St. Vantine

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Since the entire world celebrates this Saint on this day I thought I would put a little entry here about St. Valentine, however on the Orthodox calendar we do not commemorate this saint until the 6th of July.

Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter and those with him at Rome
Commemorated on July 6

The Holy Martyrs Valentinus the Presbyter, Martha, Marinus, Audifax, Habakkuk, Cyrenus, Asterius and many others with them at Rome.

During the reign of the emperor Claudius II (268-270), St Marinus together with his wife Martha and their sons Audifax and Habakkuk journeyed from Persia to Rome, to pray at the graves of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. During this time fierce persecutions and executions befell the Roman Church. St Marinus and his wife and sons helped Christians locked up in the prisons, and also to request the bodies of executed martyrs. At one of these jails they met a prisoner named Cyrenus and they helped him, since he had endured many torments for faith in Christ.

The persecution spread, and even more Christians were arrested. During this time 260 Christians, among whom was the tribune Vlastus, had been sent under the court sentence to dig ground along the Salerian Way, and were executed by archers. When they learned about this vicious murder, Marinus, his family, and the presbyter John went by night and took the bodies of the martyrs to be buried in the catacombs. They returned later to the prison where St Cyrenus was incarcerated, but did not find him. He had been executed the day before and his body was thrown into the Tiber River. Doing their holy duty, Sts Marinus and Martha and their sons took the body of the holy martyr from the river and committed it to the earth. The holy workers were among Christians, who continued secretly to perform the divine services under the leadership of the holy Bishop Callistus, and hid them from their pursuers.

In consummation of their great charitable deeds the holy family was deemed worthy to glorify the Lord by martyrdom. The pagans beheaded the courageous confessor Valentinus the Presbyter, and the imperial gardener Asterius who had been converted by him, and the holy ascetics from Persia were arrested and given over to torture. By order of the emperor, Sts Marinus, Audifax and Habakkuk were beheaded in the year 269, and St Martha was drowned in a river.

The relics of the holy saints are in Rome at the Church of St John the Hut-Dweller, and the relics of St Valentinus are in the Church of the holy Martyr Paraskeva.

Troparion (Tone 4)

Thou hast become like the Apostles in their states, a successor to their throne, finding indeed the intelligential ladder, O thou God-inspired. Therefore, thou hast followed the Word of God in righteousness, and striven unto blood for the Faith. O Martyr among Priests, Saint Valentine, intercede with Christ God to save our souls.

We Are the World

Posted on by Fr. Peter
This is as true today as the day the original was made.
We truly are the world!

We are our Brothers Keeper!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI]

Lenten Blog for Youth

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Into the Desert a Lenten Youth Blog, begins on Monday, February 15, 2010.

This blog is offered to all Orthodox Christian Youth, to help them make the most of the Lenten Season. Each day of the forty day Fast, a new entry will be added to the blog which will challenge its participants to grow spiritually by following suggested activities and lenten disciplines.

Follow this link to enter the blog.

h/t Byzantine Texas

The Devil’s Beatitudes

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Blessed are those who are too tired, busy or disorganised to meet with fellow Christians on Sundays each week. They are my best workers.

Blessed are those who enjoy noticing the mannerisms of clergy and choir. Their hearts are not in it.

Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked. I can use them.

Blessed are the touchy. With a bit of luck they may even stop going to church. They are my missionaries.

Blessed are those who claim to love God at the same time as hating other people. They are mine forever.

Blessed are the troublemakers. They shall be called my children.Blessed are those who have no time to pray. They are easy prey for me.

Blessed are you when you read this and think it is about other people and not yourself. I’ve got you!

h/t Jeffrey Steel

America is Hungry

Posted on by Fr. Peter
A recent Editorial in New York Times has the latest news on Hunger in America. It is a sobering read. For those of us who consider ourselves pro life we need to be concerned about hunger as well as abortion. We also need to concern ourselves with poverty at all levels as well as education.

More Americans are going hungry in hard times and are increasingly dependent on private charity, according to a new study by Feeding America, a national network of food banks. The study found that 37 million people — roughly one in eight Americans — had sought emergency food assistance from the network last year, a 46 percent increase from 2006.

As the recession and high unemployment take their toll, there are hungry families all across the country: in cities and suburbs, poor, middle class and even supposedly wealthy communities.

At a recent news conference on Long Island — seen as a place of suburban affluence — local charities shared stories of families struggling to stay afloat and being forced to choose among food, housing payments and utility bills. In many cases, it seems food was skimped on because hunger was easier to ignore than threatening letters from unpaid landlords or the gas company.

In the Long Island portion of the Feeding America study, researchers surveyed more than 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters and interviewed people who had sought food at those places. The study concluded that about 280,000 Long Islanders needed help last year, a 21 percent increase from 2006. Only a small percentage of these clients were homeless or elderly. Thirty-nine percent were children under 18.

The study found that volunteers are central to the success of emergency feeding programs. On Long Island, 88 percent of food pantries and 92 percent of soup kitchens rely on volunteers. But the news conference revealed that many of the volunteers who collected and served food have become newly hungry and jobless.

It is reassuring that so many Americans are eager to help their neighbors. But it is also clear that the government safety net is failing. The Feeding America study found that about 30 percent of those seeking help from their facilities also received food stamps. This bolsters what advocates for the poor have said for years, that the food stamp program isn’t reaching everyone who is eligible. That must be fixed.

Patches Kennedy Gone

Posted on by Fr. Peter
“Well another one bites the dust.” The words to that old song ring true. Patrick Kennedy will announce on Sunday that he will not seek another term in office. Who knows the reason, only Kennedy himself I am sure, but could it have something to do with all of the publicity he received because of his little argument with Bishop Tobin? Maybe he took a long look at the Scott Brown election, although I still think that victory was more a vote against Socialized Medicine that it was for Scott Brown, but did he see the writing on the wall?

Kennedy has overcome many adversities and one needs to recognize those. It is hard enough to overcome any kind of addiction but to do it in the public eye makes it even harder. I cannot imagine what it was like growing up and living in a family that is so much in the public eye.

So Patches we salute you on your way out and wish you well.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLzr-4MMyDc]

Captain Phil Harris RIP

Posted on by Fr. Peter
For those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know I am a big fan of reality TV. Well one of the greats has passed on.

Captain Phil Harris of the F/V Cornelia Marie died on Tuesday after suffering a stroke on board his vessel whist working the deck. Captain Harris was a young 53 and suffered some health problems last season on the Discovery Channel Show Deadliest Catch.

Capt Phil, Rest in Peace!

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A spokesman for The Discovery Channel says the captain of the “Deadliest Catch” fishing vessel Cornelia Marie has died.

Capt. Phil Harris suffered what his family described as a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the boat was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The 53-year-old fisherman was flown to Anchorage for surgery.

A Discovery spokesman says the Harris family contacted the network Tuesday evening with word of his death.

Discovery Channel spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman issued a statement on behalf of sons Jake and Josh Harris. It says in part, “It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad – Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end.”

In the network’s own statement, Hillman says, “We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart.”

In an e-mail she said no additional information was immediately available.

The Discovery Channel reality show depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska. Harris’ fishing vessel was based in Seattle.

WH Press Secretary Gibbs (Fool)

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday, I posted about how foolish Sarah Palin looked as she poked fun at the President of the United States during her Tea Party Speech. Well at a press conference White House Press Secretary was equally foolish when he poked fun at Sarah Palin’s crib notes.

Governing is serious business and I do not want my Tax Dollar Funded Federal Employees using the Press Room for stand up comedy. People are living in the streets and eating cat food and this idiot is making fun of someone from the podium in the White House. This is the action of some like Glenn Beck and has no place in the White House. I know Washington is a very political place, but when your chief spokes person makes fun of someone it degrades the office of the President and we as Americans should not stand for such foolishness.

Time for this fool to take a bow and get off the stage!

Watch the video below and be the judge.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNXfEpBuLrY]

Roman Catholic and Orthodox differences on Original Sin

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Thanks to Fr. Ernesto for this comparison. I get this question about once a week so I am glad he posted it and now I share it with all of you.

Roman Catholic summary

Augustine believed that the only definitive destinations of souls are heaven and hell. He concluded that unbaptized infants go to hell as a consequence of original sin. The Latin Church Fathers who followed Augustine adopted his position, which became a point of reference for Latin theologians in the Middle Ages. In the later medieval period, some theologians continued to hold Augustine’s view, others held that unbaptized infants suffered no pain at all: unaware of being deprived of the beatific vision, they enjoyed a state of natural, not supernatural happiness. Starting around 1300, unbaptized infants were often said to inhabit the “limbo of infants”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1261 declares: “As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: ‘Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,’ allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.” But the theory of Limbo, while it “never entered into the dogmatic definitions of the Magisterium … remains … a possible theological hypothesis”.

Augustine’s formulation of original sin was popular among Protestant reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin . . .

Eastern Orthodox summary

In Eastern Orthodoxy, God created man perfect with free will and gave man a direction to follow. Man (Adam) and Woman (Eve) chose rather to disobey God by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, thus changing the “perfect” mode of existence of man to the “flawed” mode of existence of man. This flawed nature and all that has come from it is a result of that “original sin”. All humanity shares in the sin of Adam because like him, they are human. The union of humanity with divinity in Jesus Christ restored, in the Person of Christ, the mode of existence of humanity, so that those who are incorporated in him may participate in this mode of existence, be saved from sin and death, and be united to God in deification. Original sin is cleansed in humans through baptism or, in the case of the Theotokos, the moment Christ took form within her.

This view differs from the Roman Catholic (Augustinian) doctrine of Original Sin in that man is not seen as inherently guilty of the sin of Adam. According to the Orthodox, humanity inherited the consequences of that sin, not the guilt. The difference stems from Augustine’s interpretation of a Latin translation of Romans 5:12 to mean that through Adam all men sinned, whereas the Orthodox reading in Greek interpret it as meaning that all of humanity sins as part of the inheritance of flawed nature from Adam. The Orthodox Church does not teach that all are born deserving to go to hell, and Protestant doctrines such as Predeterminism that derive from the Augustinian understanding of original sin are not a part of Orthodox belief.

Tea Party Convention

Posted on by Fr. Peter
For those of you who think I should not talk about politics you might want to skip this post. You have been warned.

So this past weekend former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin spoke at the Tea Party Convention in Tennessee. Now let me first say that I do not think Sarah Palin is an idiot, no one could rise to become the Governor of a state and be an idiot, but I do not think she is presidential material either.

Using terms like “hopey changy thing” is not going to endear her to me as a serious candidate. I also think it is high time, and I say this about politicians on both sides of the debate, stop telling me what the other has or has not done and tell me how you are going to make America better. Everyone needs to stop blaming and start leading.

In my previous post I spoke about being a leader. It is not easy to lead and it is not easy to make decisions and then stand by them. I was told once that as a leader if you don’t have half the people mad at you at any one time you are not doing your job. I would have to say that is a true statement.

I think people on both sides of the issues have good intentions and I think the only way America works and will continue to work is if we all work together. We should not support something just because it is democrat or republican nor should we discount something for the same reason. We need to work together.

Now for a few words about the Tea Party movement. If you read this blog on a regular basis you know I participated in a march back in the spring and even had my picture taken holding a sign. I support peoples right to speak out and march that’s what makes America great. I believe in freedom of speech and all that but I do not support people who call the president of the United States Hitler. I think is is demeaning to the office of the president as well as to all of those who fell by the hand of that mad man. With that said the best thing about the Tea Party movement was that is was regular people.

Well the convention held this past weekend cost $450 just to get in the door. Now there were a lot of people there but I do not know too many real people that have $450 to spare. I would also ask what that money will be used for. I also understand that Gov. Palin was paid $100,000 for her appearance. Very cool for her and she should be out making money. By the way if someone wants me to come and speak I will do it for less… Email me and we can talk… LOL I also understand she is giving the money back, if this is true good for her.

All of this is to say do not let anyone make up your mind for you. Vote how you feel and be informed. Do not just watch FoxNews or CNN or any other news. All national news, and I don’t care which one it is, is biased toward a certain position. Read the speeches for yourself. Read the candidates website for yourself talk to the candidates for yourself. Elections are too important to just vote for a candidate because of the party they are affiliated with.

error: Content is protected !!