21 May ~ Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the Apostles

Posted on by Fr. Peter
This great and renowned sovereign of the Christians was the son of Constantius Chlorus (the ruler of the westernmost parts of the Roman empire), and of the blessed Helen. He was born in 272, in (according to some authorities) Naissus of Dardania, a city on the Hellespont. In 306, when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to his throne. In 312, on learning that Maxentius and Maximinus had joined forces against him, he marched into Italy, where, while at the head of his troops, he saw in the sky after midday, beneath the sun, a radiant pillar in the form of a cross with the words: “By this shalt thou conquer.” The following night, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream and declared to him the power of the Cross and its significance. When he arose in the morning, he immediately ordered that a labarum be made (which is a banner or standard of victory over the enemy) in the form of a cross, and he inscribed on it the Name of Jesus Christ. On the 28th Of October, he attacked and mightily conquered Maxentius, who drowned in the Tiber River while fleeing. The following day, Constantine entered Rome in triumph and was proclaimed Emperor of the West by the Senate, while Licinius, his brother-in-law, ruled in the East. But out of malice, Licinius later persecuted the Christians. Constantine fought him once and again, and utterly destroyed him in 324, and in this manner he became monarch over the West and the East. Under him and because of him all the persecutions against the Church ceased. Christianity triumphed and idolatry was overthrown. In 325 he gathered the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which he himself personally addressed. In 324, in the ancient city of Byzantium, he laid the foundations of the new capital of his realm, and solemnly inaugurated it on May 11, 330, naming it after himself, Constantinople. Since the throne of the imperial rule was transferred thither from Rome, it was named New Rome, the inhabitants of its domain were called Romans, and it was considered the continuation of the Roman Empire. Falling ill near Nicomedia, he requested to receive divine Baptism, according to Eusebius (The Life of Constantine. Book IV, 61-62), and also according to Socrates and Sozomen; and when he had been deemed worthy of the Holy Mysteries, he reposed in 337, on May 21 or 22, the day of Pentecost, having lived sixty-five years, of which he ruled for thirty-one years. His remains were transferred to Constantinople and were deposed in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been built by him (see Homily XXVI on Second Corinthians by Saint John Chrysostom).

As for his holy mother Helen, after her son had made the Faith of Christ triumphant throughout the Roman Empire, she undertook a journey to Jerusalem and found the Holy Cross on which our Lord was crucified (see Sept. 13 and 14). After this, Saint Helen, in her zeal to glorify Christ, erected churches in Jerusalem at the sites of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, in Bethlehem at the cave where our Saviour was born, another on the Mount of Olives whence He ascended into Heaven, and many others throughout the Holy Land, Cyprus, and elsewhere. She was proclaimed Augusta, her image was stamped upon golden coins, and two cities were named Helenopolis after her in Bithynia and in Palestine. Having been thus glorified for her piety, she departed to the Lord being about eighty years of age, according to some in the year 330, according to others, in 336.

New Monastery Website

Posted on by Fr. Peter
With special thanks to Fr. John Peck of Logos Web Services and Fr. John Schroedel of Inoa Technologies we have a great new website for the St. Columba of Iona Orthodox Monastery.

If anyone is in need of web design or web hosting these are the guys to contact. Great service and very reasonable rates. Tell them I sent you their way.

Check out the new site here

Deleted Post

Posted on by Fr. Peter
As you can see, or not, I have removed a post from this blog. This is the first time I have done this since I started this blog. It has caused people to spew hate towards me and threaten me two times to turn me into my bishop for the things that I write. I even had someone on Facebook say that I should be defrocked, whatever that is, or should go and join the Episcopalians. WOW, I have never been faced with such hate before. The funny thing is most of the comments have come from people in the Orthodox Church, I am glad respect is still being taught to people who come into the Orthodox Church! Just because I am a priest does not mean I do not think, and I believe what I wrote was in line with Orthodox Theology or I would not have written it. In our Archdiocese we encourage thinking and dialogue on issues we are not all cookie cutters and I am glad for that. Out of discussion and discourse comes understanding. Calling someone a Nazi or a Communist does not advance understanding at all, it is just simply childish. It is easier then academic discourse because you do not have to think about it.
But because it caused some to stumble I have removed it and I will beg the forgiveness of those who found it objectionable. It was not my intent to offend only to have a conversation, but I guess it is not possible for some to have that conversation. Passion is a great thing, hey passion led us to be a country and that is great and I applaud that, but passion that lowers itself to name calling is just plain silly. So I beg your forgiveness if I offended or hurt you in any way.

I only ask that we can have civil discourse. Where has that gone? It used to be that we could have a discussion about an issue and disagree and that would be that but now we have to call each other Nazi and Communist if we do not agree or this one is a liberal or that one is a conservative. Where has civility gone?

I hope we find it because if we don’t we are doomed.

Lesbians and Catholic Schools

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Last week, a Roman Catholic school south of Boston withdrew the acceptance letter for a child whose parents are lesbians. The reason given is that the parents lifestyle is not in concert with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The Archdiocese of Boston quickly distanced itself from the school and the parish priest, and has offered the child a seat in another school.

I have a fundamental disagreement on this policy because of a few items. First, is it the child’s fault that his parents are lesbians? What if his parents were convicted murderers, another thing not in concert with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. It reminds me of a story from years back. The girl next door found herself in the family way whilst still in high school. She decided to have the child and when he was born went to the local parish priest for baptism. He refused to baptize the child because his parents were not married. Not very pastoral I would say.

If the Roman Catholic Church feels that homosexuals are outside of the church that is fine, my disagreement is not on the teaching of the church as this is fundamentally the same teaching as the Orthodox Church. My disagreement comes in how the policy is being implemented. If you are not going to accept children of parents whose lifestyle is outside the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church then you need to implement the policy in a fair way and not target one group. How about children of divorced parents, children of parents who live together and are not married. How about children of parents who are not Roman Catholic, that’s a big one. Children of parents who do not come to church… etc. The list goes on.

Policies are fine, and upholding church teachings is great, and I really do applaud this school for doing just that, but it seems a little one sided and that the things that gets my goat. We need to ensure that we are employing a policy the same for everyone otherwise it smack of discrimination plain and simple. And discrimination is not only wrong, it is anti-Christian.

Orthodox Unity

Posted on by Fr. Peter
From Monday, May 24th – Thursday May 28th all of the canonical Orthodox Bishops in North America will be gathering for a historic meeting in new York City. Under the chairmanship of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the bishop will gather to discuss Orthodox Unity in North America. All of the canonical bishops have been invited and some 60 bishops will attend this meeting.

Please pray for our church leaders that the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon them and the meetings will be fruitful.

As a way of preparation and understanding of this meeting, I have posted several links below to some documents and blog posts about the meeting.

Essential Documents for Understanding the Process (Orthodox Christian Laity)

Our Best Chance Yet (Ancient Faith Radio)

The Road to Unity (Ancient Faith Radio)

Unraveling Chambesy – Administrative Unity In Our Time (Ancient Faith Radio)

Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy (SCOBA)

The Invisible Priest

Posted on by Fr. Peter

A comment reported on the Portland, Maine, TV station, Channel 6:

“We could take a cue from Orthodoxy, whose priests stand with their backs to their congregation, leading a liturgy that is neither clever nor impassioned, but simply beautiful, like stone smoothed by centuries of rhythmic tides. It’s an austere ritual, in the sense of – there’s nothing new here; it’s sublime, in the sense of – creating a clearer view into Heaven. The priest can be any priest. Who he is, what he looks like, how he speaks, and what he thinks matter little. He hasn’t written the service that he officiates. It isn’t about him or his prowess. He’s an interchangeable functionary draped in brocaded robes, obscured by incense, and, as such, never points to himself, a flawed human, pointing ever and only to the Perfection of the Mysterious Divine. That is the role of every priest or preacher – invisibility, while making God seen.”

h/t Byzantine Texas

Orthodox Christian Fellowship seeks new Student Advisory Board members

Posted on by Fr. Peter
The Orthodox Christian Fellowship — a pan-Orthodox agency under the auspices of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas — is seeking college and university students interested in serving on its Student Advisory Board [SAB].

OCF offers students the opportunity to lend their voice to this ministry by serving on the Student Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB was instituted in 2002 with an enthusiastic and God centered group of young people. This inaugural SAB initiated integral OCF programming such as Day of Prayer and organization of the regional OCF structure. These student leaders have now moved on to leadership within the Orthodox Church serving in positions such as the OCF Board of Directors and Greek Archdiocese Department of Internet Ministries.

Subsequent SAB’s have continued the inspiring vision set forth by the fist SAB. Do you have the interest, the passion, and the dedication to be apart of the newest chapter in the Student Advisory Board? Applications are now available. Click here for further information concerning SAB available positions and job expectations.

Ascension of our Lord

Posted on by Fr. Peter
The Lord Jesus passed forty days on earth after His Resurrection from the dead, appearing continually in various places to His disciples, with whom He also spoke, ate, and drank, thereby further demonstrating His Resurrection. On this Thursday, the fortieth day after Pascha, He appeared again in Jerusalem. After He had first spoken to the disciples about many things, He gave them His last commandment, that is, that they go forth and proclaim His Name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. But He also commanded them that for the present, they were not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait there together until they receive power from on high, when the Holy Spirit would come upon them.

Saying these things, He led them to the Mount of Olives, and raising His hands, He blessed them; and saying again the words of the Father’s blessing, He was parted from them and taken up. Immediately a cloud of light, a proof of His majesty, received Him. Sitting thereon as though on a royal chariot, He was taken up into Heaven, and after a short time was concealed from the sight of the disciples, who remained where they were with their eyes fixed on Him. At this point, two Angels in the form of men in white raiment appeared to them and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, Who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven” (Acts 1:11). These words, in a complete and concise manner, declare what is taught in the Symbol of Faith concerning the Son and Word of God. Therefore, having so fulfilled all His dispensation for us, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended in glory into Heaven, and sat at the right hand of God the Father. As for His sacred disciples, they returned from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, rejoicing because Christ had promised to send them the Holy Spirit.

It should be noted that the Mount of Olives is a Sabbath’s day journey from Jerusalem, that is, the distance a Jew was permitted to walk on the day of the Sabbath. Ecumenius writes, “A Sabbath day’s journey is one mile in length, as Clement says in his fifth Stromatis; it is two thousand cubits, as the Interpretation of the Acts states.” They draw this conclusion from the fact that, while they were in the wilderness, the Israelites of old kept within this distance from the Holy Tabernacle, whither they walked on the Sabbath day to worship God.

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