those of us who have been called into the Priesthood via the Apostolic Church’s Christian Sacrament of HOLY ORDERS have been equipped with our own ‘Armored Personel Units’ – the APU’s denoted in that Matrix movie.
The APU numbers are dwindling – many of my fellow APUs have spiritually “fallen” in this battle as we just HAVE TO keep on FIRING AWAY at the incoming, swarming and gathering hordes of FLYING SENTINELS relentlessly coming through this BREACH in our planet earth’s spiritually protective ‘DOME’ with our Masses, our Divine Liturgies.
A call goes out to the CIVILIAN population to make SHELLS and to LOAD ROCKETS and TO FIRE AWAY at the legs supporting these (satanic) BORING MACHINES which continue on it their massive destructive damage to our ‘World’.
Those ‘shells’ – Rosaries, prayers and devotions of every sort and type.
A commander of the APUS informs the Council (consider them the Hierarchy of the Church) informs the Council that there is VERY LITTLE TIME and VERY LITTLE HOPE left.
And somewhere, somehow – we simply MUST get ‘Outside Supernaturual HELP’ to INTERVENE so as to permanently SHUT DOWN all of these (satanic) spiritual FLYING SENTINELS and their BORING MACHINES!
That Supernatural INTERVENTION will arrive the moment the Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA per the Mother of God’s Own ‘COMBAT INSTRUCTIONS’ are fulfilled.
– Fr. Joseph
“I (GOD) will make you enemies OF EACH OTHER
you (satan) and THE WOMAN,
your offspring and her offspring’
– Genesis 3:15
“The the dragon/serpent was enraged with THE WOMAN and went away TO MAKE WAR on the rest of her children, that is, all who obey God’s Commandments and bear witness for Jesus.’ – Revelation 12:17
These lines from ‘The Bible’ AREN’T some sort of JOKE! They are more REAL than people the world over can imagine.
– Fr. Joseph
In reviewing the earthly life of the Theotokos, it is essential to emphasize that, just as at the moment of her greatest glory, when she was chosen to become the Mother of the Savior, as well as at the hour of her greatest grief, by the prophecy of the righteous Simon, as she stood at the foot of the Cross when “a weapon pierced Her soul”, Mary displayed complete unwaivering faith in God, even in this most profoundly perplexing of sorrows.
In all events, big or small, the Virgin Mary invariably manifested the manly strength and beauty of Her VIRTUES in Her struggles in this world—‘the fruits of the Holy Spirit’: humility, perseverance, patience, courage, hope in the Lord and unbounded love for Him! That is why we Orthodox hold Her in such high esteem and want to emulate Her.
On the same hand, The Orthodox Church, highly exalting the Mother of God in its hymns of praise, does not dare to ascribe to Her that which has not been communicated about Her by Sacred Scripture or Tradition. “Truth is foreign to all overstatements as well as to all understatements. It gives to everything a fitting measure and fitting place” (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov).
Glorifying, or praising the human immaculateness from the spiritual labors of the Virgin Mary over her own self, and the manful bearing of sorrows in her earthly life, the Fathers of the Orthodox Church, on the other hand, long ago rejected the idea that she was an intermediary between God and men in the sense of a joint redemption by Christ and His very human Mother of the human race.
The Orthodox view of Mary is solidly biblical and like any other “commentary” on Scripture that goes beyond the words of the Bible itself, tells the believer about the relationship of Mary as the first of the redeemed in regards to our salvation in Christ. Just as modern Biblical expositors have looked at the Old Testament and understand that there were types and shadows of Christ, the early Church Fathers also saw the same Christological types but also saw a typology that included the Mother of our Savior in the same Christology.
Ultimately the Orthodox Church sees the “exaltation of Mary”, of which veneration of Her is strictly relative to the exaltation of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, hence liturgical works to the Theotokos occur in relatively small and always balanced proportion within the entire expanse of Orthodox liturgy.
Intercession is understood to be supplication to God in behalf of another person. It is Jesus Christ who intercedes before God the Father in behalf of the repentant sinner, and God’s people intercede for one another (xref: Is 53:12; Jer 27:18; Rom 8:34). Supplication is prayer.
Mary in Orthodox iconography is almost always portrayed with Jesus Christ. Mary’s place in salvation history is due to Jesus Christ and not Herself. Apart from bearing Christ, she is no different from any other believer. To deny the maternal “Mother/Son” relationship of Mary and Jesus is to deny His humanity. To deny Jesus’ love for His Mother and hers for Him as she wept at the foot of His cross is to deny their human and divine love for one another, and ultimately His for all people.
It is with a deep reverence for the mystery of the Incarnation, God become flesh in Mary, that the early Fathers approached Mary, and always in higher theological relation to the Incarnation. It is Orthodox hymnography that teaches the Christian about who Mary is, her role in God’s great, incomparable plan for our salvation, her relationship to Christ and her purity, humility and perpetual virginity, but also as Jesus’ first disciple, Mary teaches us how to be His disciples as well through Her example.
Speaking of her preparedness to die together with Her Son and to suffer together with Him for the sake of the salvation of all, truly something that is incumbent upon all Christian faithful for which we are called to take up our Cross prepared to be crucified on it, the renowned Father of the Western Church, Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, adds: “But the sufferings of Christ did not need any help, as the Lord Himself prophesied concerning this long before: ‘I looked about, and there was none to help; I sought and there was none to give aid. Therefore My arm delivered them.’ (Is. 63:5).” (St. Ambrose, “Concerning the Upbringing of the Virgin and the Ever-Virginity of Holy Mary,” ch. 7).
This same Holy Father teaches concerning the universality of original sin as the “ancestral curse”, from which the God-Man Jesus Christ alone is THE exception. “Of all those born of women, there is not a single one who is perfectly holy, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, Who in a special new way of immaculate birthgiving [for Himself], did not experience earthly taint” (St. Ambrose, Commentary on Luke, ch. 2).
Speaking of Christ’s Incarnation, this Holy Father also teaches: “God alone is without sin. All born in the usual manner of woman and man, that is, of fleshly union, become guilty of sin. Consequently, He Who does not have sin was not conceived in this manner” (St. Ambrose, Ap. Aug. “Concerning Marriage and Concupiscence”).
“One Man alone, the Intermediary between God and man, is free from the bonds of sinful birth, because He was born of a Virgin, and because in being born He did not experience the touch of sin” (St. Ambrose, ibid., Book 2: “Against Julianus”).
The Virgin Mary, having given herself entirely up to God, even though she repulsed from Herself every impulse to sin, still felt the weakness of human nature more powerfully than others and ardently desired the coming of the Savior to Israel even before the Annuciation.
In Her humility she considered Herself unworthy to be even the servant-girl of the prophesied Virgin who was to give the Messiah birth.
Mary was dedicated to God at the age of three as a child-virgin to live at the Temple by the Righteous Ancestors of Christ, Joachim and Hannah, just as another Hannah dedicated her young son Samuel born from a barren womb to temple service before the Lord to become a prophet and a holy priest. Mary was consecrated to God when she was conceived by normal human means although under miraculous circumstances to her elderly parents in their sunset years, Sts. Joachim and Anna, in answer to long years of prayers.
She was “immaculately conceived” by her parents old age in the sense that she was born in the normal way to virtuous, loving and righteous parents who were exceptionally faithful to the God of Israel, lawfully married to each other under the law of Moses, who loved each other deeply.
As was typical in his day, St. Joachim had long faced pressure to divorce Anna, since childlessness was considered a disgrace by the Rabbinic Pharisees and Jewish society, and which he stoutly resisted doing, considering it all a part of God’s will. But since Adam’s fall, Mary, too, was “conceived in sin”, as being no exception to the “ancestral curse” of original sin in terms of the human condition.
So that nothing might distract her from prayer and heedfulness to herself, Mary herself gave to God a Nazarite vow not to become married, in order to please only Him her whole life long, yet conditions were also changing at the Temple that made it no longer possible for her to remain there. Through the quiet arrangements of the uncorrupted portions of the holy priesthood like Priest Zacharias the father of John the Baptist and the Righteous Elders of Judah under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mary was betrothed to the elderly Joseph, a distant kinsman of the house of David when her age no longer allowed her to remain in the Temple.
On the one hand, she was now at the age for marriage per Rabbinic Pharisee law, yet she was a consecrated Nazarite Temple virgin; and on the other, the conditions in the Temple were growing increasingly corrupt in its decline which was set in motion under the later dynasties of Hasmonean rule which Herod was to marry into.
Scholarly opinion puts forward that our Lord Jesus was born 7-4 BC, certainly prior to the death of King Herod on March 21, 4 BC. Josephus reports that at around 7-6 BC, major changes were made at the Temple under the rule of the up-and-coming High Priest family of the sons of Boethus, with the most significant change was the transfer of the responsibility for the collection and management of the tithes and donations from the Levites directly to the High Priesthood itself, hence the Beothusian sacerdotal family of such lights as Ananias and Caiphas, contrary to Scripture.
Given both circumstances, the traditional story of Mary’s betrothal to Joseph fits very well.
Tradition records that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, an octogenarian widower, when she was about the age of 12-14. She settled in his house in Nazareth. Here the Virgin was vouchsafed the coming of the Archangel Gabriel, who brought her the good tidings of the birth from her of the Son of the Most High.
“Hail, Thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art thou among women … The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also, that Holy One which is to be born shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:28-35). The Virgin had already spiritually labored over herself for many years, increasing in humility and virtuous grace of the Lord before the Annuciation.
Mary received the angelic good tidings humbly and submissively, informed by great faith acquired from her life in the Temple, yet she was also free to question “How can this be?” and to reflect upon the answers she received before saying “Let it be according to thy word.”
Her soul as a young woman was “pure as a little baby” as St. Gregory of Palamas said, but nowhere in Scripture or in the mind of the Orthodox Fathers was she ever considered to be a creature exempted from the “ancestral curse” of Original Sin and fallen human nature or “flesh”–sarx. “Then the Logos, in a way known to Himself, descended and, as He Himself willed, came and entered into Mary and abode in Her” (St. Ephraim the Syrian, “Praise of the Mother of God”).
In Romans 8 two laws are contrasted: the law of sin and death (humanity united with mortal Adam and under the power of sin and death) and the law of the Spirit (the new humanity united with Christ and energized by the Spirit.) And here Scripture very clearly states, “…God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of [original] sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to Spirit.” Rom 8:3-4]
For the Son took on flesh, human nature as beset with troubles; and of course that flesh came from His human Mother, herself subject to death and corruption. Aided by the power of the Spirit, Christ did not sin, for He was only in the likeness of our sinfulness. Moreover, it was by the flesh and in the Spirit that Christ condemned sin, destroying its power for believers. In Him the flesh, sarx–fallen human nature, by the divine power of the Spirit in true faith, is the victor, crowned with honor.
In discussing this Angelic appearance, however, the Fathers of the Church underline the wisdom of the young Mary, who pondered all things in her heart. She was very careful not to accept Gabriel’s message in haste, remembering what happened to Eve when she believed the serpent.
Although God decided to make the Virgin Mary the Mother of the Savior, He wanted Her voluntary consent because He never overpowers or disregards the gift of free will that He gave us.
The World and the Church are in grave peril.
God has given the World and the Church a Divine Solution.
The World and the Church are REJECTING the Divine Solution.
That’s all that needs to said any more regarding the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God.
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
I’ll translate a couple of pages (159-161) from the book:
“La Falsificación de la Realidad: La Argentina en el Espacio Geopolítico del Terrorismo Judío”; Autor: Norberto Ceresole.
Available at:
http://www.archive.org/details/LaFalsificacionDeLaRealidad–LaArgentinaEnElEspacioGeopolticoDel
dealing with the crypto subject.
Jews, “conversos”, blacks and American natives
A series of investigations performed from different perspectives, from absolutely different geographic places and from antagonical religious and ideological positions, converge all to a couple of facts that created the Modern Occidental world.
So much the process of black slavery (a mega genocide in which 100 million Africans died), as well as the different forms of servitude to which the Amerindians (North, Central and South American) are subdued, participate decisively the Spanish crypto-Jewish in America with important Jewish groups, most of them Sephardim, expelled from Spain and Portugal that find refuge in England, Netherlands North Africa cities, etc.
In the specific case of great masses of native Amerindians servitude and subsequent annihilation, the extant documentation available today undoubtedly prove that the chief “executors” of those enterprises were Spanish and Portuguese “conversos” (that is to say ‘marranos’ or hogs, in the old Spanish parlance), that were able to held high standing places in both the Crown and the Roman Catholic Church.
“One of the modern Spanish ethnical innovations consists in being the great occidental nation that assimilated the most Semitic elements…Towards the end of XV century, a fact loaded with consequences is the recent Christianization of a great contingent of Jews in high business bourgeosie with links with aristocracy.[1].
In several opportunities, Bataillon highlighted “the enormous social and cultural weight of the converted Jews” inside Spanish society and power decision circles of those times.
“Now, and to the present without due attention, the new-Christians arrived from Judaism constitute an election territory for new moral and mystic tendencies that XVI century spiritual revolutions opposed to ceremonial formalism and which linked passing over the Middle Ages, even over the origins of Christianism, with the Psalms traditions and Hebrew prophesizing”[2].
Next, Marcel Bataillon remarks that the Inquisition put a great deal of zeal over the behavior of shadowy families of “new-Christians” that “abstained from eating pork and changing clothing on Saturdays” but that did not exerted almost any control over “a vast and select portion of the clergy with Jewish origins, (that) were struggling fiercely with Erasmus[3] against ceremonial Judaism, preaching Christian liberty and the “abandonment” or “abdication” to the divine inspiration”[4].
(Continuation)
Furthermore, on the South Atlantic shores (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay), ”marranos” are the chief organizers of smuggling, which was in ultimate analysis, the principal economical activity that created the different Independence Wars and to the formation of diverse native oligarchies deeply related with those ”contraband conversos”.
Portuguese marranos resident in Brazil, established first a military alliance with the Netherlands against Portugal (in the times in which the Portuguese was part of the Spanish crown), and then were at the forefront of the Bandeirantes,-when Portugal converted definitely into an appendix of England-that expanded Lusitanian territory in South America to the detriment not only of Spain-the great enemy of the conversos and Judaizers-but specially of the territories administered by the JESUITS MISSIONS.
In both cases, Black slavery and native servitude in America, its possible to apply the concepts expressed in the book ‘The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews’ printed in 1991, by the Department of Historical Research of the American black movement Nation of Islam[5],[6].
“Jews had been irrefutably linked to the greatest criminal operation undertaken against a whole race: The Black African Holocaust (and would be wise to add the Amerindian Holocaust under the Spanish crown control-author’s note).
The Jews had participated in the forced capture and exportation of millions of Black African citizens to an abject life of inhuman serfdom and degradation and all of these for their exclusive financial benefit “.
Also, it was for the exclusive benefit of the expelled Jews from Spain then living in The Netherlands and the British Islands, that their brothers in race and commercial
Partners, the Spanish and Portuguese conversos and marranos, exploited until their very physical destruction, the natives ( monopolizing simultaneously the black slave trade) Amerindians from North to South America in order to export precious metals (gold and silver) and other merchandizes that in the end arrived- through an Spain in crescent decadence- to the North of Europe.
An Europe whose pre-capitalistic economy was thoroughly in the hands of Jews and Protestants[7].
During XVI and XVII centuries, exiled conversos and Sephardim were linked through economic networks based on mutual truth, an important factor that contributed immensely to the vast development of international exchanges, typical of the epoch[8].
Henry Méchoulan, in his book “Los Judios en España”, insists on the importance of the marranos in America, whom “departed from Spain as new-Christians towards far away lands, awaiting for a favorable opportunity that allowed them to practice, with enhanced security, their Judaism, a religion that THEY NEVER HAD ABANDONED…”.
Its very curious that in a book so heavily sympathetic with the Jews that information on the real nature or the so called expulsion of the Spanish Jews of 1492, filtered.
(Continuation)
There exist a coming back to the old thesis abrogated by Américo Castro, that expounded that the Jewish expulsion was the results not so much of the Crown and Inquisition decision, but in a conflict of interests between new-Christians –quickly installed in the political and economical spaces of the old Christians, and the “old Jews” already established.
The importance of the Jews in America-with the sole exception of the USA, meriting a separate analysis, acquired contours simultaneously spectacular and gloomy in a country like Argentina, where over an important affluent marrano immigration converted into ruling class since the middle of XIX century positioned itself later, one of the largest Jewish Ashkenazi immigrations (towards the end of XIX and the middle of XX centuries)[9].
[1]Marcel Bataillon-Erasmo y España-1950
[2]As above.
[3]Ibid
[4]Edgar Morin Introduction to the book Los judios de España –issued by Henry Méchoulan.
[5]Humanism proposed by Erasmus adopted as Ideology by the conversos in America.
[6]http://www.blacksandjews.com/Brackman.html
[7]Gilles Kepel,”Al Oeste de Alá,la penetración del Islamen Occidente”1995.
[8]Bataillon,op.cit.
[9]Boleslao Lewin among others deal with the participation of conversos and marranos
In the salvage system of exploitation of native Amerindians labor and “black traffic” .
Maybe the ORTHODOX Church Hierarchy and Lay Faithful DO NOT BELIEVE that the Mother of God appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal 1917 to give both THE CHURCH and all of Mankind a way to have WORLD PEACE because of the simple fact that the reported Apparition happened to 70,000 in a predominately CATHOLIC country.
It may very well be, after 50 years of her 1917 A.D. Fatima, Portugal Apparition, the Mother of God appeared to MILLIONS of Orthodox and Catholic and Protestant and Muslim people so as to draw their collective attention to her 1917 A.D. Fatima Apparitions and Messages and Instruction for all of them
http://www.zeitun-eg.org/pg0001.htm
http://www.zeitun-eg.org/stmaridx.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Greetings in our Lord Jesus, Juan
There is certainly no contradiction between what you’ve posted, and the book ‘Secrecy & Deceit’, as the key interlocking “birds-eye” socio-religious view seen from the inside as to the Judaizing rot that set in from the earliest times throughout Christian history.
Let me paint in broad strokes some of the Medieval Period 500 AD-1500 AD from some of my old notes.
After the conquest of Judah by Pompey, Jews and Romans became “inseparable”, and were granted enormous privileges and exemptions under the pagan Caesars, especially Augustus. Behind the Roman armies carrying the Imperial Eagles marched the Jews carrying the banners of free enterprise.
The Jews were in Italy in 2nd cent. BC, in France the 1st cent. BC, and Spain a hundred years later. At the end of the third cent. AD, they had penetrated as far north as Cologne, Germany.
W. European History: 500-800: Rome falls. Ostrogoths found Italy, Visigoths Spain, Franks and Burgundians France. Western barbarians Christianized. Dark Age and feudalism settle over Europe. Five European kingdoms, now known as Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and the Papal States emerging.
Though reshaped into different power patterns, these five states, with England a sixth member in the eleventh century, formed the heart of European history until 1500.
Masses (c. 90,000) of Jews forcibly converted in Spain under Reccard in the 5th cent. In Italy, Theodoric the Great invited Jews to settle in every city in his domain—Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, and his new capital, Ravenna, as merchants, bankers, judges, farmers, jewelers, artisans. France, Germany; asked to help found cities by the crowned heads and encourage trade. Become feudal Europe’s middle class.
As the Muslim faith spread, it was the Jewish Golden Age centered in Baghdad, throughout the Islamic Empire. In the Sultanates and Caliphates, Jews found great religious toleration; Jews rise to posts of great eminence. Jews become the cosmopolitans under the Muslim regime; begin translations of Greek works during the Arab Muslim Golden Age (700-1000).
In Spain the picture at first was slightly different. King Reccared, spread his newly found Christianity with a sword so fierce that not only were the Visigoths baptized, but a large number of Jews as well. When the Mohammedans conquered Spain and granted everyone religious freedom, many of these forcibly converted Jews did not return fully to Judaism.
Many crypto-Jews (the Donmeh, or pseudo-Muslims did not arise until after Sabbatai Zvei) became the cosmopolitan world citizens who moved with elegance and aplomb in the courts of viziers and grandees, marrying into the families of both Christians and Muslims. These formed the nucleus of the vexing problem in Spain that exploded in the 15th century.
800-900: Charlemagne unites heartland of Europe into Frankish Empire. Popes gain secular power as a monarchy. Viking invasions. Centralized government collapses. Dark Age intensifies.
Charlemagne invites Jews from other parts of the world to come to his realm. Specifically, he wanted Jews to settle in cities, to foster industries, to extend the frontiers of commerce, and therefore he granted them liberal charters of self-government. Many found high posts in his court, especially the diplomatic service.
In the feudal serfdom system there was no Christian burgher or merchant class. Jews organize large mercantile establishments in Europe. First Kabalistic work appears.
Typically, independent kingdoms, as well as in the Papal States throughout Italy and Europe, (by now the Pope was wearing the triple tiara of an emperor) had strong urban Jewish communities in urban areas, and were usually granted the license and protection of the crown in charters, defining them as self-ruling corporate entities under their own law with rabbis and judges royally appointed and salaried by the king.
While on the whole Jews were heavily taxed, constrained as to their living quarters, and occasionally forced to wear the Jew badge (more as a warning to Christians about making any dealings that would wind them up in Jewish courts), at the same time they were entirely free to prosper economically and politically. In fact, they tended to enjoy rights unparalleled in the rest of Europe.
Typically, independent kingdoms, as well as in the Papal States throughout Italy and Europe, (by now the Pope was wearing the triple tiara of an emperor) had strong urban Jewish communities in urban areas, and were usually granted the license and protection of the crown in charters, defining them as self-ruling corporate entities under their own law with rabbis and judges royally appointed and salaried by the king.
While on the whole Jews were heavily taxed, constrained as to their living quarters, and occasionally forced to wear the Jew badge (more as a warning to Christians about making any dealings that would wind them up in Jewish courts), at the same time they were entirely free to prosper economically and politically. In fact, they tended to enjoy rights unparalleled in the rest of Europe.
900-1100
Eastern and Northern Europe Christianized. William the Conqueror invades Britain. Dark Age begins to lift. Holy Roman Empire founded. Jews expelled from the Byzantine Roman Empire.
Jews come to England with William the Conqueror. Expand money-lending activities; become Europe’s bankers. Continue translating Greek works. Have highest educational standards in an otherwise illiterate feudal society.
During the Christian reconquest of Spain from the Muslims, the Spanish dukes and grandees became reacquainted with Jewish learning and industry, they offered the Jews every inducement to remain in Christian Spain in order to enrich her trade and to enhance her culture. Once Spain was safely back in the Christian column, however a national conversion drive was launched. It was so successful that by the end of the fifteenth century the Marranos, not the Jews, constituted a problem to the Spanish government.
By virtue of their learning and sophistication, the Marranos had risen to positions of power. They had married into the noblest families of Spain and had become not only grandees and kissing cousins of royalty, but also bishops and archbishops.
The Marrano problem was a festering sore in the Spanish clerical body, and galling to many natural-born Christians who could not aspire to such lofty positions and incensed at seeing orthodox Christianity flouted.
1100-1300 Two centuries of Crusades. Constantinople sacked by Crusaders. Albigensian heresy. Fourth Lateran Council.
Jews flee the Rhineland in the wake of the Crusades. Settle in liberal Poland, develop its economy. First burning of Talmud, Jews banished from England. Kabalistic work, Zohar, appears.
1300-1500 Age of Renaissance commences, first in Italy and later the rest of Europe. Jewish, Christian and Arab scholars translate Greek philosophical, religious and other literature transferred during the Crusades, or brought along by Byzantine expatriates after the fall of Constantinople.
Foundations of new humanism, new heresies plague the Catholic Church. Mercantilism growing; middle classes gaining more power. Feudalism beginning to crumble.
Jews banished from France (1400); banished from Spain and Portugal (1500). Persecutions become economically motivated. Jewish commercial interests decline in West, grow in East. Kabalistic writings assume metaphysical character.
Popular antipathy towards the Jews in most respect had been transferred to the conversos. Old-Christian peasants and burghers were paying their taxes to Jewish or converso tax-farmers, agents of the ruling classes who performed the work of tax collection. Their courts and municipal offices were largely in the hands of conversos. Old-Christian business ventures had to compete with converso shops up and down the street.
For the lower classes the fact that the crowns seemed to favor Jews and conversos just made them more odious. Signs of strife are seen in repeated municipal legislative attempts to restrict the freedoms of Jews and conversos and in repeated royal claims that Jewish matters were a royal prerogative and no affair of the towns.
Growing conflicts between the crown and the municipalities targeted Jews and conversos, as did the intensifying conflicts between the peasantry and the burghers, and the peasantry and the crown.
The growing influence of the new-Christians and their involvement in early Renaissance libertinism, who put enjoyment of life and hedonism above self-denial and “mortification of the flesh”, along with their very extensive family ties with Jewish families–often in positions of responsibility like “the court Jew” in royal courts and episcopates–combined with marriages into established old-Christian nobility which then sometimes also began to Judaize, finally prompted the Spanish Church in 1482 to invest Inquisitorial powers to Thomas de Torquemada.
Torquemada was more concerned with saving Catholic Christianity than anything having to do with “exterminating Jews”. The Jews who had resisted conversion and remained Jews did not come under the jurisdiction of the Inquistion. Some Jews died violent deaths as a result of mob rule, but they were not tried and not condemned by the official Church Inquisition.
He is purported to be of a fully assimilated converso family himself, zealous to stamp out any heretical tendencies, first among the Marranos, and then wherever else found. Those who were consigned to the autos-da-fe, under the law were Christians as well as Marranos convicted of heresy.
last page, Juan
When the “Marrano heresy” was checked, Torquemada appealed to the Pope for authority to expel the Jews from Spain on the ground that as long as the Jews resided in Spain, Judaism was a clear and present danger to the Catholic faith. The Pope refused.
Convinced that he was right and the Pope wrong, Torquemada, who was Queen Isabella’s father confessor, applied pressure on her to banish the Jews. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand who marriage had been arranged by a Spanish Jew named Abraham Senior, were reluctant to do so, but the clamor from the Spanish Church became too great, and they finally consented.
Interestingly, the royal couple signed the order for the expulsion of the Jews in the same year and month that Columbus received his orders to undertake the voyage that led to his discovery of the Americas. Don Abravanel led the Jewish exodus from Spain.
Of the Jews in Spain at that time, an estimated 50,000, whose ancestry dated back 1500 years in Spain, did not want to leave their homeland and “paid the price” for staying—conversion to Christianity. Many of the wealthy and powerful stayed behind to protect their interests; the bulk of the émigrés were middle-class artisans and merchants.
All in all, for whatever reasons or mixture of reasons, about half of Spain’s remaining Jews converted during the four months before the expulsion deadline. The new Diaspora followed the compass points. Half of the exiles—some 100,000—went to Portugal, so many in fact, that the word “Portuguese” was virtually synonymous with Jewish.
After the expulsion order was signed on Mar 31, 1492, on May 31 the influential Rabbi Abraham de Cordoba converted and was sponsored by no less than the Primate of Spain, Cardinal Mendoza, together with the Papal Nuncio. Fifteen days later, the most exalted Jew in the kingdom of Guadalupe, Abraham Senor, and his son-in-law Meit Melamed were sponsored in their conversion by the Catholic Monarchs themselves.
Seneor, renamed Fernando Nunez Coronel, within days became a Councilman of Segovia, member of the Royal Council, and treasurer of the Crown Prince.
For the other émigrés into North Africa, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire, the Jews enjoyed almost complete religious and economic freedom for several centuries. Though the Turks were the scourge of Christianity, Turkish policy towards the Jews for many years approximated that of the former Islamic Empire.
In Mediaeval Europe, as it happens, one place that Jews could always be sure of a secure reception was in Rome. As early as 1247, for instance, a Papal Bull refuted with learned detail the “blood libel” charge against Jews, that they mixed the blood of Christian children with Passover matzos. This refutation was confirmed by another Bull in 1540.
Meanwhile, Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 could find refuge in Rome, where the contemporary Pope, the notorious Alexander VI, had a Jewish personal physician. When the Emperor Maximilian I was about to order that the Talmud be banned, and burned, in Germany for reputed blasphemies against Jesus, Pope Leo X responded by ordering the entire Talmud published at Rome.
I am quite certain than the Chroniclers of Heaven have all of past Human History documented – what people did and what people did NOT do in their own lifetimes here on this planet earth of God’s creating.
And I am quite certain that those same Chroniclers of Heaven are currently recording what people of our contemporary World of 2009 Anno Domini have done, have NOT done, what they are doing and what they are NOT doing.
“All things are wearisome. No man can say that eyes have not had enough of seeing, ears their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what has done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.”
– Ecclesiastes 1:9
So the Staring Us All In The Face Question is this:
HOW DOES ONE get the entire Human Race TO DO what God wants done and to get the Human Race TO STOP DOING what God doesn’t want done?
– Fr. Joseph
Now then….
Our ENTIRE contemporary World of 2009 Anno Domini – in its diverse and manifold social expressions, conventions and manifestations – is the accumulated and compounded result of consciously chosen DENIALS of every sort and type imaginable.
“I find that God made man SIMPLE; mankind’s complex problems are of his own devising.”
– Ecclesiastes 7:29
People the world over are intimidated and threatened to submit to all manners and types of assertions of FALSEHOODS.
From chronicled Human History, who should know better during the height of the power of the Roman Empire than a Roman Empire’s provincial governor that fact. After all, it was a Roman Empire’s provincial governor who asked cynically
‘TRUTH? What is THAT??”
– Fr. Joseph
So roughly 2,000 years AFTER a Roman Empire’s provincial governor cynically asks the question ‘Truth? What is that?’ – John 18:38 – we fast foward Human History to an individual by the name of STALIN who haughtily asserted
‘THE LIE IS SACRED!’
Shall we not begin to at least being making an exhaustive/chronicled listing of all those things which are DENIED in and about our World of 2009 Anno Domini? After all, what WE are doing and what we are NOT doing are also being recorded by the Chroniclers of Heaven.
Shall we being with our DENIAL that the Mother of God appeared in Fatima, Portugal back in 1917 A.D. giving specific Instruction to the Hierarchy of the Church as to what TO DO?
Then there is our national and global DENIAL that 9-11-2001 ‘Arab’ terrorist attacks were NOT carried out by 19 ‘Arab’ terrorists.
We are in DENIAL of the fact that the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 is unconstitutional.
We are in DENIAL that dual-citizenship Israeli-Americans have no allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America.
We are in DENIAL that our US Nation has been, is and will continually be ‘sold out’.
We are in DENIAL that millions of millions of human children have had their lives snuffed out due to THE LIES promoted as ‘truths’. Dr. Bernard Nathanson’s book entitled ‘Aborting America’ is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN and can be read by all of the sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justices – that is – IF they were really and truly interested in seeing JUSTICE done in this U.S. Nation. But they are in DENIAL as are the rest of the officials of our Federal Government.
What else are we individually and collectively DENYING?
We are all DENYING that God Himself took on our human nature 2,000 years ago in the Person of Jesus, the Christ.
We are all DENYING there is a Creator, a God, Whose Divine Law creates Natural Law from which nation-states throughout our World derive – are supposed to derive – their Positive Law.
We deny, deny, deny, deny, deny, deny, deny.
If we are to be conditioned and indoctrinated into this incessant day-to-day DENYING anything and everything, then when does the Human Race get around TO ASSERTING a ‘something’ other than ‘The Lie Is Sacred’?
– Fr. Joseph
“The World Struggle is NOT political or economic. Rather, it is religious and theological. It is either God or atheism.”
– U.S. 5 Star General Douglas MacArthur to visiting Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen in Allied Occupied Japan
Denial. Denial. Denial.
The JEWS continue on in their DENIAL that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, as told to them by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-22 this despite the fact that God makes manifest His Divine Miracle of Holy Fire TO CONFIRM Jesus is the Messiah foretold by Moses every year – without fail – in their own ‘backyard’ at the Church of the Holy Sceplechure in JERUSALEM.
The MOSLEM people continue in their DENYING that the ‘divine revelation’ that Mohammed received and relays in ‘The Qu’ran’ about the nature of the Person of Jesus, the Christ, is but the ERRONEOUS retelling of what Mohammed learned from the early HERETICAL group known as the ‘Ebionites’ who were but a sect of JUDAIZERS within the early Church.
They are in ‘denial’ that their prophet obtained his knowledge of and about Christ Jesus from a JEWISH SECT!
Protestants the world over are in DENIAL of the Christ’s New Covenant SACRAMENTS to include Confession, Confirmation and the Eucharist. They DENY that Christ Jesus instituted a sacredotal Priesthood SO THAT His Divine Graces would be made manifest to people the world over via the Ministry and Mission of His Apostolic Church.
Buddhists and Hindus the world over are in DENIAL of Christ Jesus being a TRANSCENDENT God Who took on our Humanity in order TO REVEAL Who and how God really and truly IS on account of their theology of IMMANENCE. To be sure, there IS ‘truth’ to be had and acquired from that which is NATURAL in nature and in our human natures, but NATURAL truth is the result of a transcendent SUPERnatural Source Who is a TRANSCENDENT God.
The atheists around the world DENY Christ Jesus as God revealing Himself and His Divine Will simply because they would RATHER use their own free wills to do whatever it is that they want to do.
– Fr. Joseph
Then you have the intractable DENIAL of the satanists, the luciferians, the true occultists.
They are forever DOOMED to forever living in a constant state of DENIAL. Their whole sum-total of mere existance is centered upon the attempt to make their DENIAL that God isn’t God and that satan is ‘god’ – and to make everyone else believe this as well.
The sum total reason for existance and for all that they do is a vain attempt at trying TO NOT BE!
Satan and all of his followers, elemental spirits as well as human incarante spirit devotees – that’s all they have left – a desire to NOT BE. And because the Sovereign Will of God is for them all TO BE so as to endure-experience the Justice and Power of their Almighty Creator God, theirs in the hopeless and lost cause of attempting TO UNDO the One Who Is Almighty and Eternal.
How does one attempt to ‘NOT BE’ when one has been eternally given a certain nature and existance?
By doing everything possible TO DEBASE and RUIN one’s own God-given nature and to use that God-given nature of theirs in doing anything and everything TO RUIN and DESTROY all that the All-good, Eternal and Almighty Creator wishes DONE – and what God wants DONE is His Own Divine Will for His Own Creation and all of His created beings – to include all of us members of the Human Race!
– Fr. Joseph
It is the Adamic Covenant with ALL OF MANKIND which finds its utter and complete fulfillment in the New Covenant of Christ Jesus’ BODY AND BLOOD in the Christian Church’s Sacrament of the Eucharist.
– Fr. Joseph
Perhaps we members of the Human Race have forgotten
‘God will NOT be mocked.’
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Father Joseph,
I’ll be honest: I’ve never heard about Zeitun apparitions. This is absolutely unforgivable, at that time I was studying in a Roman Catholic School, which has a wonderful Basilic attached to it. Just in front, there is another Catholic school for girls called, ”Sagrado Corazón de Maria” …
Anyway, looks really marvelous. I imagined that many would DENY those apparitions, calling it a fake, finally at that time; there was an incipient technology capable of that sort of things “under carefully controlled laboratory conditions”: what is known as Holographic Projections.
Lasers were known and very advanced at that time but I’m unaware of the existence the necessary devices to raster/scan the light source.
Imagery looks quite solid and clear to me, confirming supernatural Phenomena.
There is not any evidence of stray rays or uneven luminosities.
Yet, there are some people that call those “DEMONIC” apparitions of the Sacred and Most Holy Virgin Mary; I guess that comes from Protestant quarters…
Not a long time ago, some Evangelic “pastors” , threw down and kicked an statue of The Virgin Mary, shouting that it was just a piece of wood…
Something I never thought I was going to see in my life (like many others…).
The Jews are openly against us Christians; their Talmud is there to anyone see. While at the same time, I believe they also operate covertly influencing those evangelics…,that are progressively “judiadizing” their practice may be through their “Seminaries”.
There is one really big denomination in Brazil called “Asambleia de Deus “(of course derived from the American Church Assembly of God), in which its maximum authority is a 33 th degree Freemason.
But I’m afraid that Evangelics are even worse because they say that they are Christians and they aren’t!
An the fierce animosity they show against The Roman Catholic Church.
Its equivalent to the hate the Jews shows to us.
And is very hard to approach them and convince them of their mistake. Those people make me remember of the techniques used by” professional” Communists back in the seventies.
With regards to the ancient EASTERN Church Fathers and EASTERN Church Saints who all stuanchly maintained the complete SINLESSNESS of the Blessed Virgin Mary which the Western Church defines as a Doctrine of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
“Subsequent Fathers and Saints in THE EAST are clearer on the COMPLETE SINLESSNESS of Mary; Theodotus, Bishop of Ancyra in Galatia(d. 430); St. Proclus, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE (d. 446); Hesychius of JERUSALEM (d. 450); Basis of Seleucia (d.458); St. James of Sarug (452-519), St. Anastasius I (d.598); St. Sophronius, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM (d. 637); St. Modestus (d. 634) ANOTHER PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM; St. John Damascene (675-749); St. Tarasius, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE (d.806); Joseph Hymnoographus (d.833); Georgius Nicomediensis (friend and contemporary of PHOTIUS!); Euthymius, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE (d. 917); Petrus, Bishop of Argo (d 920); and ON AND ON. – quoting from
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/a115.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Did or did not SATAN get Eve TO SIN? Yes or no.
What does Sacred Scripture, inspired to be written by God the Holy Spirit, have St. John the Apostle and CARE TAKER of the Mother of God herself by direct Divine Appointment by Jesus Christ Himself meaning in what he writes at 1 John 3:8
“It was to UNDO ALL that the devil has done that the Son of God appeared.”
Did or did not Satan get the woman EVE to sin? Yes or no.
Did the Son of God UNDO THAT in His Own Mother? Yes or no? What does St. John say?
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
So as our World continues its slide into the Pit of Hell via a thermonuclear Third World War instigated by satanists, luciferians and members of the occult, we have supposed ‘Bible Believing Pastors’ in the world actually taking a religious statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and publicly debasing her statue in front of ‘true believing christians’. Meanwhile, we have ‘artists’ taking an image of their image of the Blessed Virgin Mary and publicly splattering it all over with elephant feces:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/991008/madonna.html
And people the World over DO NOT BELIEVE that the same Blessed Virgin Mary, as Our Lady of Akita Japan, informed Sr. Agnes that God is sooooo ANGRY with our entire World He is actually considering BURNING THE WHOLE PLANET EARTH UP!
– Fr. Joseph
There are SIX BILLION of us human beings living on this planet earth of God’s creating in this year 2009 Anno Domini.
WHO is going to begin to REPAIR all the damage done these past 100 years to God’s Revelation to Mankind, to His Church and her Apostolic Faith and to Mankind?
WHO is going TO STOP all those doing this damage to God’s Revelation to Mankind, to His Church and her Apostolic Faith and to Mankind?
Masonic-spawned and funded cults and sects like the Assemblies of God who see no problem with publicly debasing an image of the Mother of God, the Woman of Genesis 3:15?
“Believe Me, if you had begun to honour Me with a special devotion from the times of the early Church, after twenty centuries few men would remain living in idolatry, in paganism and in SO MANY false and evil sects, in which man is running blindly towards the abyss of eternal fire! And see how much work remains to be done!”
God the Father to Mother Eugenia – 1932 A.D.
http://www.theworkofgod.org/Library/Trinity/Father/Message1.htm
WHO is going TO STOP all of this spiritual and religious madness in our World today and REPAIR all the damage they’ve done?
WHO?
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Father Joseph,
In actuality, the offence against our Most Blessed Lady was performed by a Pastor called Sergio von Helde belonging to “Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus”, the largest and more powerful evangelical sect in Brazil and abroad.
Nossa Senhora da Aparecida is Saint Protector of Brazil.
The real statue is displayed in a marvelous santuary in Aparecida, São Paulo, appr. 150 miles off Rio de Janeiro.
Check by yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgg6nFnyZKE
If you pay attention at the end he calls the image horrendous, ugly, etc…
He was enraged by the fact that it was precisely the day million of peregrins go to pay a visit to Nossa Senhora and he said that we Catholics stand for money, profits, commerce of the Saint…
Dear Fr. Joseph,
From your posted site: .bringyou.to: “Finally, a comment by eminent Orthodox theologian John Meyendorff is relevant as to the Eastern/Byzantine difference on their view of Original Sin and the definition of the Immaculate Conception:
“Quotations can easily be multiplied, and they give clear indications that the Mariological piety of the Byzantines would probably have led them to accept the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary as it was defined in 1854 [by Pope Pius IX], IF ONLY THEY HAD SHARED THE WESTERN DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN” [emph Kj] (John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, page 148).
The RCC dogma of the Immaculate Conception, not to be confused with the Orthodox idea of the Virgin Mary’s “immaculateness”, whose soul was as “pure as a baby’s”, asserts that “from the first moment of her conception the Blessed Virgin Mary was, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of mankind, kept free from all stain of original sin” (Ineffabilis Deus-1854).
We object to the Roman Catholic understanding of original sin as the stain of inherited GUILT and forensic legal responsibility passed down from Adam, as a result of his sin, to the rest of the human race. The Orthodox see the Catholic notion of original sin as skewed, drawing almost exclusively on the thought of Blessed Augustine, and which in time also gave rise to not only the RCC dogma of the “Immaculate Conception”, but also the dogmas of purgatory and indulgences that are also intimately interlocked with RCC dogmas of original sin.
Augustine had virtually ignored the teachings of the Eastern Fathers, who tended to see original sin not as inherited guilt but rather as “the ancestral curse” as exposited by the Apostle Paul in Romans by which human beings were alienated from the divine Life by disobedience and thus became subject to corruption and death. St. Augustine’s—and consequently the RCC’s—view was the result of the faulty Latin translation of Romans 5:12, the NT passage on which the teaching of original sin is based.
When the original Greek is properly translated it reads, “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and sin spread to all in that (eph ho) all sinned…” The Latin which Augustine used rendered the ~eph ho~ (“in that”) as ~in quo~ (“in whom”), meaning “in Adam”. Thus the passage was misconstrued as saying that all sinned IN Adam, that all shared in the guilt of his original disobedience.
With regard to original sin, the difference between Orthodox Christianity and the West may be outlined as follows:
In the Orthodox Faith, the term “original sin” refers to the “first” sin of Adam and Eve. As a result of this sin, humanity bears the “consequences” of sin, the chief of which is death. Here the word “original” may be seen as synonymous with “first.” Hence, the “original sin” refers to the “first sin” in much the same way as “original chair” refers to the “first chair.”
In the West, humanity likewise bears the “consequences” of the “original sin” of Adam and Eve. However, the West also understands that humanity is likewise “guilty” of the sin of Adam and Eve. The term “Original Sin” here refers to the condition into which humanity is born, a condition in which legal guilt for Adam’s sin as well as consequence is involved.
In the Orthodox Christian understanding, while humanity does bear the consequences of the original, or first, sin, humanity does not bear the personal guilt and forensic legal responsibility associated with this sin, only guilt for our own. Adam and Eve are guilty of their willful action; we bear the consequences, chief of which is death.
http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.10.en.original_sin_according_to_st._paul.01.htm
Fr. John Romanides: “Undoubtedly, one of the most important causes of heresy is the failure to understand the exact nature of the human situation described by the Old and New Testaments, to which the historical events of the birth, teachings, death, resurrection and second coming of Christ are the only remedy.
The failure to understand this automatically implies a perverted understanding of what it is that Christ did and continues to do for us, and what our subsequent relation is to Christ and neighbor within the realm of salvation.
The importance of a correct definition of original sin and its consequences can never be exaggerated. Any attempt to minimize its importance or alter its significance automatically entails either a weakening or even a complete misunderstanding of the nature of the Church, sacraments and human destiny.”
“The temptation facing every inquiry into the thought of St. Paul and the other Apostolic writers is to approach their writings with definite, although many times unconscious, presuppositions contrary to the Biblical witness.
“If one approaches the Biblical testimony to the work of Christ and the life of the primitive community with predetermined metaphysical notions concerning the moral structure of what most would call the natural world, and, by consequence, with fixed ideas concerning human destiny and the needs of the individual and humanity in general, he will undoubtedly take from the faith and life of the ancient Church only such aspects as fit his own frame of reference.
“Then, if he wishes to be consistent in representing his own interpretation of the Scriptures as authentic, he will necessarily proceed to explain away everything extraneous to his concepts as secondary and superficial, or simply as the product of some misunderstanding on the part of certain Apostles or a group of Fathers, or even the whole primitive Church in general.
“A correct approach to the Pauline doctrine of original sin must take into consideration St. Paul’s understanding of (1) the fallen state of creation, including the powers of Satan, death and corruption,
(2) the justice of God and law, and
(3) anthropology and the destiny of man and creation.
These divisions are not meant to suggest that each topic is to be dealt with here in detail; rather, they shall be discussed only in the light of the main problem of original sin and its transmission according to St. Paul.”
KathJuliane
At the present moment, I’m a wee bit “hot under the collar”. Anti-spam refused my previous posting in response to you.
Your brand and type of theology makes light of
“Receive the Holy Spirit
For those whose SINS you forgive
they are forgiven.” – John 20:22-23
What impels people TO SIN nowadays all across our World? The absence of Sanctifying Grace.
What brought about this lack of God’s Bountiful Amounts of Sanctifying Grace all across and throughout our Human Race?
ORIGINAL SIN! “a dying you shall die” per Genesis 2:17
– Fr. Joseph
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of Christian Baptism.
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of Confession.
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of Confirmation or Chrismation.
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of Marriage.
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
If there is NO Original Sin, then there is NO NEED for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick – it’s old name being ‘Extreme Unction’.
If there is NO Original Sin, then people the world over – people of OUR Human Race – wouldn’t be DYING every day all across this planet earth of ours.
Your theology is flawed – deeply flawed.
– Fr. Joseph
And finally, IF the Human Race is NOT directly “cursed” due to Original Sin – then there is NO NEED for the Mission, the Ministry, the Sacraments and the Divine Revelation of CHRIST’S APOSTOLIC CHURCH MILITANT here on earth!
And there is NO NEED for Exorcisms. There is NO NEED to be concerned about evil elemental spirits who prowl about this world seeking the ETERNAL RUIN of human souls.
And if there is NO Original Sin – then we don’t need the Mother of God or her Son and Their Holy Spirit.
And if there is NO Original Sin, then the Human Race does NOT need for the Bishops of the Church to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart in order to bring about the FINAL CRUSHING of Satan’s head and an END to all of the satanic attacks against the Human Race.
– Fr. Joseph
If there is NO universal affect of ORIGINAL SIN on all the members of the Human Race, then those who promote such a ‘theology’ are calling Jesus Christ’s Own Words
“If there is one of you who has NOT sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” – John 7:7
….rubbish.
– Fr. Joseph
Divine Sanctifying Grace – LOST to the members of our Human Race on account OF our Human Race’s ORIGINAL SIN – is what is needed to be imparted unto individuals in order to bring about a personal ‘METANOIA’!
If 6 billion human beings OBTAINED copious amounts of God’s Sanctyfing Grace and these 6 billion human beings experienced a true God-initiated and God-confirmed ‘METANOIA’, in 24 hours we would have 6 billion people getting around TO DOING God’s Holy Will all across this planet earth of ours.
And 6 billion human beings DOING the Will of God would bring a ‘Taste of Living in Heaven’ right here ON EARTH in this year of 2009 Anno Domini!
‘THY WILL BE DONE – ON EARTH – AS IT IS IN HEAVEN’
– Fr. Joseph
So there is NO direct and lingering spiritual affects of Adam and Eve’s ORIGINAL SIN on the rest of their human descendents?
Go read the featured stories and articles on Rense.com here:
http://www.rense.com
Jeff Rense goes through extraordinary efforts, year in and year out, TO DEMONSTRATE the lingering affects of ORIGINAL SIN on our entire Human Race, both as individuals as well as entire societies and nation-states.
And Jeff Rense ISN’T EVEN ‘CATHOLIC’!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear KathJuliane,
To be entirely honest and sincere with you, these postings of yours and your replies to me are just NOW beginning to give me the VERY distinct impression that there are as many variations in and variants of ‘Orthodoxy’ as their are denominations in Protestantism!
Time and time again, I hear the ‘Orthodox’ position from you and others that it’s perfectly acceptable to DISCOUNT what the Church Fathers of EITHER the East or the West might have taught and held onto as regarding the Apostolic Faith – but most especially if such teachings are from the WESTERN Church Fathers!
I have a personal blessing in having a single solitary GREEK ORTHODOX friend at work with whom I have the blessed relief of discussing matters of our Apostolic Faith while having to live and WORK in this contemporary world of ours.
And his ‘Orthodoxy’ is very foreign to YOUR type of ‘Orthodoxy’.
– Fr. Joseph
KathJuliane,
Now with regards to the LINGERING spiritual affects of ORIGINAL SIN with, in and among the members of our contemporary Human Race, my Greek Orthodox friend LAMENTS all of the corruption and scandals in and among the members of the Hierarchy of his very own and personally held dearly beloved GREEK ORTHODOX Church – and I ‘cry on his shoulders’ about all of the Satanists and Masons in Prelate’s garb running my own very much beloved Catholic Church and it’s ROMAN RITE into the ground.
My Greek Orthodox friend is bitterly disgusted with the Abbots of the Orthodox Monasteries on Mount Athos and their involvement in forging title-deed to claim large tracts of land on the mainland of Greece. And I ‘cry on his shoulder’ about all of the P2 Masonic-Vatican Bank scandals and the millions upon millions of ‘pay outs’ to those who sued the Catholic Church over sex abuses and other sorts of scandals.
All of THAT, my dear KathJuliane, is the direct result of the AFFECTS of Original Sin which is ours to put up with and bear under as members of the Human Race.
– Fr. Joseph
KathJuliane,
But since ‘Orthodoxy’ permits discounting the views and teachings of the Early Church Fathers – early Church Fathers meaning BEFORE the year 1054 A.D. I might add – all of you of the Orthodox faith STILL maintain
“Ya Can’t ARGUE With Sacred Scripture However!”
So what do we truly and factually find in the Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture regarding the lingering and abiding affects of ORIGINAL SIN on us members of the Human Race.
Let’s start with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself!
“And when He (the Holy Spirit) comes
He will show the World how WRONG it was,
ABOUT SIN,
and about Who was in the Right,
and about JUDGEMENT;
ABOUT SIN;
proved by their refusal to believe in Me;
about Who is in the Right;
proved by My going to the Father
and your seeing me no more;
about JUDGEMENT.” – John 16:8-10
– Fr. Joseph
KathJuliane,
So IF, as members of the ‘Apostolic Church’ who all hold steadfastly to the ‘Apostolic Faith’, and THAT gives us the liberty to disregard the views and teachings of the Church Fathers (prior to 1054 A.D.) thus rendering their views and teachings suspect and thus capable of being replaced without so much as a thought with ‘contemporary’ theological assertions, let us ALL fall back on what THE APOSTLES TAUGHT regarding the lingering affects of ORIGINAL SIN on us members of the Human Race!
I want to see for myself how many ‘Orthodox’ are truly ‘Apostolic’!
“To say that we have never sinned
is to call God a liar
and to show that His Word is not in us.
I am writing this, my children,
TO STOP YOU SINNING;
but if anyone should sin,
we have our advocate with the Father
Jesus Christ, Who is just.”
– 1 John 1:10-2:1
Now THAT’S ‘Apostolic Teaching’!
– Fr. Joseph
KathJuliane,
More Apostolic Teaching on the lingering affects of ORIGINAL SIN on us members of the Human Race
“Does the fact that we are living by Grace and not by law mean that we are free to sin? OF COURSE NOT!” – St. Paul the Apostle
– Romans 6:15
“In fact, this seems to be the rule (regarding the lingering affects of Original Sin on us members of the Human Race – parens mine), that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s Law, but I see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that LAW OF (ORIGINAL) SIN which lives inside my body.” – St. Paul the Apostle – Romans 7:21
– Fr. Joseph
KathJuliane
Now St. Paul and his Apostolic explanation of the ‘Law of (Original) Sin’ in Romans 7:21 is simply taught and preached on by yet ANOTHER Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I give you St. James AFFIRMING what St. Paul himself teaches in the Divinely Inspired by God the Holy Spirit Himself Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture:
“Never, when you have been tempted, say ‘God sent the temptation’; God cannot be tempted to do anything wrong, and He does not tempt anybody. Everyone who is tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire (from Original Sin – parens mine) conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a child, and the child is death.” – James 1:13
“Anyone who can bring back a sinner from the wrong way that he/she has taken will be saving a soul from death and covering up a great number of sins.” – James 5:20
That’s all very, very Apostolic Teaching as found in the ‘Can’t Argue With’ Divinely Inspired Canon of Sacred Christian Scripture.
– Fr. Joseph
KathJuliane,
Last night while at work, during a break as I sat quietly by myself in the stillness of 3:00 A.M., I turned my thoughts to God our Father in Heaven and told Him that I was “sick and tired of having to FIGHT and ARGUE with everyone over just about everything going on WRONG in our world and Church today”.
My guardian angel gave this to me as a ‘reminder’ earlier today – sharing it with you as I am very tired of having to ARGUE!
“Of course, I can understand My children’s weaknesses (on account of the spiritual affects of Original Sin – parens mine)! Because of this I asked My Son to give them the means to get up again after they have fallen. These means will help them to purify themselves from their sins, so that they may still be the children of My Love. They are, chiefly, THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. And the greatest means of securing your salvation, despite your falls, is the Cross, My Son’s Blood poured out upon you every moment, if you so wish, both in the SACRAMENT OF PENANCE and in the HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.
‘My dear children, I have lavished these gifts upon you with special Graces for twenty centuries, BUT WITH WHAT MISERABLE RESULTS!’ – God the Father to Mother Eugenia – 1932 A.D. – from
http://www.theworkofgod.org/Library/Trinity/Father/Message1.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ, Fr. Joseph:
“At the present moment, I’m a wee bit “hot under the collar”. Anti-spam refused my previous posting in response to you.”
Reply: Apparently so “hot under the collar” that it posed a serious distraction to even reading with some attention as to what was originally posted, and you put words into my mouth that were not ever said, and deliberately distorted what this writer had posted. Well done, calling the Orthodox “heretics” again.
Furthermore, so “hot under the collar” that little notice was given to the late, eminent theologian Fr. John S. Romanides’ excellent Orthodox exposition from the Greek of the “correct approach to the Pauline doctrine” on Original Sin as found in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, and all of it dogmatically anchored in Scripture and patristics.
Contrary to your rather bizarre assessments, Orthodoxy takes the subject of Original Sin very seriously, and it is entirely rooted in the Pauline doctrines of same. Where Catholic tradition and Orthodox tradition widely differs is the issue of “original guilt” imputed to mankind of Adam’s original sin.
In Orthodox doctrine, Sin is an UNNATURAL state of man, brought about by the distortion of God’s original creation.
After the Fall of Adam, all men became subject to an ancestral curse and were made subject to death. It is the goal of human life not to sin, and to be restored to our original “god-likeness”. But, in fact, all people DO sin. The only perfectly sinless one is Jesus Christ.
It is possible to be freed from sin by the saving work of Christ, Who forgives the sins of the world through HIS abundant mercy. By His Resurrection, Christ defeated our ultimate enemy, Death. Salvation is a life-long process, involving active cooperation with Christ.
There is an intermediate state of the soul’s repose or rest in a state of existence between death and the final Day of Judgment, during which souls somehow benefit from the prayers of the faithful, but it is a place of rest quite different from the purgatory of RC doctrine. (1 Thess 4:13-17). In that repose they have a foretaste of their eternal reward or punishment, which will be fixed on the last day.
In the meantime, the Orthodox Church teaches, these souls somehow benefit from the prayers of the faithful, which as acts of love, comfort the souls of the departed and better prepared them to stand confident of God’s grace and mercy at the dread judgment seat of Christ on the Last Day.
And, since I truly do know that I am not even worthy to call myself a Christian, much less an Orthodox, fallen and failed sinner that I am, all that I hope for is contained in the prayers: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”, and “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”.
Orthodoxy gives no mechanistic explanation, but simply affirms the ancient Christian teaching that such prayers are efficacious in preparing the souls of the departed for final judgment. For example, Saint Paul interceded for the departed Onesiphorus when he wrote, “The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day” (2 Tim 1:18). In this attitude, the Orthodox Church much more closely reflects the viewpoint of the early Church and abstains from the more speculative and legalistic justifications for such prayers which characterize the RC doctrines of purgatory and indulgences.
According to the Roman understanding of “original sin”, a stain of inherited GUILT is passed down from Adam, as a result of his sin, to the rest of the human race. Even after a sinful action is forgiven, there remains a temporal punishment due to Adam’s sin and guilt as well as their own, which must be expiated. If someone should die after having been forgiven (in a state of grace) but before having the opportunity to expiate the temporal punishment, that person is assured of heaven. But before being able to enter it, he or she must spend some time in purgation—hence the doctrine of purgatory.
The idea of purgatory is based on an obviously legalistic notion that the soul must “pay what it owes” before being admitted to the full joys of heaven. Those who die with their sin forgiven but not expiated must spend time after death in purgation. Infinite “merits” earned by Christ and the saints can be passed on to another individual by the Church through “indulgences”.
First, Orthodoxy avoids understanding salvation in legalistic terms. Because Christ made a complete sacrifice for our sins, once we are forgiven, we are forgiven. Forgiveness is the remission of sin AND guilt through the love of Christ.
In terms of Church discipline, Orthodox do have “epitimia” (penance) which is understood as an interdiction, forbidding or censure (2 Cor. 2:6), translated as “punishment” which, according to Church canons, the priest as spiritual physician decrees for certain repenting Christians IN ORDER TO TREAT AND CORRECT THEIR MORAL DISEASES. Orthodoxy sees itself as curative, not punitive.
The basic form of epitimia which existed in the practice of the ancient church was excommunication from Communion of the Holy Mysteries for a greater or lesser period, but in all cases, in the teaching spirit of 2 Cor 2:5-11, the goal is to restore the penitent offender to “esteem” after being “taxed upon”, not exact some legal “satisfaction” that God requires in terms of a sentence and penalty.
Church discipline must not “be too severe”; that is, it must not go farther than the sin. And not to forgive and comfort (v7) the one who repents is itself a sin. It is administered in certain cases for the salvation of the person cut off from communion, with the hope that this act will ultimately bring the sinner to repentance and pertains only to this life, and not viewed as eternal damnation, which only the Lord can judge.
God’s forgiveness is given originally in baptism; forgiveness for continuing sin is reclaimed through repentance, a constant turning to God. Repentance is literally a “change of mind” or attitude (metanoia), and thus of behavior. God is the author of repentance, which is an integral part of baptism, confession, and ongoing spiritual life. Repentance is not simply sorrow for sins but a firm determination to turn away from sin to a new life of righteousness in Jesus Christ, and to be willing to suffer for it in overcoming the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21).
And, as God has forgiven the sins of believers, so are Christians to forgive those who have sinned against them (Matt. 6:14, 15: 18:21-35; 1 John 1:9). There is no need to provide expiation for some “residual” debt which remains after one is forgiven. Thus Orthodoxy rejects the whole idea of legalistic temporal punishment due to sin.
“Receive the Holy Spirit
For those whose SINS you forgive
they are forgiven.” – John 20:22-23
Reply: Every human being in the world suffers from Adam’s fall because of his original disobedience; however we are GUILTY only of our own personal sins. Sin [hamartia] means literally “missing the mark”. This word in ancient Greek could describe the action of an archer who failed to hit the target. All humans are sinners who miss the mark of perfection that God has set for His people, resulting in alienation from God, sinful actions that violate the law of God, and ultimately in death. (Matt. 5:48; Rom. 3:23; 6:23; 1John 1:8). The only exception to this is of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ Incarnate.
“What impels people TO SIN nowadays all across our World? The absence of Sanctifying Grace.”
Reply: This is like saying that God is absent from the world, or that Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the head of the Church, is completely absent from His Church.
The problem is not “the absence of sanctifying grace”, the problem is apostasy and lack of sound Christian FAITH. You know belief and trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, of one essence with the Father, as one’s Lord and Savior? The effects of this faith are freedom from the power of the devil, the attainment of virtue, and progress toward perfection and union with God. One is saved by faith through grace—a living faith manifested by a righteous life. (Romans 5; Rom 3:28; Gal. 2:16; Eph 2:8; James 2:14-17.)
This is still a fallen, evil and sinful world, Satan/Lucifer is still “Prince of the Air”, many times scandals, heresies, apostasies and corruptions have raged against and within the members of the Church like a satanic cancer, and it will be so until the Last Day whenever that will be. Nothing new from what was first recorded by the Apostles themselves in the NT concerning the troubles and sorrows of the primitive Church.
How can we not know the truth of this, especially as you’ve occasionally pointed out the Byzantine Patriarchs and Emperors who were certainly less than sterling examples, and when at one point the Papacy during the era of the Medici and Borgia popes was so scandalous and fraught with political and dynastic intrigues, for about 100 years that it was called the “Pornocracy” by the locals.
There are nominal, “carnal” or fleshly so-called Christians in the world and even those who struggle to be true Christians in spirit must still war with “the law of sin” and their own flesh. You are most certainly aware of Paul’s doctrine that we are either slaves to the law of Sin or slaves to the law of Christ. Grace is the gift of God’s own presence and action in His creation.
Through grace, God forgives sins and transforms the believer by the Holy Spirit into His image and likeness. First of all, that believer has to be willing and have “the mustard seed of faith”. Grace is not merely unmerited favor—an attitude of God toward the believer. Grace is God’s uncreated energy bestowed in the sacraments and is therefore truly experienced. A Christian is saved through grace, which is a gift of God and not a reward for good works. However, because grace changes a person, he or she will manifest the effects of grace as good works through righteous living. (See John 1:17; Rom. 5:21; Eph. 1:7; 2:8, 2 Thess. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:5).
What brought about this lack of God’s Bountiful Amounts of Sanctifying Grace all across and throughout our Human Race?
ORIGINAL SIN! “a dying you shall die” per Genesis 2:17
Very popular now are the rampant proclamations that Orthodoxy ‘has no doctrine of original sin’. This is of course a nonsensical statement, so “getting hot under the collar” hasn’t accomplished all that much. The Orthodox Church has a very definite and pronounced understanding of original sin, and has had from the very beginning, it is simply not the same understanding as that held by Roman Catholics.
To return to the original subject, many of the poetic and theological formulations about the Theotokos you’ve abundantly offered, especially from Orthodox sources to justify your own cause, the Orthodox would have no argument with. A dogma of an Immaculate Conception however, is not one of them. Frankly, the Orthodox consider the doctrine a novelty (dogmatized in 1854 by Papal Bull) and completely unnecessary.
We also consider the more recent emphasis that the doctrine stresses the grace of which Mary partook, as being now more in line with what Orthodoxy (which includes both the Latin and Greek Fathers of the pre-Schism Church) has always taught from the earliest days of the primitive Church, as a way to further rationale this dogma’s existence, now that the Augustine anthropology has been discretely set aside, or toned down. That anthropology was based on certain errors found in the Latin Vulgate. The dogma of Immaculate Conception relies almost solely on Augustinian anthropology.
The doctrine doesn’t make sense otherwise. In fact, if you look at the theological rationale behind the doctrine at the time it was dogmatized, you find Augustinian thinking, coupled with the Aristotleanism of St. Thomas Aquinas, even though he was an strong opponent of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. As Thomas Aquinas pointed out quite succinctly in terms of Christology, this unbiblical teaching fully detracts from Christ’s dignity as Savior of all mankind:
“Likewise, if Mary had been conceived without original sin, she would not have had to be redeemed by Christ, and so Christ would not be the universal redeemer of men, which detracts from His dignity.”
(Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology, Part 1, Chapter 224)
..
[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm]
“Medieval psychology prior to the Aristotlean revival was affected by neo-Platonism, Augustinianism, and mystical influences derived from the works of pseudo-Dionysius. This fusion produced sometimes…a pantheistic theory of the soul. All individual existence is but the development of the Divine life, in which all things are destined to be resumed. The Arabian commentators, Averroes and Avicenna, had interpreted Aristotle’s psychology in a pantheistic sense. St. Thomas, with the rest of the Schoolmen, amends this portion of the Aristotlean tradition, accepting the rest with no important modifications. St. Thomas’s doctrine is briefly as follows:
a) “the rational soul, which is one with the sensitive and vegetative principle, is the form of the body. This was defined as of faith by the Council of Vienne of 1311;
b) “the soul is a substance, but an incomplete substance, i.e. it has a natural aptitude and exigency for existence in the body, in conjunction with which it makes up the substantial unity of human nature;
c)“though connaturally related to the body, it is itself absolutely simple, i.e. of an unextended and spiritual nature. It is not wholly immersed in matter, its higher operations being intrinsically independent of the organism;
d) “the rational soul is produced by special creation at the moment when the organism is sufficiently developed to receive it. In the first stage of embryonic development, the vital principle has merely vegetative powers; then a sensitive soul comes into being, educed from the evolving potencies of the organism — later yet, this is replaced by the perfect rational soul, which is essentially immaterial and so postulates a special creative act.”
But the same article then goes on to say “Many modern theologians have abandoned this last point of St. Thomas’s teaching, and maintain that a fully rational soul is infused into the embryo at the first moment of its existence.”
Yet, as early as the fourth century of the Christian era, St. Gregory of Nyssa had advocated the view which modern science has confirmed almost to a certainty, namely, that the same life principle quickens the organism from the first moment of its individual existence until its death. In virtue of the one eternal act of the Will of the Creator, Who is of course ever present at every portion of His creation, the soul of every new human being begins to exist when the cell which generation has provided is ready to receive it as its principle of life.
KathJuliane,
This whole issue of ORIGINAL SIN ‘tween you and I stems from the doctrine of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, which you do not accept.
And because you do NOT accept the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, you do NOT accept that a Collegial Consecration to the IMMACULATE HEART of Mary can and will bring about WORLD PEACE.
In order to bring about WORLD PEACE in and amongst 6 billion human beings who, as we BOTH agree, are suffering from the AFFECTS of Original Sin, there is a dire need for copioius amounts of SANCTIFYING GRACE to be poured forth upon and over all of Mankind.
That Sanctifying Grace was and is made available to all of Mankind by THE FIAT of THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15. Her Son is both fully Human and fully Divine. Her Son is THE LOGOS through Whom all things were made.
Do you want WORLD PEACE for 6 billion human souls? Do you want TO SAVE as many of these 6 billion human souls from the eternal torments of HELL?
Darn right there OUGHT TO BE ‘GUILT’ the world over on account of our Human Race’s ORIGINAL SIN. It is on account of the vast majority of our world’s current population NOT FEELING ‘GUILT’ that these out-of-control EVILS are increasing the world over!
It is an Actual Grace from God the Holy Spirit TO REALLY FEEL ‘GUILT’!
When people really and truly do feel GUILT, they think about what they have DONE and there is honest-to-goodness SORROW.
When there is honest-to-goodness SORROW, people then REPENT and act-move to UNDO the evil they’ve done.
Now then, is there SIN going on in our World? And is this SIN the result of Original Sin? But where is the personally felt GUILT in all of these people going about doing every imaginable evil thing?
If they do NOT feel guilt, then how is it they can repent? If they do NOT feel guilt for what they’ve done and are doing, does the absense of their feeling GUILT make their sinful actions NOT evil?
How are they going to feel GUILT unless they obtain the Actual Grace of God the Holy Spirit?
And if God Himself HAS MADE Divine Provision to get evil-minded and sinful people to really and truly feel GUILT as well as SORROW for what they’ve done – is that not an Act of Divine Mercy on the part of God for 6 billion human souls here on earth?
So all of this opposition to a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of God’s SINLESS Mother is preventing WORLD PEACE because it is impeding the Actual and Sanctifying Graces of God the Holy Spirit upon ALL of Mankind!
But you will offer nothing but opposition to such a Collegial Concecration because you assert that the Mother of God was, in fact, burdened with the affects of Original Sin as is the rest of Mankind.
The entire Human Race caught in a Spiritual ‘Catch-22’ leading to its demise all because of the disputes between the Catholics and Orthodox.
– Fr. Joseph
“At that time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be DEPRIVED OF the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of REMORSE.”
– Prophecy of St. Nilus
http://www.fisheaters.com/nilus.html
Feeling GUILT is the exact same thing as feeling REMORSE!
– Fr. Joseph
Dear Juan,
Regarding pastors debasing religious articles such as statues in front of their congregations nowadays, I think you’ll see the similiarity with historical “Iconoclasm”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07620a.htm
– Fr. Joseph
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Fr. Joseph–
It’s not a little dispute between just you and I. Here is a posting written by someone much more eminent than I shall ever be who clearly lays out the Orthodox objections to the Papal Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
From the Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God—St. John Maximovich Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco (1966+)
“The teaching of the complete sinlessness of the Mother of God (1) does not correspond to Sacred Scripture, where there is repeatedly mentioned the sinlessness of the One Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ (I Tim. 2:5); and in Him is no sin U John 3:5); Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth (I Peter 2:22); One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15); Him Who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf (II Cor. 5:2 1).
But concerning the rest of men it is said, Who is pure of defilement? No one who has lived a single day of his life on earth (Job 14:4). God commendeth His own love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life (Rom. 5:8-10).
(2) This teaching contradicts also Sacred Tradition, which is contained in numerous Patristic writings, where there is mentioned the exalted sanctity of the Virgin Mary from Her very birth, as well as Her cleansing by the Holy Spirit at Her conception of Christ, but not at Her own conception by Anna.
“There is none without stain before Thee, even though his life be but a day, save Thee alone, Jesus Christ our God, Who didst appear on earth without sin, and through Whom we all trust to obtain mercy and the remission of sins” (St. Basil the Great, Third Prayer of Vespers of Pentecost).
“But when Christ came through a pure, virginal, unwedded, God-fearing, undefiled Mother without wedlock and without father, and inasmuch as it befitted Him to be born, He purified the female nature, rejected the bitter Eve and overthrew the laws of the flesh” (St. Gregory the Theologian, “In Praise of Virginity”).
However, even then, as Sts. Basil the Great and John Chrysostom speak of this, She was not placed in the state of being unable to sin, but continued to take care for Her salvation and overcame all temptations (St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on John, Homily 85; St. Basil the Great, Epistle 160).
(3) The teaching that the Mother of God was purified before Her birth, so that from Her might be born the Pure Christ, is meaningless; because if the Pure Christ could be born only if the Virgin might be born pure, it would be necessary that Her parents also should be pure of original sin, and they again would have to be born of purified parents, and going further in this way, one would have to come to the conclusion that Christ could not have become incarnate unless all His ancestors in the flesh, right up to Adam inclusive, had been purified beforehand of original sin. But then there would not have been any need for the very Incarnation of Christ, since Christ came down to earth in order to annihilate sin.
(4) The teaching that the Mother of God was preserved from original sin, as likewise the teaching that She was preserved by God’s grace from personal sins, makes God unmerciful and unjust; because if God could preserve Mary from sin and purify Her before Her birth, then why does He not purify other men before their birth, but rather leaves them in sin? It follows likewise that God saves men apart from their will, predetermining certain ones before their birth to salvation.
St. John Maximovich (con’t)
“(5) This teaching, which seemingly has the aim of exalting the Mother of God, in reality completely denies all Her virtues.
After all, if Mary, even in the womb of Her mother, when She could not even desire anything either good or evil, was preserved by God’s grace from every impurity, and then by that grace was preserved from sin even after Her birth, then in what does Her merit consist?
If She could have been placed in the state of being unable to sin, and did not sin, then for what did God glorify Her? if She, without any effort, and without having any kind of impulses to sin, remained pure, then why is She crowned more than everyone else? There is no victory without an adversary.
The righteousness and sanctity of the Virgin Mary were manifested in the fact that She, being “human with passions like us,” so loved God and gave Herself over to Him, that by Her purity She was exalted high above the rest of the human race.
For this, having been foreknown and forechosen, She was vouchsafed to be purified by the Holy Spirit Who came upon Her, and to conceive of Him the very Saviour of the world. The [Papal] teaching of the grace-given sinlessness of the Virgin Mary denies Her victory over temptations; from a victor who is worthy to be crowned with crowns of glory, this makes Her a blind instrument of God’s Providence.
It is not an exaltation and greater glory, but a belittlement of Her, this “gift” which was given Her by Pope Pius IX and all the rest who think they can glorify the Mother of God by seeking out new truths.
The Most Holy Mary has been so much glorified by God Himself, so exalted is Her life on earth and Her glory in heaven, that human inventions cannot add anything to Her honor and glory.
That which people themselves invent only obscures Her Face from their eyes. “Brethren, take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, wrote the Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit” (Col. 2:8).
Such a “vain deceit” is the teaching of the Immaculate Conception by Anna of the Virgin Mary, which at first sight exalts, but in actual fact belittles Her. Like every lie, it is a seed of the “father of lies” (John 8:44), the devil, who has succeeded by it in blaspheme the Virgin Mary. Together with it there should also be rejected all the other teachings which have come from it or are akin to it.
The striving to exalt the Most Holy Virgin to an equality with Christ ascribing to Her maternal tortures at the Cross an equal significance with the sufferings of Christ, so that the Redeemer and “Co-Redemptress” suffered equally, according to the teaching of the Papists, or that “the human nature of the Mother of God in heaven together with the God-Man Jesus jointly reveal the full image of man” (Archpriest S. Bulgakov, The Unburnt Bush, p. 141)-is likewise a vain deceit and a seduction of philosophy.
In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female (Gal. 3:28), and Christ has redeemed the whole human race; therefore at His Resurrection equally did “Adam dance for joy and Eve rejoice” (Sunday Kontakia of the First and Third Tones), and by His Ascension did the Lord raise up the whole of human nature.
Likewise, that the Mother of God is a “complement of the Holy Trinity” or a “fourth Hypostasis”; that “the Son and the Mother are a revelation of the Father through the Second and Third Hypostases”; that the Virgin Mary is “a creature, but also no longer a creature”-all this is the fruit of vain, false wisdom which is not satisfied with what the Church has held from the time of the Apostles, but strives to glorify the Holy Virgin more than God has glorified Her.
Thus are the words of St. Epiphanius of Cyprus fulfilled: “Certain senseless ones in their opinion about the Holy EverVirgin have striven and are striving to put Her in place of God” (St. Epiphanius, “Against the Antidikomarionites”). But that which is offered to the Virgin in senselessness, instead of praise of Her, turns out to be blasphemy; and the All-Immaculate One rejects the lie, being the Mother of Truth (John 14:6).
Dear KathJuliane,
I take it that infallibility is granted to all members of the Orthodox Church.
Apparently, it’s now an impossibility, beyond the stretch of one’s Orthodox imagination, that anyone within the Orthodox Church might be WRONG!
– Fr. Joseph
“Come now, let us talk this over’ say Yahweh
– Prophet Isaiah – Isaiah 1:18
In 1884 A.D., the Bishop of Rome is granted the mystical gift of overhearing Satan challenging Christ Jesus. On-line reference under the subheading ‘A Short History of the Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel’ here
http://www.geocities.com/stmichaelsangels
THREE WORLD WARS are planned against the Human Race. On-line reference here
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike2.htm
World War I happened. That’s an “infallible” statement. Dr. Makow gives some historical account about personalities involved in initiating World War I here
http://www.henrymakow.com/illuminati_bankers_planned_wor.html
– Fr. Joseph
World War I = a ‘Strike ONE!’ against the Church and the Human Race.
World War II happened. That’s an “infallible” statement. The F.B.I. conducts its own investigations and finally uncovers the ‘real ruling power’ behind all of these who get to start World Wars.
From the heading entitled ‘Rakovsky’, the entire Human Race gets to find out ‘WHO?’ orders all of these World Wars against the Human Race from this on-line reference
http://www.fatima.org/books/divimp/dipt2chap2.asp
So, 6 billion human beings in our contemporary world can all know ‘Who?’ orders these World Wars from the ‘Rakovsky’ section referenced above and who winds up following these orders here:
‘The Pen That Rules The World’
http://michaeljournal.org/penrules.htm
– Fr. Joseph
World War 2 = a ‘Strike TWO!’ against the Church and the Human Race.
Now back in 1917 A.D. the Mother of God appears to three children in Fatima, Portugal given her Instructions as to how to DEFEAT this Number One Public Enemy of both the Church and the entire Human Race.
It’s all contained in the on-line video documentary entitled ‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’ here – shoot, the FBI and the Russian Secret Services can both sit back and watch it in the comfort of their offices in Washington D.C. and in Moscow, Russia (that’s IF they really wanted to)
‘Heaven’s Key To Peace’
http://heavenskeytopeace.com
The F.B.I. along with Russian Secret Security can BOTH review the messages given to the Church AND to the entire Human Race (which includes U.S. citizens and Russians, might I add) by the Mother of God as Our Lady of Akita, Japan, 1973 A.D. here
http://www.theworkofgod.org/aparitns/Akita.htm
– Fr. Joseph
A World War 3 = a ‘Strike THREE!’ and our entire Human Race, all the nations and states, to include the ORTHODOX as well as the Catholic Church are going to be called ‘OUT!’ by an Impartial Umpire.
What’s it gonna be?
‘World Pece OR the Annihilation of Nations?’
http://www.fatimacrusader.com/cr19/cr19pg31.asp
‘Nuclear Holocaust?’
http://www.fatimacrusaders.com/cr13/cr13pg09.asp
– Fr. Joseph
Now I’d like to personally address all of the religious and lay faithful of the Orthodox Church throughout our contemporary World in the most gentlest and sincerest manner possible.
As Sacred Scripture has it
“Come now, let us talk this over”, says Yahweh. – Isaiah 1:16
Without any argument possible, World War 1 and World War 2 both really and truly occurred. And I’ve given all of you factual information regarding those who are reponsible for these World Wars.
A THRID World War will employ the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. And these Weapons of INDISCRIMATE Mass Destruction ARE going to have a very personal and direct affect on ALL OF YOU religious and lay faithful of the Orthodox Church.
And that INDISCRIMINATE Mass Destruction will surely destroy Orthodox Churches, Chapels, Seminaries, Monasteries, Sketes, Shrines, etc. throughout all of the World as well.
– Fr. Joseph
The Mother of God, as Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal, 1917 A.D. instructed the Bishops of the Catholic Church to perform a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart.
The Mother of God IS ‘the WOMAN’ of Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12:17.
If that Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA were, the entire Human Race would be granted WORLD PEACE by her Son, THE LOGOS.
Time to share with you an excerpt from a letter I’ve just recently received by Fr. Nicholas Gruner of the Fatima Center as to THE REASON why that Collegial Consecration hasn’t been done while all of us hurl towards this yet to be realized Third World War planned and initiated by the Satanists-Illuminists.
– Fr. Joseph
Fr. Nicholas Gruner of the FATIMA CENTER relays the following bit of information to and FOR all of you in his May 25, 2009 letter:
“During our recent trip to Rome, at least one Cardinal and one Archbishop told us that Pope Benedict has only ONE REASON for not doing the Consecration of Russia.
HE IS AFRAID OF OFFENDING THE ORTHODOX!”
– Fr. Joseph
Fr. Nicholas Gruner of the FATIMA CENTER continues on with the following bit of information in his May 25, 2009 letter:
“now it has been confirmed definitively, that Pope Benedict, himself, WANTS to consecrate Russia but has NOT DONE SO because the RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH actually indicated they would be GRAVELY OFFENDED if he did it!”
‘Come now, let us talk this over’ says Yahweh.
– Fr. Joseph
‘Come now, let us talk this over’ says Yahweh. – Isaiah 1:16
The Satanists-Illuminists ARE going to initiate a THIRD WORLD WAR utilizing thermonculear Weapons of Mass Destruction which ARE going to have direct and personal affect on ALL of the religious and lay faithful of the Orthodox Church throughout our contemporary World.
The Bishop of Rome KNOWS that if he orders the Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of the Most Holy Theotokos per her 1917 A.D. Fatima, Portugal Instructions, all of us members of the Human Race will be granted WORLD PEACE by her Son, THE LOGOS.
The Bishop of Rome, however, will NOT order the Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of God’s Mother BECAUSE the Russian Orthodox Church’s Hierarchy will be ‘GRAVELY OFFENDED’!
‘Come now, let us talk this over!’
– Fr. Joseph
‘Come now, let us talk this over’ – Is 1:16
In the most gentle, most tenderest, most delicately careful way I am capable of doing, can I RESPECTFULLY and REVERENTLY ask all the hiearchy, the religious and the lay faithful of the GREEK Orthodox Church this question:
Did the Russian Orthodox Church obtain THE PERMISSION of all of you of the GREEK Orthodox Church to have all of you annihilated in a Satanic-Illuminst thermonuclear Third World War???
Did the Russian Orthodox Church obtain THE PERMISSION of all of you of the SYRIAN Orthodox Church to have all of you annihilated in a Satanic-Illuminist thermonuclear Third World War???
Did the Russian Orthodox Church obtain THE PERMISSION of all of you of the SERBIAN, SYRIAN, COPTIC Orthodox Church to have all of you annihilated in a Satanic-Illuminist thermonuclear Third World War???
And did the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church obtain THE PERMISSION of all of you religious and lay faithful OF the RUSSIAN Orthodox Church herself to have all of you annihilated in a Satanic-Illuminist thermonuclear Third World War??
If it’s ANY consolation to all of you of the ORTHODOX Church – the Bishop of Rome and the Vatican DID NOT ask me for MY PERMISSION to get me and my entire family annihilated in a Satanic-Illuminist thermonuclear Third World War either!
– Fr. Joseph
“In taking Sacred Scripture as our guide, we do NOT err. For the Holy Spirit speaks to us through Sacred Scripture.”
– St. John of the Cross – Camelite Saint – Mystical Doctor of the Catholic Church – from his book ‘The Ascent of Mount Carmel’
Sacred Scripture has it
“What was will be again, what has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.” – Eccesiastes 1:9
“‘God’, I thought to myself, ‘will judge both virtuous and criminal, because there is a time her for all that is purposed or done.’ I also thought that Mankind behaves like this so that God may show them up for what they are, and expose them for the BRUTE BEASTS they are to each other.”
– Ecclesiastes 3:17-18
Then, from the third epistle of St. John:
“I have written a note to the members of the Church, but Diotrephes, WHO SEEMS TO ENJOY BEING IN CHARGE OF IT, refuses to accept us.” – 3 John 9
So what does all of that have to do with the Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart of Christ Jesus’ Mother so as to bring about WORLD PEACE?
– Fr. Joseph
This is but only so much I can do as in individual Priest in the midst of this entirely and royally fouled up World of ours, the year being 2009 A.D..
And I can’t stop the much desired thermonuclear Third World War earnestly desired and sought after by the Satanic-Illuminsts who have been dragging both the Church and all of Mankind through one ‘horror’ after another this past century.
And I can’t stop the Russian Orthodox Church’s Hierarchy’s refusal and resistance to the Mother of God’s 1917 A.D. Fatima Instruction to have a public and solemn Collegial Consecration of RUSSIA to her Immaculate Heart.
But knowing the zealous LOVE and LOYALTY of all the lay Orthdox Faithful here on RZN to their respective hierarchy and clergy – there is but one last thing I can do – and that is to ask all of you ORTHODOX to earnestly pray to THE LORD for a miraculous ‘metanoia’ in the minds and hearts of the Russian Orthodox Hierarchy and Clergy so as TO WELCOME and ENCOURAGE the Bishop of Rome to comply with the Most Holy Theotokos’ Fatima Instruction of 1917 A.D.
– Fr. Joseph
http://www.rusjournal.com/fatima.html
The Consecration of Russia: An Orthodox Reply
Matthew Raphael Johnson
The apparitions of Fatima just prior to the end of World War I have been at the center of controversy for a number of reasons, not the least of which concerns a curious demand that “Russia” be “consecrated” to the “Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Devotion to the “Immaculate Heart” in terms of doctrinal history, is also curious. It has been noted that this “heart” is really a devotion upon the virtues and love of Mary towards her Son, which, of course, is at the root of all devotions to the Mother of God, thus rendering this specific devotion oddly superfluous.
This specific devotion, however, goes back to John Eudes, a saint in the Roman church, whose office for this devotion was rejected by Rome during his own lifetime, and again rejected in 1729 under different circumstances. It did not become an “official” devotional office until the desperate straits of pope Pius VI just after the French Revolution.
Regardless of its specific doctrinal history, which has always been tolerated though only recently receiving public approbation, it has absolutely no history among the Orthodox people.
All devotion to the Mother of God has revolved around her maternal care of Jesus, the fact that it was her flesh that clothed divinity, and that he lived under obedience to her for 30 out of his 33 earthly years.
There is no specific devotion to her “heart” however conceived. It is therefore a rather odd devotion to make as the center point of the Romanists dealings with Russia.
It might be worth while to examine a few of the words of Fatima’s most tireless crusader, Fr. Nicholas Gruner. I know little about him, except that he is either loathed or loved by Roman Catholics. Some view him as a crusader for the proper devotion of Mary, others view him as a monomaniac, and a priest without faculties to boot.
Regardless of the opinions out there on him, he is at the center of this storm, and considered by nearly all Catholics as an authority on these apparitions and specifically, the “consecration of Russia.”
Here are a few words of Fr. Gruner, followed by some questions raised by the author [M R Johnson]:
At Fatima, on July 13, 1917, Our Lady told Sister Lucy that “God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church, and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Communions of reparation and for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart … In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Our Lady’s request is very simple: Russia—the fount of so much evil in the 20th Century—must be set apart and made sacred by its consecration to the Mother of God.”
——–
Several things should be mentioned here. Given the time period, Russia was bleeding white, as was Germany, France and Austria, during the first Great War. It may make some sense in that Russia will become the center of the world, with which this author agrees. Of course, there are many ways to interpret this.
The USSR (not Russia) will become the center of global violence and unrest. This is true. Notice it says nothing about the destruction of the Austrian empire, the Catholic stronghold in central and eastern Europe; to say the least a curious omission.
It might be noted that Austria had many times attempted to forcibly convert the Serbs who spent too much blood and treasure defending Austria’s borders against Turkey, only to fail each and every time.
It might also be noted that the only reasons the Austrian empire even existed to fight in World War I was that Tsar Nicholas I intervened after the revolutions of 1848 to reinstall the Emperor back to his throne in Vienna.
http://www.rusjournal.com/fatima.html
The Consecration of Russia: An Orthodox Reply (2)
Matthew Raphael Johnson
The specifically stupid comment is that Russia is the fount [sic] of “so much evil in the 20th century.” I should take a few minutes here to remind Fr. Gruner that Marxism came from Germany, with plenty of revolutionary potential from France.
It is the godson of the French revolutionaries and is the grandson of the western European enlightenment. Marxism and revolution was a western European import into Russia, while the Tsars did all in their power to stop the tide.
In fact, all enlightenment materialism and liberalism was imported from the west into Russia. Fr Gruner continues:
“At Fatima, Our Lady warned that if the consecration were not done as She requested, then “Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.”
By the same token, the miraculous conversion of Russia after its consecration by the Pope and the bishops, and the resulting peace in the world, will be a sign of the power of God’s grace acting through ministers of His Church and the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
——-
One might assume that the “conversion” here is one to Roman Catholicism. Russia was still officially an Orthodox country in 1917, so there can be no doubt as to its intention.
It might be asked here why the invasion of Russia by Poland during the Time of Troubles did not succeed in converting the country, with a Roman Catholic “Tsar” in Moscow, and why there was no private revelation at this very propitious time for Catholicism in Russia.
Or Austria’s attempt at forced conversion of the Serbs. Or the Crusaders in 1204 and beyond, or the Teutonic and Livonian Knights, taking advantage of Russia’s weakness after the Tartar attacks, etc. etc. Every attempt to forcibly convert Orthodox people has failed.
“Thus, without the act of consecration there will be no conversion of Russia, and without the conversion of Russia, Russia’s errors will continue to infest the world, producing the persecution of the Church, the martyrdom of the good, the suffering of the Holy Father and ultimately the annihilation of nations forewarned at Fatima.”
The notion of Russia spreading her errors was spoken in 1929. This is eccentric, because Russia was then known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Why did not these apparitions refer to the USSR? Why only Russia? Were her errors Marxism? Was it Orthodoxy?
The USSR was officially atheist at the time, with the Orthodox Church in exile in Yugoslavia, with a substantial exile group in China. None of this is explained. Of course, nations were not “annihilated” in the normal sense of the term.
Millions were murdered due to both Soviet and Chinese style Marxism, though the nations affected, such as Tibet and Ukraine, continue to survive. “Russia” as a cultural entity, was not involved in this.
She was submerged into a prison camp called the USSR, with her best people either dead or in exile. Here again,
“In 1929, at Tuy, Spain, as She had promised, Our Lady came to tell me that the moment had come to ask the Holy Father for the consecration of that country.”
Russia was not a “country” in 1929. She was an administrative unit of the USSR.
As a cultural entity, she was under attack and the victim of Soviet genocide (though there is a curious lack of interest in this fact from the apparitions).
As a province of the USSR, she was a defined territory.
As a people, she was spread throughout the world, in suffering exile.
http://www.rusjournal.com/fatima.html
The Consecration of Russia: An Orthodox Reply
Matthew Raphael Johnson (3)
“Even the Russian Orthodox patriarch, Alexi II, publicly admitted on December 24, 1998, that since the supposed “fall of communism” in Russia, Christian culture “is not only being pushed into the background and oblivion, but is also being mocked and ridiculed … as something extinct and unnecessary.” Alexi also decried the “rise of neo-paganism … totalitarian sects, black magic practitioners, astrologers, and occultists” in “post-communist” Russia.”
And this is also the case in New York and Paris. Although New Yorkers or Parisians have not lived under 70 years of totalitarianism and enforced atheism. Russians have an excuse. Westerners do not. If this is a criterion for consecration, then I call on the patriarch of Moscow to consecrate Hollywood to the Kazan Icon of the Theotokos.
———-
“Most telling of all: Since the “consecration” of 1984, more than 600 million children have been slaughtered in the womb around the world—including Russia, where legalized abortion began. The war on the unborn is the greatest war in the history of the world. Thus, it should be obvious to anyone with common sense that the period of peace promised by Our Lady if Russia were properly consecrated has yet to occur.”
Abortion began in Russia? Abortion was practiced in ancient Greece and Rome, and raised to a level of a sacrament in the west. The Roman Empire made infanticide obligatory for deformed children, as did many pagan civilizations in antiquity.
If this is a reference to Stalin, he was not Russian, and Russia did not exist as a country. Stalin, as a good friend of mine recently pointed out, banned abortion in Russia, after it had been legalized by Lenin, and then reinstated by Khruschev. Specifically, Stalin, in a law dated June 27, 1936, provided for a 2 year prison term for procuring or performing an abortion.
You might also notice that the consecration of Russia is linked to world peace. This is a bit of a new twist. It is not merely that Russia should convert to a religion that has been manifestly hostile to her for over 700 years, but that this conversion will being world peace. According to the Fatima Network, an earthly utopia will result from the consecration of Russia:
“When the Consecration of Russia is done, this proper relationship between the ecclesiastical and civil authorities will be realized. There will be no clash between the Church’s teachings and the laws or governance of a country.
“For example, when we have the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, no government will have “legalized” abortion, divorce, contraception, etc.; the laws of God will guide the laws of the state.
“The peace of Our Lady, as indicated by Isaias above, also includes the conversion of the world to Catholicism. This is the clear meaning of the first part of the passage, which states that nations will flock to the house of the Lord. It has been infallibly defined three times that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. Therefore, it follows that God wants all men to be Catholic.”
http://www.rusjournal.com/fatima.html
The Consecration of Russia: An Orthodox Reply
Matthew Raphael Johnson (4)
Insofar as the “annihilation of nations” is concerned, the Fatima Network mentions the following:
“We do not know which nations will be annihilated from the face of the earth if the Consecration of Russia continues to be delayed. Our own nation could be one of them.
“Thousands of nuclear warheads exist throughout the world. Russia and Communist China, which are allies, both regard the United States as their enemy.
“While the nuclear warheads in Russia and China – or those possessed by other countries – may not be currently aimed at the United States, they could be aimed there within two minutes.”
These are curious notions. The first is that Russia, whether Marxist or no, is the primary threat to world peace, and this peace is defined as the global dominion, both in the civil and religious spheres, of the Church of Rome (and I assume only after it restores the liturgy of Trent).
Second, the annihilation of nations, since it was not realized under the domain of Marxism, now might be realized between an exchange of nuclear weapons between Russia and the U.S.
Russia’s hostility to the U.S. is based upon its interference in its internal affairs, as well as funding anti-Russian movements in the Baltics, Ukraine and Georgia. Therefore, it is the U.S. that is provoking Russia’s hostility, making a consecration of Russia even stranger. It is the U.S. that needs consecration.
Russia is not a Marxist country any longer. Her foreign and domestic policy is firmly nationalist, at least under the reign of Putin, with a current popularity rating at roughly 80%. Private property is permitted, though with legitimate reservations.
The Church is currently free, and is spending a fortune in rebuilding its infrastructure. Russia is gaining in wealth under Putin, and is developing an ethnic basis for protecting the Orthodox Church.
The exiles, under the Synod Abroad, have officially unified with the [Moscow] Patriarchate, making the Church even stronger, and giving it a truly global reach, and thousands of Catholics, fleeing the novus ordo, have converted to Orthodoxy [like the author Kj].
With the Protestants, entire jurisdictions of evangelicals have recently converted. In other words, the worst fears of the Vatican are being realized – a strong unified Russia with a strong and unified Orthodox Church. This is at the root of this “consecration.” Russia remains the gravest threat to the Vatican, and well as the U.S.
Most of the material found under the “Russia” section of the Fatima network is woefully dated, largely from the Cold War era. Outdated charts of nuclear parity between “Russia” and the U.S. are found.
They must maintain the “Ruskies-are-still-communist” myth because the revelations of Fatima make no sense in the post-Cold War era, so Putin has been transformed into a Marxist, and the fall of Marxism in “Russia” and Eastern Europe made into a conspiracy to get western aid.
The fact that there has been no aid to Russia since Putin came to power is lost on them, and the question of why Russians would deliberately dismantle 7/8ths of their economy from 1989 to 2000 is also not answered.
The Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION is very, very easy to understand.
From all of Eternity, the 1st Person of the Blessed Trinity perfectly and completely LOVES the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity.
In other words, God the Father LOVES His Divine Son with the Perfect Love of God the Holy Spirit – the 3rd Person of the Blessed Trinity.
All creatures created by God have but ONE Divine Purpose for BEING – and that is TO LOVE the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity in like manner as the 1st Person of the Blessed Trinity does.
That applies to all the ANGELS and SAINTS in Heaven as well as to the current population of SIX BILLION human beings currently living NOW on planet earth.
– Fr. Joseph
Continuing on with the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION of the Blessed Virgin Mary…
There was NEVER a moment in either Eternity or in Time that the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God, was WITHOUT abiding Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit.
Do consider what the word ‘NEVER’ denotes and implies.
In His Divine Nature AS the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God always had, has and forever WILL HAVE the Divine Love of His Eternal Father’s Holy Spirit.
When God the Father decided to send His Son to our Human Race in order to save it and redeem it, God the Father HAD TO select a WOMAN who would bear Him His Son by the Power of God the Holy Spirit.
God the Son taking on our HUMANITY is what is termed and dogmatically defined as a infallible docrtine of the Apostolic Church
God the Son’s ‘INCARNATION’.
– Fr. Joseph
Continuing on with the Catholic Church’s infallible doctrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s IMMACULATE CONCEPTION…
There was NEVER a moment in Eternity that the Son of God was DEPRIVED OF God the Father’s Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit.
Never.
In God the Son’s taking on our Humanity, the Divine Decree that the Son of God would ALWAYS possess and abiding with and in the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit, that Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit would have a Divinely appointed Source to lavished on the Son of God by a member of our Human Race when He took on our Humanity living in time-space-matter-energy in His INCARNATION.
That Divine Appointment to continue in the lavishing of God’s Divine Love of His Eternal Son, the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit was GRANTED TO a Woman who was to conceive the Son of God in her womb.
This Woman who God the Father Himself selected to be the Mother of His Divine Son was and is the CONCEPTION within the Divine Mind and by the Divine Will of God Himself.
– Fr. Joseph
This WOMAN who God the Father Himself conceived by His Own Divine Thought and Divine Will who would possess the Ability to lavish upon His Divine Son the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit when He took on our Humanity so as to live in time-space, matter-energy with the rest of us members of the Human Race could NEVER be influenced and affected by our Human Race’s manifold sins so as to have the ability to continue on in the UNINTERRUPTED Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit lavished upon the Son of God would be created without the affects of Original Sin.
For the DIVINE LOVE of God the Father for His Divine Son CANNOT, CANNOT, CANNOT be ‘interrupted’ by any agent or agency created by God Himself.
To assert otherwise in any fashion or form is to assert-promote the idea and false doctrine that EVIL reigns superior over the Divine Will of God Himself and that EVIL can subvert and alter anything and everything Willed by an Almighty God and Creator.
– Fr. Joseph
The Blessed Virgin Mary was ‘FULL OF DIVINE GRACE’ as the Archangel Gabriel informs all of us members of the Human Race living in time, space, matter and energy.
And the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived her Child by the Divine Creative Power of God the Holy Spirit.
This Woman was created by God Himself so as continue in the UNINTERRUPTED Divine Continuity of the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity eternally abiding in and with the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit in His Incarnation and physical entrance into the realm of time-space-matter-energy in which the entire Human Race lives, moves and has its being.
The Mother of God LOVES her Divine Son with the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit.
Which one of us members of the Human Race loves OUR OWN children with the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit?
Which one of us members of the Human Race IS LOVED by our human parents with the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit?
We DO NOT love our own children nor are we loved by our own parents with the fullness of Divine Empowering Grace and the Divine Love of God the Holy Spirit.
The MOTHER of God Incarnate, however, DID and DOES and FOREVER WILL!
The Mother of God, the Immaculate Conceptionn, was CREATED BY GOD HIMSELF to do exactly that – to eternally lavish the Human Motherly Love of God the Holy Spirit upon the Eternally Begotten Divine Son of God the Father Himself!
– Fr. Joseph
The Divine Graces of God the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the Mother of God in her IMMACULATE CONCEPTION empowered her and granted her the ability to perfectly fulfill the Greatest Divine Law from the moment of her own being conceived in the womb of HER mother –
That Supreme and Greatest Divine Law? Her OWN SON speaks and teaches and reveals it to all of us 6 billion human beings currently living and alive on planet earth in this year 2009 Anno Domini:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2012:28-31;&version=31;
That’s SACRED SCRIPTURE of the Apostolic Church which was given spiritual birth by THE WOMAN of Genesis 3:15, Revelation 12:17 and who conceived the Son of God in her own womb by the Power of God the Holy Spirit.
No further arguments.
– Fr. Joseph
Greetings of peace to those on the right path!
@KathJuliane, on the Mohammedans conquering Spain…
We, Muslims, asks to the Jews: what is Judaism as a name of your religion? Does it appear in the Torah? What would be the answer of the prophet Moses (peace of God be upon him) if today he was asked to name the given Law?
And we come to realise that the word Judaism does not appear in the Torah but rather is derived from the tribe of Juda. A term later used to name the way of life (“deen”) of the Judean people, even by themselves.
The prophet Moses (pbuh) would answer that his religion was the total submission to the Will of God, meaning Islam. And that is what has been the teachings of all prophets of God up to the Seal of them, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him).
That total submission is what makes of us Muslims.
@ Fr Joseph
The assertion on the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) taught by some Christians (here said to be a Jewish sect) emerged already during his lifetime and is false.
The Holy Qur’an denounces the Jewish ignominous slander on Mary (peace of God be upon her) and their attempt to kill Jesus (peace of God be upon him).
We recognise the son of Mary (pbuh) to be the Messiah, and a Sign of the Last Day.
I must say, as much as I enjoyed reading what you had to say, I couldnt help but lose focus after a while.
It is as if you had a awesome grasp on the subject matter, but you forgot to include your us your readers. Perhaps you should think about this from far more than one angle. Or maybe you shouldn’t generalize so considerably.
It is better if you think about what others may have to say instead of just going for a gut reaction to the subject. Think about adjusting your own belief process and giving others who may read this the benefit of the doubt.
Shutting down gay perversion and the corruption of the genders is one thing I can agree with Putin on. I never thought I’d say it.
No need to believe the parts of the Bible that are against homosexuality. Simple biology tells us, a woman and a man were created for each other. It’s also simple logic, but then again, perversion ignores a lot of harmful things and their consequences.