A True History of Palestine and Israel 🍉

This true history, given by The Reverend Priest, Father David of Saints Constantine and Helen Antiochian Orthodox Church, is a great telling of the history of Palestine and Israel of the last 2000+ years, that simply states facts without excusing any of the many evils done by either the Zionists nor Hamas. 

His message of the forgotten people of this world begins at 01:26:00 at https://www.youtube.com/live/WyRTVHB6sE4?si=nrsaWCElm5JiMOgg and I cannot reccomend this highly enough. 

Have You Seen Them? The Quest for Wide Skate Shoes!

For those of you who don't know, I have wide feet. When getting back into skating, I found that Vans are now way too narrow (Yes, even the pro models - I confirmed with Vans that they intentionally have made all of their shoes narrower in order to save on materials, thus increasing profit). and I cannot wear them. I finally found that the vegan suede Vallelys by Cariuma stretched to fit my wide feet and stood up to a beating.

In May, I suffered a triple ankle fracture and dislocation and am finally walking after 6 months of recovery and healing with strenuous PT (physical therapy). However my left foot and ankle are now wider than before and I no longer can even get my Cariuma Vallely skate shoes on. Cariuma confirmed that the vegan suede Vallely shoes were their best shoes for wide feet and refunded the camel coloured pair I had on pre-order (I currently have charcoal and black Vallely shoes). So I reached out to the subreddit, r/OldSkaters, for suggestions for truly wide shoes. 

I got many suggestions and reached out to the skate shoe companies to ask what their widest shoes were. Nike SB, New Balance Numeric, and Adidas Skate Shoes were all out, as their shoes are narrow and have no wide options. Plus, I prefer to support skater-owned companies (like Death Skateboards, Film Trucks, Snot Wheels, Zealous Bearings, etc.) when I can.

• Shoe #1 was the Etnies Marana. I was excited by its fashion-forward looks, but unfortunately, I could not even put my foot in it, just like my Cariuma Vallelys. Immediate return. Etnies Footwear confirmed this was their widest shoe.

• Shoe #2 was the DC Court Graffiks. They looked nice, and thankfully, I could get my foot in, but the toe box was way too narrow. Sent them back. DC Shoes confirmed this was their widest shoe.

• Shoe #3 was the Osiris D3 2001s arrived and they were a chonky shoe that seemed to fit good with a wider toe-box but, while comfortable as-is, will definitely require some breaking in at the upper over the toes and at the achilles tendon area. Osiris Shoes confirmed this was their widest shoe.

• Shoe #4 was the Globe Mens Tilt Skate Shoe. I could get my foot in with some pushing, but then it slid in nicely. It felt really good... ...until my toes hit the toe-box. Immediately I felt compressing pressure on my pinky toe. Not only on my recovering broken ankle, but the good foot too. While these looked good, there was no way I would be able to wear them. Globe Shoes did not respond to my query on if this was their widest shoe or not.
  

And so the winner is...

...Based on my experience, for people with wide feet, your best choice is going to be the Osiris D3 2001 Skate Shoes, and I went with the Gold/Grey/Beige colorway model. If your toes are small, you might be able to get away with the Globe Tilt or the DC Court Graffik Skateboard Shoes, but the Etnies Marana is a definite no go, no way, no how. I hope this helps someone out there struggling to find good quality wide skate shoes like I was.

Help and Pray for Ukraine

Are you wondering how to donate and help Ukraine besides prayer, and don't want your money to errantly end up in the hands of scammers? You can donate money that will 100% go the Ukrainian people, without any executive or administration fees to pay anyone a salary through the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA at https://www.uocofusa.org/news_220224_1 marking your donations with the comment, "LET’S HELP UKRAINE". They have already used this money to get everyday supplies and medical supplies to the people of Ukraine and evacuate an orphanage of children and their teachers to Poland with the donations that they have received so far. If you prefer to donate with Facebook's own platform, you can do so at the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA at https://www.facebook.com/uocofusa.

A Prayer in Time of Pestilence and Pandemics

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

Heavenly Lord and Creator of all things, have mercy on us your people, for we have strayed from the path which You have given us.

Forgive our many offenses and grant us your mercies.

We come to you today with tears of repentance and ask for your protection from the terrible disease that threatens us.

We have sinned, Oh Lord, and we have disobeyed your Commandments, but we beseech your mercy and compassion; have mercy on your servants, on the elderly and the children; have mercy on us all, and keep away from the terrible diseases and viruses  which appeared in our days.

Send your holy angels, Oh Lord, to disperse every disease and calamity and keep us safe and healthy that we may worship and glorify your Most Holy Name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, through the intercessions of the Holy Theotokos and of all your Saints.

Amen.

Saint Nicholas (Nikolai) the Tsar Martyr, Colonel Oleg Pantyukhov, and the Scout Movement

After reading the English language edition of Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s book, "Scouting for Boys", Tsar Nicholas Romanov II immediately issued an order for its translation and publication. An initial printing of 25,000 copies of the Russian edition of "Юный Разведчик" (Young Scout) were issued in 1908.

The book inspired a young Russian officer, Colonel Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhov (1882-1973), to set up the first Russian Scout Troop.

Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhov was born in Kiev on 25 March 1882, to a family of a military physician and an anthropologist. From 1892 to 1899 he studied at Tiflis cadet school. During his studies he became a member of the group named Pushkin Club. The group was somewhat similar to the modern Boy Scouts. Every weekend they went on hiking trips with camping in the nearby mountains.

From 1899 to 1901, Pantyukhov studied at the Pavlovsk Military School. After graduation he became an officer of the Leib Guard (Russian Imperial Guard) 1st infantry battalion stationed in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1908 he married Nina Mikhaylovna Dobrovolskaya, who later became one of the pioneers of the Girl Guide movement in Russia.

He organized the first Russian Scout Troop in Pavlovsk, on 30 April [O.S. 17 April] 1909. The Beaver Patrol, consisting of seven boys, built a campfire in the woods of Pavlovsk Park. A Russian Scout song exists to remember this event. By late 1910 scout organizations existed in Tsarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg and Moscow.

On 19 December 1910, Pantyukhov met in St. Petersburg with Lord Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941), the pair becoming good friends. The latter invited Pantyukhov to visit Scout organizations in England, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. On his return he wrote the first Russian Scouting books “Памятка Юного Разведчика” (Handbook for the Young Scout) and “В гостях у Бой-скаутов” (Visiting the Boy Scouts)

Tsar Nicholas II extended a personal invitation to Lord Baden-Powell to visit St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1911. The Tsar personally received the Boy Scout leader in his study in the Alexander Palace on 2 January 1911.

“There was no ceremony about him,” Baden-Powell recorded in his diary. “He shook hands and, speaking in very good English, asked me about my visit and then went on to talk about the Boy Scouts.” They then had “a very cheery talk (no one else present) of over half an hour,” after which they parted.

Baden-Powell departed fully convinced that the Tsar was absolutely sincere, and that he had “grasped the idea” of scouting. There is no question of Nicholas II’s interest in scouting was clearly genuine. Apart from ordering the Russian publication of "Scouting for Boys", he personally arranged to meet its author. With Baden-Powell installed in the Imperial capital’s grand Hotel de France, the Tsar could have left any official interview to one of his ministers. Instead, he issued a private invitation through the British Embassy, a request that apparently took his visitor by complete surprise.

This encounter was also quite unlike those with his Ministers and Duma politicians, meetings that the Tsar could not avoid, however much he disliked the advice they forced upon him. Put differently, with Baden-Powell it was Nicholas and Nicholas alone who both took the initiative and the agenda, and had no need to disguise his opinions or dissemble behind a mask of good manners.

The Tsar had explained to Baden-Powell how he had ordered the translation and publication of the Boy Scout handbook and reviewed the first Russian Scout detachment, and went on to outline his hopes for the movement. According to Baden-Powell, Nicholas II was “much impressed by the possibilities which lie in the Movement for developing discipline, patriotism and character,” and approved “teaching the boys by methods which really appealed to their imagination and keenness.”

In 1913 Oleg Pantyukhov wrote a book named “Спутник Бойскаута” (The Boy Scout Companion). Pantyukhov met Tsar Nicholas II and presented a Scouting badge for the Tsar's only-son, Tsesarevich Alexei, who had formally became a Scout. In 1914, Pantyukhov established a nationwide society called Русский Скаут (Russian Scout). Scouting spread rapidly across Russia and into Siberia, and by 1916 there were about 50,000 Scouts in Russia. When Baden-Powell traveled by train to Moscow to meet the central committee of the Scout Organization in Moscow, he met and passed about 3,000 Scouts.

During World War I Pantyukhov received the Cross of Saint George, for bravery. With the advent of communism after the October Revolution of 1917, and during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922, most of the Scoutmasters and many Scouts fought in the ranks of the White Army and interventionists against the Red Army. During the October Revolution of 1917, he was the leader of the cadets who unsuccessfully defended the Kremlin from the Bolsheviks. In 1918, a purge of the Scout leaders took place, in which many of whom perished under the Bolsheviks. Those Scouts who did not wish to accept the new Soviet system either left Russia for good, like Pantyukhov and others, or went underground. In 1919 in Novocherkassk (controlled at the time by the White Army), Pantyukhov was unanimously elected the Chief Scout of Russia.

However, clandestine Scouting did not last long. On 19 May 1922, all of those newly created organizations were forcibly united into the Young Pioneer organization (1922-1990) of the Soviet Union and Scouting in the Soviet Union was banned as happened in all communist countries.

For more about Scouting in Russia, including Russian Scouting in Exile and its rebirth in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, please see the article, Orthodoxy and Scouting in America and Throughout the World.

NOTE: This blog post is based on an article by Paul Gilbert of TsarNicholas.org but has been modified and edited.

The Life of Scoutmaster and Saint, Basil of Kineshma, Hieroconfessor & New Martyr of the Communist Yoke

Bishop Basil, in the world Benjamin Sergeyevich Preobrazhensky, was born in 1876 in Kineshma, Kostroma province into the family of Archpriest Sergius and Matushka Paula.

In those years many of the clergy did not distance themselves from the worldly environment, and borrowed worldly tendencies and a worldly cast of mind from it. But Father Sergius Preobrazhensky and his wife, Matushka Paula, were not like those. There was nothing worldly in their home, and no objects of secular culture. After all, how could anything secular compare with the Sacred Scriptures!

Fr. Sergius did not accept in his home guests whose aim was vain talk. The whole sense and aim of earthly life for the couple was the cleansing of the mind and heart by prayer and the sacraments. And a purified heart was better able to detect the insidious traps of this world and the craftiness and evil thoughts coming from the devil. And for that reason the parents tried in every way possible to protect their children from the influence of the world, knowing how difficult it is to uproot the thorns of sin and passion once they have already grown.

Benjamin Sergeyevich was brought up from infancy in an atmosphere of prayer and spiritual exploits. Only prayer, only church services, only spiritual exploits, only true joy filled his life from early childhood. The whole structure of the life that surrounded him was similar to the monastic. Neither news, nor gossip, nor vain conversations - nothing of all this penetrated the high fence of their house, which the children were forbidden to leave. And it was a joy for the child when their house was visited by poor brothers and wanderers. On the very day of his baptism, when Benjamin was brought home from the church, an old wanderer woman arrived in their house, looked at the boy and said,

"He will be a great man."

And there were other prefigurings of his exceptional future. His parents did not even consider the study of letters to be important, and did not make haste about it. And this absence of worldly vanity taught the boy mental concentration, so that when the time came to study, he finished Kostroma theological seminary with distinction.

Then he entered the Kiev Theological Academy. When he was studying in the academy, Benjamin Sergeyevich began to preach in the town churches. His sermons soon became so well-known and popular that he was also invited to the villages on the patronal feasts of the village churches.

On June 28, 1901 he was appointed a teacher of polemical theology, history and polemics against the Old Ritualist schism and local sects in the Voronezh theological seminary. Having been interested since youth in the ascetic side of the Christian struggle, he wrote a dissertation "On the Skete Paterikon", for which he was awarded the degree of Master of Theology.

In 1910, having acquired a good knowledge of both the ancient and the modern European languages, he went to London in order to continue his education and become more closely acquainted with European culture. He got to know the Scout movement in England, and listened to lectures by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the World Scouting Movement. This led him to taking the position of Scoutmaster in the Russian Scout Organization.

In 1911 he was appointed teacher of foreign languages and general history in the Mirgorod men’s gymnasium in Poltava province, and in 1914 – teacher of Latin language in the Petrovskaya gymnasium in Moscow.

In the same year he went on a special trip to England and spent some time at a summer Scout Camp. On his return, he published a book on the Boy Scouts, and in 1917 – a second book on the subject together with V.A. Popov. In his book, “The Russian Scout Movement”, Yu.V. Kudryschov considers these two books the best of their kind. Benjamin took part in the Second All-Russian Congress of Instructors and Those Interested in Scouting from December 28, 1916 to 1 January, 1917.

In 1917 he graduated from a pedagogical institute. Also, towards the end of October, 1917, Benjamin was a witness of the battle for the Moscow Kremlin between the Junkers and the Bolsheviks.

Benjamin Sergeyevich decided to leave Moscow and devote his life to God. He became a Reader in the Ascension Church in Kineshma, helping his elderly father. He founded Orthodox circles for the study of the Holy Scriptures attached to the churches of the Kineshma diocese. In 1918, the authorities issued a decree forbidding the preaching of The Law of God in schools; so the light of Christ was forcibly removed from the hearts of the children. However, Benjamin Sergeyevich began to gather the children in the Ascension Church and preach the Law of God to them there. And then he became a missionary-preacher in his native land of Kineshma, going round the parishes on foot and founding circles of zealots of piety wherever he could, drawing them in by the reading and interpretation of the Word of God. He carefully examined the parishioners of the churches in which he had to preach during church services, and chose from amongst them a strongly believing woman who had a good knowledge of the Word of God, round whom he began to collect a church circle. In this circle the Gospel was read and then interpreted. Benjamin Sergeyevich himself did some of the interpreting. Besides this, the appointed church services were read, and church chants and spiritual verses beloved by the people were sung. It was difficult to organize these circles, but once created they gave fruit a hundredfold, educating many souls in such faithfulness and love for Christ that none of the misfortunes that came after could shake them. During the renovationist heresy these circles became unshakeable fortresses of Orthodoxy.

From September 30 to October 1, 1919, Benjamin Sergeyevich took part in the Congress of Scoutmasters of the South of Russia in Novorossiysk.

Being strict with himself and a strict fulfiller of the canons and regulations of the Church, Benjamin's father did not consider him ready for ordination to the priesthood and monasticism before he was forty. So only on July 16, 1920 was Benjamin ordained to the priesthood as a celibate; he was then 45. The ordination took place in the town of Kostroma and was performed by Archbishop Seraphim (Mescheryakov) of Kostroma. Soon after this, his father died, and Benjamin received the tonsure (to become a Hieromonk) with the name of Basil, in honour of Saint Basil the Great.

In 1921 he was arrested by the Ivanovo Cheka as having been “politically unreliable as a hostage in the days of the Kronstadt uprising”. On September 19, 1921 Fr. Basil was consecrated as Bishop of Kineshma, a vicariate of the diocese of Kostroma. Archbishop Seraphim of Kostroma and Bishops Hierotheus (Pomerantsev) and Sebastian (Vesti) carried out the consecration. After his consecration, he redoubled his ascetic efforts. Having renounced all personal property, he settled on the edge of the town in a small bath-house which was in the kitchen-garden of a soldier's widow, Anna Alexandrovna Rodina. The hierarch had no possessions or furniture, and he slept on the bare floor, putting a log under his head and covering himself up with some clothes. He hid his exploit from outsiders, receiving no-one in this place. Those who came met him in the chancellery, which was attached to the Ascension Church.

The bath-house was a long way from the church, one had to go through the whole town, but the  did holy hierarchn did not want to find a nearer place for himself, although at that time he served daily. Every morning while it was not yet light he would walk across the whole town to the church, returning home late at night. Not once was he apprehended by robbers on the street, but he meekly and lovingly gave them everything he had, and soon they began to recognize him from a distance and did not come up to him anymore. Besides the daily church services, in which he always preached without fail, the hierarch confessed his numerous spiritual children, going round the homes of all who needed his help and word of consolation, visiting monasteries and the circles he had founded scattered throughout the uyezd. On major feast-days the hierarch served in the cathedral, and from Thursday to Friday there were all-night vigils in the Church of the Ascension. The people loved these all-night vigils which were dedicated to the memorial of the Lord's Passion, and were present at them in great numbers. They were especially beloved of the workers, many of whom lived not in the very centre of the town, but in the environs, two hours' walk from the church. They stood through the all-night vigil and it was only late at night that they got home - in the morning they were again at work. But such was the grace of these services that people did not feel tired. During the Divine service the hierarch himself read the akathist to the Passion and there was such quietness in the church at that time, as if there were not a single person there, and every word was heard in the furthest corner.

The grace-filled words of Bishop Basil's sermon pierced the hearts and drew more and more people into the churches. After his sermons many completely changed their lives. Some, following the example of the hierarch, gave their property to the poor, dedicating their lives to the service of the Lord and their neighbours.

The light of faith and grace began to reach even the unbelievers and Jews who began to come to the church so as to hear the hierarch's words about Christ the Saviour.

Whatever people might think of the Christian faith and the Orthodox Church, almost everyone felt that the hierarch's words responded to the inner demands of the soul, clearly returning life to the soul and a feeling of meaning to life. And the authorities began to be more and more disturbed. But they found no excuse for arresting the hierarch, while his popularity amidst the people was so great that the authorities could not bring themselves to arrest him. And then they began to infiltrate people into the church whose task was to tempt the hierarch with questions during the sermon so as to confuse him. Vladyka Basil knew that there were such people in the church, and he replied to many of their questions beforehand. Convicted in their conscience, and understanding the pointlessness of their situation, the atheists left the church without asking any questions.

When famine had broken out in the region of the lower Volga river, and many orphans were beginning to be evacuated to orphanages, he gave a calling upon his parishioners to adopt these children as their own, and he himself, in order to establish an example, rented a house for five little girls and arranged for a pious Christian woman to look after them. By his prayers, many were miraculously healed from spiritual as well as from bodily ailments.

By 1922 the Scouting Movement had been banned by the Communist Authorities, so the Russian Scouting Movement went into exile in China, France, Serbia, Bulgaria, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and the United States of America.

In 1923, Saint Basil was arrested and sent into exile to the Ziryansky region, were he remained until 1925. After Vladika's return from exile, the Church in Kineshma started to grow quickly and become stronger. The municipal authorities became alarmed, and demanded that the bishop leave the city.

After two years of wandering from place to place, in 1928, he was again arrested, sat in jail for half a year, and was sentenced to three years of exile. After returning from exile, Vladika spent two years in the city of Orel. The authorities there returned him to Kineshma. As soon as he arrived, he and his cell attendant, who had faithfully followed him throughout all of these persecutions on the part of the godless authorities, were placed in jail. They wanted to pass the death sentence upon him, but could find no charge for justifying it. The authorities held them for five years in a camp — Saint Basil was sent to a camp not far from Rybinsk, and his cell attendant was sent to a camp near Murmansk.

After this sentence was served, the aging bishop spent only two years in freedom. Again he was arrested. At first he was sent to the Yaroslav prison, and then to the Butyrsky prison in Moscow. After eight months of incarceration, he spent five years in exile in the Krasnoyarsk region in the village of Birilyussy.

On July 31, 1945, the Saint reposed. In his will, he had stipulated that he wished for his remains to be returned to his native city, but in those years, such a thing was impossible. However, on October 5/18, 1985, his relics were found and translated to Moscow. In June of 1993, they were translated to the Convent of the Holy Entrance into the Temple in the city of Ivanovsk.

August 20/September 2 of 1982, Saint Basil was added to the list of the Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. The "Conversations on the Gospel of St. Mark" by Saint Basil, published recently for the first time, were entered into the golden collection of Russian Christian literature. The relics of the Saint serve as a source of spiritual comfort and of healing for the bodily ailments of many of the faithful.

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More about the Saint:

Saint Basil of Kineshma is the patron saint of this blog. He was not only an Orthodox Christian Scoutmaster, but also was a Deacon, Presbyter, then Bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church in a time of great persecution. For many years I attended, and was the Deacon for an Orthodox Christian Church named for Saint Basil of Kineshma, so I have a special fondness for him. You can learn even more about this great saint in the spectacular book, "Saint Basil, Bishop of Kineshma, A Guiding Light" by the wonderful Nikodemos Orthodox Publishing Society.

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Troparion to the Saint, Tone 5
O new confessor of the Church of Russia, imitator of the labors of the apostles, fervent preacher of the Orthodox Faith, inspired interpreter of the Scriptures, who didst endure banishment, prison and tribulation at the hands of the ungodly, O Basil our father, thou royal adornment: as thou standest now before the Holy Trinity, pray for thy homeland and for those who honor thy holy memory as is meet.

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Kontakion to the Saint, Tone 3
We praise thy courage, O Basil, holy hierarch of Christ; we exalt the purity of thy faith, and marvel at thy gift of eloquence: for thou didst receive from heaven the divine grace to instruct and defend the flock of Christ.

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The First Scout Martyr: Saint Alexis the Passion-Bearer

The Most August Scout, Holy Passion-Bearer Tsarevich-Martyr Alexis. Killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

If we need an example of a life following the Scout Law, then we do not need to look farther than the vita of our Brother-in-Scouting, the Holy Passion-bearer Alexis (Alexei), Heir to the Russian Throne.  Saint Alexis was a Scout of the Tsarskoe Selo chapter. He became the first martyr within Scouting.

From the first day of his birth on July 30, 1904, Saint Alexis was thrown into suffering: he had developed hemophilia. This genetic disease, which St. Alexis received through his mother, the Holy Empress Alexandra, from her grandmother, the English Queen Victoria, causes incoägulability of the blood, owing to which a small scrape or any wrong move could entail death. Moreover, attacks of the disease are connected to great pains.

It would be understandable if, on the basis of such sufferings, St Alexis turned into a withdrawn, antisocial, and angry teenager. However, this did not happen. Instead, in the words of witnesses and peers, St Alexis was lively and happy, smart and noble, kind and attentive, and direct with his sympathies and emotions. Moreover, the disease seemed to teach him thoughtfulness and humility, and created within him a strong faith in the Lord, a very strong will, and empathy for the sufferings of the people. It was also seen that he loved his homeland and was a fierce patriot.

By order of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, the book of the founder of the World Scouting Movement, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, "Scouting For Boys," was translated into the Russian language. The Sovereign not only acquiesced to the idea and symbols of scouting (the motto and emblem), but called to make every effort in order for Russian society to become interested in the Scouting Movement.

In July of 1914 the First World War began, which proved to be quite tragic for Russia. Russia mobilized, and together with others to the Front, went the founder of Russian Scouting, Oleg I. Pantuckoff [Pantyukhov]. However, at that time, a Scouting chapter has already developed in Tsarskoe Selo. St Alexis took great interest in Scouting, especially because his friend and relative, Grand Duke Georgy, being an active Scout, told him about the meets and hikes. St. Alexis quickly entered the ranks of the Tsarskoe Selo chapter of Scouts, becoming the second member of the Imperial Family after Georgy, of which he remained proud until the end of his life.

It is known to us exactly how actively St Alexis was able to take part in scout life, seeing as, speaking not of his disease, he had serious obligations: not only in preparation of becoming the ruler, but also in fulfilling his duty as the Heir to the Throne and taking part in public initiatives. Thus, as the heir, he was the chief of an entire series of regiments and was obligated to visit them with the goal of raising morale. His father often took him with him to the Front, and St Alexis loved his, as he took interest in military matters. However, we know that St Alexis remembered out motto "Be Prepared!" for his whole life, and tried to follow it always and everywhere.

Action on the Front did not turn in Russia's favor. Russia could not allow a prolonged war for herself. Defeat and great losses, a lack of manpower at the read, the interruption of production, hardships with provisions for the army, problems with supplies in the cities - all of this aggravated unhappiness in the populace and opened to door for the demagogues, and eventually, led to a crisis in leadership. The Emperor had to abdicate from the Throne on behalf of himself and his son, and the Provisional Government came to power, which in turn was quickly overthrown by the Bolsheviks.

The Provisional Government had already arrested the Imperial Family. The Bolsheviks, then, sent the family into exile in Ekaterinburg, intensified the prison régime and, finally, decided to completely destroy the family. On the horrifying night of July 16-17, 1918, the Bolshevik wardens ordered that the family get dressed and descend into the semi-basement of the house with the supposed purpose of evacuation. St Alexis, who was afflicted by his disease, was carried in his father's arms. Then, into the basement entered a death squad of mostly Hungarians (Russians were not trusted), the death sentence was read, the ringleader of the squad thereupon shot St Nicholas in the head, and this served as the signal for the other guns to fire at close range. The wounded Saint Alexis was finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. He was only 13 years of age upon his death.

At the end of the 20th century, the remains of the martyrs were found and identified. For his blameless death, for meekness, humility, and godliness during the most difficult of circumstances, for bravery in the face of suffering, for the very considerable moral dimensions to which he rose, for his unwavering faith, the Orthodox Church added Saint Alexis into the synaxis of passion-bearers.

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SOURCE: SGPA Scoutmaster periodical "Expertise" #166. July 2018, pp 8-9. Compiled by Scoutmaster Alexander Taurke from publicly-accessible documents for the upcoming book "The Faithful". Translated by Michael Kazmierczak of the Saint George Pathfinders a.k.a. Russian Youth Scout Association Abroad (in Exile).

Orthodox Christian Saints that were Scouts and Scouters

While it is somewhat common knowledge to many Scouts that Saint George the Trophy-Bearer of Cappadocia is the patron saint of Scouting, and that Sea Scouts share the same patron along with Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, Saint Brendan the Navigator of Ireland, and Saint Cormac of the Sea, many may not know that some modern Orthodox Christian Saints were involved in Scouting.

I only list a few more prominent saints, but I am sure there are many more Orthodox Christian Saints that were involved in Scouting as well.

Saint Nicholas the Tsar Martyr - Had Scouting brought to Russia by Lord Robert Baden-Powell (pictured left)

Saint Basil the Hieromartyr of Kineshma - Scoutmaster and Bishop (pictured top left)

Saint Alexei the Royal Martyr and Passion Bearer - The First Scout of Russia (pictured right)


Saint John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco - Scout Camp Chaplain in Europe and America (pictured top right)

You can see more about the founding of Scouting in America, in Russia, and in many traditional Orthodox Christian countries at https://orthodoxscouter.blogspot.com/2016/09/orthodoxy-and-scouting-in-america-and.html

I will post more about the lives of these holy saints of Scouting in the upcoming months. Holy Orthodox Scouts and Scouters, Pray unto God for us!

Martyr Alexandra the Empress

The Holy Empress Alexandra was the wife of Diocletian (284-305) and was so impressed by the courage and martyrdom of Saint George that she became a Christian and fell under the same persecution. Her feast day is 21 April.

Many events occurred during these years. In 305 the emperor Diocletian resigned the throne and power passed to his co-ruler Maximian Galerius (305-311), a fanatic pagan, as well as a coarse and fierce soldier. His wife was Saint Valeria, the daughter of the holy Empress Alexandra, whom Diocletian had given in marriage against her will.

Saint Alexandra raised her daughter in Christian piety. When Galerius died, the emperor Maximinus sought her hand in marriage. When he was refused, he banished Saint Valeria to Syria, where she lived with her mother.

After the death of Maximinus in 311 the mother and daughter arrived in Nicomedia, trusting in the mercy of the emperor Licinius (311-324). Together with Saint Constantine, he had subscribed to the Edict of Milan, which gave Christians the freedom of religion, but secretly he remained an enemy of Christianity. Licinius gave orders to execute the holy Empress Alexandra and her daughter Valeria. She also was condemned to be beheaded but when she arrived at the place of execution she asked to be allowed to sit down. Her request was granted. She sat down and died quietly before the executioners could carry out their task. They were beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea.

Apolytikion Of Alexandra The Martyr
Fourth Tone

O Lord Jesus, unto Thee Thy lamb doth cry with a great voice: O my Bridegroom, Thee I love; and seeking Thee, I now contest, and with Thy baptism am crucified and buried. I suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee; for Thy sake I die, that I may live in Thee: accept me offered out of longing to Thee as a spotless sacrifice. Lord, save our souls through her intercessions, since Thou art great in mercy.

God Hates Flags, Especially False Flag Operations!

What are we to make of the recent decision in America to force all 50 states to issue marriage certificates to homosexuals who want to marry each other?

Is it coincidence that mere days before this decision was handed down that another highly medicated man went on a killing spree and that the Confederate flag was targeted rather than our country's failing mental health system? federal government?A targeting that had the federal government tell Amazon.com and other companies that they could not sell the Virginia Battle Flag, generally known as the Confederate Flag?

Was this timing so that the very states that might rebel against the Federal Government's decision could not use this flag to unite in opposition to our tyrannical politicians in charge?

I think it is very likely not a coincidence. Regardless of what our AntiChrist government has decided, we simply need to focus on the One Thing Needful, so let us remember these verses from the New Testament.

"Or do ye not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Cease being led astray; neither fornicators,  nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor coveters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor raveners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But ye washed yourselves, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of  the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God." The First Epistle of Saint Paul to the  Corinthians 6:9-11

So while before we Baptized, Chrismated, and Communed, we may have been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetors, drunkards, revilers, and/or raveners, we are called not to partake in these sins anymore, and if we do, we should repent, go to Confession to ask for God's forgiveness and allow our Spiritual Father to help guide us not to fall in these sins again.

We should neither celebrate, allow, or support sinful behaviour, whether in ourselves or in others. We also should not support a government who does the same. We should be aware too though that we can not trust in princes, the sons of men in whom there is no salvation, and that these are simply the birth pangs of the AntiChrist, cleverly covered by deception via False Flag operations. Whatever shall occur, LOVE WINS, because Christ will return, triumphant, and defeat the spirit of the day and worldliness. Let us be vigilant and not fall into the spirit of Worldliness and be ready for the Second Coming.

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Don't Trust Hollywood (For True Theology or Biblical Truths)

The movie, "Noah", looks to be another Bible movie travesty. Why? Because it is only very loosely based on the Bible. It is based the fictional graphic novels of film's director, Darren Aronofsky, NOE/NOAH and NOE2/NOAH02. See this quote from Brian Godawa:

“Having got a chance to read an undated version of the script for Noah I want to warn you. If you were expecting a Biblically faithful retelling of the story of the greatest mariner in history and a tale of redemption and obedience to God you’ll be sorely disappointed. Noah paints the primeval world of Genesis 6 as scorched arid desert, dry cracked earth, and a gray gloomy sky that gives no rain – and all this, caused by man’s “disrespect” for the environment. In short, an anachronistic doomsday scenario of ancient global warming.”

According to the website, Beginning And End, In this movie Abel and Cain befriend the Shaman Noah as a child. Adding to the Biblical confusion, King Og of Bashan, an evil Nephilim King in Scripture, is portrayed as good being in Noah. In Scripture, Og lives after the flood and is one of the most powerful Kings of his day. He hated the ancient Israelites and sought to conquer them as they migrated to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, after being led out of slavery in Egypt. The battle against Og, led by Moses, took place over 1500 years after the flood.  In Noah, Og is one of the fallen angels or "Watchers", who now, despite rebellion against God, decide to help Noah build the ark and protect it. In a scene in which a small army of men try to take siege of the ark, it is the fallen angels who fight to make sure that Noah and his family can enter safely. Not only that, but Noah tries to kill his own granddaughter once she is born in the Ark!

You wouldn't stand for going to church and the Bible being preached in a way that it was changed "to be more exciting", so why would you pay people to do this very the same blasphemous thing?

This is not the first movie that Hollywood has done this with. What other Biblical movies has Hollywood messed up? Pretty much all of them, but here are just a few:

• The Passion of the Christ's principal source is The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the reported visions of the stigmatic German nun Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), as written by the poet Clemens Brentano. Even the Vatican position on the authenticity of the books produced by Brentano was stated by Father Peter Gumpel, who was involved in the study of the issues for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints: "It is absolutely not certain that she ever wrote this. There is a serious problem of authenticity".

• The Last Temptation of Christ's eponymous final sequence depicts the crucified Jesus—tempted by what turns out to be Satan in the form of a beautiful, androgynous child—experiencing a dream or alternative reality where He comes down from His cross, marries Mary Magdalene (and later Mary and Martha), and lives out His life as a full mortal man. He learns on his deathbed that He was deceived by Satan and begs God to let Him "be God's son," at which point He finds Himself once again on His cross. At other points in the film, Jesus is depicted as building crosses for the Romans, being tormented by the Voice of God, and lamenting the many sins He believes He has committed.

• The Prince of Egypt shows Moses is adopted by Pharaoh’s wife, instead of his daughter. Miriam walks off and leaves Moses as soon as he is found, rather than approaching Pharaoh’s daughter wife to offer her mom as a milk maid. Moses kills the Egyptian entirely by accident, and he never hides the body, because in the film this all happened in sight of everybody. He flees the very same hour, and that because of his own feelings of guilt, not because Pharaoh was trying to kill him. Pharaoh wasn't trying to kill him, not having heard about anything yet, and not having been given the opportunity before Moses left. Moses approaches the Burning Bush, to the point of putting his hand into the fire. Moses did not hide his face, neither was he afraid to look at God. Moses' reason for not wishing to return to Egypt at God's command is his guilt at having been party to the oppression of the Israelites, not because he was a poor speaker. Moses does not set his wife and children upon a donkey, but sets his wife upon a camel. He doesn't have any children. Aaron does not come forth to meet him, but rather avoids him, because Aaron is Moses' enemy.  Aaron is therefore not Moses' spokesman, does not even go in with him to Pharaoh, and manifestly does not perform the miracles. Moses demands the entire and permanent liberation of the Israelites, rather than just three days’ freedom to worship God outside the country. Pharaoh’s response is to double the workload of the Israelites, rather than to make them gather their own straw. Moses is not eighty years old by any stretch of the imagination. The carcasses of the Passover lambs continue to lie in the street after the blood has been put on the door posts, and are not eaten.  The Red Sea is parted because Moses strikes the water with his rod, not because he lifted his hand over it, and, conversely,  it returns without him doing anything at all. Pharaoh is in the midst of the sea and survives.

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"The Antichrist" by The Very Reverend Archpriest Boris Molchanoff

The Lord Jesus Christ said, "....I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (St. Matthew 16:18). What do the gates of hell signify?

The Jews had the custom of gathering under the leadership of their elders, by the city gates, for the discussion of political, legal and social questions. These meetings were the last appeal of all litigation, and here all divine commandments were announced. They were vested with a definite authority among the people. This Jewish custom of meeting at the city gates is mentioned in the Book of Ruth (IV:1,11). A description of an active wife in the Book of Proverbs (31: 23) says that, "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land." He is invested with the trust of society and takes an active part in important meetings. (Prof. V.V. Bolotoff).

The "gates" of hell" signifies not only the forces of hell, but in general staff of Hell's power. Their most important meeting is dedicated to developing a plan for a general battle with the Church. The Church and Hell are represented as two warring powers. And in this war with Hell, according to Christ's words, the Church will remain invincible.

Hell's war plan with the Church is called the "Mystery of Iniquity" in the Holy Scriptures (2 Thessalonians 2:8). The iniquity has been working for centuries and will have its culmination in the appearance of the Antichrist ( 2 Thessalonians 2:8). The Antichrist can come only as a result of universal Apostasy, that is, the abjuration of the people from God and His paths, when God's grace will withdraw from the people.

"And in the latter times of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." (Daniel 8:23)

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders...." (2 Thessalonians 2:9)

All of the evil in its fullest strength which human nature can accept and endure will be concentrated in the person of the Antichrist. Thousands of years were required to develop and perfect the kind of human seed that was required to receive the purest most perfect Fruit of the human tree in the person of the Most Blessed Virgin. Comparably, for the appearance of the most depraved fruit, capable of containing within itself all Satanic malice, an entire line of human generations will be demanded in the direction of greatest corruption and defilement of human nature, based upon mad hatred towards Christ and war against His Church. "It can be admitted," says Pro. Belyaeff, "that innate and acquired evil, gradually accumulating in a long line of ancestors of the Antichrist, transmitted with each new generation, will reach such a degree of force in the Antichrist himself, which human nature is capable of containing, revealing and enduring. The evil which lives in mankind, will reach the highest limit of its development in him." (Godlessness And The Antichrist, Vol. 1. p. 193).

Of course, to the degree that evil strengthens in man's will, diabolic activity within man will increase also, as the devil thus receives greater access to man's soul. Inasmuch as the Antichrist's personal evil will and its corruption will reach the limit of its greatest growth, the relationship of the devil to him will reach the limit of maximum nearness, which will be expressed in the devil himself continuously acting in the person of the Antichrist, "God", says St. John of Damascus, "Foreseeing future depravity of his will (the Antichrist's) will allow the devil to inhabit him." ("The Exact Exposition Of The Orthodox Faith", Book IV, Chapter 26) St. Cyril of Jerusalem teaches the same. (Teaching, V. 14). St. Andrew of Kessary says that the Antichrist "will come out of the gloomiest and remotest lands of the earth to which the devil is banished." (Interpretation of the 11th chapter of the Apocalypse, 30th chapter.) Blessed Theodore writes, "Man's enemy, clothed in human nature, God's adversary, the demon, usurping God's Name, will appear in the world before Christ's coming." ("An Exact Exposition Of Divine Dogma", chapter 23, printed in "Christian Readings", 1844, Chapter IV, page 355.) Laktancy, Gezihy of Jerusalem and Blessed Heronim, call the Antichrist the son of Satan.

In agreement with such teachings of the Holy Fathers, the life of the Antichrist cannot admit one moment free from satanic action. It must already appear in the very birth and even in his conception, peculiar and exceptional in its depravity. "From a defiled virgin will actually be born his (the devil's) weapon." says St. Ephrem the Syrian. This is also confirmed by St. John of Damascus. "A man (the Antichrist) will be born from fornication."

The Holy Fathers Iriney ("Against Heresy", Book V, chapter 30), Ippolit (Legends about Christ and the Antichrist), and also Ilariy, Ambrose, Ieronim and Augustus, remark that the Antichrist will be of Jewish ancestry, from the tribe of Dan.

In the Synaksare, stated in the Week of Lent without meat, we read that, "The Antichrist will come and be born, as St. Ippolit of Rome declares, from a depraved wife and self-styled virgin, which is from the Jews, from the tribe of Dan." (Lenten Triod) Such indications in God's Word have several foundations:

• In the prophecies of Patriarch Jacob about each of his sons becoming the progenitors of the tribes of Israel, the fate of Dan's ancestors is depicted in such a way that can only be ascribed to the Antichrist. "Dan shall be a serpent on the way, an adder in the path..." (Genesis 49, 17)
• In the prophecies of Ierenim: "From Dan himself...(Ierenim VIII,16)
• In the prophecies of the Apocalypse, enumerating the remainder of all the tribes of Israel, marked by the Angel for salvation, the tribe of Dan is absolutely excluded. (Revelations VII, 4-8).
• According to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, the devil, exalting the Antichrist, will try to vest his coming with all the signs of the coming of the Son of God to earth. (See St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the 150th catechistic word; St. Ephrem the Syrian, the 39th word, in the Russian translation Blessed Theodore, "A Short Exposition of Divine Dogma", Chapter 23, St. Ippolit, "The Legends of Christ and the Antichrist")

Of course, some resemblance of the Antichrist to Christ will only be external and in essence deceitful, for the whole life and all the deeds of the Antichrist will be an incensed and blasphemous revolt against Christ and His Church. This false external resemblance to Christ will appear in the very birth of the Antichrist. Keeping in mind that Christ was born a Virgin, the devil will produce his weapon from a virgin, not from a pure virgin, however, but from one filled with every vice and satanic filth. Then, as the Lord until he was thirty years old remained in obscurity, so the Antichrist, we assume, will, until the age of 30, remain in clandestine solitude and obscurity. As Christ began His saving service with sermons of His Divine teaching and miracles, so will the Antichrist begin his completely destructive service with the delusion of the people with his false teaching and incredibly shameful, deceitful miracles. As it was pleasing for the Lord to reveal Himself to all the people as the Messiah by solemnly entering Jerusalem and into its Temple, so the Antichrist will reveal himself as the false Jewish Messiah, the international monarch, in him solemn ceremonial entrance into Jerusalem and his enthronement in the temple of Jerusalem, which will by that time be restored.

The Lord's entry into Jerusalem, says Archbishop Innokenty of Herson, was "for all Jews a national declaration that Jesus Christ was veritably the Messiah. Indisputable proof of this are His own words, proclaimed before the gates of Jerusalem, saying: "If thou hadst known, even now, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace: But now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke XIX, 42.) "With this day, with the rejection of the Messiah, the fate of the Israelite nation was decided for eternity." (The Last Days on Earth of Jesus Christ")

On the day when the Antichrist shall enter into Jerusalem as the false Messiah, forever and irrevocably the fate of his contemporaries will be decided. Blessed are those who, on the last day given by God for the conclusive self-determination of the people, will see the Antichrist as Satan's servant and the inescapable peril of all mankind which recognized him. Finally, as the Lord revealed Himself to the world and fulfilled His service as a Prophet, as King and as High Priest, so will the Antichrist concentrate all this triple power in his hands and complete his destructive service as the teacher of all mankind, as the monarch of an international monarchy and as the highest primate of all religions, demanding reverence for himself as God.

The entire life and activity of the Antichrist may be examined in three periods:

The FIRST PERIOD of the Antichrist from the day of birth to the moment of his social appearance will pass in clandestine obscurity. St. John of Damascus says that, "Antichrist will be raised secretly." (The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith", Book IV, Chapter 26.)

The SECOND PERIOD of the Antichrist's life will be opened by his thunderous entry on the world stage in the role of a universal teacher or "prophet". It is very possible that he will begin his activity during a world war, when people, enduring all its horrors, will not see any way out of the calamitous dead end. All the concealed levers for the solution will be in the hands of a secret society assisting the Antichrist.

The Antichrist will offer the most successful project for solving the world crisis from the perspective of political and social wisdom, which would establish a uniform political and social order in the whole world. Exhausted from the shock of war, spiritually blinded humanity will not only by unaware that this project is a cowardly trap, enticing it into the most degrading and merciless slavery, but on the contrary, will recognize it as a manifestation of scholarship and genius.

Universal advertisement about the Antichrist as a brilliant thinker, new leader, and savior of mankind, will thunder over all nations in the shortest possible period of time. "Evil spirits dispersed in the universe, will awaken a general, inflated opinion about the Antichrist in man, a general enthusiasm and an irresistible attraction for him." (St. Ephraim the Syrian, 16th word.)

In this period of his activity, the Antichrist will not use any force and will try to win men's trust and affection with his deceitful and hypocritical public mask of virtue. He, according to the expression of Vladimir Soloviev, "will throw a gleaming veil of kindness and truth over the mystery of iniquity." "He will come," said St. Ephrem the Syrian, "in an image which will seduce everyone. He will come as a humble, kind, hater of falsehood (as he will say about himself), rejecting idols, preferring piety and kindness, loving the poor, bearing extremely handsome features, constant, sweet to everyone, respecting especially the Jewish nation because they will be awaiting his coming...He will take sly measures to please everyone, will not accept gifts nor speak in anger, will not show an overcast countenance, but will entice the world with a decorous exterior until he is enthroned." (See previous citation.)

From the great wealth of ascetical experience from our great men of podvig, it is known that when the black devil cannot overcome an ascetic, encountering unswerving opposition from him, a stronger devil comes as an "angel of light" (II Corinthians, XI, 14), attempting to awaken sympathy and trust towards himself in the ascetic, and easily charming him away to destruction. Thus, we can imagine how easily and quickly the bright image of the Antichrist will attract general sympathy towards itself after the filthy devil of Bolshevism.

As a result of such deceit, "the need to invite the Antichrist will arise" within the very temperament of man's spirit. "A beckoning voice will resound in man's society, expressing urgent need for a genius of geniuses, who would raise material development and prosperity to the highest degree and establish affluence on earth". (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninoff. Vol IV, page 313.)

The hypocrisy of the Antichrist in this period will reach the point that he, even in his relationship to Christians, will not oppose them, but will appear ready to be their benefactor. He will try to imitate Christ in the external, showy side of his life. The majority of Christians, not guided by the spiritual wisdom of the Church, but by worldly wisdom, will not see this deceit, recognizing the Antichrist as Christ who has come to earth a second time. The monks of the Solovetsky monastery pass on the answer given by Righteous Zosima to his disciples when he was asked how the Antichrist could be recognized. Righteous Zosima said, "When you will hear that Christ has appeared on earth, know then that this is the Antichrist." This answer is most precise. "The world or mankind will not recognize the Antichrist, it will recognize him as Christ, it will proclaim him Christ.....

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Prosperity Theology is another Modern Lie of New Religions Created by Man and for Man

According to Wikipedia, "Prosperity theology (also known as prosperity doctrine, the health and wealth gospel, or the prosperity gospel) is a Christian religious belief whose proponents claim has tens of millions of adherents, primarily in the United States, centered on the notion that God provides material prosperity for those he favors. It has been defined by the belief that "Jesus blesses believers with riches" or more specifically as the teaching that "believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the 'sowing of seeds' through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings." In the words of journalist Hanna Rosin, the prosperity gospel "is not a clearly defined denomination, but a strain of belief that runs through the Pentecostal Church and a surprising number of mainstream evangelical churches, with varying degrees of intensity." It arose in the United States after World War II championed by Oral Roberts and became particularly popular in the decade of the 1990s. More recently, the theology has been exported to less prosperous areas of the world, with mixed results."

The only way one can believe in this new teaching is to reject God's Church and God's Word, thereby rejecting God. Here are some clear examples from the Bible showing the lie of this materialistic, worldly lie of Satan. Again from the KJV:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
(Mat 6:19-34)

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
(Mat 16:24-27)

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
(Mat 19:21-24) 

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
(1Ti 6:3-12) 

If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
(Tit 1:6-16) 

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
(Jas 5:1-6)

Some serve God, some serve money and the world. Some follow God, some follow the money and the world. Some do all for God, some do all for money and the world. Some have only God in their heart, some have only money and the world in their heart. Some claim they know God, but only know money and the world! Who or what will you serve, value, love, and know? As for me and my house, like Jesus (Joshua in the KJV) of Nun, we will serve the Lord.

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Are You Saved?

"Being saved" is not a one time event. The theology of "Once saved, always saved" is a lie. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling daily as Saint Paul says in the Bible. Here is the Orthodox Christian response to the errant question of the confused, asking, "Are you saved?" or "When were you saved?"

Are You Saved?, posted with vodpod

What happens to the soul after death?

Many western sects believe that the soul is in a state of sleep after Death, and awaiting Judgement Day. Some others believe the soul dies, only to be awakened after Judgement.

This teaching also helps them to reject the saints. They argue that since the departed souls are either “sleeping” or “dead”, we cannot Intercede to them.

St. Paul's admonition in the Bible to intercede to each other, applies only to the “living”(on earth), they say.

Concept of Soul Sleep contradicts Bible.
Protestants believe that the soul is dormant and inactive till the final Judgement Day.

Ponder over these questions:

• Where did the Good Thief’s soul go after death? (“Today you will be with me in Paradise”–Luke 23:43). Jesus promised him “paradise” right after death.
• Where are the souls of Elijah and Moses kept alive, so that they could talk to Jesus on the Day of Transfiguration? (Mark 9:1-8)
• Where is Enoch now, bible says he was taken upto heaven alive. Is he exempt from Judgement Day? "Then Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him".–Genesis 5:2
• Where is Elijah now, the bible says he too was taken up to heaven alive like Enoch. Is he exempt from judgement day? “….behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven”.–2 Kings 2:11
• How could Prophet Jeremiah give blessings to the Jewish army, centuries after his earthly death? "Onias then said of him, "This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves his brethren and fervently prays for his people and their holy city."–2 Maccabees 15:14

They believe that everyone is in “Soul Sleep” till Judgement Day. This is a wrong concept biblically because of the points/questions raised above.

The Orthodox Church teaches that there are two judgments:

1. The first, or “Particular” Judgment, is that experienced by each individual at the time of his or her death, at which time God will decide where the soul is to spend the time until the Second Coming of Christ. This judgment is believed to occur on the Fortieth day after death.
2. The second, General or “Final” Judgment will occur after the Second Coming.

Particular Judgement.
The first or Particular Judgement decides where and how the soul will reside till the Judgement Day.

The greatest example of Particular Judgement is that of the Good Thief, who was promised paradise right after death by Jesus Christ.

There are examples in Old Testament too, like that of Enoch and Elijah who were taken upto heaven alive.

If even the Good Thief, who accepted Christ on his dying state, was given an active and alive soul, which resides in Paradise, how much more will Jesus Christ honour his own Mother, His Apostles, the Martyrs and the Saints?

They too will be alive in Paradise. Mother Mary, the Apostles, Saints, Martyrs and the pious Christians.

Revelation 4:4–"And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold".

These 24 elders sitting on the thrones in heaven are the 12 patriarchs of Old Testament and the 12 Apostles of the New.

Day 40.
In most cases, the Particular Judgement is supposed to occur on Day 40.

We, Orthodox, consider the first 40 days after the material death of a person as very important.
We pray for them/conduct eucharist on these points during the 40 days:

The 3rd day (because Jesus ressurected on 3rd day).

The 9th day (because there are 9 classes of angels, and it is the angel that delivers the soul safely to its location and protects it from the devils legions)

The 40th day is very symbolic and important in Christian and Jewish theology. Major Changes and Transformations took place after 40 days:

1. 1)The Great Flood’s rains lasted for 40 days: Gen 7:12–“And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights”.
2. The embalming of Jacob in egyptian fashion. Even though the Egyptians were pagans, they too understood the importance of day 40 in the transitions during after life: Gen 50:3–“And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed”.
3. Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days (TWICE) Exo 24:18–"And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights".
4. It took the spies 40 days to search out the promised land and bring back fruit. Num 13:25–"And they returned from searching of the land after forty days".
5. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness, one year for each day they explored the Promised Land. Exo 16:35–"And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan."
6. Goliath came for forty days before being killed by David. 1 Sam/Kdm 17:16–"For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening, the Philistine giant strutted in front of the Israelite army".
7. Noah waited 40 days after it rained before he opened a window in the Ark. Gen 8:6–“And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made”
8. Elijah strengthened by one angelic meal went forty days to Mount Horeb where the Lord passed by and he heard the voice of God. 1 Kin 19:8–“And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God”.
9. Jonah warned the City of Nineveh they had 40 days until God would overthrow the city. The people repented in those 40 days and God spared the city. Jonah 3:4 & 10–“And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown”.
10. JESUS fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. Mat 4:1-2–"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered".
11. JESUS was seen in the earth 40 days after His crucifixion. Acts 1:3–"After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God".

Also of note:

• The ancient Egyptians took 40 days to embalm their dead.
• The Hindus pray for their dead on day 41.
• The Tibetan Buddhists Book of the dead speaks of a journey of 49 days after death before reaching the final destination.
• The Jews mourned their dead for 40 days.
• The early Christians pray for their departed ones fervently in the first 40 days and they too understood the importance.

St. Symeon of Thessalonika writes: “The forty days of prayer are done in memory of the Ascension of the Lord, forty days after His Resurrection, [in hopes] that likewise, the deceased, rising from the tomb and ascending to meet the Lord, might taken be taken up in the clouds, and thus ever be with the Lord.” Novaya Skryzhal’, Part 4, Chapter 472.

In Christ, we dont die.
The Church (to which St. Mary, St. Peter etc belongs) is the BODY of CHRIST.

There is no separation. So just as Christ is alive, we to live.

Christ and Church are compared to:

Vine and branches

• Joh 15:1,5 Foundation and building
• 1Col 3:10,11; Eph 2:20,21; 1Pet 2:4-6 Body and members
• 1Col 12:12,27; Eph 5:30 Husband and wife
• Eph 5:25-32

Christ being in us- Eph 3:17; Col 1:27

Our being in Christ- 2Co 12:2; 1Jo 5:20

John 10:34–“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”

“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”–1 John 4:13

So if you say that the Saints, who achieved a high degree of theosis to be grafted onto his body, are dead, then you are saying that Jesus Christ is dead too.

So we can say that some of the Christians (mostly the saints) are in paradise right after death due to particular judgement (as in the case of the Good Thief, Elijah, etc.)

Some maybe in a state of sleep.

Who gets what is upto God alone. We only have the scripture and tradition to give us answers which science cannot provide.

However we Orthodox Christians believe certain Christlike individuals like St. Mary, the Apostles, Saints etc are ones who passed particular judgement like the Good Thief, and like Enoch and Elijah.

We can say conclusively that it is not for nothing that Jesus Christ said thus:

″I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”–Mark 9:1


More Information:

• http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/tollhouse_pomaz.aspx
• http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/life_after_death.htm
• http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Particular-judgment
• http://www.stgeorgegreenville.org/OurFaith/Sacraments/Death2.html
• http://www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro/orthodox/orthodox_advices_life_after_death.htm

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