The local Albanian Muslims encountered some negative feedback about their having burned an Orthodox church in Macedonia (see Muslims in Macedonia (FYROM) Riot over Satirical Burqa Dudes at Vevčani Carnival). Muslims elsewhere know how to deal with potential criticism: by staging a “false flag” operation in which they fake an attack on themselves as a play for sympathy. Why not “vandalize” a mosque to make it look as though the Muslims are the victims, and the Christians are the perpetrators?

This time, their plans went comically awry. Maybe they couldn’t read the memo: “Before you try to impersonate a Macedonian Orthodox Christian writing graffiti on a mosque wall, you might want to learn how to write in Macedonian.”

The Macedonian language is a Slavic language very much like Serbian or Bulgarian; it can be written either in the Latin alphabet with the correct accent marks, or in the Cyrillic alphabet, which more accurately represents the phonics, but never a mixture of both. The Albanian language uses the Latin alphabet only, and not many Albanian Muslims are literate in Macedonian, Serbian, or Bulgarian.

Albanians vandalize own mosque to counter negative publicity

Thursday, 02 February 2012

Many described as “uneducated” the individual who wrote several graffitis on a Bitola Mosque. The idea was for media to report a story of supposedly a Christian vandalizing a mosque!!

However, this orchestrated vandalism is almost certainly an act of ethnic Albanian muslims. The reason for this as both local population and police state the culprit wrote the graffitis in terrible Macedonian, mixing both the latin and cyrilic alphabets!

“A Macedonian won’t butcher both the language and the alphabet as this individual did, not a chance!” says a local who saw the graffiti.

It is well known most Albanians aren’t able to write in Cyrilic, however the individual sure made a valiant effort to do so.

Macedonians in Bitola laughed off the “incident” claiming Albanians were trying to portray the Christians as bad after being slammed by the international community (including official Tirana) for burning a Macedonian Church few days ago.

The Irony of it all

While ethnic Albanian muslims damage Christian churches, a group of Albanians in the village of Mala Rechica has been asking local officials to donate buildinig materials and money to rebuild the St George Church after they themselves burned it in 2001.

News has spread from the village that after the 13th century Church was burned, each child born to an ethnic Albanian muslim in Mala Rechica had physical and or mental defects.

Over the years, a total of 14 children in a row were born with severe physical disabilities. The local Albanian muslim families spooked that they may have been cursed for burning the Church, have been in a frantic mode to rebuild the Church as soon as possible, even willing to pay for it!

Some Albanians have learned their lessons it’s wrong to burn sacred places, MINA had found the first in line to put out the fire at the Macedonian Church in Labunista few days ago were ethnic Albanians.

Authorities believe the problems comes from radical extremists among the Albanian population who have been to and accepted the wahabis teachings from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan etc. The last protest in Struga was attended by veiled women and long bearded man holding signs written in Arabic?!

The question is who are these people and when is police going to make arrests?

Contrary to the story above, eyewitness reports portray the crowd of Muslims as predominantly hostile, with very few of them helping to contain the blaze:

TITLE: Merko lies, mob of Muslims applauded the blaze (31-I-2012, 14.30)

Father Riste Naumoski

I inform everybody that now I came back from the extinguishing of the fire in the Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Labunishta. As the elder of that church that with the help of God, the Church is not completely burned. Above the Church there was a crowd of Muslims who applauded the blaze, and none of them was involved in the localization of the fire, except the family of Demiš Demišoski and Dr. Aladdin, to whom I am grateful.

Do not be fooled by Mr. Mayor of Struga that the Macedonian Muslims participated in extinguishing the fire, while it burned they were chanting slogans against Orthodox [Christians].

Lord Jesus Christ and His great Grace may be with us now and through all eternity. Amen!

———-
Reference:
OhridON Portal:
-Article in original Serbo-Bulgarian: [LINK]
-Automated translation by “Google Translate” (Imprecise; Not recommended for final use): [LINK]

More here:

• Eurasia Review: Macedonia: Orthodox Church Saved from Blaze
• topix: 2012 Civil War in FYROM: News (Chronologically Organized)
• Australian Macedonian Advisory Council: Preliminary Breaking News: Low Level Inter-Ethnic Warfare Erupted in FYROM

UKPA: Church set on fire after carnival

An Orthodox Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set alight in southern Macedonia overnight amid religious tension between Christians and minority Muslims over a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran.

Firefighters extinguished the fire on Monday night in the two century-old Sveti Nikola church, near the town of Struga. The church’s roof was destroyed but its icons were not damaged, the fire service said.

Hours before the fire, Muslim leaders had appealed for calm among community members.

The January 13 Vevčani festival prompted angry, sometimes violent demonstrations by Muslims, who are nearly all ethnic Albanian and make up 33% of the country’s 2.1 million population and accuse the majority of stoking hatred against them.

Ethnic tension has been simmering in this small Balkan country since the end of an armed rebellion in 2001, when ethnic Albanian rebels fought government forces for about eight months, seeking greater rights for their community. The conflict left 80 people dead, and ended with the intervention of Nato peacekeepers.

The Vevčani carnival, said to have been held for some 1,400 years, attracts thousands of visitors. Local residents traditionally wear elaborate, frequently sarcastic masks, with some of the most common costumes including devils and demons.

But this year’s perceived mockery of the Koran and the burka costumes caused outrage.

On Saturday, protesters attacked an inter-city bus heading from Struga to Vevčani, throwing rocks at the vehicle but injuring nobody. They also defaced a Macedonian flag outside Struga’s municipal building, replacing it with a green flag representing Islam. On the same day, perpetrators attacked a church in the nearby village of Labunista, destroying a cross standing outside.

Macedonian Muslim leaders called for restraint but also accused the government of promoting Islamophobia.

Deputy Prime Minister Musa Xhaferi said such incidents “create discord” and “violate mutual respect and trust.”

Read it here.

As always, Muslims blame someone else (in this case, the Macedonians) for their own lack of self-control.

Oh, and by the way, the term “Islamophobia” is an invention of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Seattle PI: Macedonia Muslims urge restraint over carnival

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Muslim leaders in Macedonia appealed for calm on Monday among community members outraged over a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men mocked Muslims by dressing as Burqa-clad women.

The incident at the Jan. 13 Vevčani festival has prompted angry, sometimes violent demonstrations by Muslims, who make up 33 percent of the country’s 2.1 million population and accuse the majority of stoking hatred against them.

On Saturday, some protesters attacked buses and defaced a Macedonian flag and replaced it with a green flag to represent Islam. On the same day, a church was attacked by unknown perpetrators in the nearby village of Labunista.

In a statement Monday, Macedonian Muslim leaders called for restraint but also accused the government of promoting Islamophobia.

“The behavior of Muslims should be restrained, but, unfortunately, we are concerned that Islamophobia in Macedonia is often combined with government propaganda,” they said. “Such is the case with this carnival that the government annually subsidizes with…the money of all citizens, including Muslims.”

The carnival, said to have been held for some 1,400 years, attracts thousands of visitors. Local resident traditionally wear elaborate, frequently sarcastic masks, with some of the most common costumes including devils and demons.

Muslims in Macedonia are almost all ethnic Albanians. Albanians, in Macedonia and elsewhere, have traditionally been secular, but conservative Islamic schools, especially Wahhabism, have taken a foothold in the years following a brief ethnic Albanian uprising in Macedonia in 2001. This spread has been mainly financed from Saudi Arabia.

Read it here.

Also see:

• MSNBC: Vevčani Carnival Photos
• Macedonian Cultural and Information Centre: Vevčani Carnival
• IDIVIDI: Vevčani carnival is a pearl of Macedonia’s tradition, says Kanceska-Milevska

Wondering why 1389 is the monicker for our blog?

Today, we are batting against a rather stealthy jihad. When hijacked airplanes fly into American buildings, we feel the affects of jihad, but we let Muslim clerics explain it away as the work of “extremists.” When a terrorist in the Holy Land explodes a bomb killing himself and a number of people around him, we feel the affects of jihad, but we let the leftists explain that it is Israel’s fault for existing and we let them spout some historical revisionism that a “Palestinian” people are entitled to this land and have some sadistic right to act in this manner. When Islamic dictatorships take (or allow others to take) hostages, we feel the affects of jihad, but we quietly wait for their release. In Muslim countries, Islam and the political system become one and the same. They stone to death those accused of an impure act, behead hostages, persecute and slaughter Christians and Jews, and impose a horrible form of tyranny upon their people. Meanwhile, Islamic movements are hard at work infiltrating Western and non-Muslim societies, all too often aided and abetted by Western governments.

Throughout history, battles between jihadis and non-Muslims were not always so stealthy. Even though communications were slow and not always reliable, the non-Muslims knew the threat and understood what a bleak future lay ahead for those whom fell to Islamic conquest. Battles were fought with swords, arrows and the like. When the Muslims won, the vanquished suffered. When the Muslims lost, the victories peoples thanked God and prepared for the next Islamic attack.

Some of the victims reasoned, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” So, those of weak faith capitulated and converted. This was never an option for staunch Orthodox Christians, for whom Islam was a serious heresy and the work of Satan. If you look a modern map of the world’s religions, you will see that Islam seems to end where Orthodoxy begins and vice versa. You just don’t find too many Lutheran-Muslim borders, Methodist-Muslim borders, or even Roman Catholic-Muslim borders. Indeed, Roman Catholics and Protestants have fought Islam in past centuries; there are a number of locations where Islam clashed with non-Muslim forces that are famous to this day. Our esteemed blog colleagues at Gates of Vienna commemorate a location where Christian forces twice stopped Islamic terrorism. But it has always been Orthodox Christians who have most often fallen under the hammer of Islamic expansionism and have fought against Islam for their very survival.

The Battle

We commemorate a battle fought in 1389 A.D. in Kosovo, the very cradle of Serbian civilization and culture. It was a classic clash between Islamic terrorism and Christianity, and it was a real bloodbath. Both Prince Lazar, the leader of the Christian forces, and Sultan Murad, the leader of the Islamic forces, were killed. All of the high-ranking officers among the Christian forces were killed, as were most of the Muslim leaders.

But who won the Battle of Kosovo? Ironically, the Christian people of the area, the Serbs, consider that they lost the battle! Historians are divided. Many consider it a draw. However, some who study the technicalities of military battles deem that the Christan forces won.

However, one thing is certain: with Sultan Murad dead, the Muslim plans to conquer Eastern Europe were set back for a while. It was 70 years before the Muslims conquered Serbia. By the time that Islamic forces reached Vienna, those Christian forces were ready to fend them off.

Had it not been for the Battle of Kosovo, in 1389 A.D., the Muslims might have captured Central and/or Eastern Europe in the 1400s. Who knows, with several Muslim bases of operation in Central and Eastern Europe, the Reformation may have seen “Protestants” rejecting the Trinity and inserting Allah instead; the Thirty Years’ War may have ended with the Muslims taking charge; and the French Revolution might have been an Islamic takeover.

Note that I referred to Prince Lazar’s forces as Christian. Historical sources tend to refer to his forces as “Serbian.” Many of the Christian forces were not Serbs, in that other kings had sent whole armies to help. However, don’t consider the Serbs “ethnocentric” for calling those troops Serbs. The Serbian people are very inclusive. More than one Serb has called me a fellow “Serb,” sometimes offering and explanation, sometimes not. In the Serbian mindset, a fellow Orthodox Christian, bearing arms against a common foe, would seem like such an equal that I cannot imagine them viewing him as anything less than a countryman.

No, the world might be a bit different today had Murad survived and won that battle back on June 15, 1389. [Note: the date is according to the Julian Calendar then in effect, and still used for liturgical purposes by the Serbian Orthodox Church.] Six centuries on, not much has really changed. The same types of Islamic extremists are fighting the same battle against us today, albeit with different tools, different weapons, different tactics.

In a sense, everyone is either a Jihadi (as much so as Murad’s Turkish terrorists) fighting to impose Sharia law on the world, a bystander who is are more ignorant that innocent, or a “Serb” fighting the forces of the evil of Islamic expansionism. Hence, we are the 1389 blog. And we invite all those who are concerned about Islamic extremism to become Serbs, at least, in spirit.

Links:

• Kosovo (online book by 1389 Blog team member William Dorich)
• What Happened in 1389? – 1389 Blog
• Lazar of Serbia – OrthodoxWiki
• Lazar of Serbia – Wikipedia
• The Battle of Kosovo (Projekat Rastko: Serbian Epic Poems)

From Journey to Orthodoxy:

Posted by Fr. John on November 19, 2011

More and More People in Czechia and Slovakia Are Giving Preference to the Orthodox Church

An interview with Metropolitan Christopher, Archbishop of Prague and Metropolitan of the Czech and Slovakian lands.

Archbishop Christopher of Prague, Metropolitan of the Czech and Slovakian lands talks about the history and modern condition of the Orthodox Church in Czechia and Slovakia. The talk was recorded in June of 2011.

—Your Beatitude, you chose the path of a clergyman of the Orthodox Church during the time in Czechoslovakia after the famous events of 1968 (“Prague Spring”), and for a number of reasons thousands of parishioners were leaving the Orthodox Church. To be Orthodox at that time was at the least, not considered prestigious. What moved you to go against the current?

—Yes, that was when my fate was decided: I chose the Orthodox theological seminary. I have to admit that it was not my cherished dream to become a priest. I wanted to become a forest ranger, and I also wanted very much to paint icons. I studied iconography with Fr. Andrei (Kolomatsky), a very gifted Russian priest, architect, artist, and tireless man of prayer. At times I would try to paint, wanting my icons to be like his—alive. But it didn’t come out like that. I would complain to Fr. Andrei, and he would answer, “Are you praying?” He himself prayed without ceasing, and that was the most important thing I learned from him. I began my spiritual path with him, and I came to know the mighty power of prayer, the strength of Orthodoxy, which enables a man, hoping in God’s help, to overcome what would seem to be insurmountable. I came to know God’s mercy, how the Lord works miracles. Perhaps it was then that I first had the desire to become a priest, albeit not fully consciously.

I went to the seminary only because no other school of higher education would have accepted me. At the time, in order to be accepted at an institute, one had to fill in an application line about one’s agreement to enter the armed forces of the Warsaw convention on my country’s territory. I was not in agreement with violence. Never. When I heard that in the application for admission to the seminary at the Orthodox theological department of Charles University had no such requirement (but there is, as they told me, a more complicated question—on Holy Scripture), I applied there. This is how, by God’s will, I began my path as a clergyman.

—The Church of Czechoslovakia is currently preparing for the sixty-year anniversary of its autocephaly. Why did the Church of Czechoslovakia receive its autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church?

—The first contacts, which became the basis of the friendship between our Churches, go back to antiquity, in the tenth–eleventh centuries, when the recluse Procopius, like St. Sergius of Radonezh, founded a monastery in the forest wilderness not far from the Sázava river, which later became a large, famous monastery. During the time that the Sázava Monastery was active, the monks would go to Kiev, and the monks from Kievan Russia would visit the Sázava Monastery. Each time they would bring gifts of icons and manuscripts to each other… These gifts from the Sázava Monastery are still treasured in Kiev. The Kiev monks in their turn brought a piece of the relics of Sts. Boris and Gleb to the Sázava Monastery, where they were honored with great reverence. One of the monastery’s side altars was dedicated to these saints.

In the eighteenth century, the Russian Orthodox Church also aided our country’s renewal of our Church. For nearly three centuries, Czechia did not have its own government, and was subject to the Austrian Hapsburg Empire. The people were Germanized, and had no rights. No one in the West wanted or was able to help us. Russia was a light, hope, and refuge for the Czechs at that time. Russian Slavophiles supported the Czech and Slovak patriot-renewers both ideologically and materially. With their help, in 1848 the first Slavic conference was conducted in Prague, which placed a beginning of the renewal in Czechia of Slavic culture and language. In 1867, the Slavic conference took place in Moscow, and on the streets of Prague people were singing, “God save the Tsar!”

Russians helped the Czechs afterward, also. They sent money for the construction of Orthodox Churches, and Orthodox priests. One of these was, for example, the martyr for Orthodoxy and faithfulness to Slavicism Archpriest Nicholai Ryzhkov. The people of Czechia honor that man’s memory. The Czechs also received Russian refugees (during the years of the civil war in Russia and subsequent persecutions) as their own brothers. They helped them to establish themselves, to receive education… The young Czech government spent billions on that.

The first head of the Czechoslovakian government formed in 1918, Karel Kramář, was Orthodox. Together with his wife, Nadezhda Kramář Khludova (a Russian aristocrat), he organized the construction of a remarkable church dedicated to the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Olšany Cemetery, which became a haven for Orthodox Russians, and then during the war years, for Orthodox Czechs, who were earlier under the omophorion of the Holy Hieromartyr Gorazd, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia who was executed by the Nazis. The Russian priests, primarily Fr. Andrei (Kolomatsky) and Bishop Sergius of Prague, helped their Czech brothers and sisters in Christ, spiritually cared for them, risking their own lives…

The Russian Orthodox Church did much for the Orthodox in Czechia also after the war. During those years, on the territory of the Czech and Slovak lands their existed four jurisdictions. It was necessary to do away with this atomism of the Orthodox Church and place our reliance in the largest Orthodox Church, the Russian Church. In 1946, the Czech Orthodox Church was accepted into the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church sent a talented organizer and missionary to Prague, a most honorable man who suffered much, Bishop Eleutherius. He had a gift of preaching from God, and drew to Orthodox tens, later hundreds of thousands of parishioners.

In 1950 the Church of Czechoslovakia already had a sufficient number of the faithful and bishops to receive independence. It even had a theology school. The Church could support and maintain itself, and needed no support from other sources. On November 23, 1951, a statement was signed in the Moscow Patriarchate granting autocephaly to the Czechoslovakian Orthodox Church. From December 18, 1951, after the notification of the heads of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches of Czechoslovakia, the Orthodox Church exists as an autocephaly.

—During the 1950′s, the Russian Orthodox Church endured a new round of persecutions (the Khrushchev era). In Czechoslovakia, upper echelons of the Communist Party aided the Orthodox Church in a victory over the Uniates. Is it true that this act of the Communists aided Orthodoxy in Czechia and Slovakia?

—The Communists, both yours (Russian) and ours were always enemies of the Church. That the Czechoslovakian party members supposedly helped the Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia was only their cunning maneuver: to get rid of the Uniates as quickly as possible with the help of the Orthodox. In fact, the Communist only injured the work of Orthodoxy. They shouted about the victory over the Uniates. In fact, there was no victory, only liquidation. You see, the Unia was introduced into the Slavic lands during the seventeenth century, also by force. Therefore, a large part of the faithful in the Uniate churches, under the influence of Bishop Eleutherius’ sermons, joyfully returned to the bosom of the Church of their ancestors, to Orthodoxy. Undoubtedly, all the rest would have followed their example, with perhaps rare exceptions. But during the process of voluntary departure of parishioners from the Unia—it could be said, at its final stage—the Communist bosses inserted themselves, demanded speedy and total liquidation of the Unia. Their methods are well known: prison, exile…

Then, to the Northern Czech border were sent hundreds of Uniate families. Scores of Uniate priests who did not accept Orthodoxy were defrocked. The Uniate leaders, for example, Bishop Goidich, were held in prison cells, and then sent to a concentration camp designated for particularly dangerous criminals. There Goidich died. Of course, all of this had a negative effect on Orthodoxy. We Orthodox know that no such force is a victory. Goidich became a holy martyr for the Uniates, their standard. Unfortunately, we still have not been victorious over the Unia. They call people to their churches through deception. Those who come to them see Orthodox icons, and thinking that they are being baptized into Orthodoxy, they end up in the Unia…

—What was the real reason for the mass exit of parishioners from the Orthodox Church after the events of 1968?

—The aforementioned was the reason, in any case, the main reason, for the mass exit of parishioners from the Orthodox Church. The arrival of Soviet tanks on our streets completed this process. Orthodoxy was always associated with Russia. And those who invaded our country in tanks spoke Russian. As a sign of protest, our people “forgot” the Russian language. It cost the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia, Vladyka Doretheus, an enormous effort to save the Church from total disintegration…

—Is it true that at the present time, only the Orthodox Church of the Czech lands and Slovakia is increasing in the number of parishioners, while all other confessions are decreasing? What is the reason for this, in your opinion?

—Yes, this is true. The number of Orthodox in Czechia is growing. Many people have come to us from the former Soviet Union. They want to live here. And they bring their homeland with them—the Orthodox Church. But Czechs are also coming to be baptized into Orthodoxy. Our Church attracts people by the absence of negative phenomena in its history—that is, the inquisition and persecution of those of different convictions. To the contrary, the Orthodox Church is a refuge for all the persecuted. That there are many more Orthodox can be seen: all the Orthodox churches are full. On feast days we even have to serve outdoors, next to the church. Meanwhile, the many Catholic churches are empty; at best, concerts are given in them. The Uniate churches are also not at all full. Less than a tenth of the original number of parishioners (in the 1920′s there were 900,000!) are left in the Hussite Church. Around three million parishioners have left the Catholic Church.

—Why is this happening? Why is Czechia the most atheistic country in Europe?

—People ask me about this often. I then answer by telling the history of my much-suffering country, which joyfully received Baptism from the saintly brothers Cyril and Methodius, but later, after many centuries, suffered persecution from the aggressive (at that time) Roman popes and cardinals… Catholicism was instituted by force, by almost the same methods as fascists or communists used. For disobedience—requisition of property and land, exile from the country, and even execution… “Let every father, mother, and child who does not receive Catholicism in fourteen years be exiled from the country!” Such were the orders from the Pope of Rome after the Catholic League’s victory over the Czechs.

At that time, nearly half of the population of Czechia was exiled. Out of 150,000 families, there remained only 30,000. It is apparently understandable, why Czechs did not like Catholicism. Therefore, as soon as Czechoslovakia became an independent country, nearly a million people left the Catholic Church and created the Czechoslovakian Orthodox Church. And our country would have been Orthodox then, had not, as the Russians say, a mess occurred. Essentially, a tragedy: When the Primate of the newly created Orthodox Church, Holy Hieromartry Gorazd, went to America in order to obtain some needed financial means with the help of wealthy Czechs, another pretender to the bishopric, the talented orator Karel Farsky led nearly all the parishioners into his modernist Church, where Jesus Christ was honored not as the Son of God, but as the First Saint, born of marital union. And people believed him… I think that the name of this modernist Church, called Hussite, worked on people’s psychology. Although, Jan Hus himself was not a modernist, but rather went to be burned at the stake for the sake of Original Church of Christ. As years passed, people have figured everything out. That is the answer to why people leave not only the Catholic Church, but also the Hussite Church.

—Czechia is considered to be the most atheist country. It would seem that without faith, all the vices of society should appear. But in fact Czechia is a peaceful country, people are well-wishing, without aggression. One can be out on the streets without fear at any time of the day or night. Everything in Czechia—the construction of houses, the public transportation, the stores, and other places—is designed to be of maximum convenience for people. I remember how amazed I was at the transfer system of the trains… Everywhere, you feel that in everything having to do with relationships to people there is cordiality, warmth, and kind wisdom… Does this mean that it is possible to do without religion, without faith? What is your opinion on this?

—Yes, our citizens’ peace-loving nature and absence, or more precisely, near absence of aggression, you have correctly noticed. That the majority of the population does not number itself amongst any one of the religious confessions is also true. However, the main mass of our people, the Czechs, cannot be called godless. Take, for example, the Church holidays: Christmas, Christ’s Resurrection, and other great feasts. People try to observe the traditions that have taken root in Czechia since long ago, and which were passed down from generation to generation…

Yes, it is very unfortunate that the majority of our citizens do not attend Church services. But does that mean that we can do without the Church entirely? No, of course not. It is precisely thanks to the Church that our people had the happiness of receiving Christianity originally from the very Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius; in place of barbaric cruelty, they began to cultivate such qualities as love of neighbor, gentleness, and readiness to forgive offenses; loyalty and dedication to family and Fatherland, honor of parents, and all the other virtues. It is precisely thanks to the Church, to our great patriots, such as the first president of Czechoslovakia Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, such as the historian and Russophile František Palacký, who were deeply religious men, that our people acquired Christian morals, a Christian view of life. One could say that this very culture instilled by the Church became the Czechs’ second nature. This can also be seen in the mass pilgrimages to holy places and in part through the reverence for Orthodox saints—Martyr Liudmila, Princess of Czechia, and the Holy Passion-Bearer Prince Václav (Wenceslaus).

Thus, in answer to your question, I would again like to repeat that it is precisely due to the Christian religion, the Church, which was Orthodox in our country from the beginning, our people have the traditions of their fathers, and became the people you know, and the whole world knows—hard working and peace-loving, with God in their hearts. And, of course, the Czechs need the Church.

More and more people in Czechia and Slovakia are giving preference to the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, it is not our task to increase the number of parishioners from for example, former Catholics. Right now it is necessary to unite our efforts to morally strengthen the people, first of all the young people, in order to teach them how to oppose evil, so that, as they say, the sheep would not become goats.

—Will Czechia and Slovakia return to the faith of their fathers, that is, to Orthodoxy? How do you see the future of your Church in the country?

—Return to the original Church of St. Methodius? It is possible. Theoretically. But I don’t normally talk aloud about it. Although I dream of it and pray. I also believe that I am not alone. With the Lord all is possible, and we need to work. After all, the majority of the population is not in the Church. We need to work with them in particular. Our efforts need to be directed against abortions, same sex marriages (although we are against any persecution of such people). We need to explain what the Lord said to us in His commandments: about life, love, friendship, help of neighbor, and about everything good. We need to struggle against evil and violence, against the deception of people…

I am for the one Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Then it will be possible to restore moral values, and raise the peoples’ spirituality. And in this was, is, and always will be the strength of the people and the nation.

—Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague died a martyr’s death for Christ’s truth. Their memory lives on not only in Czechia. Your Beatitude, why have they not been canonized as saints?

—Czechs began to venerate Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague as saints immediately after they were burned at the stake. Jerome of Prague was the first to call Jan Hus a saint—at the very Council of Constance, which condemned Jan Hus and which awaited a “statement of repentance” and condemnation from Jerome of Jan Hus. They were venerated for two hundred years. However, after the defeat by the Catholic Leagues at the fatal battle on White Hill in 1620 and the forced Catholicization of the Czech people, the names of Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague were basically outlawed. In 1918, when Czechoslovakia became an independent state, the modernist Church took the name of Jan Hus. The communists called him something of a revolutionary. In fact, he never called for modernism in his sermons, but spoke only about the undistorted, original teaching of Jesus Christ, which was in fact Orthodoxy.

—Does that mean that Jan Hus’s and Jerome’s martyric deaths could be considered martyrdom for Orthodoxy?

—It was precisely of Orthodoxy that they were accused. This was one of the points of accusation of their heresy. However, they considered themselves Catholics and officially were so. Only at the end of the twentieth century did the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church, John Paul II, express his deep regret over their burning at the stake. But he did not go beyond regret. And they both, Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, died for the undistorted faith, for the pure faith of Christ—that is, for Orthodoxy. Therefore we are completely justified in canonizing them as saints. This has already been confirmed by the Church of Cyprus and the Greek Church. Other Orthodox Churches also support us.

—Your Beatitude, what are the greatest problems facing your Church right now?

—The greatest problem is the lack of space. Did you see what is going on in the Churches? People can barely squeeze in. Many stand outside. We have nowhere to gather, nowhere to receive pilgrims—and they would come to us. Many people would come from Russia, to the relics of St. Liudmila and St. Wenceslaus; they would come to the place where the first Slavic desert dweller, St. John of Czechia, lived.

—It seems you also had a problem with the Sunday school, and with your office? Were you able to resolve them?

—Yes, there were problems. Big ones. We have a very good Sunday school for children. It is attended by several tens of students. But do you know what the children, parents, and we experienced? The owners of the building (the Czech military offices) refused to extend the lease of the building the school occupied. This is after we, the clergy, and the children’s parents had spent so much time and energy fixing up a building that was given to us in a far from optimal condition. We had even set up a house church for the children, which was beautiful, and the children loved it. They didn’t even let us finish the school year…

We had to finish the Sunday school sessions in the Metropolitan’s office. And it is not so easy to get there…

—Is that your office, Vladyka?

—Yes, it was once, and not only mine. Since 1950 this building served as the Metropolitan’s office of all of my predecessors, the Primates of the our Orthodox Church. However, soon after the refusal to extend the lease of the Sunday school, the owner of the building where the Metropolitan’s office is located also refused to extend the lease. The two refusals coincided like that… So during the new school year, the children had to go from place to place. In part, they used the building of a pre-school.

—And you yourself remained, as they say, without a roof?

—Yes. It was a difficult situation. I am grateful to the Russian Orthodox Church, and in part to His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, and also to Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department of External Church Relations, and the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church here, Archpriest Nicholai Lischeniuk—they helped us very much. Our Sunday school received a non-terminating lease of the building that housed an exhibition complex. True, only part of it; the rest will come in two years. But the Sunday school is already active there. And do you know what is remarkable? The Sunday school is, by God’s will, very near the new Metropolitan’s office.

—So, that means that the problem with your office was also resolved? Are you also renting?

—We received it as our own property. We purchased it. Again I thank the Russian Orthodox Church, and Patriarch Kirill for his material assistance and support.

—Your Beatitude, how is it going with the parcel of land that the government of Prague promised to give you for the construction of such a needed Orthodox Church of the Czech lands and Slovakia, and a Cathedral church?

—They have been promising for a long time now, ten years. They are always on the verge of placing the last dot. We have already prepared the blueprints for the building. The last time, they asked us to wait for the elections. The mayor’s election has passed… But nothing went forward. They are completely silent. They don’t even promise, but they don’t refuse. We will make it happen. It is a pity—because of insufficient space we are losing potential parishioners. Especially young people, who often out of their ignorance end up in sects. Our space is overfilled, while they (the sectarians) have all they need. So the young, inexperienced people think that God is there, in the sect. But have only an appearance, only talk. Sects in Czechia are strong right now. They have money, buildings…

—Tell us, please, about your prospects for the future. About the most important thing.

—Our prospects are the young people—they are what is most important. Look at the children in the Sunday school, what bright faces they have. What will they become? Engineers, doctors, teachers, and perhaps priests? We do not know. But undoubtedly they will be people who are able to tell right from wrong, to become citizens who live according to the laws of God. And that is the most important thing.

—Finally, one last question concerning the interdependence of Czechs and Russians. You, Your Beatitude, well know what true friendship there was between our peoples. Czechs and Russians have considered each other brothers for many centuries. We loved each other. You also know the reasons for the abrupt cooling, even phobia of the Czechs toward Russians, which, alas, still go on. I know that you for your part try very hard to renew the former friendship. Tell us, please, what specifically do you do in this regard, and what, in your opinion, do Russians need to do in order to make this renewal happen?

—Yes, truly, the friendship between Czechs and Russians continued many centuries. [One testimony of this are the huge number of Liudmilas and Viacheslavs (Wenceslaus) found in Russia. —OC.] The events of August 1968 were especially a blow—the Russian invasion in tanks was taken as a crude disregard for our country’s independence. Czechs are particularly sensitive to that.

A friends’ betrayal is the bitterest betrayal there can be. Czechs were dumbfounded, and “forgot” the Russian language. I remember myself at that time, and I was only fifteen. It was very bitter to recognize that our very best friends, the Russians, had betrayed us.

In August, 1968, on vacation in Hungary, I was arrested for the first time: I had written in Hungarian, “Long live Dubček”. The young Hungarians who told me how to write it in Hungarian gave me away. They were strict about that. They held me and then released me, saying that had I been an adult and Hungarian, I would be sitting in prison for twenty-five years.

—Your Beatitude, you said, “the first time.” Was there a second?

—There was a second time, and a third… The second time was in 1969, after a hockey match between Czechs and Russians, that is the Czechoslovakian team and the Soviet Union’s team. We won, and our boyish heads were spinning. I don’t remember what we did, but we found ourselves in a prison cell. We were again released because we were underage. The third time was when I was twenty-seven. I was getting ready to go to Greece for study. They arrested me due to slander that I wanted to flee the country! In those days, they gave five years for that. Vladyka Dorotheus saved me from prison; he quickly collected the documents and sent me to a monastery in Greece… There I learned Greek and graduated from the university. The slander, of course, was unfair—I never wanted to leave, for I love my country very much…

Well, and as for the “Russian occupation”, I quickly understood that the Russians had nothing to do with it. They did not send Russians to us in tanks, but Soviet Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Uzbeks… And there were also Germans, Hungarians, Poles… Some Russians, too. But I saw the faces of those Russian boys, “invaders”, and they looked the most miserable. From that time on I always said, and still say that the Russians are just like us—sufferers, and Russia, like Czechia, was under oppression, enslaved…

Now many understand this and relations with Russians have changed for the better. I and the Orthodox priests never tire of repeating that the Russians were and are our brothers. I have been consecrating more and more Russian (Ukrainian)-Czech marriages and baptizing the offspring of these unions—infants born from these bonds of love, and bearing within themselves love for both of our peoples and nations.

Source

Translation by OrthoChristian.com

© 2011, Journey To Orthodoxy | The Orthodox Christian ‘Welcome Home’ Network for Converts. All rights reserved. On republishing this, please provide a link to the original post. Thank you and may God richly bless you.

Read more: Jan Hus, Jerome of Prague and Orthodoxy in Czechia & Slovakia : Journey To Orthodoxy | The Orthodox Christian ‘Welcome Home’ Network for Converts

Also see:

• Never Knew that the Church was Orthodox

Orthodox Christians take high-visibility role in the March for Life

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – At a religious event often dominated by massive presence of Roman Catholics, members of the Eastern Orthodox Church played a more visible role in this year’s March for Life than ever before. For the first time, the opening prayer in front of the Supreme Court was offered by His Eminence Jonah (Paffhausen), Metropolitan of All America and Canada for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), as well as Roman Catholic prelates Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan.

“We are of one heart and one purpose,” he said as he chanted a litany of life before hundreds of thousands of marchers.

Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA),
participates in Monday’s March for Life in Washington D.C.

 
The Metropolitan was joined by several of his brother bishops, including Bp. Melchizedek of Pittsburgh, Bp. Matthias of Chicago, and Bp. Michael of New York. At least 15 priests were in his company alone. Several individual representatives of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Antiochian Orthodox Churches also participated.

Fr. Chad Hatfield, chancellor of St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary in Syosset, New York, estimated more than 100 Orthodox Christians came with his group. St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania also brought students to participate in the church’s public ministry.

“The nation should respect life from conception until the moment the person naturally takes his last breath,” Met. Jonah told LifeSiteNews.com. The Orthodox Christian Church, the world’s second largest Christian denomination, dogmatically teaches that life begins at conception and that abortion is a grave sin.

He said throughout the year the faithful should remind women who have had an abortion “that forgiveness and healing are available to them. They should support ministries that care for pregnant women by, for instance, founding crisis pregnancy centers. That is the kind of ministry that will bring an end to abortion in this nation,” he said.

He instructed parishes of the OCA to insert prayers for the end of abortion into one of the church’s litanies on January 22, which the OCA proclaimed “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.”
[...]
Read it all here.

Abortionist Turned Pro-Life Apostle

The Mission of Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy | 12.01.03 | Grzegorz Gorny
Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 4:18:29 PM by Coleus
Stojan Adasevic will never forget the day he was organizing the filing cabinet in the doctors’ room. He was a medical student at the time. A number of gynecologists entered the room. Paying no attention to the student crouched over a pile of papers in the corner, they began swapping stories about their medical practice.   Dr. Rado Ignatovic recalled a patient who had come to him for an abortion. The procedure failed because the doctor had been unable to align the cervix. As the gynecologists went on discussing the woman’s history, Stojan, who had been listening in, suddenly stiffened. He realized that the woman under discussion — a former dentist at the nearby clinic — was his mother.

“She’s dead now” — observed one of the doctors — but I wonder what happened to the unwanted child?” Stojan couldn’t resist. “I’m the child!” he said, getting up. Silence fell over the room. Seconds later the doctors were walking out.

Over the years Dr. Adasevic would have cause to recall that event many times. It was perfectly clear to him: he owed his life to the fact of a failed abortion. He would never make such a blunder himself. Many women were referred to him because of difficulty in aligning the cervix. This was never a problem for Stojan. He became the best abortionist in Belgrade. Before long he had surpassed his master in the profession — Dr. Ignatovic, to whose incompetence he owed his life.  “The secret lies in training the hand through frequent procedures” he would say, citing the German proverb: Übung macht Meister (practice makes perfect). Faithful to this maxim, he would perform from twenty to thirty abortions a day. His record was thirty-five abortions in one day. Today he has difficulty reckoning up the abortions he performed in his twenty-six years of practice. He estimates anywhere between 48,000 and 62,000.

For years he remained convinced that abortion, as taught in the medical faculties and textbooks, was a surgical procedure not unlike that of removing an appendix. The only difference was in the organ removed: a piece of intestine in the one case, and embryonic tissue in the other. Doubts began to arise during the 1980s when ultrasound technology came to Yugoslavian hospitals. It was then that Adasevic first saw on the USG monitor what had until then been invisible to him — the inside of a woman’s womb, a live child, sucking its thumb, moving its arms and legs. As often as not, fragments of that child would soon be lying on the table beside him. “I saw without seeing — he recalls today. — Everything changed after I started having the dreams”.

Dr. Adasevic’s dreams

Actually, it was the same recurring dream. It haunted him every night, day after day, week after week, month after month. He dreamed he was walking in a sunlit meadow. Beautiful flowers grew all around. The air was thick with colored butterflies. It was warm and pleasant, yet, despite this, some anxious feeling oppressed him. Suddenly the meadow was filled with laughing and running children. They were playing ball. In age, they ranged from three or four to about twenty years. All were strikingly beautiful. One boy in particular, and two of the girls, seemed strangely familiar, but he could not recall where he had seen them. When he tried to speak to them, they ran off in terror, screaming. The entire scene was presided over by a man in a black habit who watched intently in silence.

Every night Adasevic would wake in terror and stay awake till morning. Herbal remedies and pills were useless. One night, he became distraught in his dream and began chasing the fleeing children. He caught one of them, but the child cried out in terror: “Help! Murderer! Save me from the murderer!” At that moment the man dressed in black, turned into an eagle, swept down, and pulled the child away. The doctor woke up, his heart thumping like a hammer in his ribs. The room was cold, yet he was hot, drenched in sweat. In the morning he decided to see a psychiatrist. Since there were no immediate openings, he booked an appointment. That night he decided he would ask the man in his dreams to identify himself. This he did. The stranger said: “Even if I told you, my name would mean nothing to you”. When the doctor persisted, the man finally replied: “I am called Thomas Aquinas”. Indeed, the name meant nothing to Adasevic. It was the first time he had heard it. The man in black continued: “Why don’t you ask who the children are. Don’t you recognize them?” When the doctor said he didn’t, he replied: “Not true. You know them very well. These are the children you killed while performing abortions”. “How is that possible?” countered Adasevic. “These are grown children. I have never killed born children”. Thomas replied: “Do you not know that here, on this side of the eschaton, children continue to grow?” The Doctor refused to yield: “But I have never killed a twenty-year-old boy”. “You killed him twenty years ago” replied the monk, “when he was three months old”.

It was then that Adasevic recognized the faces of the twenty-year-old boy and the two girls. They resembled people he knew well, for whom he had performed abortions over the years. The boy looked like a close friend of Adasevic’s. Stojan had performed the abortion on his wife twenty years ago. In the two girls the doctor recognized their mothers, one of whom happened to be Stojan’s cousin. Upon awaking, he decided he would never perform another abortion in his life.

I held a beating heart in my hand

Waiting for him upon his arrival at the hospital that morning was a cousin along with his girlfriend. They had booked an abortion with him. Four months pregnant, the woman was about to do away with her ninth consecutive child. Adasevic refused, but his cousin was so importunate that he gave in: OK, but this was the very last time.  On the USG monitor he clearly saw the child with its thumb in its mouth. Stretching the uterus, he inserted the forceps, took hold of something, and pulled. In the jaws of the forceps was a little arm. He placed it on the table, but in such a way that one of the limbs’ nerve endings touched a drop of spilled iodine. Suddenly, the arm began to twitch. The nurse standing beside him almost screamed out. Just like frogs’ legs in a physiology lab!  Adasevic shuddered, but went on with the abortion. Again he inserted the forceps, gripped, and pulled. This time it was a leg. Just as he was thinking: “Better not let it touch that drop of alcohol”, a nurse standing behind him dropped a tray of surgical instruments. Startled by the crash, the doctor released the forceps, and the leg landed right beside the arm. It too began to move.

The staff had never seen anything like it: human limbs twitching on the table. Adasevic decided to mash up what was left in the womb, and pull it out in a formless mass. He began mashing, squashing, crushing. Upon withdrawing the forceps, now certain that he had reduced everything to a pulp, he produced a human heart! The organ was still beating. Weaker and weaker it beat, until it stopped altogether. It was then that he realized he had killed a human being.  The world turned dark around him. He cannot recall how long this lasted. Suddenly he felt a tug on his arm. A nurse’s terrified voice called out: Doctor Adasevic! Doctor Adasevic! The patient was bleeding. For the first time in years, the doctor began praying earnestly: “Lord! Save not me, but this woman”.   Normally it could take up to ten minutes to clean the womb of all remaining embryonic matter. This time two insertions of the instrument through the vagina were enough to complete the task. When Adasevic removed his gloves, he knew this was the last abortion he would ever perform.

The pail: instrument of abortion

When Stojan informed the head of the hospital of his decision, there was a considerable stir. Never before in a Belgrade hospital had a gynecologist refused to perform abortions. Pressure was brought to bear on him. They cut his salary in half. His daughter was fired from her job. His son “failed” his university entrance examinations. He was attacked in the press and on television. The Socialist State — they said — had provided him with an education so that he could perform abortions, and now he was carrying out sabotage against the State.   Two years of persecution brought him to the brink of nervous exhaustion. He was on the point of asking the hospital administrator to reassign him to abortion duty, when Thomas Aquinas appeared to him in a dream. Patting him on his shoulder, Thomas said: “You are my good friend. Continue your struggle”. Adasevic did not go to the administrator. He decided to fight on.

He got involved in the pro-life movement. He traveled throughout Serbia, lecturing and giving talks on abortion. Twice he succeeded in airing on Yugoslav state television Bernard Nathanson’s The Silent Scream, a USG recording of an actual abortion. In the early 1990s, thanks largely to Adasevic’s activism, the Yugoslav parliament passed a decree protecting the rights of the unborn. The decree went to President Slobodan Milosevic, who refused to sign it. Then the war broke out, and the decree fell into abeyance.   As for the war, Adasevic wonders: “To what else can we attribute the slaughter that took place here in the Balkans if not our alienation from God and lack of respect for human life”. And to make his point he describes what is common practice in Serbia: “Since our laws protect the life of the child only from the moment of its first breath, that is, from the instant it utters its first cry, abortions are legal in the seventh, eighth, and even ninth month of pregnancy. Actually the word “abortion” has no place here, since it applies more to miscarriages. Beside the birthing seat stands a bucket of water. Before the child has a chance to utter a cry, you stop up its mouth and plunge it under water. Officially this is an abortion, and it is all perfectly legal, since the child never draws a breath”.

Here Adasevic likes to cite Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “if a mother can kill her own child, what is there to prevent you and me from killing one another?”  Today, most abortions are performed in private clinics, which do not release figures on aborted pregnancies. Adasevic estimates that for every twenty-five children conceived barely one live birth results. Twenty-four beings are destroyed.  “What further complicates statistical analysis in this area — he observes — is the use of abortifacients such as the IUD  and the RU-486 pill, which are officially classified as contraceptives. The IUD is an abortifacient; for the coil acts as a sword, which severs the tiny human being from its source of food in the womb. It is a terrible death. A human being dies of starvation in a place that is filled with nourishment.

“This is a real war, waged by the born upon the unborn — he adds. — In this war I have crossed the front several times: first as an unborn child condemned to die, then as an abortionist myself, and now as a pro-life apostle.  “I have also become interested in the life of Thomas Aquinas, about whom I knew nothing before. I have often wondered why he appeared in my dream, and not other saints, especially since he is a Catholic saint, and I am Orthodox. To explain this, I started studying Thomas’ writings.  Guess what I found? According to Aquinas, human life begins 40 days after fertilization in the case of men, and 80 days in the case of women. So what is a child in those preceding days? Nothing? I think what Thomas said gives him no peace in the eschaton. Mind you, it should be stated that Thomas accepted this view from Aristotle. Aristotle was the great authority then. Thomas allowed himself to be influenced by his view, and committed an error.

“It was a long time before I grasped the fact that a child in the mother’s womb is a living person, that it is a living person not from the time it draws its first breath, as the communist professors taught us, but from the instant the human embryo is formed, that is, from the moment the spermatozoon joins with the egg cell”.

Grzegorz Gorny

Originally published in Love One Another Catholic Magazine, No. 1/2004 dedicated to the New Evangelization.  An abbreviated form of this article appeared in the Polish secular daily Rzeczpospolita (1 December 2003).  Used with Permission.

Abortion – The First Hour Trailer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by CatholicRadioTVNet on Aug 5, 2010

This trailer presents the first 10:20 minutes of the CRTN – documentary “Abortion – The First Hour”.

Production Date: 2009
Duration: 27′

Copyright : CRTN
Language: English
Executive Producer: Grzegorz Gorny & Lech Dokowicz
Director: Grzegorz Gorny

Over one billion abortions have been carried out in the last 30 years. Approximately 53 million abortions are carried out every year. In many countries over 70% of women have terminated a pregnancy.

Drawing on interviews with doctors who have performed abortions (Doctor Stojan Adasevic from Belgrade in Serbia has carried out nearly 55000 abortions and Doctor Bleslaw Piecha from Poland has carried out over 1000 abortions) as well as women who have undergone an abortion, the film seeks to show the deep wound abortion commits on humanity – as well as the hope offered by those who try to stop abortion.

Stojan Adasevic

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by catholicnewsagency on Nov 12, 2008

Otro “rey del aborto” convertido en líder pro-vida: Stojan Adasevic

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by Acitv on Nov 12, 2008

El diario La Razón de España ha dado a conocer el caso de un nuevo “rey del aborto” converso: Stojan Adasevic. Este ginecólogo que es ahora uno de los principales líderes pro-vida de Serbia, realizó 48 mil abortos durante 26 años y hasta 35 en un solo día en la Yugoslavia comunista.

Serbian abortion rate ‘at epidemic proportions’

by Thaddeus Baklinski – Fri Jan 20, 2012 17:32 EST

BELGRADE, January 20, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – According to the Belgrade Institute of Public Health, 23,000 abortions are committed in Serbia annually. However, a report by the Southeast European Times states that unofficial data suggest that as many as 150,000 abortions are committed every year in the country of just over 7 million inhabitants, giving Serbia the highest abortion rate in Europe.

The current Serbian birth rate is 1.44 children per woman, compared to a European average of 1.6, which is still well below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain a static population.

Since 1969, the year when complete liberalization of abortion came into effect, abortion has been available on-demand until the 10th week of pregnancy, and in cases of rape, incest, psychological trauma and socioeconomic reasons until the twentieth week.

However, according to the SETimes, enforcement of the law is lax, most abortions are conducted in unregulated private clinics, and abortion has become the cultural norm for birth control.

“For many women in Serbia who already gave birth, abortion is considered a regular means of contraception; they do not apply prevention, but undergo an abortion,” gynecologist Jovanka Carevic told SETimes.
[...]
“The large number of abortions could partly be explained by the early liberalization of abortion,” Rašević wrote. “Socio-medical indications were accepted as grounds for abortion from 1952 onwards. In 1969 the law was further liberalized. Abortion was then permitted, without any ‘waiting period’, at the woman’s request up to ten weeks’ gestation and, beyond ten weeks, with the approval of a medical commission.”

“Since 1995 abortion is available, on request, for women aged 16 or over, instead of 18 years and over as was previously the case. To obtain an abortion, women go directly to a gynaecologist who has a legal obligation to carry out this procedure,” the report states.
[...]
Serbian sociologist Dragutin Vasic observed that high unemployment, divorce, a low level of general health education, and lack of direction by health, educational and other institutions have all contributed to high abortion rates.
[...]
The research report by Mirjana Rašević titled “The abortion issue in Serbia” is available here.

Read the complete article here.

With thanks to видовдан.орг

Patriarchal Nativity Encyclical 2011

5. January 2012 – 12:46

The Serbian Orthodox Church
to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2011

+IRINEJ

By the Grace of God
Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Christmas greeting:

Peace from God! Christ is Born!

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son…”

Gal. 4:4

With the genealogy of Jesus Christ, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), dear brothers and sisters, begins the Gospel of Christ, God’s blessed and joyous news to mankind.

On this day of the joyous Feast of the Nativity of Christ all Christian hearts throughout the world are filled with the song of the angels of God, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men”. (Luke 2:14) This Day is a great joy for the entire world “for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”. (Luke 2:11)

The birth of the Son of God is a great mystery of God’s love. One is never closer to another than today, on Christmas day. Adults and children are never closer to each other than on this day. A person never feels a greater need to reconcile and become closer to others than on this day. From this comes the need and custom of our people to forgive and exchange “God’s-peace” on this day, to forget personal quarrels with a wish that all those around us may come together in brotherly unity and in the spirit of love and God’s peace.

The angelic song in honor of Christ’s birth is a truth-filled song which fully tells the essence of His message, the content of His Gospel and the mission of the Holy Church which He, the Incarnate Son of God, has established. The glorification of God, peace and good will among men represent the most holy triptych of the Christmas message. In glorifying God, man lifts up and glorifies himself at the same time. By preaching God’s peace, Christ’s peace, peace without fear and violence, man contributes to the building up of God’s Kingdom here on earth. It is only with good will, in the unselfish giving of oneself to God and to those around us, that it is possible to attain true human solidarity and true unity in solving all problems and in achieving moral and material progress.

With His coming, Christ witnesses an essential Union, a new union of heaven and earth, of Creator and creation, and with His mouth He reveals a great Mystery which God incorporated into man as a pledge from the moment of his creation, and this mystery comes down to one truth: that man is the most important creation under the sun. Of course, man is the most important, precisely because God in Christ became Man. According to Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, man is called to be the reflection, the glory, the light of God on earth. We can understand this only if we take the God-Man, the Lord Christ, as the proper and true measure of all beings and all events on our planet.

Each day, we meet temptations, misfortunes and suffering, caused by others or by ourselves. Afflictions in our homes, suffering in schools, cities and villages, suffering in different countries and between nations, attest to a deep division in the world, a division which cannot be overcome with human efforts. These divisions have such a deep effect that even our God-reflecting personhood is split into soul and body, conscious and unconscious, and on and on.

Oftentimes it seems that chaos is the originator and basis of our society. However, chaos is actually present only where a consciousness about the true measure of everything and everybody is lost, and that measure is love. Actually, Christ attests with His coming to this world that love has conquered the world of evil and hate, and that love always conquers it. Love is from God. God is the source of all-encompassing love. “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love”. (1 John 4:8)

Born in a manger in Bethlehem, Christ has stopped time in His Person and around Himself, or more exactly: in Himself He has gathered all those who long for love and eternity. Manifesting Himself in the world, He is the only One who brings true and eternal joy.

Christ’s birth has brought peace into the world and has connected time with eternity. Peace and eternity will never again leave the world, regardless of all temptations and tribulations that might come along. As a bearer of His peace and eternity Christ has established His Church. The Church is the Pillar and a Bulwark of truth, a ship by which we safely sail into the peaceful harbor of our salvation.

Through the Church God heals every sickness and every human infirmity. In the Church harmony is established between heaven and earth, between the created and the uncreated, between the eternal and the temporal, between the spirit and the body. The healing which the Lord grants in the Church is not understandable if it is not comprehended and experienced as God’s love which is manifested in Christ Born, Crucified, Resurrected and Glorified for us and for our salvation. The Lord loves everyone and desires that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He calls us to participate in the work of our salvation by coming to know Him in the Church, that is, by being gathered and united in the Church and as the Church, by living in her and by her. The measure of spiritual life on earth is the Church because she is the body of Christ. Through her the Lord heals us, for He wishes that all will become participants in eternal life and eternal love.

We call all our spiritual children throughout the world to never forget that the Lord entrusted salvation to the Church, and that in her is given the only true way and direction by which we should go. The measure of spiritual life is not given to individuals, but rather it is given by the Holy Spirit to the Church as a whole, so that all may grow into perfection in harmony and peace.

The Eternal God on that long-ago, first historic Christmas, was born as a poor Child so that we might be enriched by Him, by His divine perfection as by eternal wealth. With this He teaches us and all human generations not to separate ourselves from each other, but to bear each other’s burdens, to love each other, to help the weak and the poor, to share as brothers and sisters the blessings which God has bestowed upon us, and so fulfill the Law of Christ and in a Christian way fulfill our human calling.

Every separation, dissension, animosity and tearing down of unity is in opposition to the Holy Spirit and to the spirit of the Church, or we cannot at the same time “drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons,” and we cannot “partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons”. ( I Cor. 10:21)

Christmas is the Feast Day when we feel the fullness of goodness and the mercy of God, shown towards mankind by God sending His Only-Begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God’s love, manifested mysteriously in Bethlehem’s cave, touches all of us on this great Day.

The celebration of Christmas is not simply a custom, a tradition, a habit, or a day of receiving and giving gifts. Christmas is the gift above all gifts, the day in which is revealed the only new thing under the sun, the day in which eternal divine youth flows into the very being of heaven and earth and into our limited, transient human nature and brings eternal youth to all.

Unfortunately, brothers and sisters, we must admit that our spiritual peace has been disquieted, and as a result our joy is not complete. It is overshadowed with fear and worry about everyday events in the world, and especially because of the tragic events in our crucified Kosovo and Metohija. These events cloud the harmonious singing of angelic song and they threaten to change peace and patience into unrest and intolerance.

We counsel our dear faithful flock, the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, to be persistent and to stay in their homesteads, with their Church and their holy shrines, in the land of their ancestors. The Church, as a caring Mother, is always with them and always will be with them. Without suffering there is no resurrection. May our Lord be our measure even in our suffering!

We appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, to safeguard the sanctity of marriage, to care for and look after your children, especially to care for their religious and moral upbringing and their education. Religious classes in our public school system are a great help, but they are not the only way of educating our youth and by themselves they are not enough. This is why parents and a warm family home are a holy community and a place of growth into the stature of Christ, growth into the fullness of the Divine-Child’s love. Faith and love are taught in parents’ homes first, in the family environment. They are taught imperceptibly, just as the mother tongue is learned. God gave parents an exalted role that through the birth and raising of children they may ennoble the world and so make it better and more beautiful.

Unfortunately, many marriages are still entered into without the blessing of the Church, and there are also divorces, which are a true calamity for our Church and for our nation. Marriage is a vow before God, and it is a Holy Mystery of our Church. Man has no right to separate that which God has brought together, says Christ the Lord (Matthew 19:6).

Christ’s Birth has shown upon the world the light of knowledge and of divine knowledge. With His entry into the world a new beginning of time has dawned, the end of the pagan era and the beginning of the era of the knowledge of Christ through the Church which He founded with His precious blood.

This Day is celebrated by experiencing everything that is most beautiful and most exalted. This Day reminds man of his dual origin, heavenly and earthly. It teaches man his duties toward both his heavenly and earthly family. This Day reminds us that it is necessary to give back to our Heavenly Father and to our heavenly family in order to achieve blessings and happiness in our earthly family.

Open your hearts, you, our dear spiritual children, who are gone to far away countries, and celebrate with joy the Divine Infant, for the earth is the Lord’s everywhere, and God is everywhere and in every place. In the Church of Christ, in this holy Divine-Human community, we celebrate together with you all these joy-filled Christmas Holy Days, and we are not far away from each other.

Let us lift up our hearts, all without exception, dear brothers and sisters! This is the day which the Lord has given us that we too may be spiritually born and reborn through Christ the Lord. May the Light of the Holy Spirit, of the Spirit of the Divine Child Christ, the Spirit of God, shine in our souls and our homes!

To live a spiritual life means to work out our salvation, to be healed, to run away from sin and to seek after love. A love which is of this world does not lead anywhere but to death; only the love of the Divine-Child Christ brings life and leads to life eternal. That is why we need to love all those around us and to witness our Hope to all, as the Holy Apostle Peter says (I Peter 1:3; 3:15). Without love everything in this world of ours is condemned to sorrow, and without the Love of God Incarnate, Who is the New-Born Christ, everything is condemned to nothingness.

Worshiping the Young Child, the Eternal God, in this and all the days of our life, let us, dear brothers and sisters, forgive each other and with brotherly and sisterly love greet each other with the holy greeting:

PEACE FROM GOD – CHRIST IS BORN!
INDEED HE IS BORN!
A BLESSED AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

Given at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade at Christmas, 2011.

Your intercessors before the cradle of the divine Christ-Child:
Archbishop of Pec,
Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and
Serbian Patriarch IRINEJ
Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana JOVAN
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands AMPHILOHIJE
Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna NIKOLAJ

Bishop of Sabac LAVRENTIJE
Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla VASILIJE
Bishop of Srem VASILIJE
Bishop of Banja Luka JEFREM
Bishop of Budim LUKIJAN
Bishop of Canada GEORGIJE
Bishop of Banat NIKANOR
Bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America LONGIN
Bishop of Eastern America MITROPHAN
Bishop of Zica CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Backa IRINEJ
Bishop of Great Britain and Scandinavia DOSITEJ
Bishop of Bihac and Petrovac CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Osijek and Baranja LUKIJAN
Bishop of Central Europe CONSTANTINE
Bishop of Western Europe LUKA
Bishop of Timok JUSTIN
Bishop of Vranje PAHOMIJE
Bishop of Sumadija JOVAN
Bishop of Slavonia SAVA
Bishop of Branicevo IGNATIJE
Bishop of Milesevo FILARET
Bishop of Dalmatia FOTIJE
Bishop of Budimlje and Niksic JOANIKIJE
Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina GRIGORIJE
Bishop of Valjevo MILUTIN
Bishop of Ras and Prizren TEODOSIJE
Bishop of Western America MAXIM
Bishop of Gornji Karlovac GERASIM
Bishop of Australia and New Zealand IRINEJ
Bishop of Krusevac DAVID
Retired Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Hvostno ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Jegar PORFIRIJE
Vicar Bishop of Moravica ANTONIJE
Vicar Bishop of Lipljan JOVAN
Vicar Bishop of Remezijan ANDREJ
THE ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF OCHRID:
Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skoplje JOVAN
Bishop of Polos and Kumanovo JOAKIM
Bishop of Bregal and locum tenens of the Diocese of Bitolj MARKO
Bishop of Stobija DAVID

[Path of Orthodoxy translation]

Божићна посланица Српске Православне Цркве

5. Јануар 2012 – 12:43

СРПСКА ПРАВОСЛАВНА ЦРКВА СВОЈОЈ ДУХОВНОЈ ДЕЦИ
О БОЖИЋУ 2011. ГОДИНЕ

И Р И Н Е Ј
МИЛОШЋУ БОЖЈОМ ПРАВОСЛАВНИ АРХИЕПИСКОП ПЕЋКИ, МИТРОПОЛИТ БЕОГРАДСКО-КАРЛОВАЧКИ И ПАТРИЈАРХ СРПСКИ, СА СВИМА АРХИЈЕРЕЈИМА СРПСКЕ ПРАВОСЛАВНЕ ЦРКВЕ – СВЕШТЕНСТВУ МОНАШТВУ И СВИМА СИНОВИМА И КЋЕРИМА НАШЕ СВЕТЕ ЦРКВЕ: БЛАГОДАТ, МИЛОСТ И МИР ОД БОГА ОЦА, И ГОСПОДА НАШЕГ ИСУСА ХРИСТА, И ДУХА СВЕТОГА, УЗ РАДОСНИ БОЖИЋНИ ПОЗДРАВ:

МИР БОЖЈИ – ХРИСТОС СЕ РОДИ!

A када дође пуноћа времена, посла Бог Сина својега…
(Гал 4, 4).

Родословом Исуса Христа, „сина Давидова, Авраамова сина” (Мт 1, 1), почиње, драга браћо и сестре, Јеванђеље о Христу, Блага и радосна вест Божја роду људском.

Песмом анђела Божјих – „Слава на висини Богу, и на земљи мир, међу људима добра воља” (Лк 2, 14) – на данашњи дан радосног празника Рођења Христовог испуњена су широм света сва хришћанска срца. Овај Дан je за цео свет велика радост „јер вам се данас роди Спас, који je Христос Господ, у граду Давидову” (Лк 2, 11).

Рођење Сина Божјег јесте велика тајна љубави Божје. Никада човек није тако близак човеку као данас, на Божић. Никада одрасли и деца нису толико блиски једни другима као данас. Никада човек не осећа тако снажно потребу да се мири и зближава са другим људима као данас. Отуда је у нашем народу потреба и обичај да се на данашњи дан прашта и „мирбожи”, да се заборављају личне размирице, са жељом да се све око нас зближи и збратими у духу љубави и мира Божјег.

Анђелска песма у част Рођења Христовог јесте истинска песма која нам језгровито исказује суштину Христове поруке, садржај Његовог Јеванђеља и мисију свете Цркве, коју је Он, Оваплоћени Син Божји, основао. Слављење Бога, мир и добра воља међу људима представљају најсветији триптих божићне поруке. Славећи Бога, човек уједно уздиже и прославља себе. Проповедајући мир Божји, – мир Христов, мир без страха и насиља, – човек доприноси изградњи Царства Божјег на земљи. Једино добром вољом, у несебичном давању себе Богу и ближњима, може се постићи истинска људска солидарност и право заједништво у решавању свих проблема и остварити морални и материјални напредак.

Својим доласком Христос сведочи о суштинској Заједници, новој заједници неба и земље, Творца и творевине, и Својим устима открива велику Тајну коју је Бог као залог унео у човека од самога његова стварања, а она се своди на истину да најважније створење под сунцем јесте управо човек. Наравно, човек је најважнији зато што је Бог у Христу постао човек. По речима Светог Иринеја Лионског, човек је позван да буде одсјај, слава, светлост Божја на земљи. То можемо схватити једино уколико Богочовека Господа Христа узмемо за право и истинско мерило свих бића и свих збивања на нашој планети.

Свакодневно се сусрећемо са искушењима, недаћама и патњама, изазваним од стране других или од нас самих. Патње у нашим домовима, патње у школама, патње у градовима и селима, патње у државама и међу народима сведоче о дубокој подељености у свету, подељености која се не може превазићи људским напорима. При том поделе иду тако дубоко да се и сама наша боголика личност дели – на душу и тело, на свесно и несвесно, и тако у недоглед.

Често се учини да је неред покретач и носилац нашег друштва. Неред је, међутим, присутан само онде где је изгубљена свест о истинској мери свега и свих, а то је љубав. Управо Христос сведочи, Својим доласком у овај свет, да је љубав победила свет зла и мржње и да га увек побеђуј e. Љубав је од Бога. Бог је извор свеколике љубави. „Који не љуби, не познаде Бога; јер Бог је љубав” (1. Јн 4, 8).

Рођен у јаслама у Витлејему, Христос је зауставио време у Својој Личности и око Себе – још тачније: у Себи – сабрао све оне који су жељни љубави и вечности. Јавивши се у свету, Он нам једини доноси истинску и непролазну радост.

Рођење Христово је унело мир Божји у свет, а време повезало са вечношћу. Мир и вечност неће више никада напустити свет, без обзира на сва искушења и недаће које га могу задесити. Као носиоца Свога мира и вечности Христос је установио Цркву Своју. Она је Стуб и Тврђава истине, брод којим сигурно пловимо у тихо пристаниште нашега спасења.

Господ кроз Цркву исцељује сваку болест и сваку немоћ људску. У њој се васпоставља склад између неба и земље, између створеног и нествореног, између вечног и временог, између духа и тела. Исцељење које Господ у Цркви даје није разумљиво уколико се не схвати и не доживи као љубав Божја која се пројавила у Христу, Рођеном, Распетом, Васкрслом и Прослављеном нас ради и нашега спасења ради. Господ љуби свакога човека и жели да се сви људи спасу и дођу у познање истине. Он и нас позива да учествујемо у делу нашега спасења тако што ћемо Њега познати у Цркви, то јест бити сабрани и уједињени у Цркви и као Црква, живети у њој и њоме. Мерило духовног живота на земљи јесте Црква јер је она Тело Христово. Кроз њу нас Господ исцељује јер жели да сви буду причасници вечнога живота и вечне љубави.

Позивамо и сву нашу духовну децу широм света да никада не забораве да је Господ Цркви поверио спасење и да је у њој дат једини истинити пут и правац којим треба да идемо. Мерило духовног живота није дато појединцима већ се Духом Светим дај e Цркви у целини, тако да се све складно и у миру Божјем усавршава.

Превечни Бог се на онај давни, први историјски Божић родио као пуки сиромашак да би нас обогатио Собом, Својим божанским савршенством као вечним богатством. Тиме Он и нас и сва људска покољења учи да се не одвајамо једни од других него да једни другима бремена носимо, да љубимо једни друге, да помажемо слабе и сиромашне, да братски делимо добра којима нас je Бог обдарио и да тако испунимо Закон Христов и на хришћански начин остваримо cвoje људско призвaњe.

Cвaкa деоба, раздор, нeприjaтeљcтвo и разарање заједништва супротни су Духу Божјем и духу Црквe. Jep, не можемо иcтoврeмeнo „пити чашу Господњу и чашу демонску”, не можемо „учествовати у трпези Господњој и у трпези демонској” (1. Kop 10, 21).

Божић је Празник кад осећамо пуноћу доброте и милости Божјe, показане према роду људском тиме што је Бог послао у свет Сина Cвoга Јединороднога, Господа нашега Исуса Христа. Божанска љyбaв, која се чудесно показала у витлејемској пећини, прожима и све нас на oвaj вeлики Дан.

Прaзнoвaњe Божића није просто обичај, традиција, нaвикa, дан примања и дaвaњa дaрoвa. Божић je дар над дaрoвимa, дан у којем ce открило оно што je jeдинo ново под cyнцeм, дан у којем ce вeчнa божанска младост улила у биће нeбa и зeмљe и у oгрaничeнy, пролазну људску природу и cвe подмладила вeчном младошћу.

Нажалост, браћо и cecтpe, морамо признати да je наш духoвни мир прилично помућен, тe ни радост наша ниje потпуна. Она je oceнчeнa страхом и бригом због cвaкoднeвниx збивања у cвeтy, a пoceбнo због трагичних збивaњa на нaшeм распетом Kocoвy и Meтoxиjи. Ta збивања мyтe складни пој aнђeлcкe пеcмe и прeтe да мир и cтрпљeњe прeтвoрe у нecпoкojcтвo и нетрпeљивocт.

Нашим драгим верницимa, Србима на Kocoвy и Метохији, прeпoрyчyjeмo да буду истрајни и да остану на својим огњиштима, уз cвojy Цркву и уз cвoje cвeтињe, на зeмљи cвojиx дeдoвa и прaдeдoвa. Црквa, као брижна Мати, yвeк je са њима и yвeк ћe бити са њима. Бeз страдања нeмa ни вacкрceњa. Господ тека нам cвимa бyдe мерило и у страдањима!

Молимо вac, браћо и cecтpe, да светињу брака oчyвaтe, да ce бринeтe и cтapaтe о cвojoj дeци, a нарочито о њиxoвoм верском и моралном вacпитaњy и oбрaзoвaњy. Beрoнayкa у oбрaзoвнoм cиcтeмy у нашим школама јесте вeликa помоћ, али ниje jeдинa и ниje дoвoљнa; зато су рoдитeљи и топли породични дом cвeтa зajeдницa и мecтo узрастања у меру раста виcинe Хриcтoвe, у пуноћу љyбaви Бoгoмлaдeнцa. Jep, вepa и морал ce yчe нajпрe у рoдитeљcкoм дому, у породици. Учe ce нeoceтнo, исто онако како ce учи и мaтeрњи jeзик.

Бог je рoдитeљимa дао yзвишeнy улогу да кроз рађање и васпитавање дeцe oплeмeњyjy cвeт и да га чине бољим и лeпшим.

Нажалост, још je yвeк много брaкoвa cклoпљeниx бeз благocлoвa cвeтe Црквe, a и рaзвeдeниx брaкoвa, који су прaвa несрећа и за нашу Цркву и за наш народ. Брак је завет пред Богом и у исто време црквена Света Тајна. Човек нема право да раставља оно што је Бог саставио, каже Христос Господ (Мт 19, 6).

Христово Рођење је обасјало свет светлошћу знања и богопознања. Његовим уласком у свет настаје почетак новог доба, крај незнабожачке ере и почетак ере христопознања, кроз Цркву коју је Он основао Својом часном крвљу.
Овај Дан се прославља доживљавањем свега што је најлепше и најузвишеније. Он човека подсећа на његово двоструко порекло – небеско и земаљско. Он учи човека дужностима и према небеској и према земаљској породици. Овај Дан нас опомиње да је потребно претходно се одужити Оцу небеском и нашој небеској породици да бисмо могли стећи благослов и срећу у земаљској породици.

Отворите срца и ви, децо наша духовна, који сте отишли у даљину и туђину и прославите у радости Богомладенца, јер је свуда земља Господња, а Бог је свуда и на свакоме месту. У Цркви Христовој, у овој светој богочовечанској заједници, славимо, са свима вама заједно, радосне божићне празнике и нисмо далеко једни од других.

Подигнимо горе срца, сви без разлике, драга браћо и сестре! Ово је Дан који је дао Бог да се и ми духовно рађамо и препорађамо кроз Христа Господа. Нека светлост Духа Светога, Духа Христа Богомладенца, Духа Божјег, засија у душама нашим и у домовима нашим!

Живети духовним животом значи спасавати се, исцељивати се, бежати од греха и трагати за љубављу. Љубав која је од овога света не води нас никуда до у смрт; једино нас љубав Богомладенца Христа оживљава и води у живот вечни. Зато треба да љубимо све око себе и свима да сведочимо Наду нашу, како каже Свети Апостол Петар (1. Пет 1, 3 и 3, 15). Без љубави, у овом нашем свету све је осуђено на тугу, а без Оваплоћене Љубави Божје, Која је Христос Новорођени, све је осуђено на ништавило.

Клањајући се Детету младом, Превечном Богу, ових и свих других дана нашега живота, опростимо, браћо и сестре, једни другима и са братском, односно сестринском љубављу поздрављајмо једни друге светим поздравом:

Мир Божји, Христос ce роди!
Ваистину ce роди!
Благословена нова 2012. година!

Дано у Патријаршији српској у Београду, о Божићу 2011. године

Ваши молитвеници пред колевком Богомладенца Христа

АРХИЕПИСКОП ПЕЋКИ, МИТРОПОЛИТ БЕОГРАДСКО-КАРЛОВАЧКИ
И ПАТРИЈАРХ СРПСКИ ИРИНЕЈ

Митрополит загребачко-љубљански ЈОВАН
Митрополит црногорско-приморски АМФИЛОХИЈЕ
Митрополит дабробосански НИКОЛАЈ
Епископ шабачки ЛАВРЕНТИЈЕ
Епископ зворничко-тузлански ВАСИЛИЈЕ
Епископ сремски ВАСИЛИЈЕ
Епископ бањалучки ЈЕФРЕМ
Епископ будимски ЛУКИЈАН
Епископ канадски ГЕОРГИЈЕ
Епископ банатски НИКАНОР
Епископ новограчаничко-средњезападноамерички ЛОНГИН
Епископ источноамерички МИТРОФАН
Епископ жички ХРИЗОСТОМ
Епископ бачки ИРИНЕЈ
Епископ британско-скандинавски ДОСИТЕЈ
Епископ бихаћко-петровачки ХРИЗОСТОМ
Епископ осечкопољски и барањски ЛУКИЈАН
Епископ средњоевропски КОНСТАНТИН
Епископ западноевропски ЛУКА
Епископ тимочки ЈУСТИН
Епископ врањски ПАХОМИЈЕ
Епископ шумадијски ЈОВАН
Епископ славонски САВА
Епископ браничевски ИГЊАТИЈЕ
Епископ милешевски ФИЛАРЕТ
Епископ далматински ФОТИЈЕ
Епископ будимљанско-никшићки ЈОАНИКИЈЕ
Епископ захумско-херцеговачки ГРИГОРИЈЕ
Епископ ваљевски МИЛУТИН
Епископ рашко-призренски ТЕОДОСИЈЕ
Епископ нишки ЈОВАН
Епископ западноамерички МАКСИМ
Епископ горњокарловачки ГЕРАСИМ
Епископ аустралијско-новозеландски ИРИНЕЈ
Епископ крушевачки ДАВИД
Епископ умировљени захумско-херцеговачки АТАНАСИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ хвостански АТАНАСИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ јегарски ПОРФИРИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ моравички АНТОНИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ липљански ЈОВАН
Викарни Епископ ремезијански АНДРЕЈ

ОХРИДСКА АРХИЕПИСКОПИЈА:
Архиепископ охридски и Митрополит скопски ЈОВАН
Епископ полошко-кумановски ЈОАКИМ
Епископ брегалнички, местобљуститељ Епархије битољске МАРКО
Епископ стобијски ДАВИД

Also see:

• Enjoy a Beautiful Serbian Christmas (January 7, New Calendar)
• Orthodox Christmas Music for the Nativity of Our Lord
• Serbian Royal Family Visits Pennsylvania for Christmas (January 7, 2011)

By William Dorich

I preface this review by admitting that I am not a film critic—however, I have written six books on Balkan history and as a journalist, many of my articles have been published dealing with the Balkans, that have been reproduced in the International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times among others and published in the Serbian press for two decades.

Regarding In the Land of Blood and Honey, I wish to correct what I observed, especially the distortion of historic facts. I will leave the artistic side to those who are more qualified. Sex, violence and fabrication appear alive and well in Hollywood as cinematic tricks are used to distract and “entertain” us.

Angelina Jolie wrote, directed and produced Blood and Honey. Jolie has unfortunately diverted our attention away from the facts regarding the Bosnian Civil War that she used as the backdrop for her exaggerated melodrama. She seems clueless that she plagiarized Shakespeare.

When Jolie went into this film production, she was fully aware of the emotional scars and personal losses of many Bosnian families, especially those of mixed marriages who will view this film. Pretending that her film is just make-believe but based on actual events, is a cop-out lacking responsibility—the kind of responsibility Jolie demands when human rights are violated.

Jolie arrogantly brushes aside the real Romeo & Juliet of Bosnia killed by a sniper on May 19, 1993. He was Bosko Brkic, a Bosnian Serb, and she was Admira Ismic, a Bosnian Muslim—they were assassinated as they tried to escape the Muslim side of Sarajevo by crossing the Vrbanja Bridge for safety on the Serbian side of the city. In their dying embrace they remained on that bridge for several days. The media, like vultures, manipulated their deaths and the ugly visual image for the benefit of their front page stories and nightly news.

But Jolie’s newest Romeo, Danijel, played by Serbian actor, Goran Kostic, and Juliet, Ajla, played by Muslim actress Zana Marjanovic, weaves a different story using sex, aggression and murder that perverts audiences’ senses into believing that violence, mistreatment and enslavement are supposed to represent a romance in the midst of an ethnic war. Granted, this is the prerequisite for a successful film today in Hollywood, and I acknowledge that the film was not intended to be a documentary, but, then again, propaganda always starts from this position.

The beginning of the film shows Ajla getting dressed for a date with a Serbian policeman. The following scene is of them dancing in a Sarajevo nightclub, meant to show a multi-ethnic city being shattered by a bomb blast, obviously launched by the Serbs. The next scene erupts with women being dragged onto a bus headed for what else? A Serb Rape Camp! Little footage is wasted before these women are taken from the bus, and moments later, a Serbian policeman throws one of them over the hood of a vehicle, pulls down her pants and rapes her. Next, the policeman grabs Ajla and proceeds to rape her when Danijel, her Serb love interest, prevents the rape and tells his fellow officer that she is not to be touched. Ajla survives the story locked in a room and only sleeps with Danijel. Why a young man would spend a war defending a woman with whom he only had one date, rings hollow in this plot. Turning that into another “Romeo & Juliet of Bosnia” comes off as rather naïve.

Jolie uses this Serbian bombing as the beginning of her film, ignoring the real start of the Bosnian Civil War when Muslim terrorists crashed into a Christian Serbian church during a wedding in Sarajevo, telling the guests that “Serbs were no longer allowed to display their centuries-old flag because Bosnia was now a Muslim country.” The thugs then shot and killed the father of the groom and seriously wounded the Serbian Orthodox priest and a dozen of the wedding guests.

Jolie omits any reference to the more than 2,000 Muslim terrorists who came to Sarajevo from Osama bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan and who tortured and executed a dozen Serbian soldiers by roasting them on spits like animals and decapitating dozens more. Then carried their severed heads around Sarajevo as trophies. My files contain several of those hideous photographs.

Jolie also cleverly omits the fact that thousands of Serbs were fired from their jobs including my friend who worked for Sarajevo Television for over 25 years. Muslims went throughout Sarajevo’s apartment buildings evicting Serb tenants who lived in those units for decades. After tossing Serb families out they threw their possessions out of the windows into the street. Jolie never touches on the fact that 250,000 Serbs were cleansed from Sarajevo and were forbidden to return to cast their ballots in the first Bosnian election in which Alija Izetbegovic won the presidency by only 44,000 votes. Any rationale for the Serbian retaliation including self-defense in this film was obviously left on Jolie’s cutting-room floor.

The Croats who fought the Bosnian Muslims for 4 years escaped notice and were made invisible in this film. The Bosnian Muslims were portrayed as innocent victims brutalized by overpowering Serb forces.

As I sat through this film, I was reminded of Peter Brock’s outstanding book, Media Cleansing: Dirty Reporting—Journalism and Tragedy in Yugoslavia, in which one chapter is entitled, “Only Muslim Victims, Only Serb Perpetrators.” This movie, much like the contemptible record of the partisan press that covered this Civil War, keeps reinforcing the lie that “300,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed.” Like Goebbels during the Holocaust who preached “Tell a lie a hundred times and it becomes the truth,” the lie of 300,000 deaths and 60,000 rapes was repeated by the media for seven years, and the world was made to believe it.

Through reputable human rights organizations we now know that less than 97,000 victims were killed on all sides in these Balkan Civil Wars, hardly enough victims on any side to be considered “genocide.” We also know that Jolie was fully aware of the 800,000 victims hacked to death in Rwanda two years earlier that Jolie managed to ignore. However, it appears she embraced any Bosnian propaganda that fit into her melodrama. Blood and Honey was nominated in the foreign film category, but I do not think many in Hollywood expect much from her film-directing debut.

The dialogue does briefly acknowledge Serb victims at The Battle of Kosovo in 1389, an historical event that will escape 99% of any audience viewing this film. Also, the casual mention of the Croatian Ustashe Nazi forces in WWII who liquidated 1.4 million Serbs, 60,000 Jews and 78,000 Roma Gypsies is connected with a “Chetnik” remark (Chetniks were the Serbs who fought the Nazis) that will escape her audience as well.

While the Serbian Orthodox church received its share of blame in the media and in this film, no connection is made to the late Serbian Patriarch Pavle who led over a million Serbs in protest marches that were the largest and longest in decades against the Milosevich government. During an interview with the Swiss Federal Parliament on December 10, 1992, the Patriarch told officials: “800 Serb women were documented as repeated rape victims in 20 camps operated by Muslims and Croats.” The patriarch also cited the Yugoslav State Commission for War Crimes on August 2, 1992—the same day Newsday’s “death camp” stories went on American newsstands that identified locations at Sarajevo, Tuzla, Bugojno, Bihac and Slavonski Brod where Serb women were confined, raped and murdered by Croat and Muslim soldiers.

The Romeo & Juliet “love story” wears thin before the film finally puts the audience out of its misery when Danijel shoots his Muslim lover Ajla in the head at point blank range. The last scene of the film provides a final opportunity for Jolie to demonize the Serbian people as Danijel crawls to his knees before UN police and claims several times: “I am a War Criminal, I am a War Criminal,” a remark designed to remain in the minds of the audience as they leave the theater.

The film, however, does not embrace an audience; it stuns and bludgeons them with the rape issue. Jolie does not waste a good opportunity for full-blown propaganda by ending her film credits with various war-related statistics. In bold type one reads: “50,000 Bosnian rape victims,” a number that has long been discredited numerous times over the past dozen years. If this film is being presented as fiction, these statistical records were totally out of place and were used for political reasons.

The fabrications, partisan journalism and crude propaganda of the Bosnian Civil War by the international media can be summed up by one lone account from French journalist Jerome Bony, who described in a February 4, 1993 broadcast about his trek to Tuzla, which gained notoriety as the most prominent Bosnian town for finding Muslim rape victims:

“When I was fifty kilometers from Tuzla I was told to ‘go to the Tuzla gymnasium (high school) there are 4,000 raped women.’ At twenty kilometers, this figure dropped to 400. At ten kilometers, only forty were left. Once at the site, I found only four women willing to testify.”

The Land of Blood and Honey hemorrhages vulgarity with no “honey” to sweeten the pain of multi-ethnic violence in which all sides were responsible for war crimes in a three-sided civil War.

Like the kangaroo court in The Hague, Angelina Jolie’s film continues the process of condemning the Serbian people with collective guilt—denying them equal rights and equal justice as international political leaders continue to amputate portions of Serbian territory against her will and in violation of the UN Charter in which Serbia was a founding member; the Geneva Conventions, the Helsinki Final Act, and the NATO Treaty including violating UN Resolution #1244 that guaranteed Kosovo as sovereign Serbian territory as part of the peace agreement arranged by Richard Holbrooke. Surely, Jolie cannot be this ignorant?

Actor Jon Voight, Angelina Jolie’s father, attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, a school built in the 1950s and named after the Croatian Roman Catholic priest who was convicted by the allies of war crimes in WWII. He spent ten years in prison for his crimes against Serbs and Jews in Croatia, perhaps a clue to Jolie’s obvious anti-Serb bias.

If this film was meant to portray Ms. Jolie’s impressions of the recent civil war, sadly she did not take advantage of her public persona to give the wounded and divided people of Bosnia a reason to heal. As a Serb, I left the screening appalled that once again the word “Serb” has been made synonymous with evil—It appears then that Blood and Honey is Angelina Jolie’s attempt at cinematic genocide.

__________________

William Dorich is the author of 6 books on Balkan history including his 1991 book, Serbian Genocide 1941-45 and his 1992 book, Kosovo. He is the recipient of the Order of St. Sava, the highest recognition given to a layperson by the Holy Synod of Serbian Orthodox Bishops; an Award of Merit from the Serbian Bar Association of America and a Freedom Award by RAS—The International Serbian Organization.

For more information about the Balkans and books offered by this writer visit:
http://www.gmbooks.com

Media Cleansing: Dirty Reporting – Peter Brock
http://www.gmbooks.com/product/MediaGM.html

Jasenovac Then & Now—A Conspiracy of Silence – Wm. Dorich
http://www.gmbooks.com/product/JasenovGM.html

Kosovo is Serbia – Dr. Vojin Joksimovich
http://www.gmbooks.com/product/Kosovo-GM.html

Hilandar Octocentenary – Wm. Dorich
http://www.gmbooks.com/product/HilandarGM.html

Liar’s Poker – Michel Collon
http://www.gmbooks.com/product/PokerGM.html

Teach your children (and learn for yourself) about the real Sveti Nikola

No, not this!

The real Saint Nicholas wasn’t dressed in red and white fur, but in bishop’s vestments, and as his icons show, he was a man of slender build. Not only did he give his entire inherited fortune to the poor, but also he was a learned man, a great spiritual leader, and a hero who put his life on the line against error and injustice.

Tropar – Sveti Nikola / Тропар – Свети Никола

Click here to view the embedded video.

Uploaded by Crkvenjak95 on Jun 6, 2010

Правило вјери и образ кротости,
воздержанија учитеља јави тја стаду твојему,
јаже вешчеј истина.
Сего ради стјажал јеси смиренијем високаја,
нишчетоју богатаја: отче свјашченоначалниче Николаје,
моли Христа Бога, спастисја душам нашим.

Akathist and Prayers to St. Nicholas of Myra

From Monachos.net

Akathist to our Father Among the Saints NICHOLAS Archbishop of Myra and Lycia

Kontakion 1
Chosen Wonderworker and superb servant of Christ, who poured out for all the world the most precious myrrh of mercy and an inexhaustible ocean of miracles, I praise you with love, Saint Nicholas; and as you have boldness towards the Lord, deliver me from all adversities that I may call to you: Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Ikos 1
The Lord of all creation made you an Angel in mannerism though earthly by nature. Foreseeing the fruitful beauty of your soul, blessed Nicholas, he taught all to cry to you:

Rejoice, for you were purified from your mother’s womb;
Rejoice, for you kept holy even to the end;
Rejoice, for you amazed your parents by your birth;
Rejoice, for you showed soon after your birth the vigor of your soul;
Rejoice, garden of the land of promise;
Rejoice, flower of divine planting;
Rejoice, virtuous vine of Christ’s vineyard;
Rejoice, wonderworking tree of the Paradise of Jesus;
Rejoice, lily of heavenly growth;
Rejoice, myrrh of the fragrance of Christ;
Rejoice, for through you lamentation is banished;
Rejoice, for you bring to all joy;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 2
Seeing the flow of the myrrh, O divinely wise Saint, our souls and bodies are enlightened, and we realize that you are a wonderful, living source of unction, O Nicholas. For you refresh with miracles as with waters poured out by the grace of God those who faithfully cry to Him: Alleluia!

Ikos 2
Teaching incomprehensible knowledge about the Holy Trinity you were a champion of the confession
of the Orthodox faith with the holy fathers in Nicea. For you confessed the Son equal to the Father, co-eternal and co-enthroned, and you convicted the foolish Arias. Therefore, you have taught the faithful to sing to you:

Rejoice, great pillar of holiness;
Rejoice, city of refuge for the faithful;
Rejoice, firm stronghold of Orthodoxy.
Rejoice, venerable vessel and praise of the Holy Trinity;
Rejoice, preacher of the Son equal in honor with the Father;
Rejoice, expeller the bedeviled Arias from the council of the saints;
Rejoice, glorious beauty of the fathers;
Rejoice, wise goodness of all the divinely wise;
Rejoice, speaker of fiery words;
Rejoice, righteous director of your flock;
Rejoice, for through you faith is strengthened.
Rejoice; for through you heresy is defeated;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 3
By the power given you from on high you dry every tear from the face of those in terrible suffering, O God-bearing father Nicholas. For you are a feeder of the hungry, a superb pilot for those on the high seas, and a healer of the sick, and you have proved to be a helper to all who cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 3
Truly a song ought to be sung to you from heaven, and not from earth, Father Nicholas; for how can a mere man proclaim the greatness of your holiness? But, conquered by your love, we cry to you:

Rejoice, model of lambs and shepherds;
Rejoice, holy purification of morals;
Rejoice, container of great virtues;
Rejoice, pure and honorable abode of holiness;
Rejoice, bright lamp beloved by all;
Rejoice, pure and golden-rayed light;
Rejoice, worthy collocutor of Angels;
Rejoice, good director of men;
Rejoice, rule of pious faith;
Rejoice, model of spiritual meekness;
Rejoice, for through you we are delivered from bodily passions;
Rejoice, for through you we are filled with spiritual delights;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 4
A storm of bewilderment confuses my mind. How can we worthily sing of your miracles, O blessed Nicholas? For no one could count them, even if he had many tongues and the best will in the world. But we boldly too sing to God who is wonderfully glorified in you: Alleluia!

Ikos 4
People near and far heard of the greatness of your miracles, O divinely wise Nicholas, that in the air with the delicate wings of grace you are accustomed to help all in adversity, and quickly deliver all who cry to you:

Rejoice, deliverance from sorrow;
Rejoice, channel of grace;
Rejoice, dispeller of unexpected evils;
Rejoice, planter of good desires;
Rejoice, quick comforter of those in adversity;
Rejoice, dread punisher of wrongdoers;
Rejoice, abyss of miracles poured out by God;
Rejoice, tablets of the law of Christ written by God;
Rejoice, strong uplift of the falling;
Rejoice; support of those who stand aright;
Rejoice, exposer of all deception;
Rejoice, for through you all truth is realized;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 5
You appeared as a God-ward racing star, guiding those in distress at sea, who were once threatened with imminent death if you had not come to the help of those who called upon you, O wonderworker Saint Nicholas, for you forbid the flying devils who shamelessly wanted to sink the ship, and you drove them away, and taught the faithful to cry to God Who saves through you: Alleluia!

Ikos 5
The girls prepared for a dishonorable marriage on account of their poverty, saw your great mercy for the poor, Holy Father Nicholas, when you secretly gave their old parent at night the three little bundles of gold, thereby saving him and his daughter from falling into sin. Therefore you hear from all:

Rejoice, treasure of greatest mercy;
Rejoice, friend of providing for people;
Rejoice, food and refreshment of those who have recourse to you;
Rejoice, inexhaustible bread of the hungry;
Rejoice, God-giving wealth of those living in poverty on earth;
Rejoice; quick uplifting of the poor;
Rejoice; speedy hearing of beggars;
Rejoice, acceptable care of the sorrowful;
Rejoice, pure provider for the three maidens;
Rejoice, zealous guardian of purity;
Rejoice, hope of the hopeless;
Rejoice, delight of the whole world;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 6
The whole world proclaims you, blessed Nicholas, as a quick intercessor in adversities; for frequently you precede those traveling by land and those sailing on the sea, and help them in a single hour, keeping from evils all who cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 6
You shone as a living light, bringing deliverance to the war leaders who had been sentenced to an unjust death, and who called to you, good shepherd Nicholas, when you quickly appeared in a dream to the emperor, and terrified him and ordered him to release them unharmed. Therefore together with them we gratefully cry to you:

Rejoice, helper of those who invoke you fervently;
Rejoice, deliverer from unjust death;
Rejoice, preserver from lying insult;
Rejoice, foiler of unjust plans;
Rejoice, for you tear lies to shreds like cobwebs;
Rejoice, for you gloriously exalt the truth;
Rejoice, deliverer of the innocent from their chains;
Rejoice, revival of the dead;
Rejoice, preacher of righteousness;
Rejoice, exposer of unrighteousness;
Rejoice, for through you the innocent were saved from the sword;
Rejoice, for through you they enjoyed the light;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 7
Wishing to dispel the blasphemous stench of heresy you appeared as a truly fragrant, mystical myrrh, O Nicholas. By shepherding the people of Myra, you filled the whole world with your gracious myrrh. And dispelled from us the stench of sin hateful to the Divine mind, that we may acceptably cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 7
We understand you to be a new Noah, a guide of the ark of salvation, Holy Father Nicholas, who dispels the storm of all evils by your spiritual direction, and bring divine calm to those who cry to you:

Rejoice, quiet heaven of those bestormed;
Rejoice, sure protection of those who are drowning;
Rejoice, good pilot of those sailing amid whirlpools;
Rejoice, for your prayers calm the raging of the sea;
Rejoice, guide of those in whirlwinds;
Rejoice, warmth of those in frosts;
Rejoice, radiance which dispels the gloom of sorrow;
Rejoice, light which illumines all the ends of the earth;
Rejoice, for you deliver people from the abyss of sin;
Rejoice, for you cast Satan into the abyss of hell;
Rejoice, for through you we boldly invoke the abyss of God’s mercy;
Rejoice, for through you we are saved from the flood of wrath, and find peace with God;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 8
Your holy church proves a strange wonder to those who flock to you, blessed Nicholas; for by offering in it even a small prayer, we receive healing from great illnesses, if only, after God, we put our hope in you and faithfully cry: Alleluia!

Ikos 8
You are truly a helper to all, O God-bearing Nicholas, and you have gathered together all who have recourse to you, for you are a deliverer, feeder and quick healer to all on earth, and you move all to praise you:

Rejoice, source of all kinds of healing;
Rejoice, helper of those in terrible suffering;
Rejoice, dawn shining for those wandering in the night of sin;
Rejoice, heaven-sent dew for those in the heat of labors;
Rejoice, giver of prosperity to those who require it;
Rejoice, for you prepare an abundance for those who ask;
Rejoice, for you often forestall prayer;
Rejoice, for you restore strength to the old and gray-headed;
Rejoice, convictor of many who have wandered from the true way;
Rejoice, faithful steward of the mysteries of God;
Rejoice, for through you we conquer jealousy;
Rejoice, for through you we lead a good life;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 9
Allay all our pains, O our great intercessor Nicholas, and grant gracious healings to delight our souls and rejoice the hearts of all who run fervently to you for help and cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 9
The sophisticated spokesmen of the impious, we see, were put to shame by you, O divinely wise Father Nicholas; for you confuted Arias the blasphemer who divided the God-head and Sabellius who confounded the Holy Trinity, but you have strengthened us in Orthodoxy. Therefore we cry to you:

Rejoice, shield that defends piety;
Rejoice, sword that cuts down impiety;
Rejoice, teacher of the divine commandments;
Rejoice, destroyer of anti-God doctrines;
Rejoice, ladder set up by God by which we mount to heaven;
Rejoice, God-given protection, by which many are sheltered;
Rejoice, for by your words the unwise are made wise;
Rejoice, for you stir the slothful by your example;
Rejoice, inextinguishable light of God’s commandments;
Rejoice, bright ray of the Lord’s precepts;
Rejoice, for through your teaching the heads of heretics are crushed;
Rejoice, for through you the faithful are granted glory;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 10
Wishing to save your soul, you truly subjected your body to the spirit, O our Father Nicholas. For by silence first and by wrestling with thoughts, you added contemplation to activity; and by contemplation you didst acquired perfect knowledge with which you boldly conversed with God and the Angels, always crying: Alleluia!

Ikos 10
You are a wall; O blessed Nicholas, to those who praise your miracles and to all who seek your protection. Therefore, free us who are poor in virtue from poverty, adversity, sickness and want of various kinds, as we cry to you with love:

Rejoice, rescuer from eternal misery;
Rejoice, granter of incorruptible riches;
Rejoice, imperishable food for those who hunger for righteousness;
Rejoice, inexhaustible drink for those who thirst for life;
Rejoice, for you preserve us from revolution and war;
Rejoice, for you free us from chains and imprisonment;
Rejoice, glorious intercessor in misfortunes;
Rejoice, great defender in temptations;
Rejoice, for you have snatched many from perdition;
Rejoice, for you have kept countless numbers unharmed;
Rejoice, for through you sinners escape a frightful death;
Rejoice, for through you those who repent obtain eternal life;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 11
Your life was a song to the Most Holy Trinity, surpassing others in thought, word and deed, O Most blessed Nicholas. For with much research you explained the precepts of the true faith, teaching us to sing with faith, hope and love to the one god in Trinity: Alleluia!

Ikos 11
We see you as a bright storm lantern for those in the darkness of this life, O God-chosen Father Nicholas. For you conversed with the immaterial angelic lights concerning the uncreated light of the Trinity, and you enlighten the souls of the faithful who cry to you:

Rejoice, radiance of the triune Light;
Rejoice, daystar of the never-setting Sun;
Rejoice, lamp lit by the divine Flame;
Rejoice, for you have extinguished the devilish flame of impiety;
Rejoice, bright preaching of true faith;
Rejoice, luminous radiance of the light of the Gospel;
Rejoice, lightning that consumes heresy;
Rejoice, thunder which terrifies sinners;
Rejoice, teacher of true knowledge;
Rejoice, revealer of the secret mind;
Rejoice, for through you the worship of creatures has been abolished;
Rejoice, for through you we have learned to worship the Creator in the Trinity;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 12
Knowing the grace that has been given to you by God, we joyfully celebrate your memory, most glorious Father Nicholas, and with all our soul we crave your wonderful intercession. Unable to count your glorious deeds which are like the sand of the sea and the profusion of stars, in utter bewilderment we cry to God: Alleluia!

Ikos 12
While we sing of your wonders, we praise you, O all-praised Nicholas. For in you God who is glorified in the Trinity has been wonderfully glorified. But even if we were to offer you with all our soul a multitude of psalms and songs, O holy wonder worker, we should do nothing to equal the gift of your miracles, and amazed by them we cry to you:

Rejoice, servant of the King of kings and Lord of lords;
Rejoice, co-dweller with His heavenly servants;
Rejoice, support of faithful kings;
Rejoice, exaltation of Christendom;
Rejoice, namesake of victory;
Rejoice, eminent victor;
Rejoice, mirror of all the virtues;
Rejoice health of our bodies and salvation of our souls;
Rejoice, strong buttress of all who have recourse to you;
Rejoice, after God and the Mother of God, all our hope;
Rejoice, for through you we are delivered from eternal death;
Rejoice, for through you we are granted eternal life;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 13 (read three times)
O Most holy and wonderful Father Nicholas, comfort of all in sorrow, accept our present offering, and pray to the Lord that we may be delivered from Gehenna through your gracious intercession, that with you we may sing: Alleluia!

Ikos 1
The Lord of all creation made you an Angel in mannerism though earthly by nature. Foreseeing the fruitful beauty of your soul, blessed Nicholas, he taught all to cry to you:

Rejoice, for you were purified from your mother’s womb;
Rejoice, for you kept holy even to the end;
Rejoice, for you amazed your parents by your birth;
Rejoice, for you showed soon after your birth the vigor of your soul;
Rejoice, garden of the land of promise;
Rejoice, flower of divine planting;
Rejoice, virtuous vine of Christ’s vineyard;
Rejoice, wonderworking tree of the Paradise of Jesus;
Rejoice, lily of heavenly growth;
Rejoice, myrrh of the fragrance of Christ;
Rejoice, for through you lamentation is banished;
Rejoice, for you bring to all joy;
Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Kontakion 1
Chosen Wonderworker and superb servant of Christ, who poured out for all the world the most precious myrrh of mercy and an inexhaustible ocean of miracles, I praise you with love, Saint Nicholas; and as you have boldness towards the Lord, deliver me from all adversities that I may call to you: Rejoice, Great Wonderworker Nicholas!

Let us pray to our Holy Hierarch Father Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, let us all say:

O Holy Hierarch Father Nicholas pray unto God for us.

O all-praised and all-honored Hierarch, great Wonderworker and Saint of Christ, Father Nicholas, man of God and faithful slave, man of desires, chosen vessel, strong pillar of the Church, most brilliant light, star which illumines and enlightens the whole universe: you are a righteous man flourishing like a palm-tree planted in the courts of your Lord. Living in Myra you diffused the fragrance of myrrh, and you poured out the ever-flowing myrrh of the grace of God. By your presence, most holy Father, the sea was blessed, when your most wonderful relics were carried to the town of Bari from east to west to praise the name of the Lord. O most gracious and marvelous wonderworker, speedy helper, fervent intercessor, good shepherd who saves his spiritual flock from all kinds of harm, we glorify and magnify you as the hope of all Christians, a source of miracles, protector of the faithful, most wise teacher, feeder of the hungry, joy of the sorrowful, clothier of the naked, healer of the sick, guide of those who sail on the sea, liberator of prisoners, feeder and defender of widows and orphans, guardian of chastity, gentle tutor of children, support of the aged, director of fasters, rest of those who turn to you for protection, intercede on our behalf with the Most High, and obtain through your powerful prayers all that is useful for the salvation of our souls and bodies. Protect this holy community, every town and village, and every Christian country and the people there resident,

Especially protect those who are serving in the Armed Forces, those who provide support to them, those who oversee their efforts and who make their plans, the officers, the military leaders, our Congress, Senate and President. Remember those who supply their physical needs, and those who minister to them spiritually and physically. Grant that these may serve in holiness and honor, guarding this God-protected land from invasion of enemies, from acts of terror, and from every enemy who sets themselves against us. Remember, O Lord, your servants and handmaids:

[names of the living who are serving in the Armed Forces]

Remember also, O Lord, those who have served in this capacity, those who have sacrificed to provide for our security and to secure our freedom in previous times, especially the servants and handmaids:

[names of the living who have completed their service]

Remember also, O Lord, those who have fallen asleep in defending us. For although we have accomplished no good on earth, these have sacrificed, that perhaps for a good man or woman they may have dared to die. And so we come to you now and beseech Your mercy, remember in Your heavenly Kingdom the servants and handmaids:

[names of the departed who have died in the service of our country],

granting to them a place of brightness, a place of rest, a place of refreshment, where there is no sickness, sorrow, or sighing, but where the sight of Your Face brings joy to Your saints from all the ages. Grant them Your Kingdom, and a portion of Your eternal blessings, and the enjoyment of Your unending Life.

Deliver all of us from all evil through your help, blessed Father Nicholas; for we know that the prayer of a righteous man is a great and potent force for good. Next to the Most Blessed Theotokos, we have you as a righteous intercessor with the All-Merciful God, and to your fervent intercession and protection, most gracious Father, we humbly have recourse. Keep us, as a watchful and good shepherd, from all enemies, from pestilence, earthquake, hail, famine, flood, fire, the sword, invasion of enemies and civil war, and in all our adversities and afflictions give us a helping hand and open the doors of God’s mercy; for we are unworthy to behold high heaven on account of the multitude of our sins; we are bound by the bonds of sin and have not done the will of our Creator nor kept His commandments. Therefore, in repentance and humility, we bow the knees of our hearts to our Maker, and entreat your fatherly intercession with Him. Help us, Saint of God, lest we perish with our sins; deliver us from evil and from every hostile power, direct our minds and strengthen our hearts in true faith which, through your intercession, neither wounds, nor threats, nor epidemics, nor the wrath of our Creator shall lessen; but grant that we may live a peaceful life here and that we may see the good things in the land of the living, glorifying the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God worshipped and glorified in Trinity, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Wisdom, Most Holy Theotokos save us.

More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim. Without defilement you gave birth to God the Word. True Theotokos, we magnify you.

Glory to you O Christ, our God and our hope, glory to You.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. (3X)

Father, bless!

Life of St Nicholas the Wonderworker

Commemorated 6th / 19th December (hymns)

‘The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, thou hast achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.’

So reads the troparion of St Nicholas, hierarch of the Church of Myra in Lycia (now Demra in Turkey), known as ‘wonderworker’ and ‘father’ throughout the Christian world. He is beloved in the Orthodox Church, and indeed far beyond, for his kindness, almsgiving and aid, meted out both during his earthly life and after. As one of the multitude of English lives of the saint joyously proclaims, ‘he is one of the best known and best loved saints of all time.’ And in another: ‘The name of the great saint of God, the hierarch and wonderworker Nicholas, a speedy helper and suppliant for all hastening to him, is famed in every corner of the earth, in many lands and among many peoples. In Russia there are a multitude of cathedrals, monasteries and churches consecrated in his name. There is, perhaps, not a single city without a church dedicated to his honour.’

Childhood and early life

St Nicholas was born (c. 270) in the the region of Lycia (southern Asia Minor), in the city of Patara. His parents, Theophanes and Nonna, were both pious Christians, and being childless until his arrival, consecrated Nicholas to God at his birth (the name Nicholas meaning ‘Conqueror of nations’). His birth considered by both an answer to their prayer, and especially the prayer issued during Nonna’s illness, his mother was said to have been healed immediately after giving birth. Nicholas would always remember his parents’ love and devotion to God, and in his later years promised to come to the aid of those who remembered them in their prayers.

Various traditions recount signs of Nicholas’ future glory as ‘wonderworker’ (Gr. thaumatourgos), apparent already in his earliest childhood. One recalls that as an infant in the baptismal font, Nicholas stood on his feet for three hours in honour of the Trinity. Another proclaims him a childhood faster, not accepting milk from his mother until after the conclusion of evening prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays.

His later life revealed that Nicholas had from a young age been absorbed in the study of the Church’s sacred scriptures. He thrived on reading divine texts, and earned a reputation as a devoted youth who often would not leave the church, reading the sacred texts late into the night.

Such activity soon came to the attention of the local bishop, Nicholas’ uncle (his father’s brother), also called Nicholas. Seeing his nephew’s fervour for the Christian life, this elder Bishop Nicholas of Patara tonsured him reader, and later ordained him priest. At Fr Nicholas’ ordination, the elder Bishop Nicholas remarked:

‘I see, brethren, a new sun rising above the earth and manifesting in himself a gracious consolation for the afflicted. Blessed is the flock that will be worthy to have him as its pastor, because this one will shepherd well the souls of those who have gone astray, will nourish them on the pasturage of piety, and will be a merciful helper in misfortune and tribulation.’

The newly-ordained Fr Nicholas’ special charge as assistant to the bishop of Patara was the instruction of the faithful—a unique and uncommon role, given his young age.

The ministry of Fr Nicholas

Nicholas approached his duties as priest and teacher of the faith with the same fervour his uncle had witnessed in him during his childhood. Despite his youthfulness, many of the faithful considered him an elder, and his ability to respond to questions of the faith in love and wisdom earned him the deep respect of those in the city. He was noted in particular for the fervency of his prayer and kind-hearted nature, and the attention to charitable work that characterised his priestly ministry. Following the injunction of Christ, Fr Nicholas sold his possessions and, following his parents deaths a few years after his ordination, distributed his inheritance to the poor and afflicted, who would often seek him out for assistance.

In one of his most well-known acts of selflessness as a young priest, Fr Nicholas reacted to the intention of a wealthy businessman of Patara who had fallen on hard times and lost his fortune. Desparate, the man had determined to sell the bodies of his three daughters in order to raise funds for the family. Hearing of the plan (in some accounts, through a divine revelation), Fr Nicholas called by his home in secret during the night and threw an offering of gold—three hundred coins wrapped in a handkercheif—through the man’s window. Convinced of the goodness of the gesture, though unaware of the identity of his benefactor, the man used the funds to arrange for his eldest daughter to be married honourably to a nobleman. Later the man arose to find the act had been repeated; and eventually, a third time. In each instance, the priest made his offering secretly, attempting to conceal his works of charity.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

Following the example of his bishop, who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land a few months before, Fr Nicholas requested to travel to Jerusalem himself, to visit the holy places of the city. Icons today continue to recount the miraculous nature of his voyage there by ship, during which a great storm arose (Nicholas having earlier predicted that it would). Seeing in a vision the devil climbing aboard the ship, Nicholas warned the crew and prayed for the salvation of the craft and its occupants, and the sea shortly calmed.

Arriving in the Holy Land, Nicholas made his pilgrimage of the holy places in Jerusalem, especially Golgotha where Christ was crucified. Overcome by the reality of these places where the incarnate Son of the Father had walked and acted, Nicholas determined to retreat into the desert to live a life of solitude. But he was stopped by a divine voice, which forbad this course and urged him to return home. This he did, though still longing for quiet and the solitary life. Having been moved by his experiences on Mount Sion in Jerusalem, he entered the monastic community of Holy Sion in Lycia (which had earlier been founded by his uncle); but again, the Lord made known to him that this was not to be his path. The voice of the Lord is said to have come to him: ‘Nicholas, if you desire to be vouchsafed a crown from me, go and struggle for the good of the world. This [monastery] is not the vineyard in which you shall bring forth the fruit I expect of you; but turn back, go into the world, and let my Name be glorified in you.’
Desirous above all to follow the command of God, Nicholas departed the brotherhood of Holy Sion and moved to Myra.

Consecration to the episcopate

Shortly after his arrival in Myra, the elder Archbishop of that city, a certain John, died. There was some discussion as to who should succeed him as the chief bishop of the region, the local synod of bishops desirous that the new archbishop should not be an individual chosen by men for the office, but one revealed by God. One of their eldest number beheld a vision of the illumined Christ, who indicated that the old bishop should go into the church, for the one who was first to enter it that night—who would be called Nicholas—was he who should become the new archbishop.

The elder bishop went to the church to await Nicholas’ arrival, in obedience to the vision. When Fr Nicholas arrived, the bishop stopped him.

‘What is your name, child?’ he asked.

God’s chosen one replied, ‘My name is Nicholas, Master, and I am your servant.’

The bishop took St Nicholas immediately to the other bishops and exclaimed, ‘Brethren, receive your shepherd whom the Holy Spirit himself anointed and to whom he entrusted the care of your souls. He was not appointed by an assembly of men but by God himself. Now we have the one that we desired, and have found and accepted the one we sought. Under his rule and instruction we will not lack the hope that we will stand before God in the day of his appearing and revelation.’

Nicholas was consecrated to the episcopacy during a tumultuous time in the life of the Church in Lycia. The persecutions under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) effected that region deeply, and for a time, Bishop Nicholas was imprisoned with other Christians for refusing to bow down and worship the idols of the imperial cult. He was remembered later for the exhortations he delivered to his fellow prisoners, urging them to endure with joy all that the Lord lay before them, whether chains, bonds, torture or even death.

Bishop Nicholas’ imprisonment came to an end with the ascension of Constantine to the throne in the early fourth century. He returned to his flock in Myra, which received him with joy, and resumed his episcopal work. He was known as a great ascetic, as he had been since his childhood, and for his gentleness and love. But his kind-hearted spirit was also one of zeal, and with the new freedoms offered under the peace of Constantine (following the ‘Edict of Milan’ in 312), he was known to travel through his city, visiting pagan temples and overthrowing their shrines and idols.

The First Ecumenical Council, Nicaea 325

In the year 325, a great council of bishops—the largest in the history of the Church—was held in the city of Nicaea under the patronage of Emperor Constantine, who had, since his miraculous vision of the cross at Milvian bridge, himself converted to Christianity. This synod, which in later years would come to be known as the First Ecumenical Council (commemorated on the seventh Sunday after Pascha), was attended by over three hundred bishops from throughout the Christian world, to establish various canons of order for the growing Church, affirm the faith, and combat heresy.

In particular, the teachings of Arius, a presbyter in Alexandria, were addressed and condemned by the council, which formulated a statement of faith that, with later refinements at Constantinople in 381, became the Creed of the Church.

St Nicholas was a participant at this council, and is particularly remembered for his zeal against Arius. Having openly combatted him with words, Bishop Nicholas, in a fit of fervour (some accounts indicate he was displeased with Arius’ monopolisation of the meeting with his ‘constant arguing’), went so far as to strike Arius on the face. Shocked by this behaviour, especially given that the canons forbid clergy from striking any one at all, yet uncertain of how to react to such actions by a hierarch they knew and respected, the fathers of the council determined to deprive Nicholas of his episcopal emblems (traditionally his omophorion and the Gospel book), and placed him under guard.

However, a short time later, several of the assembled fathers reported having a common vision: the Lord and His Mother returning to Nicholas his episcopal items, instructing that he was not to be punished, for he had acted ‘not out of passion, but extreme love and piety’. This was taken as a sign that the extreme behaviour of Nicholas was nonetheless pleasing to God, who was thus restored to the fulness of his episcopal office.

Nicholas the Wonderworker

St Nicholas’ title ‘wonderworker’ comes from the multitude of reports of miracles that issued forth at his intercession, both during his life and after. The renown of his miraculous acts was widespread in his own lifetime. As he had secretly delivered gold, many years before, to the father of three destitute daughters, so he secretly delivered gold to an Italian merchent (by some accounts, this gold was left miraculously by an apparition of the saint appearing to the merchant in Italy), convincing him to sail to Myra with a shipment of grain. And so by his prayers and deeds, his city of Myra was rescued from a terrible famine.

One miracle, particularly widely known, was Bishop Nicholas’ conversion of the local governor, who had been bribed into unjustly condeming three men to death. The saint approached the executioner, who had already raised his sword to issue the death-blow, and swiftly removed it from his hands. He then approached the governor and denounced his unjust action. This latter, convicted by St Nicholas’ words, repented and asked the saint’s forgiveness. This episode is remembered as connected directly to another: for three officers of the imperial military were present to see St Nicholas stay this execution, who were later slanderously accused before the emperor, who condemned them to death. St Nicholas appeared to Emperor Constantine in a dream and urged him to reverse this sentence, which the emperor did.

Many times, the saint’s prayers were said to have saved those drowning in the sea (just a his prayers had calmed the sea on his own journey, as a young priest, to Jerusalem). Prisoners unjustly condemned prayed to him and were delivered. The poor prayed to him and were provided for. And so Nicholas’ reputation as thaumatourgos was established during his life. It continues to this day.

The saint’s departure

Living his life in ascetic labour and zealous ministry, St Nicholas fell asleep in the Lord at an old age (d. 6th December 343), by some accounts quite ill. A church was built in his honour by the residents of Myra, in which his relics were kept for many centuries.

Alexei Cominos ascended the throne of the Byzantine Empire in 1081, in which year Asia Minor suffered various attacks and threats of barbarian invasion. St Nicholas’ relics at this time remained in his city of Myra. However, a priest in the Italian city of Bari soon beheld a vision in which Nicholas appeared and informed him that he did not wish to remain in a city as barren as the defeated Myra. He instructed the priest to remove his body from the city. After informing the residents of Bari of his vision, three ships were sent to Myra to retrieve the saint’s relics.

On their arrival in the city in 1087, the travellers from Bari found the Church of St Nicholas in Myra abandoned, save for the presence of four devoted monks. These led the men to the coffin of the saint, which they had hid to keep it safe from invaders. On opening the coffin, the men found St Nicholas’ relics flowing with myrrh which they collected in vials, before securing the coffin and placing it on one of the ships for the return voyage to Bari, accompanied by two of the Myran monks.

Some time later, the ships arrived in Bari, and were met at the port by throngs of the local faithful. A great festal Liturgy was held in in the Church of St John the Forerunner and Baptist, to which the saint’s relics were taken in procession. Craftsmen had fashioned an ornate silver box, into which St Nicholas’ head and hands were placed, while the remainder of his relics remained in their original coffin from Myra.

A short time later, a large church was built and dedicated to St Nicholas, and the two boxes containing his relics were transferred to it from the Church of St John, where they remain to this day (this event is commemorated on 20th May / 2nd June). Chrism continues to flow from the saint’s relics, as it has for centuries.

Veneration of St Nicholas

The famous dismissal troparion for all holy hierarchs, ‘The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock…’, was composed originally for our saint, and it remains his particular troparion to this day. His chief hymns are as follows:

Apolytikion (Troparion) in the Fourth Tone:

The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, thou hast achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the Third Tone:

Saintly One, [St Nicholas] in Myra you proved yourself a priest; for in fulfilling the Gospel of Christ, venerable one, you laid down your life for your people and saved the innocent from death. For this you were sanctified as one learned in divine grace.

St Nicholas is often known as the patron of all travellers, and in particular of those who travel by sea. It is common to pray to him for deliverance from floods, poverty, and misfortunes.

The feast of St Nicholas is kept in the Orthodox Church on 6th / 19th December. His memory is also kept on 9th / 22nd May (commemoration of the transfer of his relics), and 29th July / 11th August (his birth).

________________________________________
Veneration of St Nicholas in Russia

Veneration to St Nicholas has always been particularly strong in Russia. This veneration stems from earliest Russian Christian imperial history. In the year 866, the first Christian prince of Russia, Askold (d. 882), was baptised with the name Nicholas by Patriarch Photius. Later, over this same Prince Nicholas Askold’s grave in Kiev, St Olga founded the first temple of St Nicholas in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Today, cathedrals dedicated to St Nicholas are found in Zaraisk, Ostrov, Mozhaist, and Izborsk. The church of St Nicholas at Novgorod was also later elevated to cathedral status. Churches and monasteries dedicated to St Nicholas exist in Kiev, Pskov, Smolensk, Galich, Toropetsa, Tobolsk, Great Ustiug and elsewhere. At one point in its history, the city of Moscow alone had over a dozen churches dedicated to St Nicholas, as well as three monasteries in the diocese of the city. Indeed, one of the main towers of the Kremlin is called ‘St Nicholas Tower’.

These are but the major churches bearing his dedication. Throughout Russia, village churches dedicated to the saint are abundant, especially near markets or merchant quarters, since St Nicholas has often been taken as the patron of merchants and travellers.

Срећна Cлава Свети Никола!

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Uploaded by beograd4ever on Mar 31, 2010

Свети Николај Чудотворац, архиепископ мирликијски. Овај славни светитељ, слављен и данас по целоме свету, би јединац син у својих знаменитих и богатих родитеља, Теофана и Ноне, житеља града Патаре, у Ликији. Као јединца сина, дарованог им од Бога, они опет посветише Богу, и тиме дадоше га Богу као уздарје. Духовном животу научи се свети Николај код свог стрица Николаја, епископа патарског, и замонаши се у манастиру Нови Сион, основаном тим истим стрицем његовим. По смрти родитеља Николај раздаде наслеђено имање сиромасима не задржавајући ништа за себе. Као свештеник у Патари беше се прочуо својим милосрђем, мада он брижљиво скриваше своја милосрдна дела испуњујући реч Господњу: “Да не зна левица твоја што чини десница твоја” (Мт 6, 3). Када се предаде самоћи и безмолвију, смишљајући да тако до смрти проживи, дође му глас свише: “Николаје, пођи на подвиг у народ, ако желиш бити од Мене увенчан”. Одмах потом чудесним Промислом Божјим би изабран за архиепископа града Мира у Ликији. Милостив, мудар, неустрашив, свети Николај био је прави пастир добри стаду своме. У време гоњења хришћана под Диоклецијаном и Максимијаном бачен у тамницу, но и у тамници поучаваше људе закону Божјем. Присуствовао Првом васељенском сабору у Никеји, и, из велике ревности према истини, ударио руком јеретика Арија. Због тога дела би уклоњен са Сабора и од архијерејске службе све док се неколицини првих архијереја на Сабору не јави сам Господ Христос и Пресвета Богородица и не објавише Своје благоволење према Николају. Заштитник истине Божје овај дивни светитељ био је вазда и одважан заштитник правде међу људима. У два маха спасао је по три човека од незаслужене смртне казне. Милостив, истинит, правдољубив, он је ходио међу људима као ангел Божји. Још за живота његова људи су га сматрали светитељем и призивали га у помоћ у мукама и бедама; и он се јављао, у сну и на јави, онима који су га призивали, подједнако лако и брзо наблизу и надалеко, и помагао. Од његовог лица сијала је светлост као од лица Мојсијева, и он је самом својом појавом доносио утеху, тишину и добру вољу међу људе. У старости поболе мало и упокоји се у Господу, многотрудан и многоплодан, да се вечно весели у Царству небеском продужујући да чудесима на земљи помаже вернима и прославља Бога свога. Упокојио се 6. децембра 343. године (в. 9. мај).

Sveti Nikola – Srećna Slava!

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Uploaded by DharmaSaveTheKarma on Dec 19, 2009

Све најлепше жеље….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
http://sr.wikipedia.org/sr-el/Никола_Мирликијски
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_von_Myra

Вкусите И Видите. Глас 1. Кир Стефан Сербин (Xv Век)
1997
Dragoslav Pavle Aksentijevic
Драгослав Павле Аксентьевич
Muzika Stare Srbije – Crkveni Napevi Od Xiv Do Xviii Veka

Svetog Nikolu, jednog od najvatrenijih zagovornika hrišćanske crkve i velikog protivnika jeretičkih učenja u prvim vekovima hrišćanske propovedi, danas obeležava Srpska pravoslavna crkva i njeni vernici.

Svetog Nikolu podjednako poštuju i zapadni i istočni hrišćani, a u Srbiji je jedna od najčešćih slava i zaštitnik pravoslavnih porodica.

Smatra se da svi pravoslavni Srbi proslavljaju svetog Nikolu, polovina kao krsnu slavu dok su druga polovina gosti pravoslavnih domaćina.

Srpska pravoslavna crkva obeležava dan smrti svetog Nikole, čudotvorca Mirlikijiskog koji je rođen u gradu Patari, u oblasti Mire Likijske, u vreme cara Valerijana.

Umro je 6. decembra 345. godine (19. decembra po zvaničnom gregorijanjskom kalendaru), pa tog dana svi hrišćani daju pomen svetitelju.

Sveti Nikolaj, čije je ime u grčkom značenju – pobeditelj naroda, smatra se u hrišćanskom svetu pobediteljem dobra nad zlom, koji je kao propovednik pravoslavnog hrišćanstva u prvim vekovima imao najveći broj pristalica.

Hrišćanske crkve slave takođe i prenos moštiju svetog Nikole koje su 22. maja 1096. godine prenesene iz Patare Mirlikijske u Bari, gde i danas počivaju, i smatraju se mestom na kome se sreću i na kome će se pomiriti istočni i zapadni hrišćani i njihove podeljene crkve.

Sveti Nikola je bio zaštitnik srpskih kraljeva pa su najstarije crkve njemu posvetili. U srpskim manastirima sveti Nikola se slika u odeždi arhiepiskopa, a među najlepše predstave spadaju i scene sa Prvog vaseljenskog Sabora su u manastiru Dečani.

U srpskom pravoslavlju slava svetog Nikole pada u vreme Božićnog posta pa je običaj da se na slavsku trpezu iznose posna jela.

Dear Friends,

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW. POST ON FACEBOOK. DISTRIBUTE TO ALL OF YOUR MAILING LISTS:

Earlier this year, we came together as a community United in Faith, Love and Action – working against the clock to find a matching bone marrow donor for Jelena Stojakovic.

I regret to inform you that despite your generous willingness to help, and our combined efforts to save her life, Jelena fell asleep in the Lord at a Seattle cancer treatment center on Tuesday, November 15. She was 32 years old. She was devoted to the Lord in faith and to improving the condition of her fellow man as shown through her years of service at International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC).

During her last days among us, Jelena’s family, friends and her mother — who were at her side as she took her last breath — found comfort in your outpouring of love and the knowledge that you were willing to donate your own bone marrow to extend her life. And while we did not succeed in finding a donor, there is still a chance to show your love and respect for this noble soul by making a donation to help defray the costs of transporting her body so that she may be buried in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, her home.

Please consider — now — making a donation whatever amount you feel comfortable via PayPal to Djurdjevich@gmail.com.

For those who wish to donate by writing a check, please make out the check to Sveta Gora Funeral Home, and write Jelena Stojakovic in the memo line. Please mail checks through the US Post Office to her Kuma Natalija Djurickovic or Anna Pavichevich, who is making the funeral arrangements and transport of Jelena’s body via Sveta Gora Funeral Home in Chicago, IL.

Addresses:

Natalija Djurickovic
2102 Hutchinson Grove Court
Falls Church, VA 22043

Anna Pavichevich
6007 N. Sheridan Road
Unit 8B
Chicago, IL 60660

$15,000 is needed to transport Jelena and her mother back to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Initial costs have been paid by Sveta Gora Funeral Home, until sufficient funds can be raised. Sveta Gora estimates the cost to be approximately $10,000; however, we would like to pay for Jelena’s mother’s ticket home and for the cost of a companion to accompany her during her time of excruciating grief. If there are funds remaining, they will be used to purchase a tombstone and register Serbs in the Bone Marrow Registry in Belgrade, Serbia, at €250 (Euros), or about USD $337.50 per person. If we can register and save a future life, Jelena’s legacy and spirit will live on.

To all who registered as bone marrow donors, to those who volunteered, and to those who prayed — thank you. May your willingness to help, and the earnestness with which you had hoped to be the match, be recognized and rewarded richly by our Lord who sees the best in everyone.

God Bless,

Anna Pavichevich
Natalija Djurickovic Stamenkovic
Mara Milanovic
Tomislav Djurdjevich

http://djurdjevich.blog.com/2011/11/15/jelena-stojakovic-memorial-fund/

Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 1:39 AM by Letters to the Editor

Jake Miller’s commentary of Sept. 4, “Turkey: The world’s crossroad,” paints a rosy picture of his trip to Turkey. However, he omits a few facts of history.

On Sept. 7, 1997, I attended the 75th anniversary of the destruction of the city of Smyrna in Washington, D.C. Armenians, Pontic Greeks and Assyrians were massacred at the hands of the young Turks under the command of Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern-day Turkey.

In his book, “Passage to Ararat,” Michael Arlen writes that Turkish women were given the dagger (Hanjar) to give the final stab to dying Armenians to gain credit in the eyes of Allah as having killed a Christian.

During my trip to Istanbul (Constantinople), our young guide confided in me that she was not of Turkish ethnicity, but of Greek, but to get a job or an apartment, she had to take a Turkish name. At one time, there were about 250,000 Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul. Today, they number 1,000.

Not only has the Turkish government not apologized for the genocide of the Christians in Asia Minor, the Turkish government does not even acknowledge the horror it committed. Turkey became more Islamic when radical Islam scored a landslide victory at the polls during its last election. In the words of the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. There is only Islam; that is it.”

STELLA JATRAS, Camp Hill

Related topics: jake miller, STELLA JATRAS, turkey, turkey genocide

If this doesn’t scare the Hell out of you, then you don’t understand the big picture.

- Sparta

From: Hellenic League of America, HLA hellenicleague@hotmail.com
Sent: Fri, Oct 28, 2011 5:26 pm
Subject: HLA commemorates this year’s OXI day by saying NO! To the Islamic infiltration of Greek America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 28, 2011

On this holiest of holy days, all of Greece and its Diaspora honors the men, women and children who laid down their lives and fought against all odds for freedom. We celebrate the 71st anniversary of Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas’ rejection of the Fascist ultimatum, which demanded our nation to allow the Axis powers entry onto holy Greek Soil so that they could continue their evil campaign that had crushed all others into submission.

In the spirit of this year’s commemoration, the Hellenic League of America releases the following article written by HLA activist, Alex Aliferis. In the same manner, in which we said no to occupation, fascism and enslavement of our nation, we must once against harness the Greek spirit to reject the infiltration of our beloved community by Islamic forces, which plot to, subdue us through the illusion of ‘peace’ and ‘interfaith dialogue’.

The Greek Orthodox Church of America and its ignorance towards the Radical pro-Turkish Gulen Movement

By Alex Aliferis

Unbeknownst to many within the Greek-American community Turkish Islamists has been able to infiltrate and manipulate the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church of America.

Just who are these Turkish Islamists? Fethullah Gulen, founder of the Gulen Movement, was born in 1941 in the village of Korucuk near Erzurum in Turkey. In 1959, with only a grade school education, he was able to obtain a preacher’s license in Edirne, Turkey and by 1966; held a religious post in Smyrna, Turkey.

On the surface, his message was one of peace, social justice, and theoretical naturalism, however, secretly he promoted an Islamic agenda in hopes of establishing Islamic rule in Turkey. A message, which would attract the current Prime Minister of Turkey, Erdogan, who is a devote follower of the Gulen Movement. In late 1990’s Gulen would be exiled from Turkey during a time of immense political instability, as Radical Islamic Prime Minister Erbakan was overthrown by the Turkish Military.

As a result, Gulen, moved to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, in a remote area of 26 acres where he constructed the headquarters of his movement. Now firmly established in the United States, Gulen, continued to use such warm sounding buzz words as ‘social justice’, ‘peace’, ‘interfaith’ and ‘dialogue’ to manipulate the American public and Greek-American community into believing he was a man of peace. However, the June 6, 2011 New York Times article, Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/education/07charter.html) reveals the true dark side of Gulen and his Turkish Islamic agenda.

Currently, in the United States, there are 122 Gulen Charter Schools controlled by various Foundations throughout the country. In Arizona, these schools such as the Sonoran Science Academy operate under the Daisy Education Corporation. In the Chicago metropolitan area, these charter schools are found under the Niagara Foundation. These countless Gulen schools use various loopholes to bypass American immigration laws to import more Turkish nationals as teachers to the United States at a time when unemployment is running high for American teachers. In addition, they employ Turkish owned firms to supply these facilities with food, janitorial services and so on, employing not a single American.

American parents, concerned with what their children are learning in these schools have begun to raise awareness of brainwashing they were unaware of inside these Gulen Charter Schools, such as the fact that these various schools are teaching their students Turkish and Islamic culture. Gulen calls these students the ‘Golden Generation’, in reference to his movement’s goal of restoring the glory days of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic Caliphate. These Gulen Schools organize Turkish Olympiads, which display American children demonstrating their Turkish skills: reading, singing, dancing in Turkish. There are currently 9 of these elaborate productions throughout the United States with the winners participating in the Gulen International Turkish Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. The last such production was held June 15-30th and had over 700 ‘Golden Generation’ students representing over 100 countries.

Gulen, a master of deception, represents himself as a man of peace and interfaith dialogue, deceiving those who do not know him or his various groups. According to Stratfor Global Intelligence’s Special Report dated Aug 23, 2010, entitled ‘Islam Secularism and the Battle for Turkey’s future’, we are informed that, “In Turkey, the Gulen Movement follows a determined agenda that aims to replace the Kemalist elite and transform Turkey into a more religiously conservative society. Outside Turkey, Gulen presents itself as a multifaith global organization working to bring business, religious leaders, politicians, journalists and average citizens together. Whatever its public relations moves, the Gulen movement is at best just one more player jockeying for power in Turkey”.

A prime example of how the Gulen movement operates in the United States is the Rumi Forum, which is based out of Washington D.C. and promotes a pro-Turkish agenda as it lobbies and promotes Turkish interests. Gulen has been the honorary President of this organization since 1999. Located in the same building as the American Enterprise Institute, the Rumi Forum organizes Congressional Ramadan Iftar Dinners in the name of ‘interfaith’, ‘peace’, and ‘dialogue’. At its second Ramadan Iftar Dinner in 2007, Archbishop Dimitrios was a guest speaker. (http://www.rumiforum.org/iftars-dinners/2nd-congressional-ramadan-iftar-dinner.html)

According to the Rumi Forum’s website, Archbishop Dimitrios expressed respect for Gulen. His speech focused on the state of human relations in our day. “Many misunderstandings have to do with lack of knowledge. You fight against something you do not know, if you know you might change your opinion and stop fighting and become friends”, His Eminence said. Praising the technology packed in small devices and showing the audience as an example his iPhone, Dimitrios said, “While technology goes that far, where is the iPhone of human relations? As religious leaders, we have to compete with technology and produce the device of human connectedness and love”. Dimitrios shared with the multi-faith crowd his vision of mutual respect as a basis for a successful interfaith dialogue.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, made the keynote speech that year at the U.S. Congress, in which he stressed the need to energize interfaith dialogue. Professor Ihsanglu said that any terrorist or radical cannot represent Islam. Ihsanglu pointed out that Islam was not a religion of violence and expressed concern about the rising sentiment of islamophobia around the globe. “Extremists exist in all religious traditions. Sometimes extremists have spoken on behalf of Islam”, he stated. Noting that President Bush had recently announced his intention to nominate a special envoy to the OIC, Prof. Ihsanoglu said that this appointment would set up a direct linkage between America and the only official representative of the Muslim world, the OIC also stated that the OIC looked forward to cooperating with the Presidential envoy. He went on to say, “What we really need is to have a more comprehensive framework, which I call historic reconciliation between Islam and Christianity, Islam and the West”. Ihsanoglu called upon representatives of all faiths to have an agenda for their interfaith dialogue to transform misconceptions to mutual respect.

The problem with this, however, is that the Rumi Forum is a Turkish Lobby group that holds lectures promoting Turkey and an Islamic Agenda in the United States. The Rumi Forum Executive Director, Ali Yurtsever, sided with the Turkish Coalition of America in denying the Armenian Genocide, so much for ‘peace’ and ‘interfaith dialogue’. In 2007, Yurtsever attended a congressional hearing on the Armenian Genocide resolution to lobby against it with other Turkish Nationalists. Of the numerous lectures, the Rumi Forum has organized on Islam and Turkey several topics include: “The Role of African Americans in Establishing Islam in America with Imam Vernon Fared” (Dec 22, 2010), “U.S.-Turkey; Model-Partnership for 21st century with Joshua Walker”(Nov 3, 2010), “What does Turkey mean to the West now?”(July 1, 2010), “Turkish-Armenian Relations: What’s New? With anti-Greek/Cyprus Omer Taspinar of the Brookings Institute”(March 31, 2010), “New Approaches in Turkish Foreign Policy by Dr. Erhan”(Oct 6, 2009), “U.S. Support of Turkey’s Accession to the EU”(July 18, 2009), and “Ottoman Empire, An Oasis for Refugees” (July 23, 2009). These lectures are conducted by pro-Turkish Congressmen such as Virginia Democrat Congressman James Moran and New Jersey Democrat Congressman Rush Holt.

The Gulen movement has organized its Charter schools, foundations, and the Rumi Forum into the new Turkish-American Alliance based in Washington D.C. (http://www.turkicamericanalliance.org). Within this alliance, they include other associations such as Albanians, Bosnians, Azeris, Kyrgz American Association, and Balkan Turks. On June 27, 2011, the Turkish American Alliance held a lecture by the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Namik Tan, called “Turkey in its region and beyond”.

In 2010, the Gulen’s Niagara Foundation in Chicago awarded Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos with a special award. (http://www.youtube.com/user/niagarafoundation?blend=3&ob=5).

According to the Bishop’s website, it says, “Named as “one of the twelve people to watch” by The Chicago Sun-Times (January 5, 2003), Bishop Demetrios has worked extensively to build bridges of understanding and improve relationships between Chicago’s Greek Orthodox Community with other local Orthodox bodies, as well as other Christian and non-Christian groups. His ecumenical and interfaith commitments are numerous, coalescing around areas of social justice and advocacy. To this end, in February of 2003, he co-founded a local initiative to improve relations between the Turkish and Greek communities in Chicago, culminating in his being named the recipient of the 2010 “Fethullah Gulen Award” from the Niagara Foundation, a Turkish/Muslim-American group in Chicago, inspired by Fethullah Gulen, a leading Turkish Muslim, advancing interfaith and intercultural dialogue.”

This Islamist Turkish Nationalist movement has succeeded in fooling Church officials through various awards to Greek Orthodox Priests in an attempt to neutralize the Greek-American community through the Greek Orthodox Church of America. It is up to those Greek Americans that have not fallen to the deceitful methods of the Gulen Movement to approach Archbishop Dimitrios and other Church officials to warn them about Gulen and his organizations. Organizations that seem to preach ‘peace’ yet lobby against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and support the illegal Turkish military occupation of Cyprus.

Videos:

Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos Bio:
http://chicago.goarch.org/bishop-demetrios/

Rumi Forum Iftar Dinner and Archbishop Dimitrios:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6SZ2XudfGI

Click here to view the embedded video.

Award to Bishop Demetrios of Mokissios by Niagara Found:
http://www.youtube.com/user/niagarafoundation?blend=3&ob=5

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gulen movement:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xj1igo_the-gulen-movement-a-new-islamic-world-order-cbn-com_news

Click here to view the embedded video.

####

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www.hellenicleagueonline.org

Please follow us on Facebook:
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The Hellenic League of America (HLA) is a cooperative and collective effort by Hellenes, Phil-Hellenes and Hellenic enthusiasts who come together for the Hellenic Cause. A register 501c nonprofit organization the Hellenic League of America, HLA works to spread awareness on Hellenic National Issues, as well as our ethnic traditions and culture. Founded in 2008 the HLA has been involved in organizing lectures, protests, rallies and commemoration across the tri-state area.

To be added to HLA’s Action Alert e-mail distribution list, or to introduce HLA to a friend or colleague, please forward the pertinent name and e-mail address, with the subject heading “Add e-mail to HLA distribution list”, to Hellenicleague@hotmail.com

You are encouraged to forward this action alert to five or more individuals who may have an interest in our e-distributions or in HLA’s mission. You may post any HLA article, press release or action alert on the internet as long as you credit HLA and the author(s).

What is “Oxi Day”?

It is the day of saying “NO!” to foreign tyranny.

Wikipedia: Ohi Day

 Ohi Day (also spelled Ochi Day, Greek: Επέτειος του «’Οχι» Epeteios tou “‘Ohi”, Anniversary of the “No”) is celebrated throughout Greece, Cyprus and the Greek communities around the world on October 28 each year, to commemorate Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas‘ (in power from August 4, 1936, until January 29, 1941) rejection of the ultimatum made by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on October 28, 1940.

More here.

By Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times

Islamic forces entered Europe from Asia and North Africa in order to enslave, convert, persecute and either completely destroy Christianity or to enforce dhimmitude. Before this process began you had the complete annihilation of Christianity in many parts of North Africa and in various parts of the Middle East it was one long sojourn into dhimmitude, pogroms and massacres.

Christianity survived in some areas, for example in Egypt, however, numbers succumbed after Arab colonial and Islamic discrimination took route. Therefore, a complete Islamic inquisition took root in Arabia (modern day Saudi Arabia) and just like the Sunni Islamic inquisition against Buddhism and Hinduism in Afghanistan, you now have complete Islamization.

Of course the complete annihilation of Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, in both areas didn’t lead to a greater civilization. On the contrary, it led to the dark forces of Islamic Sharia law and the Shia also suffered countless massacres and pogroms. After all, you had a complete Sunni Islamic inquisition in Egypt against the Shia. Also, in modern day Malaysia the Shia Muslim faith is forbidden and converts face systematic persecution.

Turning back to the Balkans the Orthodox Christian Serbs survived because Serbian Orthodox Church leaders remained strong and tenacious. Under the Ottomans each rule was different but overall it was a period of Christian Orthodox boys being taken from their parents and converted to Islam because of the hated devshirme system.

John R. Schindler stated in his book called Unholy Terror that in the Bosnia “The most hated aspect of Ottoman rule in Bosnia, and the one whose memory lingers most sharply even today, was the practice of devshirme, the blood tax imposed on Christians. For three centuries beginning with the conquest of Bosnia, the Ottomans annually levied male children as tribute; every year, up to one-fifth of Christian boys in Bosnia – usually aged fourteen to twenty, but some were younger – were forcibly taken from their families in contingents of a thousand and shipped to the imperial court at Istanbul to become warrior-slaves in the janissaries, the Sultan’s elite guard. They were converted to Islam….” Page 23 – Unholy Terror

Of course the modern version in many universities in the West and in the mass media is to play down the slavery of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans, systematic pogroms and ignore the dark days of the Ottoman Empire – and this also applies to mass abuses of sexual slavery which was sanctioned by Islamic Sharia law.

Not surprisingly the Islamic religion grew in Albania, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and other regions of the Balkans. In the modern period you have the remnants of dhimmitude, systematic pogroms, the devshirme system, and other more recent factors in the twentieth century which led to either the weakening of Orthodox Christianity or turning a once majority region into a small minority.

Therefore, the Ottoman Empire, slavery, dhimmitude, devshirme, pogroms, countless religious wars before the twentieth century and traitors who were the children of slaves all fought against the indigenous Orthodox Christian faith. In the twentieth century Communist forces and Nazism further persecuted and altered the demographics of both Bosnia and Kosovo.

In my article called Bosnia: the myths of peaceful Islam and the hidden Islamic jihad I comment that “World War Two also witnessed the mutual support of the Muslim elites with Nazi Germany and Orthodox Christians faced the brutality of many forces. This notably applies to the Croatian Catholic Ustasha regime which was genocidal towards the Serbian Orthodox Christians and it must be stated that Muslims participated fully within the military wing and police force of this brutal and barbaric regime. At the same time Muslims served under the Nazi regime of Germany and the 13^th Volunteer Mountain Division of the Waffen-SS (Handschar) was famous for killing Orthodox Christians.”

John R. Schindler states that “Despite strong local support, Himmler’s Bosnian division ultimately did little to help the Nazi cause or defend the Bosnian Muslims…….the 13^th Division’s actual combat record was slight, while its depredations against unarmed Serbs were impressive; the Muslim troops spent more time killing and looting than actually fighting…….the 13^th Division ended the war ingloriously, plagued by war crimes and desertion.” Page 36 – Unholy Terror

In recent times you still have no respite because Serbian Orthodox Christians still suffer systematic persecution and abuse. The simple question is do Serbian Orthodox Christians in Kosovo have the right to openly spread their faith throughout Kosovo and to build new Serbian Orthodox Churches throughout Kosovo? The answer is no.

Next, do Serbian Orthodox Christians including small children have the freedom to travel throughout Kosovo without any hindrance and ill-will towards them? The answer is no because in many areas they have to be protected by international forces.

The Kosovo conflict matters not a jot to this reality in modern Europe because the Serbian Orthodox Christians of Kosovo are innocent and their ancestors laid all the foundations of this land. This applies to ancient Christian churches and monasteries.

If Kosovo Albanians claim differently, then are their Muslim places of worship much older than Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries? Also, it was Islam which spread to Kosovo by systematic religious persecution and conquest and not the other way around.

Even if the international community wants to state that Serbia was the aggressor during the last Kosovo conflict this should not be an issue. Or is the new world order based on communities having their land taken away from them because of one brief period of history?

After all, it was the Serbian Orthodox Christians for century after century which suffered massacres, systematic pogroms and the dreaded enslavement of their children under the devshirme system. Not only this, the world also forgets about Muslim SS Units fighting loyally for Nazism in the Balkans and further changing the demographic reality of the Balkans by slaughtering Serbian Orthodox Christians.

However, in 2011 the Serbian Orthodox Christian community is still under siege in Kosovo and we all know that the Islamization of Kosovo is sanctioned by America which even supported Islamic terrorists during the wars in the Balkans.

Indeed, even the organ-tainted leadership of the Kosovo Albanians doesn’t shame the West and instead a more civilized Serbia is still trying to find a solution despite all the hatred towards the people of Serbia.

In modern Europe we are witnessing Islamization by Western powers who clearly hope that the Christian Orthodox Serbs will just leave Kosovo and then their “rubber stamp” will be complete.

Therefore, while history tells us that the Sunni Islamic inquisition eradicated Buddhism and Hinduism in Afghanistan. In our own lifetime, the de-Orthodox Christianization is being done in-front of the entire world without a murmur by churches in the West which have succumbed to liberalism, secularism and political correctness.

Western nations involved in this tragedy have certainly done a great media propaganda campaign because the organ scandal involving the Kosovo Liberation Army, destruction of Orthodox Christian churches, little Christian Orthodox children having no freedom to play openly throughout Kosovo, and so forth, appears to matter not one iota.

Of course, the same Western nations and mass media said little when two million mainly African Animists and African Christians were being slaughtered in Sudan by the Arab Islamic elites in Khartoum during the 1980s and early 1990s.

However, unlike the Serbian Orthodox Christians of Kosovo, black African nations which are mainly Christian in Uganda and Kenya, and others, didn’t stand by and allow Africans to be crushed.

The new Europe and America is tainted by the ongoing reality of Kosovo and not even a simple solution of allowing the remaining Serbs　a free choice is on the table. Therefore, modern day Kosovo is about humiliating Serbia and for the remaining Serbs they either will be forced to accept Albanian Kosovo rule or they will just be marginalized to the point where economic necessity means that they will leave.

Serbian Orthodox Christianity in Kosovo is becoming a museum whereby famous monuments and monasteries are protected by Western forces; however, the faithful have no freedom to roam around Kosovo freely.

The Turkish Ottomans would be pleased with the bidding of America, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations. Not in their wildest dreams would they have envisaged a mainly Christian and non-Muslim West of offering Kosovo “on a Muslim plate” and with all aspects of Serbian Orthodox Christianity “being the final dinner.”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lSRFC-jVPw (Muslim Jihad Fanatics From All Over The World In The Balkans – Islamists in Bosnia because of USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Islamist Alija Izetbegovic)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03DQJ7skClg Mujahideen of Bosnia المجاهدين في البوسنة
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyl5wxJPIQs (Muslim massacres of Christians)
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rival-muslims-battle-on-in-bihac-1422695.html  (Inter Muslim fighting – Serbs supported moderate Muslims)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onbxpq3qI0c  (Henry Kissinger on Muslim Provocations to Make Case for Intervention)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1w4p1J9fyg (Henry Kissinger)
• leejay@moderntokyotimes.com
• http://moderntokyotimes.com  please visit

From YouTube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

From George Demos for Congress:

Press@DemosforCongress.com
(631) 648-0301

Brookhaven, NY- George Demos, the Conservative Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in the First District of New York today called on New York Governor Cuomo to fill the vacancy at the Port Authority with a new Director who will publicly and unequivocally commit to rebuilding the 9/11 Church at Ground Zero.

George Demos said:

During his tenure as Port Authority Director, Christopher Ward willfully and maliciously obstructed the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Church, the only house of worship destroyed on September 11th.

Last August, our campaign put out the first national call to rebuild this Church, and held a press conference with former New York Governor George Pataki, but Ward refused to listen.

Now that Christopher Ward is resigning, Governor Cuomo must fill the vacancy with a new Director who will publicly and unequivocally commit to rebuilding the 9/11 Church at Ground Zero.

We owe it to our nation to rebuild this Church, so that the world will know that Al-Qaeda failed to destroy God’s footprint at Ground Zero and that our nation’s Judeo-Christian values cannot be wiped out by evil.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Port Authority Chief to Resign

September 29, 2011

By ANDREW GROSSMAN And ELIOT BROWN

Chris Ward, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, plans to step down by the end of October, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Ward, the top official at the Port Authority appointed by the governor of New York, has found himself on the outside looking in since Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office in January. Mr. Ward was appointed by Mr. Cuomo’s predecessor, David Paterson, in 2008. It isn’t clear whether the Cuomo administration has identified a successor.

Since then, he has been credited with bringing order to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and earned plaudits from many in New York’s business community. But his job is one that governors traditionally have filled with people loyal to them. Mr. Ward, 56 years old, a veteran of Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s administration, had few ties to Mr. Cuomo. People close to Mr. Ward had long expected him to leave sometime after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo declined to comment. Mr. Ward’s plan to leave by the end of October was first reported on the New York Times website Wednesday evening.

Mr. Ward’s arrival in the job in May 2008 came as a bout of luck. The head of a New York advocacy group for large construction firms, he was considered for the agency’s top position by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, but was passed over. But when Mr. Spitzer resigned less than a year and a half after taking office, his successor, Mr. Paterson, tapped Mr. Ward for the job in one of his first personnel moves.

A seasoned official known as forceful but amiable, his mandate from the new governor was clear: publicly open the books on the World Trade Center site, which was believed to be running billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

Calling the project’s costs and timelines “not realistic,” Mr. Ward put new budgets on the tremendously complex construction plan, trimming and streamlining some pieces, while stretching out others.

The efforts then turned to the three private towers on the site being built by developer Larry Silverstein, who faced an inability to build his skyscrapers given the economic downturn.

Mr. Silverstein’s request—that the Port Authority financially back his buildings—sparked what became a fierce public battle that lasted more than a year.

Mr. Ward quickly spurned Mr. Silverstein’s request, saying that backing the towers would decimate the finances of the already-financially strained agency. Throughout much of 2009, Mr. Ward stood his ground amid intense pressure from Mr. Silverstein’s powerful backers, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Mr. Bloomberg, who criticized him and his agency as inflexible and unreasonable.

Ultimately, a compromise plan was hatched that allowed Mr. Silverstein to build one tower and use hundreds of millions of dollars in public money toward a second if he found a tenant and raised private money. The deal unlocked construction that had been put on hold, and repaired relations frayed by the fight, such as those between Mr. Ward and the mayor. Since then, Mr. Bloomberg has repeatedly praised him.

But since Mr. Cuomo took office at the beginning of the year and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s appointees began to assert their influence at the Port Authority, Mr. Ward found himself standing mostly alone. Mr. Cuomo’s schedules posted online don’t show any meetings with Mr. Ward.

And when President Barack Obama went to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site after Osama bin Laden was killed in May, he was flanked by the two governors, Mr. Bloomberg, and the man Mr. Christie had recently appointed as chairman of the Port Authority, David Samson. Mr. Ward, who many credited with jump-starting construction at the site, stood off camera.

Mr. Ward was one of the last high-profile appointees left over from Mr. Paterson’s administration. One of the others, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder, is set to leave for a job running Hong Kong’s mass-transit operator next month.

Much of Mr. Ward’s career has been spent managing New York’s increasingly creaky infrastructure. During Mr. Bloomberg’s first term, he ran the Department of Environmental Protection, which controls the city’s sewers and water distribution. After that, he spent time as chief executive of a firm that manages facilities at the region’s ports.

But he also brought an uncommon pedigree to the job. The son of an Amherst College president, he earned a master’s degree in theology from Harvard Divinity School.

He had also spent time in lower-level jobs at the Port Authority, and as recently as last week said that he would stay in his job as long as Mr. Cuomo would have him.

—Jacob Gershman contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Grossman at andrew.grossman@wsj.com and Eliot Brown at eliot.brown@wsj.com